Kingdom Hearts: Mutants of Twilight
by RogueFanKC
Summary: Set in the Misfitverse! It's high stakes as Luxord and the Hellion, Jestream, face odds against Gambit, Martian Manhunter, Trinity, Starfire and Bumblebee, and the others in a game for victory where the losers may forfeit more than just their lives...
1. Past Grievances

**Author's notes: I do not own the characters of "X-Men: Evolution", "G.I. Joe", "Dinosaucers" or "Kingdom Hearts". They are all the respective property of Marvel Comics, Sunbow Entertainment, DiC Enterprises/Coca-Cola Telecommunications, and Disney/Square-Enix/Tetsuya Nomura. Note that this story will reveal the endings to "Kingdom Hearts" and "Kingdom Hearts 2" (if you do not wish to be spoiled for the games yet, play them now and do not read this story). Elements and characters of the Misfit-verse, including Althea, Trinity, Xi, Blind Master, Lina Chakram and Willow the Eloi are courtesy of brilliant, fellow fanfic author, Red Witch, who has graciously lent her characters to me for this piece of writing. Characters from the animated "Teen Titans" and the animated "Justice League" are property of DC Comics. The characters from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" are property to Joss Whedon, and the characters from the "Charmed" universe are property of Aaron Spelling. The animated series of "The Real Ghostbusters" and "Ghostbusters Extreme" are owned by Filmation Studios, and the version of the "Ghostbusters United" is owned by fellow fanfic author, Sparky Genocide who has graciously lent me his universe to use for this series (thanks again, SG!). Leomon is a character from "Digimon" and is the sole property of Saban Entertainment. Any ideas pertaining to similar plots from "Sailor Moon" is courtesy of Toei Entertainment/Aino Productions. The only characters I own are the OC characters, Justin Moore, Damionax, Krygaw, and the Dinosaucers, Raptor, Montacera, Plateo, Struthio and Compy. I am in no way using this story to make money, and I hereby acknowledge all facts I have earlier stated. So please for the love of God don't sue me! That said, it all boils down to this epic crossover, folks! Enjoy this memorable story between each and every world introduced in the Misfit-verse called…**

**Kingdom Hearts: Mutants of Twilight**

**CHAPTER 1: Past Grievances**

_Thinking of you wherever you are._

_We pray for our sorrows to end,_

_And hope that our hearts will blend._

_Now I will step forward to realize this wish._

_And who knows:_

_Starting a new journey may not be so hard_

_Or maybe it has already begun._

_There are many worlds,_

_But they share the same sky -_

_One sky, one destiny._

This is the saga of Kingdom Hearts…

---

"Holy crap, they're EVERYWHERE!" roared Falco Lombardi as he flew his Arwing madly in chaotic loops and barrel-waves, already on hyperdrive-mode and trying his best to evade the Heartless that were flying and swarming the world of Corneria.

_Ka-shooom!_

With a simple, natural flick of a button, the blue-and-red feathered anthropomorphic falcon activated a homing missile directly into the back of the Aparoid, a insect-like creature of grotesque appearance and mammoth proportions, dead center. It was a direct hit. As it let out a piercing shriek that could only be registered at the highest sonic frequencies before it succumbed to the flames and combustion of the explosive warhead, Fox McCloud was able to safely evade the strange creature that was seconds ago ready to devour his ship.

"What the hell?" Fox gasped at the strange Arwing that succeeded in saving his life before his communications screen on his aircraft console crackled with life, showing the familiar face of Fox's friend…even though Falco left the Star Fox team several months ago.

"Still needing to save your ass every now and then, huh, Fox?" Falco said dryly, but he was frowning at the image of Fox on his screen, almost with a twinge of resentful bitterness and surliness.

"Falco?" Fox exclaimed, his eyes going wide around his white-and-orange furred face.

"Look, no time for chit-chat!" Falco cut in strongly without giving Fox a chance to speak, "We need to get these things off our home! I'll take the skies along with the rest of the Corneria Starfleet and drive them out of the lower ionosphere! You go down to the base and help out Peppy and Slippy along with the others at the sieges at the military bases!"

"No way!" Fox snarled, protesting, his fangs bared with protective loyalty, "Not even a chance! I'm not letting you fly there alone, Falco! I'm coming with you!"

Falco shot Fox a look that could have been colder than sub-zero as he said with gritted teeth, "So…you still don't trust me? Just like what happened last time with Katt and her team?"

Fox visibly flinched.

For several tense seconds, Fox looked downwards, unable to meet Falco's narrowed eyes of accusation before he looked up, tossing caution to the winds and nodded before he activated the reverse thrusters of his aircraft, intending to back off a bit before descending down towards General Pepper's foot soldiers in order to give much needed assistance. Before he sped away, the alien turned one last look at Falco.

Fox then spoke softly, "And Falco…I'm sorry…for everything."

The falcon didn't answer back as his friend sped off towards the military base, but as he ended the link between his Arwing and McCloud's, he answered back, murmuring, "I know."

With that, Falco pulled back on the steering-mechanism of his spacecraft and thundered upwards towards the clouds and sea of endless creatures of darkness attacking Corneria.

"Don't even let them have a chance to descend!" Fox roared over the jet's intercom, firing a round of plasma torpedoes from his aircraft and sending two airborne Heartless to plummet from the sky, leaving a trail of smoke before crashing far to the grounds below, "Drive them back! General Pepper needs us to keep them off the fleet!"

"Like I'd be that much of a slacker!" Falco retorted acidly (but deep down, Fox knew that Falco and he were too much of friends to take retorts and insults personally) as he shot down another Heartless Aparoid. Unfortunately, their minds soon took into account on how much this was a losing battle. Corneria, and indeed, the entire Lylatt System was relentlessly under siege by numerous strange winged creatures bearing an odd red-and-black emblem of a misshapen heart crossed out by a thorny "X", and not even the strongest and most advanced weapons and defense systems could drive them off. And from what he overheard on the communications, they were in no way sent by Andross for they made no discrimination from any Cornerian, whether they be for the laws or mercenaries; the insect-like Aparoid Heartless devoured and killed all without bias, and every able soldier from Pepper's fleet to even the Star Wolf team worked together in a rare moment of alliance.

But then things took a turn for the worse. Slippy's terrified face came back on the Arwings' communications frequency as he tried to send out a distressed warning to his two teammates whereas Falco could see that on the monitors behind Slippy, to the bird's horror, were gruesome scenes of the Heartless killing the soldiers within the military base while the Cornerians were vainly trying to shoot their attackers.

"Fox! Falco! Come in! Hurry, we need help! We need help over at the base! Oh, for the love of Corneria, please hurry! They killed General Pepper! They - !" and the transmission was killed abruptly, leaving nothing but static as a corresponding explosion from the base where Slippy had been reporting from erupted is a plethora of flames.

"Damn it!" Falco blurted as he sped towards the military base on his Arwing, but upon reaching a closer view, the avian saw he was too late. More than half of the Cornerian air-force and military base and facility were nothing more than charred rubble and fires. And the Aparoids were invading the rest of the intact grounds along with devouring the multiple soldiers on foot who were using every single firearm in their private reserves to fight the monsters and creations of darkness head-on. And one of these was Fox McCloud himself, wielding a rapid-laser high-powered machine-gun.

"No!" howled Falco in rage as one Heartless managed to take a flying leap before landing skillfully on top of the relatively diminutive fox, pinning him down to the ground before it crushed him to death. Before he could succumb to his grief and vengeful ire, several Heartless immediately blitzed at Falco's Arwing from all sides, covering it with their insect appendages and crushing the small vessel slowly but surely within seconds, making curdling and clicking insect-noises all the while.

There was a bright flash of white light…and Falco knew no more.

"Uhhh…" the avian groaned as he regained consciousness, his mouth dry and cottony, before he shakily propped himself up, only to find himself in a dazzling room of pure white, as white as freshly fallen snow, pure, untainted, and bare. Despite his throbbing head threatening to pass out to darkness again, Falco managed to uneasily rise on his two feet, looking around in front of him. He was all…

It was then that Falco realized he was **not** alone…and the stranger's casual appearance and lack of fear despite the numerous creatures devouring his planet made Falco all the more hostile and willing to regard his visitor as an enemy.

"Who the hell are you?" snarled Falco, his voice hoarse, with one wing going for the laser pistol still strapped to his side in its holster, "Where's Fox? Where's Peppy and Slippy? Damn you, where are they?"

"They died in the last battle of the Heartless along with the rest of your planet," the stranger said.

"Heart…less?" Falco repeated, still cagey.

"The name of the creatures that destroyed your home. You are the only one to survive; I chose you out of the rest of the denizens of your homeworld."

"What?" Falco gasped, his eyes glazed with grief at the thought of his only friends and family dead, shattering to pieces inside, "But…**_but why?_**"

"To make you an offer…" the figure said gently.

"Screw your offer, asshat!" Falco snapped, still ferociously and dangerously angry from seeing his teammates and family die, "Why didn't you save Fox and the others? They could have survived if you helped them! Why did you _just_ help me? _I wasn't worth it!_"

"You have a particularly strong heart, Falco. One that could be useful…" the figure partially commented, sidetracking the issue.

This, unsurprisingly, made Falco all the more livid. Falco obviously wasn't very trustworthy…or had a calm demeanor compared to Fox.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't tell you to piss off and kill you right now and not necessarily in that order!" the blue-and-red feathered avian snarled hoarsely as he aimed the mouth of his laser pistol at the figure's head. Underneath the hood, the figure raised one eyebrow. Had he really wanted to, he would have easily knocked the weapon out of Falco's hand and beheaded the Cornerian pilot right then and there.

"Because the offer I give to you will gain you the power you need to see your friends and family again, Falco Lombardi," the figure in the black cloak said calmly at last.

---

"Where the hell are these things coming from?" Mako yelled as he and the rest of heroic band called the Tigersharks tried their best to beat back the endless horde of unfamiliar Heartless shark and piranha humanoids, all of them wearing strangle yet buoyant metal armor and wielding harpoon guns and wicked tridents glowing with dark auras. There was no question about it; they were surrounded and it was evident that their nemesis, Captain Bizzarly, had recruited them to exterminate the valiant fighters once and for all.

As they used anything from punches and kicks to their guns and weapons they had available to summoning multitudes of their fellow sea creatures to help aid them in their battle, Mako could see to his growing dread and dismay that there was no end to the horde of mysterious creatures bearing the crossed-out heart insignia. It was infinite. The massive aggregation filled the entire waters all around them as far as the leader could see, and yet he could also comprehend that the creatures were…looking for something?

"It's no use! There's too many of them!" whined Angel with exhaustion, her lithe yellow and red body managing to somersault and narrowly evade the teeth of one piranha-abomination before she managed to punch it swiftly in the throat, right in the soft, vulnerable, fleshy area while the Tigershark pet and mascot, Gupp, bit hard on the Heartless' foot, growling.

"This'll keep them off us!" Lorka shouted as he sent several ocra whales among the pack, the elegant black-and-white carnivores ravaging through the numerous evil creatures and ripping them to pieces with their teeth, savage and completely eager to defend their planet and friends.

"We can't keep this up forever!" the half-human, half-walrus Tigershark named Walro shouted as he expertly managed to fire another plasma round into the chest and torso of a nearby Heartless, emitting a sea of bubbles in the water as the enemy writher and convulsed in pain before vanishing in a cloud of dark aura. Indeed, Lorka could see that not even the two blue whales were able to drive off the bevy of monsters; in fact, a good portion of the swarm actually succeeded in ripping one of the behemoths to shreds, littering the waters with blood and blubber (and Lorka inwardly wept and grieved heavily upon the loss of one of his fellow comrades).

"We have to use the SARK's weapons system! It's the only thing I can think of that can give us a breather enough with this army so that we can directly stop the general directly!" Mako yelled over his communicator before he skillfully circumvented the harpoons of a particularly nasty Heartless and grabbed one spear before it sped past him before dive-bombing and ramming the pointed-head of the weapon into the skull of his enemy, killing it instantly.

"I'll go to the SARK immediately! Just keep these strange creatures at bay until I can put the ship in Omega-Aggression Mode!" Octavia said automatically, and no one rebutted against the octopus-woman's decision. Out of all of the Tigersharks, Octavia was the most qualified soldier and tactician to automatically run the computer systems to their fullest effectiveness, even more so than Mako and Walro.

"Go for it then! We got 'em! They won't pay much attention to you if we all kept them distracted! **GO!** We'll cover you!" Mako yelled as he and Dolph did a team-up attack and solidly kicked a Heartless into another, causing the both of their opponents to falter, dazed and unable to get their bearings in the water. Octavia quickly made haste towards the black, metallic headquarters of the group, resting serenely in the turquoise-blue ocean waters before she managed to reach the docking area inside the mouth of the shark-shaped craft. Yet before she could run to the computer consoles, something on the monitors made the green, octopus-humanoid stop and stare.

"What in the name of all the seas?" the female gasped as the Heartless managed to create a column of light at the very bottom of the rocky soil of the ocean floor, emitting a plethora of effervescence as her friends and family did their best to beat them back. And to Octavia's amazement, the column of light was shaping itself into…a keyhole?

"WHAT?" screeched Captain Bizzarly as he witnessed this happening through _his_ headquarters, "No, you fools! What are you doing? **The Keyhole belongs to me!** It is mine to harn- !"

And the very last thing the female Tigershark encountered was a crippling and terrifying rumbling throughout the very waters of the ocean and the planet that could have shaken their entire world to its very core before a blinding flash of white light…

"Oh…my head…" groaned Octavia before her vision cleared and she found herself, to her absolute amazement and astonishment, conscious and…floating in space? Her body aching, she managed to endure the bruises and aching of her sore muscles as she slowly and hesitantly propped herself up to automatically see that she was floating in space, the stars, planets, and even chunks of the remains of Water-O floating around her. Her heart almost stopped beating with shock and fear as she hurriedly looked around, wondering if she was hallucinating. But there was no question about it. She was encapsulated in a sphere of glowing, white aura, hovering serenely in space…and to her further disbelief, Octavia realized that she was still in fish-mode, the tentacles around her head floating as if by a gentle updraft.

"I…I can still breathe?" Octavia gasped, scarcely daring to believe it, "But…but I'm not in water? How…am I dead?"

"No, you are not dead. You were saved with magic," an ethereal voice spoke behind her, and Octavia whirled around to see that she was not alone in the orb of light that was enveloping her body in the outer regions of orbit.

"Ma-…_magic_?" Octavia repeated incredulously, staring at the unknown stranger, scarcely daring to comprehend and believe the word. It couldn't be! Magic? Such a notion would defy the laws of physics and science, and to her scientific mind, it was an anomaly, an impossibility. But then her brain flashed back to the larger matter at hand as she desperately turned to the odd person and begged beseechingly.

"The Tigersharks?" Octavia whimpered, "The others…my friends…oh please, are they - ?"

The figure pointed to a mess of floating rubble and dead rock, lifeless and slowly revolving amongst themselves. Octavia felt her throat close up with terror and anguish as she caught on at once (as much as she didn't want to comprehend it); that mass of meteors was all that remained of Water-O, her planet.

"_They_ are all dead," the unknown said after a pause, "The Heartless killed all of them when they destroyed your world. You are the only one of your planet who had survived. Not even your enemy, Captain Bizzarly, who was a fool in thinking he could control the Heartless, was spared."

"No…" Octavia whispered, shaking, her eyes welling before they began streaming down her face, "No…oh by the planet of Water-O…no, it can't be."

And then the Tigershark warrior bowed her head while on her hands and knees and wept uncontrollably, the images of her fellow comrades and family flashing like a slideshow of woe and cheated remorse. Mako, Dolph, Bronc, Angel, and the rest…they were all gone.

"You can still find a way to save your planet and bring them back from the way it once was before, Octavia," the mysterious person said at last, unmoved by her sorrow.

"What?" Octavia questioned hoarsely, her insides cold and causing her to tremble with grief, "Ho-…how? Please…tell me how!"

"If you wish to know, then you must join my cause, Octavia…" the figure in the black cloak said at last.

---

They were dreaming.

All of them.

The select few of the numerous heroes and beings on Earth were in a torpid and shaky fugue state, teetering between the bridge of conscious fantasy and reality, not sure if they were in a frenzied state of nightmares in the mind or if they were witnessing an actual event in the past or a prophecy of doom in the future to come.

And from what they were all simultaneously witnessing right now…they all unanimously hoped to God and whatever higher beneficial power that it was the former two and not the third possibility.

The skies were dark and bright red, as red as fresh blood while plumes of ashy, thick smoke wafted and coiled around the dark and foreboding skies similar to how an octopus' tentacles wrapped and ensnare around its prey right before it kills it. The stars had all died and vanished and the sun and moon had been completely obliterated, extinguished and ceased of the mortal coil. There was no light, no darkness, no hope of life and existence beyond those colors of death.

The ground they were walking on was none better. It was barren, dry and cracked before the fires of Hell and the lava and magma running underneath it baked it over and over until it was as hard as steel and lifeless as a skeleton. No plants or vegetation, no buildings or monumental skyscrapers of civilizations, no animal and wildlife at all. Nothing but rubble and devastation and tattered remains of cities and countries rendered into nothing but charred rock, glass, and metal.

There was no life, no sign of anything surviving, nothing salvageable.

Everything was destroyed.

Then to their collective fear, disgust, and astonished dread, they saw it.

A lone figure standing on a mound of dirt and , powerfully muscled and perfect in its shape and anatomy, fit, toned and silhouetted in the black shadows cloaking its face and front, but the crimson hue from the skies above managed to give it a demonic aura and halo, slightly hinting the black skin and pulsating veins running through the figure's flesh and blood. There was no way to tell if the individual was male or female. It was bald, had wicked claws, and though humanoid and standing on its two legs, the figure was so gigantic that there was no possible way it could be human. Yet what was also noticeable was that even in its silhouette, they could all discern the outline of a crown atop and around its forehead, like a ghastly, macabre appearance of a king, along with strange metallic armor and a tattered cape.

But there was no mistaking the black and red symbol of the thorny, crossed-out heart emblem on the character's chest. It was a Heartless, one unlike anything they had ever witnessed before.

Then the figure spoke, its voice deep, powerful, omnipotent and was the epitome of all things lifeless and cold, nearly sending shivers down all the spines of those who were watching this nightmare.

"**_It shall not pass…the Earth and all life consumed…the Thirteenth Order will triumph…for darkness is the heart's true essence…_**"

And to their horror, the skies above broke out into a celestial rapture of light and dark energy, the atmosphere now alive with shafts of black lighting and red luminescence before an actual door appeared out of thin air and levitated up high among the smoke and sea of blood. It was truly not like any other door they had ever seen. It was large with a style similar to Italian with a pointed, triangular apex at the top, as tall as a skyscraper and gleaming white, not made of wood but rather polished like marble and the cleanest stone. Its handles were silver and surprisingly enough, there were thin stained glass windows positioned in the door-bodies, displaying colors of pink and purple in a Renaissance aesthetic. But when both of the panels to the gateway flung open, an endless torrent of black shapes of all sizes and forms came roaring out gleefully, morbidly grotesque and with beady yellow eyes and all of them displaying the crest of the Heartless upon them as they swarmed and mobbed the firmament within seconds, making inhuman, guttural noises of beings hungering ravenously for flesh and blood.

And they weren't the only ones within the strange Door to the Light. Mixed amongst the Heartless, and causing a strange yet intricate pattern of black and white were groups and groups of strange creatures of pale creatures of no color. Unlike the Heartless, they had no eyes and rather, their hides were pulsating with veins of blue and purple against their white skin and jagged, toothy mouths. They were certainly a stark contrast to the black, vicious Heartless. And on each strange, white-bodied creature was a weird emblem of silver, similar to a four-pointed star except the bottom point of the star blossomed out to a wide berth shape, similar to the top portion of a heart symbol.

But what made it all the more terrifying and ghastly was when the light from the doorway above finally shone down upon the very ground the figure was standing on, and it was then revealed that the seer was not positioned on top of a mountain of earth, but rather a hill of dead bodies. To their revulsion, nausea, and loss, the ghastly and sickening heap of corpses were of those they have known and fought by and regarded closely as friends and allies. The Dinosaucers, the Justice League, the Teen Titans, the Titans East, the Slayers, the Scoobies, the Charmed Ones, the various soldiers of G.I. Joe, Leomon, each and every one of their friends and allies, human and superhero alike. They were all dead, ripped apart and rendered into nothing but limp dolls soaked with blood and gore, their faces lifeless and blank, and crawling and violating the remnants of the various defenders of the planet were numerous Heartless of all shapes and sizes, their black bodies pulsating madly with power and vitality as they feasted on the hearts of the fallen.

The heroes had lost to the Heartless.

And yet before they could have the time to digest the gruesome scene, the light from the doorway and gate of the Heartless above pooled at the foot of the mountain of cadavers to reveal another shocking and numbing sight.

"**_All shall fall before me, you fools! None shall stand and triumph!_**" the strange Heartless crowed boisterously on top of the hill of its victims and defeated foes as he raised a glowing hand, invoking streams of black energy, streaking and snaking across the sky like lightning and bathing the entire field of death.

The X-Men and the Misfits, each and every one of the mutants from both teams ranging from Professor Xavier and Wolverine to the smallest members like Multiple and Trinity, were all frozen in stone, their faces blank and as if completely caught by surprise, forever trapped in the positions of dead rock and astonished fossilization similar to the fate of the Earth's inhabitants when Trigon invaded. And to their grief, each and every one of the statues were instantly destroyed, shattered into pieces, leaving the various students of Xavier and the teammates of Wavedancer to crumble into chunks and cracked hunks of rock.

"**_I AM THE EXPERIMENT OF PERFECTION!_**" howled the disembodied voice in a fit of maniacal, bone-chilling laughter, its words more terrifying and curdling to be anything remotely human, "**_I AM THE EXPERIMENT 666! I AM THE ULTIMATE BEAST! I CONTROL THE HEARTLESS AND THE NOBODY! NONE CAN ESCAPE MY DOMINION, MY RULE, AND MY POWER! AND WE SHALL RULE ALL OF KINGDOM HEARTS!_**"

And to all their horrors…the Earth, the Milky Way, and indeed, all life beyond in the regions and dimensions of all life where light and darkness flowed freely was overwhelmed and conquered by the demonic and evil aura that came from the Heartless and the Nobody.

Every planet…

Every star…

Every star system and galaxy…

Every alternate universe, dimension, and possible realm where life could flourish, where the regions and worlds had hearts, where there could be possible existence by any being of both good and evil…

They were all destroyed as the black cloak of the infinite armies of the Heartless swooped down and obliterated all in their mad dash, snarling and howling madly with bloodlust and mindless savageness as they swallowed all hearts they could find, the presence of all light and darkness made completely devoid of everything and everyone…

…and that's when they awoke in terror.

At the Titans Tower in Jump City, Raven bolted upright from her bed, her eyes wide and her long-hair now mattered with her sweat, nearly needing all self-restraint to keep herself from screaming. By Azarath, it was even more terrifying than ten Trigons at once.

Barbara Gordon actually started shrieking so piercingly that even the neighbors of her Gotham City apartment complex above, below, and around her actually stirred as she woke from the nightmare while asleep on her couch in front of the television. The red-haired young woman was shivering, so cold her skin felt like ice.

Phoebe Halliwell back in the Ghostbusters headquarters in New York awoke with a jolt from the book Giles had assigned her as one of her intensive training and educational regimens as a future Watcher, using the thick tome as a makeshift pillow under her desk lamp.

In London at the Slayer Academy, the red-haired Scooby named Willow Rosenberg just jerked violently, as if in a spasm of pain, before she was violently flung from her session in the astral plane and back into her conscious body as she sat there, Indian-style in a meditative state, around a circle of candles and dove feathers.

That figure…

The end of the world…

The Heartless encompassing all life where light and darkness existed…

It is coming.

"The Organization…will triumph? Oh, no…no…" sobbed Raven to herself, her body quivering, as she hugged herself.

"Darkness is the heart's true essence…" Barbara Gordon whimpered to herself, her eyes already stinging from the grief of what she had witnessed.

"The experiment of perfection…" Phoebe shuddered, biting her lip so hard, it bled.

"The Gathering of Twilight…the Heartless and the Nobody…" Willow murmured to herself in fear, clasping her hands together tightly.

"Kingdom…_Hearts_?" all four of them said, not sure what to make of the strange, unfamiliar term.

Meanwhile, over at the small town of Bayville…

Jake Clawson gasped before he sat upright hurriedly from his bedroom at Xavier's Institute of the Gifted, panting hard, his fur now damp and clinging uncomfortably to his tank top and his heart thumping madly and painfully in agony, his eyes glazed and dilated from terror and dread. He too woke from a petrifying and realistic nightmare.

But for completely different reasons.

---

Unhindered, a lone, golden-furred hound named Pluto continued to make headway over the mountains and valleys towards a secretive military base of G.I. Joe known as the Pit…

**Author's Notes: Falco Lombardi and Octavia are not mine! The characters, Falco Lombardi, is from the video game series, "Star Fox" and is under property of Nintendo (this Falco takes place after "Star Fox 64" but before "Star Fox Adventures"; hey, they never DID explain where Falco went while Fox was on Dinosaur Planet, so this is my insane attempt to explain it!) and Octavia is a character from the 80s cartoon "Tigersharks" and is under property of Rankin-Bass (Google it or look it up on Retrojunk; yes, I'm that outdated when it comes to arcane cartoons!). However, Falco and Octavia have HUGE roles in this, so their appearance in the X-Men/Misfits' universe is NOT out from left field. Next Friday, we see more and more of the stage being set as the Misfits, X-Men, and Joes ponder on the incoming threats while their enemies plot in the chapter, "Some Semblance of Normalcy". Until then, be prepared for this story, folks! It's around 85 chapters (possible to go up), so I'm not going to be finished with this crossover anytime soon!**

**X-Men, Misfits, Joes (deadpanned): Great, 85 weeks of torture with this lunatic…**

**Quiet all of you! Until next week, read and enjoy! Constructive criticism welcome!**


	2. Some Semblance of Normalcy

**CHAPTER 2: Some Semblance of Normalcy**

It had been several months since the disaster in San Francisco with the vampire slayers and the Charmed Ones and the failure to secure the Nexus from the Organization and the Hellfire Club. Christmas came and went as well as several holidays and birthdays, and the air was rich with the teasing warmth of early spring (not that there was much of a reason to celebrate with the world and society falling apart bit by bit).

It literally seemed to drag on and on with nothing but hysteria and bad news of hate, fear, and uncontrollable panicking and accusation. And frankly, it didn't seem to get much better when looking ahead.

These were growing to be dark times for Earth.

Ever since the revelation of the existence of the paranormal and magical entities such as witches, warlocks, ghosts, and demons, the mass public all over the world have been in a frenzy along with the now resurrected mistrust and fear against mutant-kind and extraterrestrials. It was simply a combustive effect of paranoia and multitudes of the planet's population generally leaping at each other's throats, voicing effective ways to deal with all freakish-threats, and causing dissension and mindless violence without anything really being done about it. Various outcries of suspicion and hate plagued the planet, with various reactions ranging from slight optimism to outright hostility and ugliness, were geared towards anything non-human and extraordinary, unluckily spreading out to anything different whether they be magical, extraterrestrial, otherworldly, or mutant. And people or ideas that actually supported the equal rights and amnesty of all beings regardless of who they were or where they came from were treated with scorn and outright disdain if not violent bigotry. Apparently, ideas supporting peaceful coexistence between all different races and beings were just as unpopular as being one of these "abnormalities" themselves.

Governments all over the globe were pressured to set up laws and regulations to combat these threats, not that they were very effective to begin with since the truly evil of these "freaks" didn't care about violating them and those that were in hiding would never be foolish enough to protest or declare themselves in public. And not even the top scientists at S.H.I.E.L.D or S.T.A.R labs could effectively fight against demons and mutants and aliens without running into conflicts and technicalities. It was nigh impossible to find something that was resistant to magic, alien-technology or mutant powers all at once, and such a God-like status could never be harnessed without the fear of having such a weapon be turned back upon the paranoid human populace.

Not that people weren't desperate enough to find a way.

More and more often, now without any fear of needing to hide under the repercussions of breaking the secrecy, demons and vampires have started becoming more and more prominent in the public's eye, attacking innocents and causing wide mayhem in front of hundreds of people without wariness of exposure. Magneto and his Acolytes had already attacked various cities and nuclear power-plants in order to gather more and more materials for his meteor haven, Avalon, as well as actively recruiting mutants and loyal followers from numerous and clandestine mutant-concentration camps in Russia, China, and South America. This in turn made it not only more difficult for mutants to be out in public but gave more firepower for groups such as Purity and the Friends of Humanity to call more mutant control and extermination. H.A.T.E. was unsurprisingly resurrected thanks to this wildstorm of mistrust, and as a result, the Justice League was finding great opposition and difficulty from many leaders of the world to allow extraterrestrials citizenship on Earth as well as establishing the planet as part of the galactic alliances that exist throughout the universe in the name of peaceful existence. Apparently, there would always be people who would not trust the likes of Superman and Martian Manhunter to be welcomed on their home (not that they had a right to claim that authority). The United Nations itself was actually beginning to consider building armies of Sentinels and allowing them to be manufactured in mass production in order to provide a defense against the incoming Heartless and Organization, but many were quick to note that such tools could additionally be used to hunt other beings deemed "dangerous", thus being in no way a great comfort to the mutant, alien, and magical worlds.

In other words, it was far worse than the fear and loathing and chaos that gripped the world when mutants and the X-Men were first exposed by Cobra, Trask, Magneto, and the Sentinel.

Still, despite the tension and fears mounting throughout the world, the Pit and Xavier's Institute for the Gifted would always contain a semi-bubble to shield the students and young mutants from the general ugliness and offer a place of respite and a home. Like how it normally did…

KA-BOOOOOM!

The X-Mansion actually quaked slightly with _that_ explosion.

"Argh, shaving cream and confetti!" Piotr was heard bellowing from the Danger Room before he then additionally yelled loudly enough for the entire mansion to hear him, "You guys! The Misfit-morons are here to bug us again!"

"Tell us something we don't know!" Tabitha yelled heatedly as she chased after Pietro, "Speedy, give me back my chocolate or you won't even live to see the outside of the mansion!"

"My room!" hollered Ray, "Those nutcases wrecked my room! And they took my underwear! Give it back, you little three psychotic nymphos!"

**_Paf!_**

"My clothes! My leather jacket! It's ruined, RUINED!" Amara was heard shrieking from her room along with Kitty a second later in _her_ room.

"Ugh! Like, what _is_ this stuff?" the valley girl said as she emerged from her bedroom completely black down from her hair to her shoes (and the only parts of her body that weren't sooty were her narrowed and furiously burning brown eyes).

"Yeow! Fire, fire! _Mein Gott_, Forge, can't you stop building things without causing them to blow up?" Kurt was yelling above the din of the fire extinguisher he was using to put out the flames that were actually starting to spiral towards the hallway ceiling.

"It wasn't me! It's the Triplets! Hey! Trinity, come back here with that plasma-net! I know for a fact that you took that one out of my lab! Give it back, now! **_I mean it!_**" Forge was heard yelling as he dashed all along the halls of the mansion, trying to snatch back his invention from the Triplets.

_Ker-splatt!_

"PIETRO!" screamed Wanda before the shriek of rage from Scarlet Witch was followed by the sounds of pounding feet and girly-screaming from a certain albino-speedster as the chase and hunt began.

"Eeek! It was an accident! _Wanda, don't kill me!_ **_It was an accident!_** I was really aiming for Tabby and Jean! Don't kill me, don't kill me!" Pietro was heard pleading for mercy while dashing away with an enraged Wanda doing her best to hurl hexbolts with one hand while carrying a fire-poker she managed to snatch from one of the Institute's fireplaces with the other. And that was not including the fact that her entire head and shoulders were now completely covered with green slime and Jell-O mold.

"God, was it really too much to ask for?" Scott half-wailed with torment as he grimaced at the numerous explosions, "Really, is it too much of a bad thing to pray that the Misfits never existed? Is that so wrong?"

…despite the screaming, fights, chaos, and numerous explosions and structural damage to property (which in the X-Men and Misfits' cases _can_ be considered as "normal").

"This is starting to become almost routine…" Ororo sighed in the greenhouse where she and Hank were tending to new and delicate papaya seedlings from the starting tray into their respective pots, "But surprisingly, it is almost welcome compared to dealing with the Heartless or having to endure numerous meetings with the Justice League and the Joes and the Titans on planning tactics to prepare for the Gathering. So how are things with the infirmary, Hank?"

"Ah, the usual, Ororo," Beast said as he tenderly patted the soil around one fragile seedling, "Jamie needed a place to hide from Ray and Kurt for hunting him down for eating the last of the cookies, Sam needed to be checked for a concussion twice already after crashing against the garage, Piotr needed a day to recover from food poisoning after trying Kitty's noodle-casserole, and I accidentally caught the ninja Jinx and Logan making out on one of the infirmary beds two nights ago. Needless to say, I wasn't readily pleased, even though Logan promised me full-access to his liquor supply if I managed to keep my mouth shut about it from the kids."

Beast added this little tidbit with a impish and naughty grin, and Ororo chuckled at the thought.

Hank then recalled, "Oh! There is one new piece of news. I had to perform a full-body MRI scan on Jake's body due to his requests recently and finished looking over the imaging results."

"Oh dear, nothing serious, I hope?" Ororo asked as her head perked up at this new news.

The blue-furred X-Adult shook his head as he clarified, "No, nothing really. The MRI scans for his heart and full body showed nothing abnormal, and as different as he is in species, I cannot see anything that requires reason for worry. Jake is perfectly healthy."

Hank then frowned to himself as he recalled that Jake asked Hank to use a MRI scan on his brain, and even that had nothing conclusive. It was suddenly odd that Razor would become a hypochondriac as of late, especially since he was the youngest of the staff and should have been the last one to worry about his state of health. But he was broken out of his deep thought when there was a sudden crashing noise, and the furry X-Man looked up to see the broken remains of a clay pot containing a seedling that Storm had accidentally knocked over.

"Oh dear," Storm said worriedly as she carefully stooped down to gather the cracked and spilled remains of the seedling, but at the same time, Hank reached out for the baby plant too, and before they knew it, Hank and Ororo suddenly found themselves holding the clump of dirt and each other's hands. Hank's eyes widened before he coughed, and Ororo felt hot around her face.

This was certainly uncomfortable and inelegant to say the least.

And yet despite the embarrassment, neither of them truly attempted to release and detach their hands apart, even as they stood up with the seedling still resting in their palms. A few tense seconds passed, but neither Storm nor Beast dared to do anything; it was as if their brains had frozen. Beast swallowed as he realized this was as good as a chance as he could get. Storm never knew how torturous it was for him to be near her without being able to voice his feelings, but surely now was as excellent as a time as any.

And besides, surely Ororo knew of his feelings as well? Surely she had some sort of similar attractions to the erudite and intelligent Beast after so many months of working alongside each other? She couldn't possibly be that blind.

"Ororo…" murmured Beast, and Storm's heart nearly stopped as the blue-furred X-Man then finally let out from his dry throat, "Look…I know it's been chaotic and such what with teaching the students and running the Institute…but, now I really can't hold…I just wanted to say -"

"Surprise, Stormy! How ya' doing?" an oblivious Shipwreck said, popping up from apparently out of nowhere, startling the two X-Men out of their skins and completely ruining the moment altogether.

"SHIPWRECK!" bellowed Ororo and Hank simultaneously, their voices so loud, it actually caused vibrations in the glass panes of the greenhouse.

_Crack! **Kaboom!**_

"YEEEEEOOOOOOWWWW!" hollered Shipwreck as he madly dodged and strafed the shafts of lightning Ororo was flinging at him while flying in the air as well as the mad swipes with the shovel Hank kept trying to wield in order to bash the sailor's head with, "What'd I do? _What'd I do?_ All I did was say hi!"

"**_Darn you, Shipwreck!_**" Beast just bellowed and cursed with ire as he kept trying to brain the Joe.

At the same time, Justin was quietly avoiding all the general chaos (and had to flatten himself against the wall to avoid being run over by a whipped-cream-covered Sam and Jubilee as they chased after a laughing Xi and Rina who were both holding whipped-cream cans) when he stumbled upon the recreation room to see a morose and glum Jake sitting idly on the couch and watching a movie on the Sci-Fi Network. As Justin approached, he could see Jake's eyes were bloodshot and that the brown-furred kat was incredibly weary, fatigued even.

"Hey, Jake," Justin said softly, and Jake nearly jumped out of his fur and skin at the sentence before he relaxed as he realized it was Justin who spoke behind him. As much as Jake had to suppress the indication of pain in his heart, he managed a weak smile for he was genuinely pleased to see the Misfit.

"Hello, Justin," Razor said easily enough, but then he winced and clutched the middle of his torso right where his heart was, as if he was feeling something quite excruciating in his ribcage.

Damn, that pain again…

"Razor, are you all right?" Justin asked, vexed, "Do you need a doctor?"

"It's nothing," hissed Jake as the pain began to subside.

"Jake, it doesn't look like it. I can call Hank and orb you to the infirmary and - " began a flustered Justin, and Jake felt his frustration and annoyance perk up at the incessant and unwanted concern.

"It's nothing," Jake repeated, and this time, the kat was a bit harsher in his timbre than he would have liked, and Justin looked a little taken aback before he retreated a bit, scared that he might have angered his friend. Feeling regretful, Razor sighed before he tentatively placed a paw on the Misfit's shoulder.

"Really, I'm all right, kitten. I'm just…I had some trouble sleeping recently. It's nothing, I didn't mean to snap at you," Jake gently said, trying to soften the previous blow. Justin still looked unsure, but he bit his tongue.

"Um…you're welcome to join me if you want," Jake said, indicating with a nod of his head to the seat on the couch next to him, but before Justin could take up on the offer, someone else did with a bit of unwelcome intrusion.

"Don't mind if I do, Clawson," Blind Master said in a stubborn yet flippant tone, quickly seating himself on the seat next to the kat with one of the beers he swiped from the X-Men's fridge before Whitelighter could move.

"Uh…Blind Master, I think Jake meant…" but Justin's protest died when Gabriel shot him a look to be quiet, and meekly giving in, the Misfit teen just sat down on the couch, with the Joe ninja firmly positioning himself in between Jake and Justin as they watched the movie.

As uncomfortable as the situation was, the two realized that this was as much as Blind Master would allow without severe injuries, missing body parts, or a massive beat-down bequeathed to Razor on the Joe's behalf. And Razor didn't want to let Justin know that in no gentle terms that Blind Master and Allo took him aside in the past and told him that should Jake ever try even laying a claw on any part of their son's body in any inappropriate way, he would either find himself dead and quartered into multiple pieces or that they would just go the evilest route and hire Trinity to make Jake's life a living hell until the kat actually _wished_ he was dead.

In the study on the second floor of the X-Mansion, Rogue was idly typing on the computer when she felt two strong arms carefully envelop and wrap around her shoulders just so to not make any contact with her bare skin and hair before Remy's voice smoothly murmured behind her along with the hug, "_Cherie_ need some company, _no_?"

"No, swamp-rat…" Rogue growled dangerously, really not in the mood for this, but if anything, that answer just made the Cajun snuggle against her even more.

"Oh, come now, _chere_, Remy just want to make sure that everything is all right and wants to know if his Rogue wants to talk what's on her mind. Something is troubling you, right?" Remy asked, a bit of concern in his baritone timbre.

"Get yer hands off me, ya' plague-infested cheese-eater," growled Rogue as Remy continued nuzzling against her.

"Plague-infested, cheese eater? Hm…that's a new one," Remy smiled as he said it in jest, letting Rogue know that the insult didn't faze him at all. The brown-and-white haired girl then had to smile at last.

"I've actually gotten a chance to talk with Raptor from the Dinosaucers during that whole soccer-disaster," Rogue confessed, "And surprisingly enough, that black sharptooth can relate to being bugged day and night by an annoying swamp-rat who we just want to hurl against the wall…so of course we'd trade a few of our favorite insults to use on our respective annoyances."

"Annoyances? I'm flattered, _chere_. Normally, you'd call Remy 'a Cajun waste of life' or 'the biggest pain in the rear' when you're not calling him, 'swamp-rat'," Gambit drawled.

"Not really, Gumbo…I…I'm just worried, that's all."

"Worried, _chere_? About what?" Remy asked, his eyes growing solemn and serious.

"Take your pick, Cajun," sighed Rogue, "Everything is enough to cause us to get worried. Ever since that entire yahoo in San Francisco, the whole world's goin' ta' shambles due to all the hate and fear that's been rearing its ugly head. Raven from the Titans just e-mailed me about this dream she had recently that she discussed really well with the Titans and the other adults from the Institute and the Justice League, but if anything, it just seems to raise more questions than answers about this Gathering and Experiment 666. And she's really worried about it considerin' she thinks it's worse than Trigon, and you know _that's_ not a light statement. Add the fact that the entire population on the planet knows about magic existing and how they're going into a right snit over this and the fact that they now have things other than mutants, aliens and the Heartless to worry about, all sorts of violence and hate groups and ruckus and panic has been occurring everywhere, up to the point where I actually missed it when it was_ only_ fear and mistrust for mutants specifically."

"Remy have to admit that is bad," Gambit conceded.

"And that we haven't heard anything from those creeps in the Organization or the fact that despite our rigorous training in the Danger Room thanks to our resident and paranoid Goggle-Head we still don't have a sure-fire way to deal with these Heartless, it's enough to make us wonder if we even have a hope left or even a future in the first place," Rogue said.

There was a pause, and despite wanting to maintain her cold impassiveness, Rogue could secretly admit that she wanted nothing more than this, to feel Gambit holding her and hugging her as best as he could despite her mutation. Despite the defensive walls she placed around her emotions, it felt…good.

Rogue then added with some afterthought, "It's funny ta' see how this kinda escapes everyone else's attention at some point despite the daily reminders. There are times I just forget about the possible Gathering of Twilight and keeping wishing and hoping that maybe Irene will come back to contact me since she knows I miss her and that she would want to spend some time in peace before the Organization try to release the Heartless on Earth. Dana from the Slayers said that things are goin' well and that more and more girls are being brought to the Watcher's Council and that she's now viewed as one of the 'elder' Slayers, second to Buffy and Faith because of her bravery and skills she's shown in San Francisco. She confessed that it's a new experience, ta' be viewed as a role model, and she hopes she can help these new girls in any way she can. And, look at Toad and Althea: they're both planning for a wedding that may not ever happen, not if the Heartless destroy the world thanks to that Galatea clone and the Nexus."

There was another pause before Rogue sighed and leaned backwards slightly to rest her back against Remy's body.

"I guess I'm depressed that things are slightly better than when I first joined Mystique and the Brotherhood, and now that things are kinda tolerable, I might end up saying goodbye to everything…including you, swamp-rat," the teen girl admitted softly. This was one of the few instances she ever allowed herself to be emotionally vulnerable like this.

Remy grinned ever so mischievously as he snuggled against the goth girl, remarking, "Aw…Remy know you can't resist lovin' the Cajun."

"I gave you an inch, dumb-ass," Rogue retorted, rolling her eyes, "Don't make a mile outta it."

"And Remy will take that inch, _mi amor_."

"I suppose better to have a hug than a marriage proposal like Althea and Toad, especially since I know that you're not ready for that sort of commitment yet," the female adolescent sighed, accepting the fact that it would be many years (if they had any) before Remy would be openly all right with a life-long bond to her. And as impatient and annoyed and jealous she was, Rogue knew that it would be spiteful and selfish on her part to demand Remy for such a thing.

Remy inwardly winced while maintaining a game face. He was no fool in knowing how Rogue would react to his past…endeavor. But then again, what were the chances she would find out about Belladonna? The odds were most likely a million to one…

Meanwhile, Bobby was sulking moodily out on the veranda, letting the warm sunlight bathe his skin and clothes, though it did little to lessen and alleviate his bad mood. Already, after Jamie had spread word that Jubilee and Bobby had "broken up", he had been given nothing but pity parties and unwanted sympathies from various people on both the X-Men and Misfit teams, up to the point where Bobby didn't even bother trying to deny that he had feelings for Jubilee at that point and that he wasn't crushed (no one believed him).

Bobby thought darkly, _I swear, if I get one more person telling me that they feel sorry for me and asking if I feel all right for the umpteenth time, I am personally going to make a gigantic snowball and -_

"Are you all right, Bobby? You seem sort of broody today," a gentle and familiar voice rang softly behind him, and his heart leaping up to his throat, Bobby turned to see that it was the gentle and compassionate Lina standing next to him, worry and concern sparkling in her green eyes. And not too far off was a rather put-off and frowning Fred, almost antsy.

"I'm fine, Lina," Bobby said, trying his best to maintain the irritation out of his voice.

"Well, I just…well, I wanted to say that if you need someone to talk to, me and Fred will be here should you ever want. Just because we're Misfits doesn't mean we aren't worried," Lina offered, and really, she was concerned about Bobby, feeling that deep down, he was really taking the break-up with Jubilee pretty hard ever since she returned from San Francisco. Bobby smiled; it was always a treat to have Lina fawn over him like this, and he really wished she would develop her feelings past friendship over his sake.

"C'mon, Lina," Fred pleaded in the nearest to a whine he could make, already impatient and not wanting Bobby to be any closer to Lina than he wanted (and really, he wished Lina could wise up and realize that Bobby secretly had a crush on her), "Iceman says he's fine, and I want to get to the biker bar since it's nearly lunchtime. Bobby said he's feeling all right, so there's no need to linger here and ruin our lunch date, considering we rarely eat out alone together anymore since the Nexus incident…"

It was then that Bobby's mind came up with a devious idea.

A really, _really_ devious idea.

"Well, actually, I **do** kinda need someone to talk to," Bobby admitted, playing it for all it was worth, as he sullenly appeared downcast and glum as he stared at the floor, "I mean, it kinda still hurts, you know, even though I'm trying to not make such a big deal about it…"

Lina's face softened as she felt her heart go out to her friend and she replied as she sat along the veranda next to Iceman, "Oh…I see. Wow, I didn't realize that it still hurts, Bobby. How…how do you feel?"

"Lina!" pleaded Fred, not liking where this was going (and he secretly hoped that this could be resolved as fast as humanly possible), "C'mon! I'm hungry! Bobby'll be all right!"

"Fred's right," Bobby sighed, trying to play the "sincere thoughtfulness" shtick, "I mean, you two obviously planned for this, and it'll be really selfish of me to keep Fred waiting since it's hard enough for us to go out to that biker bar I hear so much about, even though I've never tried it or their so-called infamous hot-wings…"

"You never tried it?" Lina asked, surprised.

"I heard it was good from Sam and Toad, but nah, after all the general insanity and me trying to deal with being dumped, I haven't really had much of a desire to go out really. Not much of a reason to celebrate much with the end of the world coming and all. I dunno, I guess I feel kinda out of it lately," Bobby sighed, looking depressed.

Lina then had a thoughtful look on her face before she turned to Blob with a pleading and suggestive look (and Fred, to his horror, **knew** what she was going to ask before she even opened her mouth).

_Oh no, oh no, oh no, no, no_, Fred inwardly begged in his mind, _Please God, don't let her ask what I think Lina's gonna ask! Please I'll do anything! **Anything!** This is one of the few times I can have a peaceful date with Lina! I'll do anything if you don't have her ask - !_

"Fred…can't we let Bobby come with us?" she pleaded, "C'mon, Bobby's so down lately, and it would really help if…well, he got out of the Mansion every once in a while. Fred, he's our friend and we can't let him wallow in self-pity like this! And we're teleporting there and the biker bar's mutant-friendly, so we're not going to be in any danger. Please?"

_Score_, inwardly Bobby cheered and whooped happily to himself.

Blob looked absolutely horrified, his body and eyebrow twitching ever so slightly and his head swimming. Every fiber, every part of his body wanted to say no, but at risk of looking like a completely thoughtless and inconsiderate jerk right then and there…

Damn it, he hated it when Lina made the Bambi-eyes.

With great restraint and self-control as Fred could muster, Blob gritted his teeth and said in as calm and cordial as he could, "Bobby…would you like to have lunch with us at the biker bar?"

He hoped to God that Iceman would take the hint that this lunch was really intended to be private between himself and Lina and turn the offer down.

"Great! And you don't have to worry about treating me! I've got some money in my wallet, so I can pay for my own lunch! And yeah, it's great to have some time with you guys! I could really use some time with friends outside the mansion who aren't constantly bugging me like Jamie or Tabby! And Sam told me this place has awesome hot wings!" Bobby said eagerly.

Apparently, this was Fate's way of telling Fred the phrase "no such luck".

At the same time, Kitty was busy trying her best to wipe her face clean of the soot and ink from the booby-trap Trinity inflicted on her before she gave up in tearful frustration at seeing how the towel wasn't doing much good in erasing the black residue on her face.

"Ugh, like, I totally **hate** it when the Misfits come here!" Kitty practically wailed to herself in impatient anger as she marched up towards the nearest bathroom, ready for a long shower and scrub-down, immense thoughts of revenge and dark retribution running through her head. But then she was broken out of her reverie when she nearly stumbled into Lance, almost plowing right into him and nearly falling from being so taken aback.

"Kitty…" Lance whispered, trying his best to grin as he caught her before she could fall flat on her butt, and for a moment, Kitty didn't even mind the soot as she realized she was being firmly held by Avalanche's strong arms. But then she realized that he was holding her far too long for her liking and she awkwardly and nervously backed off before making her way towards the bathroom.

"Um…I'm sorry for running into you like that. I…I have to clean up," she said lamely over her shoulder.

"Uh…no problem, Kit-Kat. And if you want help, Kitty…" Lance began, nearly stammering with the ball of tight nervousness and excitement, but at the mention of his pet name for her (though in Lance's defense, it was merely a slip by accident), Shadowcat felt her defenses spring up.

"Lance, stop," she said brusquely, knowing what this was leading to.

"I…no, don't think I'm meaning anything perverted or anything! I…I just meant…"

"Lance, like stop…**please**," Kitty said strongly, already now starting to get a little irritated, and Lance's face fell at the hard fatigue and exasperation in her tone. Kitty looked at the Misfit before her eyes softened and she went to the bathroom in order to shower. But before she closed and locked the door, she gave Lance a final look of pity.

"I like made my choice, Lance. Go away…_please_."

Lance looked a little hurt and downcast about this, but realizing that he was now overstepping his boundaries, the brown-haired teenager turned and walked away, hands in his pockets and his shoulders hunched.

As much as he wanted to deny it, Avalanche realized that Kitty had a point, and he had no right to criticize or linger around her for it.

Meanwhile, Roadblock was outside in the gardens of the Institute, hoping to get out of the screaming and occasional rampage and destruction inside when he spotted Professor Xavier out on the wooden pergola overlooking the ocean-side view of the X-Mansion, his back to the Joe soldier and apparently, deep in thought. Roadblock felt perhaps he could provide the Professor some company, especially now during these times.

_You are correct in that assumption, Roadblock. I daresay I could use a person to talk to who is not amongst my staff or students_, the Professor answered in a gentle tone telepathically in Roadblock's head, causing the African-American to step back a bit in surprise before he relaxed.

"Damn, I never get used to you doing that," Marvin said with some amusement as he stepped up to the gazebo. The Professor smirked as he continued to rest his chin against his clasped hands in front of him, forming a steeple while his elbows rested on the handlebars of his wheelchair.

"If it gives you any peace of mind, I try to refrain from reading and telepathically contact any mind from G.I. Joe as much as possible. After viewing the past of Cooper's past, I'm not sure I can retain my sanity and well-being much longer if I even so much as glimpse the psyche from any Misfit handler, _especially_ Shipwreck who I am grateful he's naturally resistant," the bald man murmured.

"Speaking of which, Cover Girl, Low Light and Spirit will make sure that the kids help clean up their messes this time, especially since Alfred comes back from the manor tomorrow, and the last thing Cover Girl and the others want is to burden good ol' Alfred with more chores when he does his term over at the Institute," Roadblock said, trying to ease the worry over the school's state as he leaned against one of the wooden pillars of the wooden structure. He had to admit, after so many strenuous battles and grating events, it was sort of nice to converse outside, away from the general insanity of the mansion, and by the peaceful sea.

The Professor actually gave the Joe warrior a curious look.

"No sprouting off any rhymes and verses this time?"

Roadblock exhaled through his nose before he answered, "Not right now, no, especially after everything that's happened so far, I really can't say today is a day I can really find the heart to say a verse or two. And I can guess that after the messes and bedlam you have to go through with your students here in Bayville alone with the anti-mutant feelings of the town, you can probably relate."

"How are things at the Pit?" the Professor asked with an amused tone, already picturing tales of chaos and insanity.

"Giles and the Watcher's Council are generally pleased with how the Slayers are adapting to the training at the Pit, and Wood wanted me to tell you that the Danger Room plans Cyclops gave Kennedy, Willow, and Faith were a big help, especially since the Slayers now have their own magically-enhanced Danger Room to help prepare them in their fighting and martial techniques and exercise regimens both at the academy in London and at the Ghostbusters headquarters in New York. And of course, these Slayer girls can eat all day like bottomless pits, so Giles and Wood are especially grateful that the Pit can feed all of them each time they come to visit."

"_Ghostbusters?_" Xavier asked, his face scrunching a bit in confusion at the unfamiliar term (though he knew of their reputation in the past), and Roadblock realized why.

"Oh yeah, that's right, you haven't met them or their head, Jenny Calendar, yet," the machine-gunner remarked before he explained, "Apparently, the Ghostbusters are also helping out with the Gathering of Twilight, and some of the Slayers and the Scoobies along with the Charmed Ones joined up as full-fledged members to help recruit people of various talents in the paranormal and the magical to help unite a force to fight against the Heartless and well as some of the things that could be sent our way via Wolfram and Hart."

"Why haven't they attended the meetings along with the Charmed Ones and the Slayers that fought in San Francisco?" Professor X asked.

"They've been busy finding recruits to help us in the Gathering of Twilight, and that alone isn't an easy task considering that these people are going to all corners of the world to gather these allies while trying to maintain a low enough profile from Wolfram and Hart's spies. And from what Jenny Calendar has told Hawk via their video conferences, they'll be a huge help should the Organization be as ruthless as Leomon says they are."

"That would be some good news, especially with the rate things are going for us," Xavier said, and Roadblock could actually discern the mentor's voice growing heavier and more somnolent, as if weighed by an incredible burden

"Problems?" Roadblock asked, raising one eyebrow.

Xavier cast his eyes downward before he answered, "In a way, yes, and not just on my part."

He exhaled before he revealed the recent secret, one he hadn't even mentioned to Wolverine, Beast, Storm, and Razor as of yet.

"The Institute has fallen on some hard times as of late, Marvin. I got a call from my personal lawyers and financial investors that manage the accounts and stock-holdings that have existed in my family and that help fund the expenses of maintaining the school. Needless to say, they all resigned, effective immediately, and have told me none too gently that they have had enough. As of now, all monetary support from my family's accounts has been permanently cut."

Roadblock's eyes widened as he took in what the Professor told him before the Joe realized what it meant.

"You mean…you no longer have as much money as before for the Institute?" the soldier asked.

"To clarify…I have none, or at least, none from my own family accounts that I have used before in the past. So in regarding the numerous lawsuits besieging the Institute as well as the expenses, I'm being forced away from the very nest eggs I have established though my family's fortune after many years of arduous labor and planning."

Roadblock managed to find his voice as he calmly asked from his rational standpoint, "But your lawyers and investors and the accountants that manage all your stuff…why did they just suddenly take up and leave? They didn't mind working for you when the X-Men were exposed and considering that you're always paying them extra for overtime, I would have thought that being your legal and financial staff would have been a sweet deal for them. So why did they just drop you? And why can't you access the savings accounts that you've had in your family? There has to be money still in there that you can use."

"Unfortunately, I already have a good idea of why this sudden turn of unfortunate events happened. I had contacted Hawk who has promised complete confidentiality as he did some digging to reveal that all the assets and funds my family has saved and managed have been frozen and liquidated so that I no longer had any access to them and they money they contained. And all the liquidated funds were bounced along so many banks and investments that it would take fifty years alone to even track all of their paths. But Hawk discovered, to confirm my suspicions, that most of the pathways pointed directly to Shaw Industries and a certain Massachusetts Academy run by a Ms. Emma Frost."

Shaw Industries? Emma Frost? Roadblock grimaced.

"The Hellfire Club was behind that, weren't they?"

"Yes, and though this attack wasn't physical or directly confronting, it is still damaging nonetheless."

Roadblock realized this was true; the X-Men and Xavier's Institute couldn't function for long without financial support due to the number of damages and lawsuits and costs that pestered them day in and day out.

"Xavier…I know this would be leaning on the side of wrong, but…why can't you just simply use your telepathic powers to give these lawyers and investors…a little 'nudge' to stick with the Institute and return everything back to you and help manage the lawsuits sent to you every day?"

Xavier made a wry face as he reminded, "You know I don't do that; it's against my code to meddle and alter minds and memories unless necessary and to save a person's life, even if it was for a good cause. Though in this case, the temptation is rather difficult to bear. And besides, even if I wished to, there's no point. I could detect powerful mental blocks placed inside my lawyers and investors' minds without their conscious awareness, and thus, I couldn't telepathically convince them even if I wished to unless I wanted to risk their lives in doing so."

"They have mental blocks now?" Roadblock asked incredulously, not sure if he heard right.

Xavier frowned as he clarified, "Emma Frost's handiwork, apparently. And before you ask why none of the other X-Men have mentioned it, it is because I haven't told them. Not even Logan knows, though I have no doubt that this would be revealed soon enough considering secrets do not remain hidden very long amongst the teenagers."

Roadblock was stunned, more so at how the Professor could take this sort of crap lying down rather than at the fact that he was hiding it from the other X-Men or that he trusted Roadblock enough to confide in him with it.

"Uh…Professor…why…?"

"Am I telling you and Hawk and not my staff and students right now?" the Professor finished for the Joe before he said, "One, you were chosen as the leader and head handler of the Misfit parents for a reason: when requested and when important, _you know when to keep a secret_. Second…it was really for my emotional relief to need to confess this to someone who would not go into an unnecessary panic and cause even more stress amongst the school. Ororo would get flustered and Logan will probably attempt to claw and hunt down the members of the Inner Circle himself. I do not wish to allow this to ruin whatever peace and contentment the students and fellow coworkers have left, especially after all the hardships we have endured."

"Damn, they're really fighting dirty," muttered Marvin darkly, frowning. Fighting directly hand-to-hand in a battlefield was one thing, but fighting subtle yet painful ways the Hellfire Club was making life in general very difficult was another different grievance altogether.

After some thought, Roadblock coughed and said gently, "Uh…Xavier? Look, if it will help, I'm sure General Hawk can call a few favors from the government to allow us to give you a grant - "

The Professor immediately stopped it by holding up his hand.

"I thank you for trying to rise to the challenge, Marvin, but there is no need. One, you do not need to worry about the financial backing of the Institute for Warren Worthington has already contacted me directly about this situation. He managed to get wind of it since my investors have ties to the same firms that Worthington Industries utilizes for their corporate plans, and since he was extremely concerned and a mutant himself, he volunteered to help fund almost the entirety of the Institute with his family's business help, though I insisted that it only be temporary while I help discover ways to help unfreeze the accounts the Hellfire Club and their associates have seized."

"Will it be enough?" Roadblock asked.

"Enough to get by until the Heartless mess is thoroughly dealt with once and for all," the Professor said (though from the tone of his voice, he didn't sound so sure), "And second, despite the generosity of your offer and despite that I know that Hawk and the Joes are noble enough, I'm against borrowing and owing a debt to the American military, especially since people such as Eddington and some of the Jugglers would be willing to use that favor against my X-Men and the school."

Roadblock silently had to agree. Despite their best intentions and the fact that the Joes could be confidential when needed, secrets were extremely difficult to maintain in the military, especially from the wrong people of higher rank and authority. And since Eddington and a few others in various government positions were probably in the Hellfire's pocket, having Xavier request the Joes for help financially would give the Inner Circle another opportunity to stick it to them (and perhaps the Joes at the same time as well).

"And third…I won't accept charity," the Professor explained.

Roadblock felt a bit annoyed.

"It wouldn't be charity as opposed to downright neighborly, especially since we do help each other when the stakes are down."

"Asking for help with protecting the school and the students is one thing, but asking for money is something else. I had a hard enough time with trying to refuse Warren before he threatened to expose himself as a mutant to his oblivious circle of family and friends and thus endangering himself and his safety if I chose to refuse his offer again. Apparently, though Warren's actions were foolish to say the least, at least secretly accepting fund from his business and from a fellow mutant is easier for my pride to handle. Please don't be offended, Roadblock, in refusing you for I appreciate it and I know you meant well."

"As much as I don't understand it, Professor, I'll respect your decision and secrets either way."

"Good," smiled Xavier, feeling much better, "But unfortunately, I need to see if Warren additionally has a team of capable legal representatives to handle the growing pile of lawsuits being sent to us from all four corners of the globe."

A light bulb immediately came into the African American's head.

"Ah, I think that's when we can help out with _that_ one, Professor," Roadblock broke in strongly, "And before you remind me that you don't accept charity, this isn't charity on the account that you're not accepting money from us or the military. But General Hawk and the Joes have a very impressive crowd of lawyers who actually can be trusted with our secrets, especially since these are people who can stare at the Supreme Court and the Jugglers in the face and **not** lose any nerve. Trust us, let's just say the Joes have had their shares of strange and confidential lawsuits in the past, _especially_ with Trinity and Shipwreck, and leave it at that. But this isn't like accepting anything monetary, and having our lawyers help out the school and the X-Men isn't anything that compromises your integrity and pride…and plus, let's face it: how long can you guys survive without lawyers?"

Xavier looked torn, teetering on the border between refusal and realizing the wisdom in the Joe's words. Needing to drive the point home, Roadblock knelt down and looked directly into Xavier's eyes at the same level before establishing his case.

"Professor Xavier, if you're not going to accept it for yourself or for the students and the X-Men, then accept it for our sake cause you know it wouldn't suit well with us Joes to just stand by and do nothing. And if anything, if you refuse this, we'd just do it behind your back anyway since we don't take 'no' for an answer in something like this, so you might as well go with the flow and not fight the inevitable."

After a long silence, Xavier's lip twitched upwards.

"When can they start?" Xavier chuckled weakly.

"Depends, did you need them yesterday or today?" Roadblock returned with a small joke.

"Yesterday," Xavier answered, and Roadblock grimaced.

"That bad, huh?"

"As I previously mentioned before, Roadblock, there was a reason I wished to come outside and clear my head…to say this has been worrisome would be an understatement."

"Something tells me that this is only going to be the beginning of the trouble to come," Roadblock pointed out, frowning, "As bad as things are, the Hellfire Club and the Organization can make things a lot worse for us and our friends. This hasn't even _begun_ to be a living hell as of yet."

"I fear you are right, Roadblock," Xavier sighed, gazing once again at the ocean shimmering in the sunlight, "And only God knows **how** much worse it shall get."

---

Deep in their headquarters in between the Realm of Darkness and the Realm of Light, in the existence of nothingness, there they sat, the prestigious members of the Organization Thirteen, all of them regally atop tall thrones of intricately carved white marble and silver of various heights, symbolizing their rank in the mysterious and evil group plotting the end of the Earth and all its residents and beyond.

And seated quite majestically in an imposing manner on the highest throne was the Superior, still hooded in his black cloak and hiding his identity and face from the world, but apparently from his demeanor and mannerisms, he couldn't be more at ease with his fellow subjects.

After all, everything was going to plan.

"And what is the status of the projects from Wolfram and Hart along with Cadmus?" the leader of the Thirteenth Order asked in his husky, bass voice while thoughtfully rubbing his shadowed chin with one hand.

"The firm is being rebuilt as we speak, and it shall be fully constructed and completed by the time the Gathering approaches," Saix replied, his scarred and crisscrossed face unusually calm.

"And thanks to Cadmus' connections, Hamilton and Eiling have been able to infiltrate Cobra and maintain a discreet way to obtain the groups genetic resources for both their experiments and ours. Although I may point out, my Superior, that Cobra Commander and his band, though at times incompetent, can be potentially dangerous should they ever discover the destructive powers of the Keyblade and the Heartless and find a way to ruin things with Cadmus and the Hellfire Club," Xaldin highlighted.

The Superior waved off with a nonchalant brush of his hand, "They are of no real importance, and the more chaos they cause for the X-Men and the Misfits, the better I daresay. And let us not neglect the obvious assumption that none of their men and women is pure and powerful enough in heart to ever possibly wield the Keyblade or the Chalice."

"What about the Talismans? You do realize that we have no way of discovering who holds them, and not even our scrying methods with the Oracle have truly revealed anything promising," Xigbar remarked.

"True, but we not need to worry about that," Zexion chuckled evilly, obviously relishing the memories of desecration and demise, "Only the Priests of Twilight can wield the power of the three Talismans, and if you recall correctly, we managed to murder one of the priests at the last occurrence of the Gathering. Those fools will never be able to re-establish the Trinity…"

"Still, it would be best to keep an eye out on the numerous heroes that have managed to put up an impressive defense against the forces we have sent to probe and ruin Earth. It would make sense that should the Talismans and the Keyblade ever show, it would be directly linked to someone from G.I Joe, the Justice League, the mutant children, the Titans, or the Slayers," the Superior commanded.

"And let's not forget that damned dog sent to find the Chosen One to wield the Keyblade," muttered Luxord, "And apparently, we cannot locate the mutt as well with our scrying sessions."

"It shouldn't come of any surprise, really," Demyx said, scoffing, "If you remember who Pluto's master is, then it would make sense that not even our most powerful abilities can effectively overcome the spells placed to protect that little fleabag. Still, it shouldn't be such a bad thing. Even if the dog manages to find a wielder appropriate enough, they'll unknowingly work to our advantage."

"Too bad not all of us are as willing to become complete beings," sneered Larxene as she looked at the silent thirteenth member of the Order, nervously sitting inconspicuously in his throne and not even bothering to voice his opinion, "I thought the Superior said you actually had some uses for the Gathering. Don't tell me you're starting to have feelings for those pitiful wimps from the X-Men and Misfits?"

"It really shouldn't be of any surprise considering **who** he was created from," Marluxia added snidely, but a harsh and defensively protective growl from the red-haired Axel cut off the assassin irately.

"Leave him alone…**_or else_**," Axel growled, summoning his fire chakram from thin air and ready to hurl it directly at Marluxia's neck.

"Enough," commanded the Superior, "And how goes the first experimentations, Vexen? Is it as promising as the Hellfire Club as predicted in our warfare against the mutants?"

"Yes, I must admit, the scientists and ingenuity of Wolfram and Hart's paranormal resources and in the Cadmus group have been practically astounding, almost as brilliant as anything in my work. With the samples of the X-Gene we have been able to obtain from Cobra's reserves and with Cadmus' assistance, we have already the first specimen of the pods ready for deployment and infiltration," Vexen said, thoroughly pleased and eager to see how this would turn out.

"And what number of experiments are we at now?" the Superior asked.

Lexaeus answered, "We are currently at two-hundred and thirty-four, my Liege, and as Vexen has stated, the first of the perfect experiments is ready for use."

"Then it is settled and our plans are well under way against the X-Men, the Misfits, G.I. Joe and their pathetic band of allies and heroes," the Superior finished in a cold and pitiless tone, "Let us commence the path to the Gathering of Twilight, starting with the beginning of the Infection…"

---

Meanwhile, the aforementioned golden hound was wearily crossing and swimming though a fast-paced stream, doing its best to keep its head above the rapid current and waters while valiantly making headway towards the headquarters of G.I. Joe.

It wouldn't be much longer…

**Author's Notes: Next week, in the chapter "Pressure Builds", we see more of the Hellfire Club and Cadmus' devious plotting while the New Mutants see some rather disturbing and unwelcome from Lex Luthor. But as slowly as things develop behind the heroes backs, things reach to a lower point for Jake. Until next Friday, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for reading, and constructive criticisms are welcome!**


	3. Pressure Builds

**Author's Notes: Wow, I'm really picking up on the reviews! Thank you all so much for telling me that this story appeals to you (despite the craziness at bringing so many universes)! Special thanks to Red Witch, asha-man72, Theodore Hawkwood, Sparky Genocide, Doza, L1071E, NebulaBelt, GothikStrawberry, Smeesnoops, Xenomorph666, Angelus-alvus, and Kurei for the gracious and appreciated reviews! That said, enjoy this chapter!**

**CHAPTER 3: Pressure Builds**

"Uh…you guys?" Jamie piped up from the TV and recreational room of the X-Mansion where he was watching TV while munching on some popcorn, "There's some bad news on the TV…"

"What is it, Jamie? Magneto and the Acolytes are attacking again?" Sam asked as he and the rest of the New Mutants half-ran, half-ambled up towards the television screen along with Jean and Scott.

"I wish…" groaned Jamie as he pointed at the screen and the person who was starting to make an address to the nation from Washington D.C, live as a televised event.

It was Lex Luthor.

"Oh great," muttered Tabitha, "Apparently, TV really _does_ let any idiot have some screen time! Normally, I'd ask for a barf bag, but in Luthor's case, I'd say it goes above and beyond mere nausea."

"Why is this trouble?" Ray asked as he and the rest of the group seated themselves on and around the couch alongside young Multiple, "So Lex Luthor's just making some boring and stuffy address on TV as part of his campaign trail to run for President. Just change the channel, squirt."

"I tried, but it's practically on every one, and I think it's trouble enough, especially if what Trinity told me is true…" murmured Jamie as he increased the volume of the stereo.

"Why? What did Trinity tell you?" Roberto asked, surprised. Normally, Daria, Quinn, and Brittany would pester Jamie to no ends in their efforts to snare his affections (or just snare him, period).

"Luthor's gaining a lot of support in his bid for the presidential race, and considering the Hellfire Club is financing his campaign, this isn't going to be good for any of us."

"I'll bet Boy Scout isn't too happy about this one," Tabitha commented as she eyed the image of Luthor with distaste, referring to the nickname of Superman (which, unsurprisingly, irritated Kal-El to no ends considering that it was Supergirl who told Tabitha about that moniker).

"He isn't," Jean remarked, remembering her talks with Batgirl and Supergirl, "And to tell you the truth, I'm beginning to get the suspicion that Luthor is really doing this to thumb his nose at the Justice League…and at us in general. And if he should gain national support, it'll be so much better for him and the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle, unfortunately."

"**_Shhhh!_** Just listen!" Jamie finished warningly as the powerful and influential bald billionaire tycoon began his speech in front of millions of Americans.

"_Mr. Speaker, Mr. President and Vice President, members of Congress, and distinguished and fellow human citizens of the United States and of the planet, Earth,_"Luthor began in his deep and smooth voice (though it rarely escaped anyone's attention on the emphasis he placed on the word "human"),"_Tonight, I ask the House and the Senate and all good and upstanding fellow humans of society to take heed to my words to protect and serve this country should I be elected as the next President of the United States._"

"Like anyone is going to be dumb enough to vote for this greenhorn," Sam spat, his words laced with bile.

"_My fellow citizens, I come to you to highlight a problem that threatens our very way of life and endangers this planet for its true inhabitants. We are at war, plain and simple. We'd like to ignore that ugly truth and go under the delusion that everything may turn out fine and well should we ever attempt to fantasize meaningless ideals of co-existence, peace, and sharing our precious resources for those that are less deserving. Our founding fathers have meant this country to be a land of opportunity and freedom from troubles and persecution from those that wish to condemn our virtues and philosophies, but they in no way meant it as an invitation for greedy and presumptuous freaks of nature to walk all over our backs and stomp innocent humans to the ground._"

"And here we go…" groaned Roberto.

"Tabby, about that barf bag you mentioned earlier…" Ray sighed, grimacing, "Right now, I think **_I'm_ **gonna need it."

"_Some of you may think that I am hypocritical to state how I can freely discriminate against beings for simply being different, and I understand your views of trying to be fair and equal to all people who wish to live on our planet in peace. However, there can be nothing peaceful about integrating our lifestyles and laws and hard-earned rights with those who are a potential threat to all men, women, and children, whether they be mutant, alien, or of supernatural origin. I beseech all of you to open your eyes and realize that we cannot welcome these dredges and tumors of society with respectable people such as you and me._"

"Pot, kettle, black…" muttered Jubilee with a dark look.

Over at Gotham City, at the skyscraper-headquarters of the police department…

"Does anyone else see the irony in Luthor naming his bigotry group the '_Humanitarians_'?" Detective Renee Montoya asked as she, Harvey Bullock, Barbara Gordon, Maggie Sawyer from Metropolis, and Commissioner Gordon watched on in the commissioner's office on a small television set.

"If there was any proof I needed on why I hate and why I'm cynical of politics, **this** would be it," Gordon sighed, knowing that there was hardly anything that could be done about this turn of events but to deal with it as best as they could without bending over.

"As much as I agree with Baldy about Bats and vigilante busybodies, if _this_ moron's voted as President, I'm packin' up and movin' to Canada," Bullock muttered.

Luthor's voice then grew harder and colder as he said with building fervor, "_For too long, we've endured the abuse and destruction caused by all those invaders and blights and those that supported them at our own expense! No one bothers to remember that Superman himself once allied with the residents of Apokolips that nearly devastated my fair city of Metropolis, and yet those pitiful liberals at the Daily Planet and their fans in the Metropolis SPU continue to do nothing but praise and applaud him as a God! Superman and his extraterrestrial friends are nothing but invaders, pure and simple, with no thought or consideration to the residents of Earth who were here first and have the right to claim this planet as ours and not theirs to live in. This planet may be in danger, but it will be in even more danger by integrating with life from outer space and giving those who have no right to come to our soil and desecrate it! Remember the Imperium, Lobo, Zod and Mala, the Triceratons, Brainiac, and Darkseid along with the Apokolips and you will see that **all** extraterrestrials are a greater threat rather than a benefit. And those that choose to side with them such as the nefarious Batman and the Flash are no better._"

"Gee, _this_ part sounds familiar…" Jamie said with an accusing frown as he glared at Ray who caught the look of blame and allegation.

"Hey, we just got attacked by the Furies from Apokolips, so you can't blame me for being anti-alien at the time, Jamie! And besides, I'm over it now! Ever since Starfire saved my life, I don't have any bias against guys from other planets!" Bezerker crossly retorted.

Meanwhile, over at Metropolis…

At the Daily Planet, the editor-in-chief, Perry White, was watching this coverage with his fellow employees, including a rather heated Lois Lane and an equally offended Jimmy Olsen.

"What a prick," Jimmy muttered.

"Let's not turn this into a bash-fest, Jimmy," Perry sighed with fatigue, "As reporters for the truth, we just turn the other cheek and carry on regardless of the number of complaints and insults thrown our way. Just ignore this and take the higher road."

"**Screw** the higher road," rumbled Lois, her purple eyes flashing dangerously, "I'll gladly resign from my post if I could have five minutes alone with that bigoted, opportunistic, lying creep…"

Back at Xavier's Institute for the Gifted, the New Mutants along with Jean and Scott continued watching with morbid (and revolted) interest…

"_And let us not also forget the many brave men and women whose lives were sacrificed all in the name of those irresponsible and reckless witches, Wiccans, Watchers, and the arrogant girls known as the vampire slayers. Thanks to their meddling, vampires and demons now run amok without fear of exposure and revealing their secrets to the hysterical and innocent public, secrets that were blindly and idiotically cast out when the Charmed Ones along with their magical allies opened Pandora's Box. Magic may have existed since the dawn of time and in countless histories, so yes, it is hardly anything new and overwhelming in retrospect. Yet any witch and wizard and Slayer can be just as dangerous, murderous, and vicious as any mutant terrorist and alien. Yes, my fellow countrymen: magic and the paranormal is something to be feared, and we must not ever trust it nor welcome it as a part of life and the natural. If we are to survive this, we must snuff out anything supernatural once and for all, permanently._"

"Gee, funny how this creep didn't seem to mention the fact that it was Agent Keyes and Inspector Sheridan who exposed the Charmed Ones and how it was Lexcorp who sold that footage to all TV stations around the world," Jubilee growled, exhaling loudly through her nose in anger.

"And the problem is people are going to be too mad and hysterical and overemotional to even think about that part rationally. All this talk from Luthor is just going to rile them up, and it'll be in his favor," Sam mused.

Meanwhile, over at the Lavadome, the Dinosaucers were watching this with much uneasiness. Luckily, Compy, ever the loud-mouthed, opinionated dinosaur, broke the tense silence as he glared at Allo and drawled rather waspishly.

"And you want us to actually try to make peace and make friends with jerks like these?"

"To be fair, Compy, not all humans are like Luthor," Plato scolded before he added with some afterthought, "Or Graydon Creed…or Reverend Stryker…or Major Cliffton…or General Eddington…or Agent Keyes…oh my, the list really does add up, doesn't it?"

"It **is** getting bad," Dimetro sighed, rubbing his eyes wearily, "It's as if we've left the troubles of our devastated home planet only to arrive in the middle of a war here on Earth in which we are regarded as part of the universal enemy."

Luthor continued his oration, feeling the growing surge of support from many who were watching him.

"_We must also not forget the threats to the human gene pool known as mutants. For too long, innocent and hardworking American citizens had to endure the repercussions of allowing the mutant vigilantes such as the X-Men or the Misfits to run around wild with absolutely no help from the officials above such as those unpatriotic traitors from G.I. Joe. Hear my words, you, the virtuous people of the American public: to not fight for the segregation and containment of the mutant threat, after the number of times they have flaunted their powers to satisfy their superiority complex, after the countless and massive incidents of destruction and skirmishes at cost to your tax dollars, and after realizing how they can poison the minds of all your children in their fantasy for peace, is nothing short of deviant and unorthodox. Patriotism is for protecting the rights of all humans and not the rights of mutants, alien, witches, and those that side with the Heartless! For all we know, the X-Men, Misfits, and their allies of abnormal and disturbed sympathizers and supporters are coercing with the Heartless in the first place. It is as good as their fault that we must face the possibility that our world is be devoured and overtaken by these creatures of darkness because no matter what, you cannot deny the fact that these psychotic mutants have always been in the middle of it._"

"Maybe because of the fact that you and the Hellfire Club and Organization creeps have been sending them to kill us in the first place, you buttwipe," Jubilee growled, starting to become more and more inflamed.

"I knew it!" griped Roberto, "He's blaming us because we're the easiest targets! And it'll be the best story that the general anti-mutant public will buy!"

Meanwhile, over at Jump City in the local pizzeria, the Teen Titans and Titans East were trying to enjoy a nice lunch of piping, hot pizza, but ever since the newscast of Luthor speaking from Washington D.C. was playing in the restaurant's TV, each and every one of the adolescents was starting to lose his or her appetite…

"He is worse than a clorbag varblernelk," Starfire fumed, her eyes now glowing emerald green, "He is worse that an vandgap cellkarnip. This Luthor is nothing more than a gamdhym rektolpaf drog'quicherbard!"

"Yeah, exactly!" Beast Boy chimed in automatically, nodding his full agreement. Cyborg gave his diminutive friend a rather odd look of disbelief.

"You even know what that means, Beast Boy?" the bionic teenager asked in his deep voice.

"Nah, but I know it's gotta be bad, right?" the green shape-shifter confessed.

Bumblebee remarked rather sourly, "Trust me, there aren't enough bad words for this situation…"

"_And except for a select few, there have been little politicians from all three parties who have done very little about this, despite the fact that these very threats encompass a larger issue the Republican, Democrat, Green, and the Independent parties should all address. Even the widely-known initiative referred to as the Mutant Registration Act can only go so far in ensuring the safety of our nation. Which is why I am proposing a fourth political party called the **Humanitarians**, a stand for humans, by humans, and solely for humans._"

"What?" gasped Jean, not sure if she heard right.

"A _fifth_ major political party?" Ray gasped, "But…but that's impossible! No one can just organize another party in the nation in a matter of months! Even _I_ know that it takes a lot of time, money, and paperwork and recognition from Capitol Hill!"

"**That's** the bad news that I mentioned before this address started, Ray," Jamie chipped in, wincing, "Apparently, Trinity found out that it's because the proposal for the Humanitarian Party is the main basis of his platform for the Presidential race…not to mention that he's gaining a lot of support for it **already**."

"Shhh! Quiet, I want to listen!" Scott ordered gently as the television blared the news to all fifty-two states of the nation.

Luthor finished, "_Our platform only focuses on one goal in mind, and that it the complete extermination and banishment of all things that are not human, those that are foreign to our planet and that are unnatural to the basics of biological life and human society. My duty, should I be elected President by the trust and judgment of the American human populace, is to make it my primary goal to ensure that these freaks and freak-lovers to do endanger the country and the world with their filth and philosophies. The Humanitarian Party shall focus on the annulment and disfranchisement of any and all individuals from the mutants, the alien, and the supernatural. For the mutant crisis, not only would I support the Mutant Registration Bill, but I also propose programs for herding all dangerous mutants and criminals into camps where they can be fully and safely contained, such as the Neverland Project which is making progress to be fully completed in the near future along with several brilliant projects regarding the Sentinel robots of Boliviar Trask and General Kincaid._"

"Oh boy," Scott murmured, his eyes wide, suddenly realizing how bad this was.

"Sentinels?" blurted our Jean, "And Trask? How on Earth did he ever manage to get a hold of that?"

Roberto then realized it as he exclaimed, "Of course! Remember when we fought against the Hellions and Slade and the Heartless when Trigon escaped? We **also** had to fight Sentinels, and since they were sent by the Hellfire Club and Luthor **is** in the Inner Circle, it would make sense that he has access to all their resources, including killer mutant robots!"

"And with the right specifications, Sentinels could _also_ be used to kill Slayers, witches, and aliens in the Justice League," Ray gasped, turning pale, "Yow…Trinity and Jamie are right; this isn't good! And knowing how there would be some major creeps who would want to jump on the bandwagon, not a lot of people are going to go up to Luthor's face and object to this, especially with _our_ past brushes with the government!"

"_And we are already discovering many ways to incapacitate the magical threats thanks to a new program that was generously supplied and funded by Lindsay McDonald of the Wolfram and Hart branch in Los Angeles, which is now being rebuilt to it's former glory regardless of a past terrorist attack by uncontrollable vampires and demons to the premises that endangered the entire city. Had it not been for the efforts of the Initiative, one of the programs I have managed to reinstate thanks to my connections, we at the Humanitarian Party show promise that we have nothing to fear from the demons, witches, and magical folk. And with their fervent studies and experimentation on any demons and monsters they capture, the Initiative will be more than prepared to handle any paranormal and mystical threat that endangers you, the American people. And unlike the Slayers and the Ghostbusters, the Initiative is human-run and would never stoop to the likes of those that feed on the fear and pain of innocents or Satanic powers._"

Ray gaped, his jaw dropping, "Wolfram and Hart? **_They're rebuilding the L.A branch?_**"

"No way! He's got to be kidding me!" Tabitha gasped, her hands to her mouth.

"Yow," blinked Sam, struck dumb, "Not good, definitely **not** good."

"Actually, **that** one's no surprise. Vi from the Slayers wrote to me about that one recently!" Amara said.

"Geez," Roberto gulped, "**_Experimentation on demons and supernatural baddies?_ **It sounds like the Initiative hasn't changed one bit from what the Slayers told us about them!"

Meanwhile, in New York…

At the Ghostbusters Headquarters, Quentin Blud, Jenny Calendar, and the members of the original and Extreme Ghostbusters (bar the new recruits) were watching this with distaste and growing disgust. All of them, Toby, Egon, Ray, Peter, Janine, Louis, Winston, Kylie, Eduardo, Roland, and Garret were simply glowering at the image of Luthor.

"What a pile of bullshit," Eduardo grumbled.

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Garret muttered.

Quentin just wordlessly expressed his disgust in another way: he rammed his fist through the screen of the high-definition television, immediately causing it to smoke and crackle as it died and blacked out with a faint noise. There was a shrill scream of agony from Toby.

"Aaaaauuuuuggggghhh!" Toby wailed, "The TV! **_The precious TV! _**Now what'll I do to watch Cartoon Network?"

"Shut it, Baxter!" barked Quentin.

Luthor then finished, "_My fellow Americans, we can build a better world, and should you elect me, Lex Luthor, as your next President in the upcoming term, I shall do everything in my power to ensure that only the non-magical and Earth-bound homo-sapiens will triumph and persevere while the mutants, the extraterrestrials, the magical, the vigilantes, and those that assist and fraternize with such enemies shall be stamped out permanently and forgotten. This is my response: **for the humans, by the humans, and only humans!** May you all take heart to my response and do what is right for America and for the world, and God bless you all._"

"And you can take _this_ as _my_ response, butthead," growled Ray as he used a particularly rude gesture with his middle finger at the TV screen.

"Ray!" Jean scolded, trying to reprimand the yellow-and-orange haired electrokinetic.

"Actually,_ that_ one's not as bad as the ones Superman and Lois Lane have been told to do every time they see an image of Luthor on TV…or at least, that's what Flash told me," mused Jamie thoughtfully.

"I would think that Superman knows better than to behave so immaturely towards someone, even if it is Lex Luthor," Jean said sternly.

"You really can't blame him," Tabitha sighed, "After everything we've been told, you really can't blame Superman and the Justice League for having reservations about Luthor running for President. And what's worse is that they can't do a thing to stop him, at least not without proving the jerkface's accusations that they really are a threat."

"And if Trinity is right, then Luthor might have a lot of people in Congress who would agree with him," Ray moaned.

"Yeah, but they **all** couldn't possibly agree with him, right?" Sam tried to offer with some optimism.

At that instant, the TV actually vibrated from the deafening and thunderous sounds of a grand unity of applause and cheering, the sounds of people clapping and boisterously voicing how Luthor's words struck a chord for them ringing through the sound system. Everyone rolled their eyes at Cannonball who blushed a bit.

"Well, they could be exaggerating the applause by using some fancy-dandy sound effects," Sam hastily covered.

"Uh…Sam? The entire House of Representatives is giving Luthor a standing ovation," Jamie remarked, deadpanned. And indeed, when the camera panned out to the audience, they saw that Multiple was speaking the truth. Each and every congressman and congresswoman was on his or her feet.

"Uh…" tried Sam again, "Well, that's **only **the House of Representatives and such. I mean, how much of the general public actually believes in this bullcrap?"

"_According to reports, Luthor has already gained a growing and alarming number of supporters for many influential corporations and groups all across the nation from coast to coast. Not only have familiar figures such as Wilson Fisk, Sebastian Shaw, Norman Osborne, and even Maxwell Lord himself have pledged their contributions to help finance what could only be an astronomical cost for establishing such a new party, but many figures and representatives from H.A.T.E, the Quarrymen, the Friends of Humanity, the Church of Humanity, and SOLOMON are already voicing their approval. Luthor may already have more that a million interested prospectors inquiring for the Humanitarian already, and experts can only guess how far it shall exponentially grow_," Trish Trilby reported from her desk as her station on Channel 6 continued their coverage on the address to the nation.

Everyone gave Cannonball a commiserating and deadpanned "_you-were-saying?_" look with a roll of their collective eyes.

"I'm just gonna stop trying," sighed Sam, looking incredibly sheepish as he rubbed his forehead wearily.

"And from Trinity reported that when they were able to hack into Lexcorp's central mainframes, the Triplets found out that the Humanitarian Party may go** international** and appeal to countries other than the U.S, sort of like the International Democrat Union or the LaRouche Movement," Jamie said with some hesitation as he tried to recall some of the facts in his memory.

"Great, so add the Sentinels, the Initiative, Wolfram and Hart, the Hellfire Club, the Justice League's enemies, the Thirteenth Order, **and** the Heartless, it's pretty much safe to say that things are going down the toilet at this rate…" Tabitha complained, ticking off each concern with her fingers.

Ray thought for a minute before he asked, "But…but isn't the L.A. branch destroyed, like several months ago by that vampire guy – wait, Angelus or something?"

"Angel, actually," Amara corrected for her teammate, "But I can tell you right now that this isn't good news. Giles and the Watcher's Council along with the Slayers are in a right snit over this because it means that the firm is up to no good…_again_. I just got Vi's reply back in the mail yesterday, actually."

"And considering that this is so soon in parallel with the upcoming Gathering of Twilight and the Organization Thirteen, it **can't** be a coincidence. It wouldn't surprise me if Wolfram and Hart was teaming up with the Heartless like the Hellfire Club are doing, especially since the Slayers are one of their top targets for elimination and they're now involved in the fight," mused Scott, his brain already making connections to this new information and how it was linked to all the trials they had endured as of yet with the Misfits and their new allies.

"We have no proof, though," pointed out Sam, "It fits, and after everything we've been through with H.I.V.E, Apokolips, and the Turok-Han, this couldn't make anymore sense, but we can't prove it to anyone important who could be strong enough to stop this cowpie-flinging charade."

"Like we'd need it," Tabitha drawled sardonically, "This couldn't be any more blatantly obvious…"

"Even if we could, there couldn't be anyone to stand up to them…well, that and no one would believe us since we're nothing more than a bunch of 'freaks and freak-supporters'," griped Roberto darkly before he turned to Amara and asked, "Still, can't the Slayers do anything? I mean, this is supposed to be an evil organization, if I recall what Kennedy, Caridad and Shannon told us, so can't they just…well, storm in and level the place down again? Like Angel and his team did?"

Amara shook her head as she explained, "Vi already wrote back in her letters that she and the Scoobies actually thought of that before, but Wolfram and Hart, despite it's dealings with the demons and paranormal, are really well protected and lucratively legitimate. To the outside world, Wolfram and Hart is nothing but a very successful and international law firm that has actually dealt with high-profile cases for criminals, celebrities, and high-ranking government officials! Vi even told me that they suspect that Wolfram and Hart have ties to the Illuminati and Mafia and fund criminal syndicates and terrorist groups like Purity and the Friends of Humanity. Heck, even Althea told me that General Hawk suspects that Wolfram and Hart may have dealt with Hydra and Cobra at one time or another, though they haven't been able to find anything fruitful!"

"So in other words, if they attack the firm, it'll make the Slayers look bad, they'll probably get a few of the girls killed, and Wolfram and Hart will have the last laugh," Roberto blurted out, realizing the implications and risk.

Ray let out a low whistle of shock as he said, "And the worst part is that it's all a front for some powerful group of demons that want to destroy and rule over our world. Didn't Giles and Wood tell us that the so-called 'senior partners' are one of the main baddies in the Slayers and Watcher's Council? Like the First when the Potential Slayers were being gathered for Sunnydale?"

"Yes, and with Luthor running for President and gaining so much support in so little of time, our fight against Organization Thirteen might be harder than ever," Jubilee pointed out, worry creasing her brow and forehead. As the New Mutants continued to lightly bicker and discuss this turn of events, Scott noticed Jean silently walking to the kitchen, her face a myriad of sorrowful emotions and uncomfortable turmoil, and like any concerned boyfriend, the team leader of the X-Men followed her.

"Jean, what's wrong?" Scott asked gently, his hand lightly and soothingly making contact with her shoulder.

"Scott, aren't you scared?" Jean said in a wavering voice, "This is **Lex Luthor** we're talking about, not the ordinary creeps we deal with like the Acolytes or Cobra or the Juggernaut or Zartan and his Dreadnoks! This is the man who's not a mutant and had no superhuman powers, and yet he's one of the most deadly nemeses to the Justice League! This is a billionaire with so much riches and power and cunning that he even managed to weasel his way into the Hellfire Club and into campaign for the Presidency of the United States! This is the tyrant who had no qualms experimenting on students of H.I.V.E and exposing the Halliwells and the magical world just to help Blackheart and the Thirteenth Order! And this man could make things a lot worse for us…and we can't do a thing about it! We can't even touch him, but _he_ can hurt _us_ and crush us without even lifting a finger!"

Jean sighed before she leaned against the kitchen counter and said, "Scott…I think we may be in over our heads. And it scares me. Really, it does. This is more dangerous than anything we've ever faced, and given our track record, **that** is actually saying something. What…what can we do?"

"The only thing we can at this point: be prepared. Whatever will happen will happen…and we'll just have to deal with it the best we can when it does," Cyclops murmured before he embraced the redhead and gently held her, feeling her tremble against his body.

It was apparent that Scott had no more of a solution than anybody else involved in the upcoming war.

And yet Scott seemed so sure of himself, even with the bleak outlook, as if his strategic mind already had reasons for hope and optimism. Too bad Jean couldn't share that hope.

---

_It was eerily quiet, and Jake found himself walking in a dazed-like state through piles and piles of rubble and bodies underneath an emerald-green sky of poisonous, noxious color mixed with ashy, black plumes of smoke. Then he came to that ever so familiar mound, no matter how many twists and turns he consciously tried to use to avoid seeing it whenever possible…_

_"No…" croaked Jake hoarsely as he recognized the bodies immediately. The young X-Men and the Misfits, each and every one of the teenagers and students that Jake had grown to befriend and care for were brutally massacred, lying in pools of their own blood and disemboweled organs, their faces blank and glassy. All except…_

_"Razor…" a tentative voice spoke behind him, and Jake turned, to his immense relief, to see Justin, spared from the onslaught and mass murder, standing in his civilian clothes at a distance from the ex-SWAT Kat. Whitelighter was all right, and he was safe…_

_"Kitten," Jake said, letting his pent up breath release out in a rush, but to his growing dismay, he saw Justin shake his head mournfully, sadly, making no move to approach Jake nor show any indication that he was happy to see the kat. Then, to his horror, Jake's sharp eyes saw it, the hooded Organization member wearing the infamous black cloak, hovering high above and behind the Misfit's back, and from Justin's expression, he gave no indication that he even noticed the enemy from the Thirteenth Order._

_Razor's breath caught as a cold ball of ice in his throat as the Organization member summoned a ball of white energy to materialize out of thin air and into his gloved hand. Oh, damn it to hellcats…_

_"**Justin, get out of the way!**" cried Jake urgently as time seemed to slow down, not allowing Jake enough of a grace period to dash forward. It was too late. With a quick movement of his hand, the Organization member flung the ball of energy directly towards the young human, and in an instant, the ball of energy became a shaft of light, a spear of searing heat, before it plummeted down and speared directly into Justin's back and through his heart and chest, killing him instantly. Justin died without a sound as he fell to the cracked and barren floor._

_Jake was openly sobbing as he rushed over to Justin's body, his paws now starting to become wet from touching Whitelighter's pool of blood, whispering, "No, not again! This isn't happening! Oh holy kats! Justin, c'mon. Justin, wake up! No…no, please , this can't be happening!"_

_"**Damn you, Clawson!**" roared two familiar voices, and Jake looked up, shocked, to see the livid and seething figures of Blind Master and Allo, their faces displaying pure grief and blame._

_"Just like your so-called best friend, Chance, right, you bastard?" Blind Master roared, "You just as good as killed him, our son! Everyone you care about dies saving your useless ass!"_

_"I should have never entrusted Justin's well-being with you," Allo hissed, shaking at the loss of his child, "This is all your fault, you flea-ridden hairball!"_

_"You know, Jake, when I said that it was all right for you to find love, I'm pretty sure I didn't mean it in **this** way," a third voice spoke in disappointment behind him, and it was this voice that made Jake's blood freeze in his veins with hurt as he slowly turned around to see a frowning Chance Furlong, with his arms crossed over his chest and glaring with displeasure at his best friend._

_"Do you really need more pain, buddy?" Chance growled accusingly, "Cause anyone can see that Whitelighter's gonna be the cause of it."_

_"Shut up, just shut up!" yowled Jake, having enough and clutching the sides of his head, screaming himself hoarse, "This is nothing but a damn dream, the same one I've been having for the past month! Just shut the hell up! You're not Chance, this isn't real, and no one is going to die!"_

Jake then awoke, roaring more like a cat rather than a humanoid in fear and terror, as he sat upright hurriedly in a chaotic and jumbled mess, his heart aching and hammering hard against his ribs while his fur was matted. His head throbbing, Jake just weakly cradled and clutched his head with his paws while trying to calm himself down with deep breaths.

"It was just a dream, it was just a dream, it was just a dream…" the ex-SWAT Kat had to repeat to himself over and over again. But as soon as he said that, Razor felt another burning sensation in the center of his chest, and wincing and growling, the kat clutched his torso in as an effort to soothe the excruciating sting.

"It was just a dream…" Jake panted heavily as his heart continued to cry out. Chance's voice cruelly echoed in his mind as a response.

_Do you really need more pain, buddy? Cause anyone can see that Whitelighter's gonna be the cause of it._

Sure, it's nothing but a dream…

---

"Do you really think that Sebastian Shaw and his elite circle of associates are really helping us out of the goodness of their hearts? Because they share our beliefs that the Justice League are a threat to the general human populace?" Dr. Hamilton asked his colleague, Amanda Waller, as they left the main epicenter and headquarters of Shaw Industries, after having a brief yet informational meeting with Sebastian Shaw himself. The scientist was dressed prudently in a tweed suit and white-dress shirt while the heavyset African-American intellectual was dressed in a blue business-suit, as she always have worn.

"Of course not," Amanda Waller retorted, "But remember, if we need to learn of Shaw's secrets, we must follow the old axiom: _keep your friends close and your enemies closer_. I hate unknown variables, and since we know nothing of this anonymous party that may be coercing with the Thirteenth Order, while we maintain our stance against Superman and his friends, we must also keep a lookout on the Heartless and those that are connected to them and being actively involved in bringing them to Earth in the first place."

"We could always step back and let the Justice League, the X-Men, the Misfits, and the Joes actively try to do our work for us and hopefully get themselves killed in the process. That would inarguably make things easier for Cadmus," the bespectacled scientist pointed out.

"Perhaps, but it would be too risky. Should those so-called 'heroes' manage to defeat the Heartless, then how do we have any hope in defeating _them_? No, our best bet is in hoping Luthor will be able to provide some valuable insight for our sakes," the woman shot down firmly.

"And it didn't occur to you that Luthor might be enticed by the vices of Presidency and being backed by one of the most influential and richest groups of human society?" the professor pointed out rather snidely, as if disdainful and annoyed that his fellow Cadmus member didn't have the foresight to see such a possibility.

Waller shook her head as she reminded Hamilton, "Luthor will not turn on Cadmus, especially since he would do well to remember that altogether, we hold the means to cut down the Justice League and their potential danger on the Earth. Though I certainly know that Luthor isn't the most scrupulous man alive, he'll do anything to make sure that Superman is taken down a few pegs. And besides, should Luthor ever betray and cross paths with Cadmus, we'll be ready for him. Eiling has taken much trouble to ensure that. But then again, I daresay that our alliance with Lex Luthor may be the best thing for Cadmus in ensuring that the Justice League and their allies can never threaten us and the world ever again in a state of helpless vulnerability."

Amanda Waller paused before she voiced her suspicions to her trusted confidant (well, as trusted as Hamilton could ever possibly be).

"Still, there's something about Shaw that he's hiding and I am certainly not willing to trust that little starched-shirt windbag any more than I would be willing to trust any of the members of the Justice League. He's hiding something that could be related to the Heartless, I am sure of it," she muttered.

"Could they be criminal syndicates? Or perhaps dark wizards and demons themselves? We were able to discover recently their ties to the Kingpin along with that blasted firm, Wolfram and Hart, along with Shaw's supposed interest in H.A.T.E. when Shaw Industries used to back them?" Hamilton suggested, pulling possibilities from thin air.

Waller shook her head as she explained, "I'd doubt it, otherwise Luthor would have told us when he managed to infiltrate Shaw's trusted circle, but thankfully, we're in no hurry. Shaw is too busy with his trivial matters to realize that Luthor is our spy for Cadmus to see if he and his group are truly behind the Heartless and well as anything else that could concern us."

It was apparent to any outsider listening in on this conversation that Waller had absolutely **no** idea that Shaw's Inner Circle was the infamous organization of powerful mutants known as the Hellfire Club.

"And how are you along with Dr. Milo and Dr. Hugo Strange doing with figuring out any potential weaknesses with that lone Heartless specimen that Luthor and Shaw provided? Are we finished with the plans to create our own Heartless to serve as our own unit of Ultimen, so to speak?" Waller asked, turning with a scrutinizing eye on her colleague.

Hamilton knew that to hesitate would bring further suspicion, so he immediately jumped in as smoothly and calmly as he could, his eyes remaining noncommittal behind his glasses and recalling the speech he had rehearsed so many times before with Eiling and Tala.

"No, and though using the Heartless' unique physical make-up did provide many promising leads, this will take some time, and add the fact that Eiling is constantly pushing me to continue with the Shaggy Man project…"

"Ah, I see," Waller conceded, apparently buying the story, though secretly, she was mentally looking over the facts and realizing that something was quite odd about that little tidbit that led to even more questions. Why was Eiling so adamant on the remains of Kalibak? And for that matter, how on Earth did Luthor and Eiling get their hands on Kalibak and a Heartless specimen in the first place, especially since this was _long_ before the ugly incident when they invaded San Francisco? And how on Earth was there a Supergirl look-alike running around and siding with the Organization? Could she have been formed secretly by the Justice League's requests (and this was the most reasonable explanation she could think of), as a plan to betray the Earth and their newfound friends to the Thirteenth Order? Or was it as a result of something far more sinister?

_No matter_, Waller thought to herself, _I will get to the bottom of this soon enough. For now, we must concentrate on the real threats on hand._

"I would hardly worry," Waller said as she got in her car, "Once we have appropriately reveal the true threats the Justice League and the Heartless make themselves out to be and thoroughly make sure that they can never endanger this planet, we will be more than suited to handle those insane and obviously weaker annoyances. I may not be foolhardy, but I am certainly not paranoid in thinking that there could be any possible danger from the X-Men, the Misfits, the Joes, the Titans, and the Slayers and the Charmed Ones. Should they ever get in our way or do the unthinkable, we will crush them, _much_ more easily than we could do with the Justice League. Mutant, magical witches, demonic girls, aliens, or psychotic trigger-happy soldiers…Cadmus can deal with them and any allies they coerce with. Compared to the Justice League, they are nothing but kids playing with matches, pushovers really."

"It's not wise to underestimate the X-Men and Misfits," Hamilton warned, "They are more dangerous than they look, as Cobra, the Furies, and Magneto will attest."

Waller just snorted as she started the ignition, scoffing, "I'm not underestimating them. I'm merely stating fact."

With that, Waller drove off, leaving a silent and stony-faced Professor Hamilton standing alone in the parking lot. Which was actually quite fine with Tala as she appeared from the shadows with her magic…

"Such a bright and formidable woman," Tala said with mock awe and respect as Waller's car disappeared around the corner, "Quite a shame that she does not realize that there are many underhanded dealings going on within Cadmus and behind her back."

"I'm surprised that no one is screaming their heads off upon spotting you using dark magic and declaring yourself as a witch," the scientist muttered. Tala's smile grew even more snake-like.

"A simple illusion spell, hardly anything that highlights my talents as one of the most powerful sorceresses on this planet. No one will be able to hear us speak or even spot us underneath this cloak of magic, Hamilton, so quit being so paranoid and inform me of Waller's suspicions so that I don't have to play this boring and measly game of messenger to Eiling, Luthor, and Generals Silver and Black. Honestly, I could be having so much fun right now instead of being a dreary verbal-scribe," the purple-haired witch yawned.

"Life is hard," shot back Hamilton sarcastically, deadpanned, before he reported, "She does not suspect anything, and though it may not be for long, Waller and the others do not have any idea on how Vexen and I were behind Galatea as well as our progress on the Heartless pods. And she also has no knowledge on Shaw and Luthor being in the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club as well as your involvement in tricking the X-Men, the Misfits, and the Joes in attacking the Charmed Ones. You are far too lucky that she didn't discover it sooner or later."

"Luck has nothing to do with it, Hamilton," Tala shot back snidely, "Eiling and Luthor covered every single possible base and loose end. Waller is far too gallant and aristocratic for our tastes and main goals; she would certainly be a stumbling block in our well-laid plans."

"Frankly, I'm surprised that Eiling and Luthor are able to hide from Waller and the others about the truth regarding Shaw and the Hellfire Club. She is not stupid."

"That's one of the benefits of being rich and a mutant," Tala highlighted with satisfaction, "The Inner Circle is much more powerful that Waller and the Justice League could ever anticipate. And add the fact that most of Cadmus is more focused on taking down the League rather than focusing on lesser potential dangers, the Hellfire Club and Shaw's Inner Circle will certainly be under the radar until it's too late. Just remember your part of the bargain, Hamilton. Make sure to distract and mislead Waller, Strange, and Milo as much as possible and lie about your genetic research about the Heartless, and Eiling will make sure that Galatea is spared while Superman and Supergirl make excellent soldiers as Heartless drones for the Organization."

"At the price of innocent lives being lost to the Heartless," snarled the scientist, his voice now being uncharacteristically feral. It was apparent that the geneticist still had a conscience.

"Keep in mind that you're in no position to bargain and worry about…_insignificant_ consequences unless you want Galatea to be destroyed once Supergirl harnesses the full power of the Phoenix Force and steals back what was given to your precious experiment. And not to mention Waller will suddenly be able to discover how you were lying to her about your progress with the Heartless experiments and how you were the one who actually created Tea…"

Hamilton's eyes blazed with ire and wrathful, protective anger; though a mere clone and a test-tube baby at best, Hamilton couldn't help but love Galatea as his own daughter.

"I did not say that," he growled dangerously, "And to protect Tea, I will uphold my end of the bargain. Vexen has already stated that he is pleased with the manner I had been able to incorporate the X-Gene with Kalibak's tissue samples and the Heartless materials. Eiling knows I won't break my promise."

"Good, and remember, Luthor and Eiling will ensure that the Hellfire Club will truly ruin the Justice League for good, and if anything, you should be grateful that the Earth is in the safety of fellow humans who sympathize against your suspicions of the mutants and extraterrestrials," Tala drawled acidly with warning, as if to give one last reminder of why Hamilton had his secretive agendas with them before she teleported away.

Hamilton just stood there, not sure at whom he was more disgusted with: Tala, the Justice League, the Heartless, or himself.

Such an intricate and complicated web of deceit and lies.

And apparently, a select few were making absolutely sure that it wouldn't fall apart, or at the very least, against their own favors.

---

A bit weary and his energy dwindling bit by bit, the dog trudged on and on, not minding or paying notice of the thorns and brambles that embedded into his pelt and skin as he slowly pawed his way though while climbing up the steep cliffs.

Little did Pluto know that he was being watched by two figures, clandestinely hidden among the showy vegetation growing from the mountainside, one male and one female, with the feminine figure sitting serenely and patiently on an outcropping ledge and the male standing nimbly on a thick and sturdy bush.

"So…Pluto is here," remarked the male, squatting down and rest one winged arm on his knee, narrowing his eyes at the sight of the hound tirelessly climbing over the jagged and rocky uphill surfaces.

"Yes, and if you recall correctly, Falco - " started the female, but her feathered avian companion harshly and impatiently cut her off before she could finish what she was intending to state as the obvious.

"I know what it means, Octavia, so don't bother saying what I **don't** want to damn well hear right now!" the male snapped, and the female seemed a bit ruffled and offended, but she gracefully remained silent as she just placed a hand over her chest in a passive-aggressive mood. The male sighed.

"I _know_ what it means…but if you think that for one minute I'm going to have second thoughts about doing whatever it takes to get those Talismans like you are, then you're _wrong_."

The female stranger's head popped up sharply, protesting, "I'm _not_ having second thoughts, Falco! It's just…"

She sighed before continuing.

"Once the wielder of the Keyblade comes along with the Heartless, three people will die! Falco, I know what it means to achieve our goal and fight at the Gathering, but this means us killing innocents!"

"It'll be worth it if it means getting to the Sovereign and the Champion first before they do," the male said with icy and emotionless finality, "And to save my friends and family from the Heartless and give them back their lives, then it'll be a small price I'm willing to pay, sacrificing those that get in our way of our oath…and those that can help achieve it."

"Even if it's one of the heroes of this planet?"

Falco looked back steely at Octavia and growled, "**_Whatever it takes_**…and you do best to remember that."

**Author's Notes: Next Friday, things hit another low point between Jake and Justin while we learn of some more plotting and planning from the Hellfire Club, Cobra, and Magneto as more and more bad guys come into play on all sides for the heroes! And be prepared for the moment we've been waiting for some time: Pluto finally arrives at the Pit, but the Misfits and Joes will spot an unpleasant surprise! Check back next Friday for the chapter "I'll Get You My Pretties…And Your Little Dog Too!" and until then, read and review!**


	4. I’ll Get You My Pretties…And Your Little

**Author's Notes: Good news! It's official! The "Misfit-verse" C2 community at this site is the largest archived C2 in the "X-Men: Evolution" fan-fiction! Isn't that exciting? Just goes to show that Red Witch's Misfit-universe has a lot of appeal!**

**X-Men, Misfits, and Joes: Not really…it just also shows her insanity is contagious.**

**Quiet you! Hope the site being down didn't put all our guys out of the loop! That said, enjoy this chapter! And thank you for the reviews!**

**CHAPTER 4: I'll Get You My Pretties…And Your Little Dog Too!**

"Preposterous!" roared Cobra Commander from his head place at the table, "Outrageous! Lousy, rotten, no good - ! This is beyond mere insult! I will not stand for something like this! I will** not** be upped by a group of 'blessed-be' wanna-bees in black cloaks in ruling the world!"

"I gave up my manicure and full-body facial and mud bath **_for this_**?" the Baroness asked in a whispered, deadpanned, and exasperated tone. She as well as Destro, Zartan, Zandar, Zarana, Major Bludd, Dr. Mindbender, Xamot and Tomax. Destro, had he not been wearing his metal mask, would have shown himself rolling his eyes at his lover.

"When Cobra Commander tells us to attend these meetings, we have to attend. Showing up to these dreary things is mandatory…unless if we don't wish to find ourselves perforated with bullets and laser blasts," Destro reminded her.

"I'm beginning to consider it as opposed to this drabble," Baroness murmured before she spoke clearly to her superior as he was just about to go into another tirade, "Commander, why not just simply stand back and let these Heartless and the Thirteenth Order take care of the Misfits and X-Men along with their allies and then we just step in and destroy the survivors like we normally do? It is pretty apparent from their attack patterns that they are only focused on the Joes and the mutants."

"Because we can't leave it to chance to have them finish off the Heartless and emerge stronger than ever," Zandar explained, exasperated as if they had pondered over that that clichéd path many times before, "Plus, chances are like all their lucky breaks, something will come around to help them or that the Misfits and the X-Men will develop a weapon to effectively deal with the Heartless once and for all! And where would that leave us?"

"So let's just steal it from them when they do get it! Shouldn't be that hard to find out if they gain something that useful, and I know for a fact that a lot of those brats have big mouths," Major Bludd pointed out.

"Still, it doesn't help that those lucky-little snots have the upper hand now that they have the Justice League, the Teen Titans, the Slayers, the Charmed Ones, and that powerful warrior named Lemon, something or other! It's not fair! We should be the ones with that kind of backup! Cobra should be the one to use those freaks for our own fortifications and power-grabs!" the commander griped with bitter malice.

"Sir, they wouldn't have sided with us anyway to begin with," Zartan pointed out.

"That's besides the point!" growled Cobra Commander, "All the more people I haven't screwed with yet! No, our safest bet is to try to manipulate the Heartless! They'll be far easier to control and won't put up a fight unlike those goody two-shoes! If they're powerful enough to doom the world, they they'll be the perfect mindless drones we need to destroy the Joes and their newfound allies along with making sure that those fashioned-challenged Organization Thirteen doesn't rule the world first!"

"Perhaps we need to search a way…" Xamot began.

"…to see which groups have sided with the Heartless," continued Tomax.

"And infiltrate their resources to generate our _own_ breed of creatures of darkness," the twins concluded with similar, mirrored grins.

"Thus why I've brought Dr. Mindbender in this," Cobra Commander said as he looked steely at the unscrupulous geneticist, "Once we get some samples of a Heartless that we can use, you'd better get results quickly and effectively that can be more than a match for this pushy Thirteenth Order! Fail, and you'll pay in ways even worse than death; lack of progress and empty promises aren't gonna cut it here, Mindbender!"

"Sir, with all do respect, what can you done that you haven't already threatened me with?" the scientist blinked, "I mean, last week, you already threatened to kill me eleven different times, and you actually did shoot me four times! Twice with bullets, once with a crossbow, and the last one with a rocket launcher for simply getting to the elevator first! Add to the threats of cutting my funding and snack privileges along with torture and decapitation, what else can you do that you haven't done to me yet?"

"Simple: I won't ever let you date one of your test-tube subjects ever again. You will never be allowed to create another lover or girlfriend from your lab for the next thirty years," the alpha-terrorist leader of Cobra replied with ease.

There was an ear-piercing shriek of fear, terror, dread, and above all, hysteria at the end of one's life as they knew it, before Dr. Mindbender leapt up from his seat, went down on his hands and knees, and prostrated himself before the masked man, groveling.

"Oh high and benevolent Cobra Commander, omnipotent and merciful leader, strongest and greatest man above all men…please, sir, I beseech you…" the scientist half-sobbed.

The others at the meeting table just looked at this with deadpanned and revolted expressions of disturbed disgust.

"Did anybody…" Tomax began.

"…find that disturbing?" Xamot asked.

"Which one? The begging or the threat by Cobra Commander itself?" Zarana asked, one eyebrow raised. There was a pause as both Xamot and Tomax pondered over the choice.

"Give us a minute to think _that_ one over," the twins replied simultaneously.

"It's official," Major Bludd groaned, "Dr. Mindbender is by far the most pathetic and saddest villain in the history of all Cobra officers! And given that we are including the Dreadnoks, that's **not** a light statement!"

Zandar turned to Cobra Commander before he remarked, "You're good…"

"I have my moments…" Cobra Commander bragged without the slightest touch of humbleness.

"Too bad you don't have them often…" Destro muttered under his breath.

"**_WHAT_** was that, Destro?" growled Cobra Commander, "I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear you while I was thinking of shooting you next with the rocket launcher!"

"I said that you are our most ruthless leader, so we can't expect you to be merciful and soften," Destro repeated in a strong voice and with a straight face, covering quickly.

"That's what I thought you said," Cobra Commander drawled sardonically and acidly, letting it slide before he declared, "But thanks to Eddington secretly giving us details of the Hellfire club's activities with the spies we have in both the Initiative and the Wolfram and Hart firm, we'll be the ones standing up at the top in the end after we wreck all their opportunities and double-cross those fools! We'll have all our cards in play soon!"

_Of course_, Zartan thought to himself with a vindictive and malicious sneer, _considering that if I play my cards that Eiling and Luthor gave me behind Eddington and Cobra's backs right, then Cobra Commander won't stay at the top for very long…_

---

"Should we prepare ourselves in the fight against the Heartless, Father?" Lorna Dane asked, "It wouldn't hurt to be ready in case those presumptuous warmongers from the Thirteenth Order plan to attack Avalon as well as the Earth?"

Magneto just stared off into the peaceful and usually-underappreciated beauty of the nearby stars and planetary systems that he could view upon from his metal chambers in the asteroid called Avalon, the haven he had been building for the past decade or so, forged, created, structured, and held by his own sweat, blood and tears. And it was going to be nearly complete. And of course, his loyal and faithful daughter, Lorna, a green-haired beauty with much grace and sophistication that made Magneto swell with pride, would be more that suited to the task should he ever fall. She would be a confident leader who would surely adhere tightly to his principles about mutant-superiority, much more in a competent and dignified manner than Pietro or Wanda could ever be.

And thankfully, no one, not even Charles Xavier himself, knew of Lorna's existence on Avalon (which in itself remained discreet and clandestine from _all_ of Magnus' nemeses). And she would truly be one of the main factors to exterminate his X-Men and the Joes' Misfits…especially Pietro and Wanda.

"No, we have already done enough fortifications to our base," the white-haired mutant said serenely as his calmly regarded the endless medium all around him, "We must instead continue to concentrate our efforts at finding more and more mutants who will be loyal to our cause and who would be willing to declare war on all humans. And if Charles and his delusional troupe of allies do encounter a way to beat back the Heartless, then we will watch them closely to see if that gain can be exploited for our benefit. But since the Thirteenth Order have not attacked us in any way, not that I do not blame them for being wise and having foresight, we will not concern ourselves with this matter."

"Actually, Father…" and the Polaris paused, as if she knew what she was going to ask was not going to be taken in a favorable manner. And from the look of tension and apprehension on her face, Magneto knew he wasn't going to like it. Magneto then turned and glared at his daughter, his eyes becoming artic and his body now quivering slightly with displeasure.

"Get on with it, Lorna," he commanded.

"Do you have absolute faith that we can handle the Heartless and the Organization alone, Father? I…I am scared enough to think that perhaps we should…"

And with this, Polaris paused, faltering as she was subjected to Magnus' glare. He had a feeling he was going to be incredibly displeased before long.

"Speak your mind," Magneto barked a bit harshly, "A leader and future queen of Avalon must not show hesitation nor uncertainty."

"Maybe we could also seek additional help from any other potential allies who are not mutants, such as the vampires or any aliens who can sympathize with our efforts to save all mutants everywhere. I'm sure we can afford to house a few of those that need help, and it could be a great asset! Think of how much we could gain if we had a witch or a powerful alien such as Superman to help us out! Not even the X-Men and the Misfits would stand a chance, and that would only be if we couldn't convince them that it would be safer to side with us rather than G.I. Joe or Xavier!"

Magneto, unsurprisingly, was** not** very acceptable of the suggestion.

"Out of the question!" he yelled, "Avalon is meant for a haven to all who would be willing to support the future of mutant dominance though any means possible, not peaceful co-existence! And the last thing I want is any non-mutant or carrier of the X-Gene to blight this haven."

"Father, I do not mean anything heretical and contrary to our cause by saying it!" the green-haired teenager said strongly before she continued in a softer and more jaded tone, "But…the Heartless could mean the end of everything we worked so hard for to ensure a world where mutants shall reign over the humans. And we share a common enemy with the X-Men and Misfits! Perhaps to combat this greater threat, we could - "

"Completely out of the question, Lorna!" Magneto barked, and despite his love for his daughter, he couldn't help but feel incredibly incensed and infuriated at such a ridiculous notion. He was no fool in knowing what exactly was she suggesting, and he felt even more inflamed at how she was sympathizing with the enemy. Magneto then used his mutant powers to levitate and glide towards the green-haired teenager before he gently cupped Lorna's face with one hand in order to get his point across.

"I assure you that we will never need the likes of help from those genetic traitors and invaders of Earth. When the time is appropriate, I will destroy all humans and those that stand in my way. Not even the acclaimed Superman and the pitiful vampire Slayers will match up to my Acolytes! I will kill them all, and all the more better since they side with Charles and the Joes."

"But we have no qualms with the Justice League or the Teen Titans! Not even the Slayers have shown any sort of hostility to any mutant! Father, we cannot afford to make more enemies against beings who are non-mutants, just because solely that the Heartless may require all our resources to take down in the first place! Please, I don't mean disrespect, but perhaps we could give it a shot! I am worried that the Heartless could destroy us all, and if using the non-mutant fools just until it is no longer convenient will help, then why not?"

"Because I say so! Now leave, Lorna! That is an order!" and though entirely snubbed and wanting to argue the matter more, the green-haired girl thought better of it and she bowed before she whispered an apology before departing. Magneto just stared off at the place where she disappeared before he made a mental note to ask for Mastermind's intervention should this get any further out of hand. And the last thing he wanted was to have Lorna go down the same path of destruction and throw away her life like his prodigal children before her…

---

That afternoon, Jake was in the hangar garage, working on the special project he and Hank modified from Trinity's blueprints when he dropped his wrench and clutched his chest again, hissing from the burning sensation that suddenly popped up from nowhere. Damn it, it seemed to be getting worse, almost to the point of unbearable.

Just as Razor was about to rise from the floor to go to the infirmary to ask Beast for some pain relievers, the door to the hangar opened just before the kat was about to take a step to reveal Justin, holding a small brown paper bag and shyly looking around before he spotted the instructor. Jake winced; the pain seemed to increase even more in the Misfit's presence.

"Still feeling sick?" Justin asked, his eyes concerned.

"How did you know I was…I wasn't feeling well?" Jake managed to awkwardly cover up, not sure he wanted to reveal to the Misfit that he had been having heart pains, and the image of Justin dead and Chance, Blind Master, and Allo blaming him suddenly coming back to haunt him automatically.

Justin looked a bit guilty as he explained, nervously playing with the paper bag in between his fingers, "Well…I sorta had to pay Jamie ten dollars to tell me what's going on since it was a little obvious you didn't want to tell me if you weren't feeling too well, and Multiple also told me when you had Beast give you MRI scans at the infirmary."

There was a pause, and Justin felt a bit bothered when Jake seemed to be frowning even more, exhaling through his nose rhythmically. The teen then decided to relieve the packages, hoping that they would lessen the tension.

"Um…well, I thought maybe you could use some additional stuff to help you feel better. I know Hank has the vitamins and medications should you ever really need them, but I got some additional help from Airtight, Spirit and Dimetro. Althea and Lance said that Spirit and Airtight have some homeopathic remedies, so they gave me some herbs and tea to give you that really do wonders. And…uh…Dimetro gave you a hi-tech compress that with automatically generate heat or cold depending on the levels of tissue inflammation it senses in your body. Oh yeah, and he said he'd be willing to examine you if - "

"Justin, can you just leave me alone?"

Though it wasn't spoken in an overly stern tone nor had any hint in anger, Justin stopped and stared as if he was slapped in the face. Jake just stood there, frowning at the adolescent, before he turned his eyes away and looked at the floor.

"I need my space…_please_," Jake muttered, wincing and trying his best to refrain from clutching his chest again.

Justin was silent. In his head, he wanted to refuse, to question Jake on why, to show some sort of offense. But after a few seconds, despite the inner turmoil and struggle to voice his feelings, Justin looked down to the floor and apologized.

"I – I…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to - "

"Just go," the kat cut in rather abruptly, not even giving Justin the chance to finish his apology. Whitelighter just looked even more pained at being brushed off, but biting his lip, Justin activated his teleporter watch and disappeared in thin air back to the Pit.

Jake felt the throbbing lessen as Justin left, though he certainly didn't feel much better.

No, he needed to do that. Dealing with this and Justin would only complicate matters, and he just needed to sort through all this and clear his head right now. And he didn't know what to make of the dreams right now, but…it was better being safe than sorry, right? Justin would be better off not worrying about him for now. And a relationship right now wasn't the priority for either of them.

_Do you really need more pain, buddy? Cause anyone can see that Whitelighter's gonna be the cause of it._

He wasn't so sure if he could answer that without conflict…

---

"So that's what he said when you tried to visit him?" Lina asked as she, Fred, and Lance were talking with a rather glum and despondent Justin who was moping at the dining table after Jake brushed him off. Fred, after some deep thought, voiced his opinion.

"He's probably stressed or something, Justin. Everyone needs some time alone, and when they come to that point, no one, not even close friends or boyfriends, can intrude on that. Jake wanting to be by himself and asking you to go away doesn't mean he doesn't like you anymore," the blond, Mohawk-toting teenager reasoned.

"Either that or Razor's finding out that wasting his potential love life on chubby-cheeks may not be the brightest of all moves, especially since they haven't even gotten anywhere since their first kiss session in the Institute, and the fact that he thinks it'll be easier to live without the daily death threats from Allo and Blind Master," Pietro chipped in rather tactlessly as he zoomed in, overhearing the conversation, as he went to the fridge for something to eat.

"You're a real help," Lina remarked flatly and with sarcasm, raising an eyebrow at Pietro, "Remind us to show you the same concern and empathy when you get dumped or brushed off by a future girlfriend."

Quicksilver snorted through his nose.

"Please, I don't get dumped," the speedster snorted, "_I_ do the _dumping. _Even though I'm irresistible, I've broken quite a few hearts. Hey, don't look at me like that! I'm a player, I make no qualms or denials about it!"

"And from what Wanda's told us, you're also a virgin which explains why you won't commit to one girl," Fred snickered rather maliciously.

"**THAT** IS A LIE!" screamed Pietro instantly, throwing an absolute hissy fit (which was actually a bit entertaining as well), "THAT IS NOTHING BUT A FLITHY LIE! LIES, LIES, LIES, LIES, LIES!"

"And with that as a response, it _must_ be true," giggled Lina, and Lance, Fred and Justin joined in, chuckling. It was wrong to have fun at Pietro's expense, but it felt so good at the same time. The Misfit speedster turned absolutely crimson.

"Look, Justin, just give Jake some space. It won't do you any good to intrude on it, otherwise it'll indicate to him that you don't respect his boundaries and personal space," Fred advised after he stopped choking with glee.

"Yeah, but…but…" Justin began, wildly speculating, "Maybe I accidentally offended him or something and he's insulted! Maybe I should apologize and ask him if I said something wrong! Maybe I shouldn't have been pushy with wanting to be close to him! Maybe - "

"Are you even listening to yourself right now?" Lance groaned, "Honestly Whitelighter, you need to realize that blaming yourself like that is a little demeaning if not downright pathetic."

"Actually, this sounds familiar of when Lancy-boy was hung up on a certain X-Kitty," Pietro drawled as he rolled his eyes at the said geokinetic.

Lance protested, "Hey, I wasn't **that** bad!"

"You're right, you weren't as bad as chubby-cheeks! You were even worse! And too slow, Lancey!" chortled the albino, dashing off before Lance could land a friendly yet irritated punch on Pietro's shoulder.

Meanwhile, Todd and Althea were in the family living room with Cover Girl, planning more and more details for the wedding, and despite the engagement several months ago, Althea could honestly say that she would have easily preferred fighting out in a battlefield with a hundred Cobra B.A.T. androids than dealing with the stresses and complications that came with planning a wedding.

Add the fact that both she and Todd come from a family that makes "dysfunctional" seem normal and with less explosions, and Wavedancer found herself growing more and more excited, frazzled, and tired all at once. However, Todd then asked the one question she had been hoping wouldn't come up during this stage.

"Hey, Al…" Todd began delicately, "I know I'm gonna get my head chewed off for this, so try to not get mad at me, yo. But…since you're gonna invite everyone from your family, well…don't you think maybe you should also invite - "

"**_No_**," growled Althea, immediately guessing which member of her family Toad was going to suggest, and the force of that one word was so powerful and so hostile that Toad and Cover Girl couldn't help but blink. Not willing to discuss the matter any further, Althea tried to focus her mind on selecting appetizers and choosing between the shrimp cocktail or the pigs-in-a-blanket.

"Althea," Courtney sighed, resting a hand on the raven-haired hydrokinetic's shoulder, "I know it's tempting fate and she has no right to be there, but despite it all, she is your mother and at least you can be the better person and show her that at least that the door is open. She may not take it and you may not like it, but not inviting Mara to the wedding…well, you might regret it later."

"Then let it be my mistake to make," Althea said flippantly, trying to keep the disdain and anger out of her voice as she sidetracked smoothly, asking, "Does anyone think we should also include a third vegetarian dish for the entrée? We can't just include beef and fish, and salad wouldn't be enough for people like Kitty to fill up on…"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Toad and Cover Girl share a look, and it became obvious that the two discussed this beforehand if they were constantly bringing it up now during the planning of the wedding.

"Yo, Al…" Todd started, and he nearly flinched under his fiancée's death glare before he continued, "Look, I'm not a fan of your Mom or nothin', and I understand where you're coming from and all. But weddings are to be with family, and well…I guess not inviting your mom and not showing her that you're willing even though she may not take it…it's gonna be a hard blow."

"And if your Mom or Pops ran out on you, would you want anything to do with them and invite them to ruin what can be the best and happiest time of your life?"

Todd's eyes went a bit cold as he gave Althea a level gaze.

"I wouldn't know, yo, cause they're both dead," he said brusquely.

All right, if he wanted to play _that_ card…

"And did it ever occur to you how the Triplets and Dad will take it when they see my slut of a mother and her home-wrecking husband and Ceridian along with them?"

"Actually, Trinity found out about Ceridian several months ago, shortly after the Heartless attack in San Francisco," the female Joe responded, "Aqualad accidentally let it slip, but to be fair, the Triplets bugged his communicators when he corresponded with Aquaman and Namor back at Atlantis for his weekly reports with the Titans."

Althea wrathfully just made a mental note to place Trinity's electric-TNT whoopee-cushion underneath Garth's chair for the reception when this was all over.

"Hmph, so **that **explains why Trinity started hanging around the firing ranges recently with their patented liquid-nitrogen guns and shock-rifles…and why a lot of the targets look suspiciously like my mother and that deadbeat, conniving uncle of Aqualad's," muttered Althea.

Cover Girl pretended to not hear that as she continued, "And Shipwreck…well, he wasn't too pleased when I brought up the possibility, but after a long talk, some broken furniture, and Shipwreck needing to down half a bottle of Jack Daniels, he said that though the choice is ultimately yours, no one in the family should be left out. Not even her."

Althea then snapped, "Well guess what? The old man's right about something for once: it's **_my_** decision, it's **_my_** wedding, and it's **_my _**final word that counts on what I want or don't want for this greatest event in my entire life. And guess what else? I say that my mother, or lack of a better term for her, is **_not_** invited to my wedding. My opinion can't be any clearer: I am not inviting that bitch, and that's final."

There was a tense silence before Althea then asked, changing the subject quickly, "So…Cover Girl? Which earrings would go better with the dress? Pearl or diamond?"

Meanwhile, the Delgado Triplets, were cautiously peeking out from the doorway of the kitchen when they spotted Lina, Lance, Justin, Pietro, and Fred conversing at the dinner table...

"Is Batman there?" whispered Daria. Fred and Lance both raised an eyebrow.

"What did you three do to Batman **this** time?" Fred asked, failing to suppress an amused grin.

"We took…a little souvenir," Brittany remarked rather casually as she, Daria, and Quinn lugged in a gigantic tire, complete with stainless-steel rims, thin yet indestructible treads of complex polymer-rubber, and the apparatus being so heavy that the three girls had to half-drag it across the tiled floor.

"Hey," Pietro remarked, "That looks a lot like one of the wheels from the Batmobile…"

"How do you know?" Justin queried. Lance then remembered why Pietro would know such a fact.

"Oh yeah, that was when you tried to hot-wire Batman's car for a joyride and found out the hard way that the Batman's alarm systems for that car included electrical-shocks…and we still have the tapes of when Batman dragged you by the scruff of your neck, shackled you to the floor, and made you wash, polish and wax the Batmobile for six hours until it shone," Lance recalled with fondness.

"Oh shut up," muttered Pietro, red in the face as Fred and Lina laughed at the memory, "And seriously, that really _does_ look like one of those special wheels that's on the rear-axles of the Batmobile. And I scrubbed those eyesores enough to recognize it."

"Correction: it **IS** one of the wheels of the Batmobile," cackled Brittany madly like a typical 80s villain.

"Is it too much to hope that the one you're holding is only a spare and not the actual wheel itself that would result in the Dark Knight being unable to drive his car?" Lance asked, a small smile dancing across his face.

"Maybe…" chimed in Quinn.

"And good ol' Batman will find that he'll never get it back until he pays the ransom…in candy!" giggled Daria.

"You do realize that he'll guess it was you three immediately, right, Trinity? Batman's not stupid," Lina remarked, wincing at the picture of the possible new levels of rage that would be reached from this prank.

"Are you kidding me? Batman's losing his touch! Even _with_ the new additions to his security system, we were able to deactivate it in six minutes and twenty-two point five seconds! He might as well just stick a sign saying 'Trinity, steal this please'!" Daria scoffed.

"Why do you always torture the poor guy?" sighed Justin, scolding slightly, "Haven't you done enough to him after you changed the password to his computers?"

"Cause it's so much fun! Besides, we still need to settle the pool on how long it takes before we cause him a breakdown! And I know for a fact that Superman and Hawkgirl themselves have chipped in for that one!" Brittany chimed.

"You do realize that one of these days, Batman'll eventually lose all self-control and restraint and kill the three of you when no one is looking, right? Remember how long we had to calm Wonder Woman down when she found out you three were responsible for painting her invisible jet pink?" Fred pointed out.

"We'll just play all cutesy-innocent and worry about that _when and if_ they can catch us," Quinn said sweetly, "And besides, it's not as if the paint we used was permanent or anything! And we cleaned it off in the end!"

"That was because General Hawk made you," reminded Lance.

"Details, details…" waved Daria nonchalantly.

Suddenly, there was a massive explosion that rang loudly throughout the grounds of the G.I. Joe headquarters followed by an agonized howl and a series of roars that couldn't come from anything remotely human. Wanda rushed out to the living room with Spirit and Roadblock.

"Hey, that noise actually sounds familiar!" the mutant teen remarked.

"Oh geez, it couldn't be! They couldn't possible strike here!" Low Light cursed as he and the rest of the handlers along with the Misfits rushed out of the front door of the manor. And indeed, they along with the rest of the active Joes that came out to investigate the commotion spotted a golden, four-legged animal dashing madly and howling frantically for help as a mysterious figure chased it.

"What the hell?" Airtight cursed. Althea and the Misfits along with their handlers recognized the black, lumbering behemoth at once, and despite the universal red symbol on its chest, it was an exact copy of the same creatures that attacked them in San Francisco several months ago. The massive size, the defined musculature of its body and oversized arms and legs ending with razor-sharp ebony claws and disembodied yellow eyes…

There was no mistaking it.

"HEARTLESS!" they all exclaimed in shock. Althea then took charge completely as she rushed over to the emergency-alarm system and pressed the button, causing such a loud, blaring, and deafening series of wailing, it could have been heard two counties over as well as throughout the Pit of G.I. Joe.

The handlers along with the rest of the Joes, ranging from Duke and Scarlet to even the minors ones who rarely went out on missions, such as Tunnel Rat and Bib Lob, ran out without the slightest indication of fear or hesitation. Still, to meet a large creature of darkness face to face was certainly a new experience for many of the Joes since they didn't accompany the Misfits at the battle with Trigon and at the battle with Galatea and Blackheart.

"Whoa! **That's** a Heartless?" gasped Snow Job in shock before he started firing with an automatic machine-gun, but unfortunately and quickly discovering that the bullets did little to stop the monster.

"Yow, not cool! Sensing heavy, grody vibes! Karma's got nothing on this! We gotta take down this Heartless to the max!" yelled the Joe, Footloose, as he nimbly did a few back-flips to avoid the general flying debris sent as the black giant charged through before deftly throwing a grenade at the monster, only to find that the explosion did little to wound it.

"Misfits, go full out on this Heartless! Don't let the creep get far! We're not going to be bested from some organization bizarre!" Roadblock ordered with grim and unbending steel as he fluidly emerged from the house with his machine gun, slid in a sash full of bullets and began firing continuously at the black form, the air torn asunder with the sound of rapid gunfire. The others immediately dashed out, and in their rush to stop the creature from wrecking their home, they didn't notice a furtive and equally sneaky Beak and Claudius half-crawling and half-walking though the front door and out into the open…

Dragonfly and Xi immediately teamed up and did an aerial attack with the insect-like girl carrying the lizard-like mutant in her arms. Taking several darts laced with curare poison and with tips made from plastic explosives, Xi flung the projectiles downwards at the Heartless' chest once Lina flew into an adequate position to target.

_Paf! Poof! Kapiff!_

The Heartless, despite the miniature yet painful explosions peppering its hide, ambled on, making a half-hearted effort to swat the two Misfits in its path as it charged, heading into the epicenter of the Pit, regardless of the gunfire from the numerous Joes attacking it with every weapon they could reach and use.

"We gotta stop that thing!" yelled Blob before he charged and took hold of a spare Jeep vehicle (thankfully, not Lance's) and got a good grip before he swung around three times in a circle in order to gain enough momentum. With a mighty heave, Fred accurately and skillfully hurled the large piece of machinery at the opponent.

_Crash!_

It was a direct bulls-eye at the back of the Heartless' head, and though seeming dazed for just an instant, the gargantuan leviathan shook off the pain before it continued towards the line of Joes in hopes of trying to reach the dog, Pluto, who was madly dashing behind the armed blockade of soldiers.

Yet that one moment was all that Avalanche and Scarlet Witch needed.

"Have a hex-bolt special, creep!" yelled Wanda as she flicked her hands at the servant from the Organization, invoking all the mental willpower and strength as she could. The air literally shimmered and rippled before the various blue sparks of chaos-energy surrounding the entire personal space of the Heartless exploded, the molecules of nitrogen and oxygen becoming so unstable, they combusted. The dark-skinned fiend howled inhumanly as it was subjected to searing heat, and within moments, a few noticeable blisters and welts glistened on its impenetrable hide.

Avalanche went for another strike as he laid both of the palms of his hands flat on the dirt ground and invoked his terra-forming abilities, his eyes going completely white and pupil-less. Like magic, the Heartless found its foot trapped in two deep crevices, unable to walk any further as the ground completely swallowed its appendages and held fast, allowing the rest of the Joes to fire freely on the immobile enemy. Yet then the ogre arched back its head and howled a single guttural bellow of powerful fury and rage, and instantly, shafts of black lightning and pulsing streams of energy struck the ground all around the Heartless' feet. Within moments, the terrain was weakened just enough for the opponent from the Organization to pry its feet loose. And the dark aura attacks were also beginning to strike various buildings and objects all around, including several metal barrels of oil that were stored next to the motor pool…

KABOOM!

"Yeow! Fire, fire!" yelped the chef, B.A, as he did his best to rush out of the way before the caustic and flammable liquid could spread out to where he was mere seconds ago.

"Holy crap! Black lightning? Since when could the Heartless do this?" yelped Low Light as he madly strafed out of the various spots before the bursts of energy could touch him. Unluckily, Pietro and Justin screamed as one shaft struck them precariously close, sending the both of the Misfits flying only to crash against the wall hard and sink to the ground, cataleptic.

"Oh no!" gasped Bree as she and Lifeline rushed over to the prone forms of Pietro and Justin, but upon inspection and the lack of bleeding, finding their pulses strong and steady, the Joe medic waved off the concern.

"Quicksilver and Whitelighter are fine! They're just knocked out!" Lifeline reported.

"Al, the fire's spreading! Can't you put it out, yo?" Toad yelled as he and Blind Master hurled several rounds of razor-sharp shuriken at the disembodied experiment while Althea managed to use some water from a ruptured pipe underground to ram into the hostile invader with her hydrokinesis.

"Are you kidding?" snapped Wavedancer as she sent another minor waterspout to crash into the chest of the Heartless, causing it to stumble backwards, "**I can't use water on a gasoline fire!** Gasoline and water don't mix! If I tried putting it out, I'll actually make the fire spread out and cause it to become even worse!"

"Don't worry, I got it!" yelled Barbeque, the Joe's resident fireman, as he shot out two steady streams of retardant foam from his equipment, "Just stop that thing before it levels the entire base down!"

"What the - !" blurted out Cross Country in shock as he was nearly bowled back by the strange animal that barreled past him before he shouted to the Joe called Mutt, "Mutt, stop letting your dogs out while we're trying to defend the base!"

The mustached and grizzled soldier blinked in confusion when he spotted what Cross Country was referring to, and he yelled out over the din of the rifle-fire and the explosions, "It's not mine! I haven't seen **that** dog before! It isn't one of the ones I trained!"

"Leave us alone, jerkface!" snarled Lance as he used his powers to form a wall of earth and dirt to shield the soldiers and barricade the Heartless from approaching them, but unexpectedly, the creature just dashed on by, ignoring the crowd of humans completely until it managed to reach a rather shaken and shivering Pluto who was cornered in a midst of rubble and overturned tanks. Trapped, Pluto just backed away as much as he could before he growled, showing his teeth, while the Heartless advanced, its claws raised for the killing blow.

The Joes and the Misfits were shocked to say the least.

"Huh?" Dial Tone gasped as he saw this on the security monitors, relaying his message on the Joes' communicator frequencies, "What gives? That Heartless is ignoring all of you!"

"It's…not after us?" Gung-Ho asked as he reloaded his semi-automatic gun. Althea's sharp eyes then spotted the real reason as he stared at Pluto who was growling helplessly while backed off in the corner while his opponent stomped closer and closer towards it, like how a mouse reacts when surrounded by a significantly larger cat.

"No, it's not!" Wavedancer gasped in her communicator, "Everyone, that Heartless isn't after us! It's after that dog, the golden-colored hound! **_That Heartless is targeting the dog, it isn't targeting us!_**"

"At least it's distracted! Let him have it!" Leatherneck roared as all the Joes and Misfits attacked at once with anything they could, striking the Heartless with full intensity in its back and causing it to pause and falter with annoyance. Taking advantage of the disruption, Pluto madly dashed in between the enemy's legs before it could react, allowing Pluto to tear for safety before his pursuer could fully turn around. Now furious and livid beyond all comprehension, the Heartless grabbed a damaged and overturned tank and with its strength, it lobbed it directly at the Misfits who all darted out of the way.

Then Xi spotted from the rooftops, to his horror, that two of his family had not managed to make a dash for safety.

"Shipwreck!" Xi screamed hoarsely as he pointed to the two forms of Claudius and Barney who were gurgling happily as they crawled and walked awkwardly, unaware of the tank that was descending down on their very spot. The others dashed out of jeopardy…but the two sons of Shipwreck hadn't.

"Shit!" cursed the sailor, his face going completely white.

"No!" screamed Althea, frozen to the spot, and with Pietro and Justin unconscious, none of them were humanly fast nor close enough to be able to grab the babies from being crushed to death. But thankfully, Pluto spotted the situation at the same instant.

Before the tank could plummet and crash to the ground, Pluto dashed by at the last second, becoming nothing more than a golden-colored blur as he rushed towards Beak and Claudius.

**_WHAM!_**

"Whoa!" Wavedancer gasped, as Pluto tore out from being crushed by a two-ton armored-vehicle by mere inches, triumphantly but with great effort, carrying Claudius and Barney with his teeth by the back of their shirts. Still, despite the burden, Pluto managed to continue his run until he stopped alongside Shipwreck and Cover Girl and deposited the babies in front of the two Joes, weary but satisfied.

"Kids…" Shipwreck exhaled with extreme relief as he hugged Beak and Claudius close to his chest. The two toddlers, surprisingly, were not the least bit shaken at how close they had come to certain death and were trying to wriggle out of their father's arms in order to get closer to the friendly hound.

"Doggie!" chirped Beak.

"Me wanna play!" squealed Claudius. Cover Girl looked at Pluto with touched shock and gratitude.

"Thank you," she said. Pluto just barked twice happily.

The ninja, Snake Eyes, then had absolutely enough as it managed to scale upwards towards a building to the roof, as silent as a butterfly landing on the petals of a flower, his cat-like agility and training making him almost inhumanly graceful and stealthy. Without needing more than two seconds to analyze and search for an appropriate spot, remember what Blind Master informed him and Storm Shadow when he fought in San Francisco, the masked, goggled warrior drew out his steel katana as he took an acrobatic flying leap into the heavens above. The Heartless didn't spot the ninja master until it was too late…

Slash!

With a shudder, the Heartless remained standing as Snake Eyes landed on the ground before sheathing back the slim, watered blade of Japanese steel back into its case strapped to his back. Like clockwork, the head of the creature of darkness detached from the body and fell with a solid thud to the ground, cleaved off completely to the bone from one swipe before the rest of its body toppled over along with it.

"Hey, it's disappearing!" Deep-Six cried out as the remains of their opponent vanished in plumes of black smoke and dark fog before fading completely from view.

"Whoa…is it over yet?" groaned Pietro as he and Justin had regained consciousness and were fully healed from Lifeline's powers.

"In the loosest sense of the word, yes, Quicksilver," Low Light groaned as he and the other Joes surveyed the wreckage. Thankfully, it was only a portion of the base that had been fully desecrated and no one was horrifically injured or killed (the serious being only a few cuts and bruises), but it was bad enough and the price tag for repairs would be enough to cause General Hawk another headache.

"Geez, wrecked buildings, roofs torn off, overturned cars and tanks crushed beyond repair, fires, and craters from the explosions…" Dusty remarked as he looked around, his rifle limp in his hands.

"In other words, this is a typical day at G.I. Joe headquarters," quipped B.A. weakly, trying to lighten the mood, but that proved to be the wrong thing to say for the anal Beach Head was _anything_ but amused.

"You actually find this funny, you sea-cook reject from Cobra?" bellowed the ranger, "You actually think getting caught with our pants down and nearly getting killed is hilarious, you fat, seaweed-loving worm? Maybe we should all just commit suicide and welcome the next Heartless and Organization freak and throw them a damn party! It'll sure as hell lighten the mood!"

"You want this frying pan up where the sun doesn't shine, butthead?" growled the portly, bearded man as he held up said instrument.

"Calm down, both of you," Scarlet ordered steely, putting a hand in between the quarreling duo, "We need to figure out what to do now and how to deal with the rebuilding, not go at each other's throats."

Though Beach Head automatically was ready to shoot off a retort that he wasn't going to take orders from a damn woman, on second thought, he thought better of it and kept his mouth shut, fuming.

"And just think, it was only _one_ Heartless that did all this," groaned Alpine as he surveyed the wreckage, "Can you imagine how much we'd be in trouble if a whole _army_ of them attacked us?"

Meanwhile, Trinity was eagerly hugging Pluto until the canine could scarcely breathe. And Claudius and Beak were eagerly tugging on the black ears of the hound with the same amount of enthusiasm.

"You saved our brothers!" they squealed with affection as they coddled the strange animal.

"Aw, aren't you a sweetie?" cooed Lina as she stroked Pluto's head, feeling his soft and fine fur in between her fingers.

Meanwhile, General Hawk was staring at Pluto with a mixture of confusion, suspicion, and wonder.

"A dog?" General Hawk murmured in a deadpanned voice, his eyes narrowed at the hound being eagerly hugged by Daria, Quinn, and Brittany, "That Heartless stormed into the Pit, destroyed numerous armored vehicles, and endangered my men and the Misfits…_all over a dog_?"

At those words, all the Joes and the Misfits turned and stared at the golden-furred hound, contemplating. This was certainly one of the weirder incidents in the history of G.I. Joe, and Pluto found himself in a sea of eyes bearing down on him.

Oblivious, Pluto just barked happily in response.

---

"Don't you think that maybe this is a little bit of overkill, sir?" Blob asked as he and the other Misfits gathered along with the adult members of the Misfit-handlers, the elder X-Men (not including Jake, Scott and Jean), Robin and Bumblebee from the Teen Titans, the senior and original seven members of the Justice League, Phoebe from the Charmed Ones, and Giles, Wood, the Slayer Faith, and Willow from the Scoobies.

All of them had converged immediately to Trinity's laboratory at the Pit when General Hawk informed the aforementioned allies and heroes what had transpired at their headquarters hours ago, and Pluto was trapped in a gigantic glass containment-unit, quarantined for his own safety and for the Misfits' as Beast and several others examined the visitor with great scrutiny.

"He has a point, yo," Todd agreed, "I mean, if the Heartless are chasin' after this dog, then he's obviously important. And if he's coming to us, then maybe he's gonna help us, yo!"

"Or it could be a clever ruse to send the dog into our quarters and have us destroy us on the Organization's behalf from within," Wanda interjected, "Seriously, Toad, this could be like the Heartless' version of the Trojan Horse."

"The who?" Todd blinked, obviously lapsing on the familiar term.

"Never mind, I forgot who I was talking too, Mr. Classic-Example-of-ADD," the goth groaned, now rubbing her temples in annoyance. Meanwhile, the others in the meeting were trying to process and comprehend what they were just told by the Joes and the Misfits.

"So this Heartless was trying to kill this dog?" repeated Faith, still partly disbelieving, "Are you serious? I mean…it doesn't really compute. Seriously, the Organization must be really losin' it if they're less than cool with the fact that a dog's runnin' about and stuff."

"And the scans are all negative," Hank said as he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes tiredly, "There is nothing abnormal or out of place within the canine's body. It is nothing more than a regular dog with respect to its tissue and cellular structure."

"I don't get it; it doesn't make any sense," Wood remarked, "Why would the Thirteenth Order be after some sort of hound? No offense, but this really appears to be irrational, sending a powerful Heartless to take out a dog. An ancient relic that grants power? Seems logical. Killing someone who has the power to take out the Heartless and the Organization? Definitely in our line of work. Sending spies to cause armies to crumble within? I'm surprised if they don't try it sooner. **_But a dog?_** You've got to be pulling my leg…"

"It's not an ordinary dog," Willow announced, her voice solemn, and everyone became silent as they turned to the red-haired witch. The Scooby was just staring at the golden-furred canine who just panted and looked back with his wide, innocent eyes; though it didn't make sense and she couldn't put her finger on it nor identify just how immense was this force, Willow _could_ sense something bountiful emanating from the dog, something not of this world or of any magic she had ever tapped into before.

Phoebe chipped in, "That's right. Remember, General Hawk, I placed magical wards along with Willow and the others around the Pit and the X-Mansion after the last Heartless battle. The Heartless, I can understand it being able to tear through the protection spells since its powered by the Organization, but in order for the dog to get through them without suffering any of the backlash of the paranormal energy, well…"

The Wiccan trailed off, but everyone understood what the Charmed One was hinting at.

"Actually, Red's right here," Wolverine growled, feeling his suspicions perk up, "The mutt has no scent. I can't smell **anything** off this dog, so he ain't natural."

Hank seemed completely stunned as he turned back on Pluto, his eyes wide and exclaimed, "Stars and garters…but that is preposterous! Every living creature of the flora and fauna has to have some sort of natural and biological scent caused by the pheromones released from its body, and it applies anywhere from the smallest insect to the largest redwood tree! Logan, that's not scientifically possible."

"Not exactly," mused Robin, "Logan said the same thing about Leomon when he appeared in Jump City, thus why we couldn't track the lion when he was stalking Raven during his attempts to assassinate her."

"You mean, '_save her_'," Lance snapped a bit bad-naturedly upon hearing this, but gracefully, Robin let it slide, not wishing to start a fight for the correction.

"And I cannot sense anything in the dog's mind either," Professor Xavier murmured, "As hard as I find it to believe, the dog is shielded in its mind. It is nothing forceful or harsh, but rather, it is like an impenetrable fog, one that is passively defensive so though it does not cause any sort of pain on my part for the telepathic intrusion…I cannot locate anything. Not even a direct consciousness which should have been naturally automatic in any living creature."

Storm narrowed her eyes in thought before she turned to the Joes and Misfits.

"Do we even have any sort of identification of this dog?"

"Just this," Spirit explained as he held up the green collar with the metal tag on it, "And the only word inscribed on it is 'Pluto' which we can probably assume is the canine's name, but other than that, no address, no identification number, nothing. And actually, Superman, we were wondering if you could scan this and well…"

Superman looked at the tag with his X-Ray vision for several seconds before he shook his head.

"No tracking sensors, no microchips, no indication that anything on the dog or on the collar is a weapon or anything that could be a potential threat. Pluto seems harmless enough," Superman concluded.

"Phoebe, care to give it a try with your premonitions? Maybe your powers can sense something if there is any negative or malicious aura associated with this Pluto," Blind Master suggested.

"Don't you think you're being a little _too_ paranoid?" Pietro drawled, but the Halliwell sister ignored him as she took hold of the green collar and closed her eyes, willfully trying to invoke her abilities of clairvoyance.

Breathlessly, a minute passed. Then two. But no such premonition or activation of her Wiccan powers manifested at all. The middle Halliwell sister opened her eyes and sighed, handing back Pluto's collar.

"Nope, nothing. It's just an ordinary tag. Nothing magical about it," Phoebe said, shaking her head.

"We figured that, but we thought it would be better safe than sorry, especially since my sisters have hidden stuff about what they find before, and let's face it, their scanners aren't _that_ powerful," Althea said.

"Well, I guess the dog's as safe as it can possibly be. Just wish we knew what it was doing here and why the Heartless was chasing the poor thing," Hawkgirl stated.

"Hey…" murmured the Flash to himself as he stared long and hard at Pluto's visage, "Is it just me or does this dog actually _look_ like the character Pluto from the Disney cartoons?"

"Gee, why am I not surprised that the Flash would know something about that one?" Pietro sneered, and automatically, the red-costumed speedster took it to offense as he put on a toothy and vindictive grin as he went toe to toe with Quicksilver.

"You got something to say, Pietro Jerk-Off?"

"Yeah, that it's no surprise that a second-rate speedster like **you** would be familiar with cartoons," drawled Quicksilver, "Still trying to relive your childhood, I see?"

"Actually, you know something?" Bumblebee remarked as she peered closer into Pluto's face, effectively breaking up the quarrel before it could escalate, "The Flash has a point…he _does_ look like the Pluto from the cartoon! The Disney character, I mean…wow, the similarity is _really_ uncanny. It's like he's straight out from TV or something!"

"Karen, this isn't a cartoon. This is real life, child. It is probably just a coincidence, that is all…hence the reason behind the dog's name," Wonder Woman.

"Well, despite this, I guess then that the creature is certainly not a danger since we cannot prove otherwise," remarked Ororo as Hank let Pluto out from the containment unit, "But what shall we do with the dog now?"

"I think it's already obvious where the dog's gonna stay at, Stormy," Shipwreck chuckled as he indicated with a nod of his head at the Misfits. To everyone's slight surprise, each and every one of the Misfits, from Althea and Fred to even Trinity and Claudius and Barney were petting and fawning over Pluto, scratching his head and petting him with growing fondness. And Pluto had a look of pure joy and happiness on his face as he panted and laughed (well, as much as a dog can possibly laugh) and closed his eyes while nuzzling against the teenagers who were already starting to regard him as a friend. And after how Pluto saved the life of Shipwreck's baby sons, it was to be expected.

"I guess it's decided then," Low Light said, though one could tell he didn't prefer this turn of events, "Looks like the mutt stays with us. Looks like Trinity's got a new pet and playmate…provided they don't experiment on him and subject him to electrocutions."

"Speaking of those three…" rumbled a deep voice, and the Delgado triplets found themselves face to face with a very, **_very_** irritated and fuming Batman.

"Uh…heh-heh?" Daria giggled weakly as she, Quinn, and Brittany were subjected to the Dark Knight's death glare that could have instantly disemboweled and decapitated them before incinerating their carcasses to ashes.

"**Tire. Now**," Batman growled with his teeth grit. The leader of G.I. Joe felt another headache come in, and his gut feeling told him that he really did not want to deal with whatever wanton destruction and theft the Triplets caused.

"Dare I ask?" sighed Hawk, rubbing his eyes.

"Let's just leave it that you should only be concerned about the Heartless and Pluto, sir," Xi remarked, stifling a chuckle at the sight.

Martian Manhunter then voiced his suspicions, "There is something about Pluto that we haven't begun to comprehend yet. The Organization knows exactly what we're dealing with…and they don't like it."

Giles nodded as he said, "Quite likely, the Thirteenth Order may regard the canine as a threat, and should that be the case, then you, the Misfits, and the soldiers of G.I. Joe may be in grave danger by allowing yourselves to house the mongrel."

"But, at the same time, it could be something good, especially since if the Organization was willing to send a Heartless to chase Pluto. Anything that they're worried about may be a good sign that we have something to use against them," Spirit pointed out. Roadblock couldn't help but scoff a bit.

"That assumption isn't entirely sound. What sort of destructive weapon can we expect from a hound?" the Joe versed in skepticism.

Still, had anyone looked at Pluto at that very moment, they would have noticed that the dog's eyes were glowing white for a mere fraction of a second as Pluto smiled secretively to himself.

He was finally where he needed to be…

---

"My Liege?" the thirteenth member of the Organization said in a calm and solemn voice as he knelt down before his leader and the other eleven members of the order as they gathered around the fountain of the Oracle. They all turned to their fellow comrade as he gave his report.

"Our Heartless had finally located the dog named Pluto. He found sanctuary and refuge at the headquarters of G.I. Joe, and now, he is under the protection of the soldiers and the Misfits. The Heartless sent to exterminate the dog was beaten and defeated."

The Superior sighed; though he expected this sort of outcome, really, life would be much simpler had that troublesome mutt been exterminated quickly and immediately. Still, either way, it would work to their advantage…

"Very well, then begin the operation at once with Cadmus and the Hellfire Club. Axel, once you have the pod, go to the Pit; you **_know_** what to do…"

"Got it…" Axel said emotionlessly as he teleported away into a cloud of black aura.

**Author's Notes: Next Friday, in the chapter, "The First Chosen", it's the moment you've all been waiting for, you Kingdom Hearts fans! The Keyblade arrives, and along with newfound powers, things will certainly need these weapons as Axel, Falco, and Octavia establish the course of events for the Infection! Who will wield the first Keyblade? You may be in for a shock! Until then, read and review! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this chapter, and constructive criticism welcome!**


	5. The First Chosen

**CHAPTER 5: The First Chosen**

"Do you really have to do this, Axel?" the enigmatic and anonymous thirteenth member of the Organization asked as he and Axel stood alone in one of the dimensional rifts of space and time. From his demeanor and that he was slightly shorter by his red-haired companion, it was pretty obvious to any outsider that the unknown hooded one was a youth, a boy, and one who actually showed some sort of remorse and worry for his comrade.

It was also quite apparent that this was the same Organization member who appeared regretful to the X-Men, Misfits, and the Joes so many months ago in the battle for the Nexus at San Francisco.

Axel quite remembered that one damn time his friend (his _only_ friend in the Thirteenth Order) managed to show any emotion and particularly _that_ one. After Marluxia informed the Superior of that one incident of weakness, the Superior was actually livid, which should have been impossible considering how the Organization came to be. Axel's friend was subjected to a severe, scathing and imaginative verbal reprimand; the Superior wouldn't take any sort of weakness whatsoever.

Axel just stood silently, refusing to defend his friend and involve himself, refusing to even try comforting his comrade after the hour or so of harsh lecturing and threats. Such positive emotion wasn't possible, wasn't wanted. But it could be soon, especially once they harnessed Kingdom Hearts. Still, it wasn't too surprising why out of all the thirteen members of the Organization, Axel's friend was the one who was the most capable to show such…heart.

Axel just invoked another portal of darkness to the physical realm of Earth, silently wondering if life as a member of the Thirteenth Order was just ripe with irony. Still, he sighed and turned to his friend.

"You know that as damn well as I do, so quit being so annoying! We're so close to being full beings! We can't give this up, not now! So shut up and put a lid on it! The Superior is already on the warpath because you couldn't ignore those pitiful memories of what happened at the last Gathering!"

Axel's friend looked pained as he looked slightly away; _that_ shaft hit home. Axel frowned to himself before he tried again in a less resentful and protectively impatient voice, "Look, it's not a crime to want our hearts back, just like how it's not a bad thing to just want to be complete beings again. Don't you miss that, that feeling of being whole? There's nothing wrong with wanting that. Isn't this what you wanted?"

"Yeah, I do. I still do, but I - "

"**_Then leave it_**," Axel cut down sharply. The thirteenth member gave his best friend a dry look underneath the hood before he made one last effort to persuade his friend.

"So it doesn't bother you that we're doing this? No guilt whatsoever?"

Axel couldn't resist poking fun as he sidelined, "Nah, can't say that I have. My heart's not giving me any grief. Haven't got one, remember?"

"You are such a smart-mouth," the hooded youth retorted, but from the tone of voice, it was amused and almost came out in a chuckle, and Axel was pleased at the result, much more so that he could allow himself to admit.

"And don't you forget that, idiot, so be sure to keep your opinions hidden from now on, especially around Marluxia and the Superior," Axel snidely and teasingly returned, giving his friend a friendly sock on the arm, like an exasperated, older brother. With that, Axel turned towards the portal, ready to fulfill his mission.

"The Misfits and the Joes aren't going to be pushovers. They've taken on Cobra, the Hellfire Club, Darkseid, Trigon, the Turok-Han and the warlocks of Zankou. The minute they see you, you're going to be in for some difficulty…" the thirteenth member stated rather stonily.

Axel then showed his friend the gift that Hamilton and the various members of the Hellfire Club bequeathed to him to use against the heroes. It was a small, gray-colored pod, a seed really, and perfectly oval shaped and immersed in a radiating glow of dark aura and it hovered above Axel's palm. Upon closer inspection, the seed wasn't made of hard, plant fibers but rather, disembodied, sickly-colored flesh. And on it was a miniature replica of the red-and-black symbol of the Heartless. The mass was also grooved, the indentations running up and down the seed, lengthwise, and perfectly positioned to section the seed into six separate portions, and the thirteenth member could additionally see that the pod seemed to be pulsating, like a human heartbeat, as if it were alive.

"Trust me, with _this_ secret weapon, those Misfits are gonna be on the receiving end," the red-haired chakram-wielder bragged, and with that, he stepped into the portal and vanished.

---

Back at the Misfit Manor over at the Pit, it was actually a peaceful day, a feat in itself considering that the Heartless that attacked the Pit in its determined state to capture and kill the dog, Pluto, was only two days ago. The tension and unease that gripped the soldiers of G.I. Joe and made them very wary of future attacks settled down a bit, and rebuilding and fixing the damage done to their home and headquarters, and the training and chores had been finished, leaving the teenagers free to goof off or study and finish their assignments, or in Todd and Althea's cases, continue to plan and shape how they wanted the wedding to go about. Since their engagement, both of the teens had vehemently requested that they would both plan most of the reception and ask very little help from their family and from their guardians, primarily because of the satisfaction and also because they wanted it to be just as they pictured it.

That and that there would be no possible way on Earth, short of brain damage, that Wavedancer and Toad were going to have Shipwreck, Trinity, and Pietro put in their inputs and make a fiasco out of this event.

Thus, both of the engaged mutant teens were sitting in the living room on the couch, rummaging through wedding magazines, articles, making notes and diagrams, as well as plans for the reception afterwards, ranging everything from the food to the flowers to the music. And despite the grace period of several months, Todd and Althea found out immediately as soon as they started their engagement that planning a wedding was extremely stressful, overwhelming, and thrilling all at once. Still, it was relatively peaceful and very little interrupted the two mutants as they continued making notes and discussing their ideas and tossing their opinions.

"_Pietro!_ You're dead, you hear me? **_DEAD!_**" Wanda was heard screaming upstairs before the sounds of quick, successive thumping, as if Wanda was madly sprinting, was heard vibrating on the ceiling above followed by the unmistakable noise of a hex-bolt materializing.

The sound of crackling energy followed by Pietro's falsetto screaming indicated that the attack must have hit its mark in a very painful place.

"I seriously think that the best place to hold the actual ceremony would be at the church with Father Delgado, and I'm sure he'll have no problem, especially since his church is pretty romantic with the stained glass windows. I'll get in touch with him, Cloak and Dagger later tonight," Althea remarked, undisturbed at the sounds of Pietro begging for mercy upstairs.

"I just hope we'll have enough room. The Slayers alone would fill up the whole street, yo! And we're inviting all three-thousand of them!" Todd remarked, but Althea waved him off.

"Not to worry. Phoebe and the Charmed Ones said that they can devise a spell along with Willow to make the interior of one room as spacious and wide as they want without changing any of the physical boundaries and dimensions outside the church. In other words, with that spell, we could fit in the entire country of Bolivia in Father Delgado's church and still have enough room leftover for a few Sentinels once they use the spell for the actual wedding."

"Ah, cool. And I already finished taking the poll: more people would prefer Caesar salad instead of Cobb salad for the appetizers for the banquet. And which prank do you think Pietro's in trouble for? The itching powder on her tampons or the double-sided Scotch tape on the toilet seat?" Toad asked, hearing the commotion and the sounds of a heavy body being beaten above his head.

"Wanda – _blub, blub_! Ach! Ack! _Blub, blub, blub_! Can't you take a – ack! – a joke? Ack! _Blub_! Help, help – _blub_! She's trying to kill me! _Blub_!" Pietro was heard sputtering in the bathroom upstairs and hollering for help while choking amid faint sounds of splashing water.

"The toilet seat," Althea deduced rather indifferently. Then both of the teenagers heard another set of howling, only this time, it was coming from the dog, Pluto. And along with the sharp yelping and crying of surprised discomfort and fear was the sound of the Triplets giggling from their room and the sound of heavy and complex machinery running.

"Hmph, sounds like my sisters are starting to have a lot of fun with Pluto…hence reminding me _why_ exactly pets don't have a long life-span at Misfit-Manor," Althea chuckled. Toad made a thoughtful face as he continued to hear Pluto wailing and howling, nearly shrieking in pain.

"I can't tell, yo," he remarked, "Are they using the electric nipple clamps, the buzzsaws, a wax-treatment, or the lasers?"

There was another agonized squeal from the dog following immediately by the sound of something being singed by an intense heat-source. Althea and Todd immediately looked at each other at the same time.

"Lasers," they remarked, deadpanned and simultaneously.

"Think we should stop them from killing the guy?"

Althea gave Todd a semi-amused look as she clarified, "Nope, I'm not stepping in unless it's necessary, and despite how bad it sounds, Trinity isn't going to kill Pluto, especially since he saved Claudius and Barney. And Hawk actually asked my sisters to do a few experiments on our little visitor, especially since he feels this whole thing of the Heartless attacking and Pluto earning our trust by helping the babies seems a little too convenient, almost like this is a ruse. And to tell you the truth, I have to agree. I like the fact that Pluto saved my brothers, but…I can't just give up my trust and let my guard down. This whole thing could be a ruse, and we need to keep a close eye on him. Yeah, he's friendly and all, but it's better to be safe than sorry."

"And what if he's not?" Todd pointed out.

"I dunno, I guess we'll decide when we get to that point," replied Wavedancer, "But it seems pretty obvious that the dog wants to stay with us, despite the insanity here at the Pit. I mean, any animal that's willing to put up with my deranged sisters deserves to have a few points for determination and nerve. And speaking of those three, I have to keep in mind to make sure that the banquet has apple cider and champagne on the account that the Triplets and Jamie will not be allowed any alcohol from this event, especially after their _last_ run in."

"Oh for crying out loud, sis!" moaned Quinn as she, Brittany, and Daria stepped in, wielding blowtorches and electric tasers, "Are you going to hold **that** over our heads forever? We've already been punished by Dad and Blind Master for drinking when Scott and Jean babysat us, not to mention all the blisters and calluses we got from doing all your chores! We were only kids back then! It was a year ago!"

"To correct you three little nutcases, considering it was _only_ a _year and a half ago_, I have the privilege of harping you three on that one for the rest of your lives," Althea said with mock sweetness.

"So what's with all the equipment, yo?" Todd asked with a secretive smile as he and Althea felt a presence move underneath them with their ninja-senses they had developed over the years while under the Joes' instruction and training.

"Pluto actually managed to gnaw through the straps we used to hold him down while we subjected him to – er…relaxation therapy. But we're going to track him down and see if he ran outside!" Daria chimed in a bit too eagerly.

"Try to stop before you actually kill him," Todd sighed, resigned as he and his fiancée watched their younger sisters tear out of the house, whooping and eager for the hunt of their now favorite test-subject. As soon as Althea made sure that Trinity was a safe distance away from the house, the black-and-blue haired female lifted up the fabric covering the crawlspace underneath the couch to reveal a tense and rather shaken Pluto, who managed to crawl underneath and hide there as soon as he escaped the Triplet's clutches.

"You are so lucky I took pity and didn't rat you out, Pluto," grinned Althea. The hound gave the Misfit hydrokinetic a rather baleful look mixed with some gratitude, but it was immediately erased as the dog managed to crawl out from the space underneath the couch and whined happily as he rubbed his head against Althea's knee. It was surprising that at times, the canine could actually give emotional expressions on his face that made him actually seem human.

"I can't believe we're at this point, yo," Todd said, reflecting back, "Seems kinda weird to imagine that we'll be married in a couple of months."

"If we have that long…" Althea sighed, feeling a bit down as she focused on the real threat of the Heartless and the Hellfire Club at hand. Though there were many times the Misfit leader herself would bravely face the challenges head-on and clamp down on her emotions, there were times when she couldn't help but feel that apprehension of the world possibly ending, of the fact that the Heartless weren't something to lightly brush off, and that there were very few odds in their favor (at least the ones they know about).

"Think we'll have a chance to beat this?" Althea murmured. Todd looked a bit taken aback before his eyes blazed with protective anger and outrage at his girlfriend doubting herself.

Toad shot back fiercely, relying on his endless (if not annoyingly optimistic and naïve) faith, "Hell, yeah, Al! We've fought Magneto, Cobra, the Dreadnoks, the Sentinels, the FOH, the Furies and Darkseid, the Whitelighters, the Turok-Han, warlocks, and even Trigon, yo! This fight's no different! Yeah, we've been caught with our pants down before and we've had our own share of set-backs, but we're not going to let this scare us, yo! It'll be worth it…especially since when this is all over, it'll mean we'll be able to share our lives, be married! It's enough to make me wanna kick Heartless butt!"

Pluto actually raised an eyebrow at Todd's speech. It was saccharine and cheesy…but Todd actually believed in what he was saying was true. There wasn't the smallest indication that the frog-like teen was lying to himself or to Althea.

"You have no idea how much this is so much like a paradise to me, Al. After growing up in the streets and joining the Brotherhood and Magneto, after facing endless taunts and verbal abuse on how I wasn't strong or powerful enough to be anything useful, how neither Magneto or the X-Men wanted me, after nearly dying…I ain't giving up, yo! Having a family, you, the Joes, being a ninja-in-training…I'd rather be here as I am now than be in some alternate universe where I never became a Misfit and was still Magneto's lackey!"

Althea couldn't help but smile at the chutzpah and heart in that sentiment. Todd's face them lit up as if struck by a brilliant idea and with that, he held out his pinky finger at Althea.

"Let's swear it, yo!" Todd blurted out excitedly.

"Huh?" Althea asked, confused and blinking.

"Let's pinky-swear it! I promise that no matter what, whether it be the Heartless or those Organization creeps or the Inner Circle, I won't leave ya' to fight alone, yo! Me and everyone else will be there for you, just like how you and the Joes are there for us! In other words, this means we promise we'll be together forever!" Todd explained.

Althea gave him a rather amused look as she pointed out, "Uh…Toddles? I think that's the whole point of a wedding and marriage vows."

"It never hurts to have more than one promise. Besides, Xander told me that nothing's more binding than a pinky-swear! So why not?" the frog-teenager grinned.

"You are so childish sometimes, Toddles," Wavedancer giggled, but in good faith and jest, she joined in her pinky finger with her fiancé and pinky-swore, sealing the promise, like a pair of schoolchildren in a playground. Pluto, upon seeing this, gave the canine-equivalent of a sigh followed by a whimper of exasperation. Althea and Todd looked at their golden-furred third-wheel before they smirked at the dog as Pluto rested his head against Althea's knee.

"Nobody asked for _your_ opinion, so keep it to yourself," Althea retorted good-naturedly, and she and Toad affectionately scratched Pluto on his head in the space between his ears, feeling her suspicions of the strange animal diminish bit by bit.

---

Shipwreck was whistling to himself as he stepped out of Josey's Bar, the one tavern within easy traveling distance of the Pit and an actual, friendly place to be, especially since the bartender had a very diverse clientele that included not only humans and mutants but aliens, vampires, demons, and once, even a duck from another dimension. And Shipwreck knew he could always count on there as a personal retreat for a drink (or five) when he needed to escape.

And since the Misfit Manor became a dry house, it was something that Hector Delgado desperately needed.

Still, despite the stress of being a father, a Misfit-handler, and a Joe, Shipwreck was in a good mood. His daughter was going to be married soon, and her happiness and excitement was actually contagious as it spread not only to the Misfits and the Joes but actually some of the X-Men as well, and it made him look forward to having Toad become his future son-in-law and being on the right path to becoming a grandfather.

It was going to be a beautiful day.

"Hmph, should have known a sailor like you would have easily been found alone in a bar," a cocky voice drawled behind him, and though he had no idea why, the Joe sailor felt his skin crawl with defensive fear and unease. With one sharp, fluid movement, Shipwreck swiveled around and took out the Desert Eagle pistol he kept in his holster, only to find himself pointing his weapon at a familiar hooded figure in a black robe with silver zippers.

Shipwreck was facing a member of the Organization Thirteen.

"For _once_ in my life, I actually wish I didn't go get a drink today…" muttered the Joe as he fired four successive rounds from his gun, but to his horror, the hooded man easily and nimbly evaded each bullet that was aimed directly in the middle of his skull before he gave a casual flick of his hand. With a cry of pain, a blast of fire struck Shipwreck in the chest and sent him crashing to the ground, the front of his naval shirt scorched and leaving charred, blackened holes. His trusty firearm lay a bit off, now uselessly melted and twisted.

"Shit…that hurt," Shipwreck groaned to himself as he wobbly tried to get back on his feet, but Axel took advantage of the moment.

With a simple wave of his hand, Axel simply flung the pod he was given by Hamilton at the injured soldier from G.I Joe. Hector didn't have even time to react and dodge as the pod actually phased into his chest and began the infection process, plunging into his flesh and bone with a small burst of magic.

And it was extremely and brutally agonizing.

"What the hell did you do to me?" hissed Shipwreck in torment, as he doubled over on his hands and knees in pain, gritting his teeth and unable to do much but remain still and paralyzed as the seed Axel implanted in him began to take over. Axel just blithely raised one eyebrow on his blank and nonchalant face.

"Making you into a Heartless," the redhead commented easily, as if it was the most perfectly logical thing in the world before the pod attached to Shipwreck's heart and began to corrupt his soul and body with the powers of darkness, infecting him like a destructive parasite. It was like being immersed in a pool of acid while feeling every single fiber of your body and internal organs being alight with fire and kerosene.

With a sickening noise of tearing flesh and skin, Shipwreck lost consciousness and all thought as he transformed before Axel's very eyes, his body growing and changing in grotesque proportions, his eyes becoming glassy and yellow and his skin darkening along with his organs rearranging themselves painfully in his gut, no longer functioning as the pod took complete control over him and his biological functions.

When it was done, there was absolutely no trace of the bearded human once formerly with G.I. Joe. In his place was a mammoth and colossal Heartless, bearing the seal and lock of the damned Heartless symbol on its chest and torso. The creature of darkness was humanoid, but it had glowing, beady yellow eyes and its entire skin was pale and sickly bluish-green, dripping with dank seawater. The monster additionally had a human-like face, complete with a hook nose, a blank face, and billows and billows of wet tangled hair flowing from its head and beard, covering its mouth with the tangled maze of tresses. The Heartless had overgrown and exaggerated arms which were significantly bigger than its lower body and legs, giving it a slight ape-like appearance. The Heartless wore clothes and breeches similar to the get up of a pirate, except they were torn, waterlogged, and covered with grime and seaweed, and at the ends of its arms weren't claws but actual gigantic cannon shaped in the form to heavy anchors.

Shipwreck was nothing more than a slave, a Heartless that looked almost like a zombie pirate that had risen from its grave in the ocean depths. And Axel couldn't have been more pleased as he issued his command.

"OK, sailor, you take your orders from me now. And here's your first assignment: kill the Misfits and then all Joes you can get at the Pit. As much as you can, as fast as you can. Got it memorized?"

Mindlessly, the Heartless that was once Shipwreck just gave a low rumble from its bowels, nodding helplessly and bound to the powers of the darkness, unable to have any other free will than to obey the word of the Organization Thirteen.

---

"Hey, it's the siren!" Lance yelled as he and the Joes looked up from their chores of yard work from the front yard, and indeed, as the rest of the Misfits made their way out of their house, they could hear it, the alarms ringing throughout the entire headquarters of G.I. Joe, the same system that was used when the base was under attack.

"What's going on? It's not Cobra or else we would have gotten wind of it already from Dial Tone and Mainframe!" Low Light wondered out loud, but Lina's face turned white as she got a good aerial view from the skies above, hovering high in the air with her wings before she spotted the hulking figure crashing through the barricades, security systems, and electrified fences of the Pit while the Joes on alert immediately begun to attack.

"Heartless!" Dragonfly relayed back on her communicator, "They're fighting a Heartless! Another one's attacking the Pit!"

"Aw, crap! Again?" groaned Roadblock as he rushed back into the house to grab his machine gun, "We had trouble taking out the last one!"

"And it's a Heartless, so our psychic lightning won't work on it! We can't shut it down with telepathy!" Brittany rambled worriedly, trying to remember how would be the best way to dispatch the threat.

"You sure you losers would even want to take it down in the first place?" a voice spoke behind them, and the Joes and the Misfits whirled around to see the ever-so familiar hooded figure in the black cloak.

"The Organization!" blurted out Lina in fright. The hooded man made a snort of derision as he reached back and tossed off his hood, now showing himself to be a thin, young-faced man with a sharp chin and green eyes and pale skin. There were triangular markings underneath his eyes, as if artistically rendered there by face paint. But his hair was the most distinctive feature; it was long and a wild mane of elongated, spiky, pointed thorns, like a wildstorm of the hottest flames. In fact, Pietro couldn't help but wonder how the heck the guy managed to fully cover his head with the hood despite the wild mane of tresses pointing everywhere outrageously.

"What the hell are you doing here, asshole?" Low Light snarled as he turned into solid steel with his mutant powers.

"Sheesh, the least you twerps could do is actually address me properly! Geez, and I'm starting to wonder if the X-men might be better company than you bunch of sorry – whoa, too slow, punk!"

Axel broke off in mid-rant as Xi and Quicksilver charged and actually got close enough to land a punch, taking advantage of the enemy's distraction during his little speech, but catching himself quickly, the agile and lissome youth managed to twist his body and avoid their physical attacks before he impressively back-flipped and landed a safe distance away, his boots making no noise as he glided to the ground like a leaf falling from a tree in the wind. Despite himself, Blind Master was impressed at the enemy's skills; this foe was quick and proficient enough to even evade Quicksilver, a mutant speedster, and Xi, a practicing ninja.

"The name's Axel," the Organization member sneered, "Got it memorized?"

"Yeah, and remember **_this_**, Axel: **_don't mess with the Misfits!_**" yelled Daria with rage as she and her sisters along with the rest of their teammates and the Joe handlers charged. But Axel simply teleported away before they could pummel him into submission, disappearing in a cloud of darkness.

"Just remember, Misfits…" the red-haired drawled mockingly, "This isn't over yet…you've got a lot more to worry about right now."

"I'm really starting to hate the Thirteenth Order right now…" Xi growled.

"We don't have time for that!" Cover Girl yelled, "We need to settle the other problem now, especially if we don't want the base to get demolished! That Axel's right! Protecting the Pit and helping the other Joes is more important!"

"Let's go then! Misfits…move out!" Wavedancer ordered as they all ran to the chaos where already, the Joes were losing ground.

"Yeow! Watch out! This thing's got guns of its own! It's not like the other Heartless we've faced!" yelled the Joe Ace as he dodged a gigantic, flaming sphere of enchanted metal that emanated from the Heartless' arms and hands, and upon a closer look, Toad, Trinity, and Wavedancer could see that instead of claws, the beast had anchor-shaped guns attached to its forearms, like a human holding oversized tennis rackets in both hands. Blind Master felt a disturbing presence as he could feel something…familiar about the brute tearing up their headquarters.

"That's strange…" the African-American ninja master whispered to himself.

"No problem! A good hex'll keep this thing down!" Scarlet Witch yelled as she powered up and aimed a troublesome and crippling blast at her target. The ogre from the Thirteenth Order bellowed in pain as the energy attack collided with the guns on its arms, and Wanda felt for sure that within the next second, the Heartless' weapons would backfire and leave it helpless. Yet to her complete and utter astonishment, the hexes disappeared the instant they made contact with the monster's body. And to make matters worse, the sea creature's body began to glow before it began to swell and grow a bit, making it significantly more powerful and larger than the first time it invaded the Pit.

"What in the name of the Great Spirit?" Spirit exclaimed before the Heartless uttered a guttural _rik-rik_ sound underneath its beard before it raised both of its anchor-cannons and fired.

"Yow, duck and cover!" Pietro yelled as every one of the Misfits and Misfit-handlers managed to dash out of the path of the incoming, explosive cannonballs, but still, despite the massive and deadly shrapnel flying past them, the resulting explosion sent all of them flying into a stunned heap.

"Oh great! There goes another warehouse!" Tunnel Rat groaned as he saw the wrecked and smoldering building of where the storage unit which held the spare jet engines for the Joes' aircrafts used to be, now nothing more than a lopsided pile of metal and wood.

"That tears it!" yelled Wild Bill on the communicators, now seriously ticked off at the sight of the destruction, as he flew down with several of the other Joes in their Black Hawk helicopters, "This varmit's gonna be biting the dust! Get clear! The Skyhawks're opening fire!"

Instantly, the Joes on the ground gave the Heartless a very wide berth as Wild Bill and his fellow soldiers fired several armor-piercing rounds into the Heartless, bullets and firepower that could have easily passed through thick walls of concrete and steel several inches thick. It scored direct hits and most of the hail of bullets embedded themselves deep into the Heartless', causing it to bleed profusely with black blood. Yet it was apparently not giving up as the Heartless again raised its guns and fired. The war-choppers above managed to swerve and strafe madly, but still, two of Wild Bill's troops got caught in the blast and as they managed to eject from their aircrafts at the last second and try to parachute to safety, their Black Hawks immediately exploded in a nova of metal and fire.

"Yaaaagh!" yelled the pilots as they got burned from the storm of flames that grazed them with their searing heat, causing serious injuries, and one of the two unluckily received a piece of metal into his shoulder, the backlash of the destroyed helicopters nearly causing the soldier to be decapitated with the flying pieces.

"We got them! They'll be all right! They're not dead!" Lifeline yelled as he and Bree rushed over to the pilots once they touched the ground, immediately tending to the two lucky pilots.

"Yeah, but _we will be_ if that Heartless isn't stopped soon! Yeow! It's firing everywhere!" Beach Head yelled as he stopped attacking with his rocket-launcher and dove out of the way madly to avoid the rainstorm of cannonballs that were dropping all around the Pit, the sea-Heartless now not even making any discrimination on whom or what it was attacking.

"Oh geez, Hawk's going to blow when he sees the budget for _this_ month!" Quick Kick cursed as he saw another tank turn into nothing but a pile of flaming and smoking metal from one, well-placed blast. Snake Eyes then leapt at the Heartless from the rooftops, hoping to perform the exact same attack that killed the previous Heartless two days ago, but before his katana could make contact with the ogre's head, the monster raised one of its anchor appendages and blocked the strike before it solidly smacked the goggled ninja in the side painfully, sending the Joe flying against the wall of the building and colliding with devastating impact.

There was a stomach-turning, wince-worthy thud before Snake Eyes slid back to the ground, bleeding and unconscious.

"Shit! Snake Eyes is down! Joe down!" Duke yelled as he and Falcon fired over and over with their rifles as Dragonfly and Whitelighter teleported over to the ninja's side via Justin's orbing. The two immediately got to work on helping the unconscious ninja master (who was still alive thankfully) as the rest of the Joes increased their assault, not faltering or backing down in the least.

"Let's keep it busy, then!" Avalanche growled as he laid both of his hands flat on the dirt ground, immediately invoking the earth and sent another tremor directly towards the opponent, hoping to distract the monster if not cause it to topple over. But to Lance's horrified puzzlement, the Heartless wasn't even fazed and disoriented in the slightest, and the instant the crumbling ground made contact with the Heartless' feet, the seismic energy disappeared…and the Heartless howled as it began to shimmer and grew even more.

To the Joes and Misfits' dismay, the Heartless now was even more powerful.

"Yow! This thing won't stay down! It keeps growing!" yelped Tripwire as Quicksilver dashed by and carried the Joe out of the way before another blast from the enemy's cannon could rent him in half.

"I don't get it!" yelled Quicksilver over his communicators, "What's going on? What's causing the eyesore to grow like that?"

"I don't know, but we can't stop it! It's going to tear apart the whole base, and we're throwing everything we have at it! This enemy is resistant to our powers, bullets, even missiles! We need something bigger!" Xi yelled back as he, Blind Master, and Quick Kick kept throwing their entire reserves of Japanese throwing stars at the fiend of darkness.

"Something **_bigger_**? Heck, we need a miracle if we want to live through this! Shock-missiles…AWAY!" snapped Quinn as she took aim with her pink and purple glovatrix and fired.

While the Joes and the Misfits were fighting for their lives, a familiar canine who managed to sneak out undetected when he sensed this going on watched from a distance, hidden clandestinely in the background, unnoticed and without being seen by anyone…

Pluto then knew what he had to do. And though everyone was far too busy trying to fight the Heartless, the hound stared long and hard at Wavedancer and Toad, knowing that he couldn't make a better choice given the circumstances and the little time he had to work with. And mysteriously, Pluto's eyes began to glow, his pupils starting to cycle between hues of orange and blue.

"Al!" Toad gasped.

"What?" the ninja snapped back, impatient, before she too and stopped and stared, realizing what was wrong. The amphibian-like mutant adolescent then pointed at his fiancée's forehead. There, on the skin, was a glowing symbol of deep blue, depicting a filled orb with a serpentine-like spiked streak caressing the right side of the circle, like a wave or waterspout of water.

"Your forehead!" Toad blurted out in surprise, "It's glowing, yo!"

"So's yours!" Althea pointed out, and indeed, the teen hydrokinetic was telling the truth. On Todd's forehead was a symbol of the brightest and purest hue of the color orange. It was a depiction of another sphere, but unlike Althea's, this one had the distinct marking of a lightning bolt, separated into two equal pieces, positioned on the top and bottom of the circle. And on the left side of the orb was an equilateral diamond while on the right were two equilateral triangles, giving the entire orange crest on Toad's forehead an artistically unsymmetrical appearance.

_Toad, Wavedancer…I hear you…_

"Huh?" Althea called out. A voice was whispering in her head, and instantly, remembering her ninja training, Wavedancer pressed her head to her temples and mentally focused on fortifying her mind from the suspected telepathic attack, but to her surprise, despite her best intentions, the mysterious voice verbalized softly in both their heads, non-invasive and gentle. In fact, though Toad couldn't place it, there was something recognizable about the gentle and carefree demeanor of the high-pitched voice…

_Hm, have to admit, you both are impressive warriors, but I'm not here to hurt you. You aren't alone, either of you. I can help you fight the Heartless, but you hafta trust me…_

Wavedancer was now starting to become incredibly mistrustful and uneasy. She couldn't even push the voice out of her head and block her mind at all; it was a presence that was not like one she had ever encountered before.

"And why should we trust you?" Todd snapped accusingly in thin air, drawing a few confused looks from the people around them.

_If I meant you harm, I wouldn't even be offering to help you. And if you don't do something now, that Heartless will kill some of your friends and family, something I'm pretty sure that neither of you want to risk._

"He has a point…damn it," Wavedancer conceded with great resentment, knowing that this may be their only hope they had.

_Althea, Todd…your hearts are strong! I bless you both with the legacy of the Aquara and Thundaga Kingdoms! Use your magic to save your Dad, Wavedancer!_

"Huh? My Pops? What are you talking about? What does that Heartless have to do with my Dad?" Althea said, her face going placid in complexion as she looked around wildly, not sure if she could discern where the voice was coming from or to whom was instructing her in her head. Not even her years of ninja training could discern the source of the mysterious voice.

_Just close your eyes, both of you. You both are linked to powerful magic now! I gave you a gift and it will help you when you need it! Sense it, it's down there, in your souls! Can't you feel it?_

"I…I can feel it, yo! Geez, this is too weird!" Todd gasped, "This…this is **magic**?"

"Sorry, jerk," growled Althea, still unwilling, "I'm not exactly likely to trust a voice that suddenly appears to give me a gift right in the middle of a Heartless attack from the Organization! Give me one reason why the hell we should listen to you, why we should use this when we don't even know whose side you're on! This could be a trick from the Thirteenth Order!"

_If you don't trust me, Althea, your Dad, Shipwreck, will die. I'm not evil…trust me…_

Althea looked back as Fred and Xi did their best to beat back the Heartless, only to find that it did little to scare it into submission. As much as she was hesitant, as much as Althea knew the irrationality and stupidity to take orders from some strange and foreign voice out of the blue, as much as the Misfit wanted to just say screw it and fight the Heartless head-on without this "gift"…

Wavedancer cursed under her breath.

"**_Get clear!_**" she yelled. Though incredibly confused and taken aback, all the Misfits and the Joes dove out of the way as the Heartless actually stopped roaring and looked at Wavedancer and Toad in front of him.

Throwing caution to the winds, Althea raised one hand, not sure what to expect. But immediately, she could picture it, a vast amount of powerful, clear and pure water, bubbling and churning madly and permeating every bit of her soul, as if she was in an entire ocean and how each molecule could have been altered and bonded to her will and mind.

The voice was right; she could sense something, deep inside her, swelling and building…and it was incredibly powerful and unnatural, a force that transcended every physical sense to a whole new level.

The other Misfits and Joes were stunned and could only watch as Althea spoke the words as soon as they popped into her head, as if she knew exactly what to say. And to their amazement, streams of water began to materialize all around the teenager's body, miniature snakes coiling and forming a growing pillar.

"AQUARA…" Althea said, her voice building.

With a powerful and crashing roar, the waters multiplied in volume a hundred fold as Wavedancer's hand began to glow in a dark-blue shimmer before she pointed with her index finger and raised it above her head. As one, the liquid all around her formed a gigantic and powerful waterspout, enough to fill a reservoir, cycling and spiraling out of control madly into the heavens before it formed and began to take shape, become more serpentine and tapered like a gigantic snake. The top of the current formed a horned dragon-head, complete with blank eyeholes and a beaked-mouth, and arching its head back, the water animal howled a single, bone-chilling screech.

"WATER DRAGON!" Wavedancer yelled as she then pointed at the Heartless.

"Huh?" chorused the Misfits and their parents and the Joes in unison, their jaws dropping and their eyes so wide, you could see the white sclera all around their respective pupils. To say that they were shocked beyond measure would have been a severe understatement.

"Hey, how'd she do that? There's no open water source anywhere!" Brittany exclaimed.

Toad then decided to strike next, despite that he, like Wavedancer, had no idea what to expect or what to do exactly. Gracefully and remembering the numerous katas he performed in the dojo under Blind Master's training, Toad stood up straight before he brought his hands together in front of him. Instantly, the symbol on his forehead began to glow even brighter before everyone around the Pit could sense something, some sort of disturbance and pressure rising and building against all of them. And then the skies began to crackle and roar in booming and deafening peals of thunder, even though there wasn't a single cloud in sight.

"THUNDAGA…" began Todd.

There was another deafening boom.

"What in blazes?" the Joe Deep-Six remarked as he looked around, puzzled, "Lightning? And thunder? On a _clear _day? And Storm from the X-Men's not even here!"

"It's not coming from Storm! Look at the Toad! He's going to cut loose!" Wet-Suit exclaimed in amazement, pointing at the Misfit. And indeed, there was a tremendous clap of thunder above Toad before his hands formed a crackling ball of hot, ultraviolet lightning, the energy so intense it was practically glowing white. Arching back his joined hands like a pitcher in baseball, Todd braced himself on one leg and took careful aim, making sure he could hit the Heartless a good distance in front of him, making sure he wouldn't miss.

"BLITZCLAP PRESSURE!" Todd yelled as he pitched the energy ball at his target with all of his might and concentration, the anticipation making his head buzz.

With that, the ball of lightning multiplied and grew as it tore in the air, forming a gigantic disc-shaped projectile, and it came down so fast, the weakened Heartless couldn't dodge it, but instead, it raised both of its anchor-cannons and fired two shots at the attack. There was a tremendous explosion and backlash of cloud and gunpowder as metal crashed into each other.

Ka-booooommm!

Unfortunately, the attack wasn't effective, and with a rush, the thunderclap tore through the cloud of smoke and grime from the cannonball explosion before it belted the Heartless straight in the chest. The Heartless howled like the damned as it writhed and went into convulsing seizures as snakes and streams of electricity tore through its skin, searing deep into its very core and being. Shaking, the Heartless toppled to its knees, destabilized but still alive.

"Well I'll be damned!" Roadblock gasped.

"Whoa! Todd, how in the name of the mother planet did you do that?" Whitelighter gasped.

"Yeow, this is way too weird!" Todd wheezed, weakened and drained from performing a powerful magic attack, but at the same time, it was quite a buzz. And to continue the surprises, two powerful blazing stars of light emerged in front of Althea and Toad.

"What's going on?" Wavedancer gasped as she felt something intangible and celestial take leave of her body…

---

Back at the headquarters and scrying chambers of the Organization Thirteen, the Superior was witnessing this through the clear pool of water in the fountain of the Oracle…and he was just as shocked and astounded as Wavedancer was, but only in a more outraged and seething, cheated manner.

"**_WHAT?_**" the Superior hissed in disbelief, "**_IMPOSSIBLE!_**"

---

When the light faded, Althea, Todd, and the rest of their friends and allies watching could see what had been bequeathed to the two mutant teenagers.

In front of Wavedancer was an intricately designed and beautiful staff, a scepter actually. The entire instrument was about three feet long, consisting of a rod made of white smooth stone, thin enough for even one of the Triplets to wrap her entire hand and fingers all around it. And the bottom end of the rod had slightly widened in volume, tapering outwards and attached to a round pummelstone of sapphire at the end. The head of the staff drew the most attention, however. At the top of the staff was a sphere of crystal, like glass, and the orb was decorated with a pair of wings of silver metal, one on each side of the ornament. On top of the crystal was a miniature crown of gold, and unbelievably enough, in the center of the crown, jutting out from the ring, was a tiny ornament of the head of an old-fashioned key. And in the interior of the head of the staff was just as intricate. Inside the clear sphere was a ring of strange and alien symbols, a circle of ten different crests surrounding a larger symbol of a white heart with a keyhole in its center. And the circle of smaller insignias surrounding the heart symbol were a plethora of colors, displaying an odd assortment of dark blue, orange, pink, brown, green, silver, red, light blue, purple, and yellow. And had Althea and Todd took the time to study it closer, they would have discovered that the dark blue and orange symbols on the scepter matched the ones glowing on their respective foreheads.

"What the hell?" gasped Low Light as the scepter ceased glowing and hovered serenely in front of the raven-haired Misfit who, after a few seconds of hesitation and wondering if it was a good idea to touch it, grasped it shakily in her hands. With a rush, she envisioned a torrent of images flashing through her head, impacting her mind and psyche so fast that it was a wonder that she didn't collapse right then and there…

A sea of water of the purest blue, turbulently frothing and churning under the silver moonlight …

A gigantic glacier of pure and clean ice, shining serenely like diamond…

A dark sky of storm-clouds, raining down multiple shafts of red and blue lightning and ringing thunder…

A rainstorm of comets, glowing brightly like supernovas as they plummeted from orbit…

A tall, gigantic clock-tower, similar to the style and structure of Big Ben in England, and standing serenely above the clouds against a night sky…

A gigantic, gray twister in the middle of the desert, invoking multiple sandstorms and typhoons…

A sea of magma and lava, sending snakes and pillars of fire into air and causing them to spiral up to the heavens…

A wide range of mountains, exposing their red-rocks and dry, fresh dirt and soil…

A serene and peaceful forest, so green and chock-full of different flowers and plants Althea could scarcely believe it…

A sky filled with the majestic and rainbow colors of the Aurora Borealis…

And it was all over as Althea arched back her head, her pupils dilated and gasped before she could regain control of her mind, and numbly, she just looked at the odd rod in her hands.

What the hell had just happened? It almost felt as if…the thing was a part of her, a piece of herself from a secret cache of her soul that not even she herself was aware of.

"Whoa! What the heck, yo!" Todd could only blurt out in amazement as the light faded to reveal another surprise for the Misfits and the Joes (and there really was no end to them). The audience couldn't really quite find a term to describe the weapon that just suddenly appeared in front of their froggy friend. It was a sword, but the oddest part was that except for a metal blade, it was a gigantic rod and mouth of an old-fashioned key. The best way to term it was witnessing the combination of a gigantic key being used as a sword. The key formed the blade of the weapon, and it was green and spotted with neon-orange, like the markings of the frogs in the tropical rainforests. Even the mouth of the key was ingeniously shaped into a green and black-spotted frog, intricately designed from its eyes down to its webbed, suctioned toes. The hilt of the weapon had a golden rain-guard which connected the key to the actual grip of the implement, itself. The entire cross-guard of the weapon encircled around the entire smooth grip of the sword, forming a squarish-ring, and upon a closer look, Toad was surprised to see that the entire metal ring was actually metal artistically carved into a chain of frogs and toads. And hanging from the pommel, which had a brilliant gem of topaz, of the treasure was a gold keychain, and at the end was a flat, small metal stamp of an orange toad with wide black eyes.

After looking at the object, dumbfounded, Todd managed to reach out and grasp his fingers along the grip of the strange weapon, and instantly, he heard the voice whisper in his mind.

_Keyblade…_

"Huh?" Todd gasped.

_Keyblade…the Amphibionian Keyblade…_

Then the voice spoke firmly in an urgent tone.

_Summon your guardians!_

"Huh?" Wavedancer asked, looking up automatically by instinct (even though she still had no idea where the voice was coming from).

_I sent you both friends that can help you fight! **Summon them!** They're both in your hearts…though your new gifts! Summon them! Now!_

"GIVE ME STRENGTH!" Althea and Todd both cried out, holding her staff and his Keyblade out in front, tossing caution to the winds and not sure what they were exactly doing. And to their complete befuddlement, from the sky came down a baby elephant with oversized ears that gave it the look of a small plane. And it was wearing a yellow, frilly collar, similar to those worn by clowns in the circus and a silly, yellow clown hat. But that was nothing compared to what came out of Toad's Keyblade…

"UUURRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" yelled a deep yet playfully whimsical voice as a cloud of blue and pink smoke materialized from the tip of Todd's blade before out popped a blue, goateed genie. Yawning and making a big show, the spirit stretched his neck and arms before hovering down a stunned and deeply anxious, wide-eyed Toad and smiled.

"Wow…" the Genie remarked, in an off-beat and friendly tone, not the least bit serious and solemn, "A hundred years of doing nothing sure leaves a crick in your neck!"

"OK…this is a new one…" blinked Lance, his eyes wide and his jaw dropping.

"Hey, is it just me or do…those things…look like Dumbo and Genie from those Disney movies?" Spirit gaped.

"Trust us, it's not you. It really does look like them! We watched the videos enough times with Claudius to prove it!" Quinn stammered, still unwilling to believe what she was seeing.

Toad just opened and closed his mouth over and over like a goldfish, still frozen in his brain on what exactly to do, and the genie grinned as he flamboyantly waved his hands, trying to snap back the frog-mutant to attention.

"Hello? Phenomenally cosmic powers at your service? Seriously kid, just say the word and I'll even throw in a cappuccino machine along with the side of butt-whooping on the big and uglies! And brother, is that monster **_uggggg-lllllllyyyy_**!"

"Uh…stop that Heartless, yo?" Toad managed to say weakly, still having difficulty to stop gaping like a dumb animal and actually talk. Althea nodded at the elephant.

"A one, and a two…hey, here's some razzle-dazzle! Ooh, hah, _pchah_! Get ready, big and ugly, because _this_ one's gonna leave a mark!" Genie cried out as he shot out several multicolored spells at the Heartless in a matter of seconds, besieging the opponent with numerous magical attacks while the flying elephant began squirting the Heartless with a powerful waterspout of ice-cold water from its trunk.

"I can't believe what I'm seeing…" Althea remarked dumbly.

"OK, is anyone else seeing the same thing I'm seeing or am I just finally losing it?" Pietro asked in a voice full of disbelief, his left eyebrow twitching.

"As much as I would love to find a reason to put _you_ in a straight-jacket, if you mean that you're seeing a flying baby elephant wearing a clown hat and a gigantic, hyperactive, talkative blue genie-something zapping that Heartless for everything it's worth, then no, Pietro, you're **not** seeing things…" Wanda answered, her face registering an amazed and disbelieving look that could only be termed as _what-the-hell_.

"The Heartless! Look! It's weakened!" Dragonfly pointed out as the attacks Genie and Dumbo made on the sea-Heartless finally damaged the monster enough to cause it to shrink and decrease in size.

_Wavedancer, do it now! Use your scepter! It'll free the Heartless!_

Althea then followed the voice, saying the first words that came to her mind.

"DESTINY KINGDOM HEARTLOCK REFORM!"

Althea's breath caught in her throat as she felt something, some powerful force and a part of her soul, flow into the staff before the crystal head at the top began to glow in a white luster, shining brightly before there was a powerful yet small burst of energy from the crown-fixture of the scepter.

The Heartless then screamed, arching its head back as far as it could, as the Joes and the Misfits could all witness its destruction. A pillar of white energy enveloped the entire giant from out of nowhere, and in a quick yet dramatic sequence, they could see a slideshow of symbols flashing in the air in front of the creature, searing it, before vanishing a moving to the next one. Though the sequence was too rapid to clearly see the shapes of the emblems, they followed the exact formation of the multicolored symbols on Althea's weapon. The Heartless could only howl agonizingly as within several seconds, the enemy was besieged by the different and distinct symbols of dark-blue, orange, pink, brown, green, silver, red, light-blue, purple, and yellow. Each struck the behemoth and ravaged it before three symbols formed a trinity on its body: a crown, the insignia of the Heartless, and the insignia of the Nobody.

The Heartless stopped howling and finally froze in a final death spasm as the pillar of light grew and reached blinding intensity as everyone averted his or her eyes.

**_Shooom!_**

With a dying howl, the light faded and the Heartless faded from view to reveal a hurt and unconscious Shipwreck before he fell from his levitated position in the air and landed heavily back to the dirt below. And to the sharp eyes of some, a pink crystallized object flew out from the vicinity and landed on the ground.

"Shipwreck?" Cover Girl gasped in shock.

"That Heartless was Shipwreck?" Low Light repeated, incredulous, as everyone rushed to their friend.

"I knew there was something familiar about that Heartless I was sensing…" Blind Master murmured to himself as Roadblock popped up the unconscious and senseless Shipwreck, bruised and heavily battered, but thankfully, still alive.

"Daddy! Daddy! Oh Daddy, wake up, _please_!" cried the Triplets as they knelt by their father, shaking the unconscious sailor gently, nearly on the verge of tears.

Suddenly, to everyone's shock, the pod Axel used to infect Shipwreck popped out of his chest and fell to the ground, making a hollow, clattering noise before, thanks to the spell from Althea's scepter, the seed cracked like an egg before it disintegrated and vanished into nothing but ashes.

"What is that?" asked Blob, his eyes troubled at the alien entity that popped out of Shipwreck's body, and naturally inquisitive, Quicksilver and Daria, who were the closest, made a move to pick up the remains, but Roadblock and Low Light stopped them fiercely, grabbing their wrists before they could even attempt it.

"**_Don't_** touch it! We don't know where it's been! And if there's still any side effects, it could cause this whole fiasco to begin!" Roadblock warned, and upon that possibility, both Pietro and Daria paled before withdrawing their hands slowly.

"But what about that?" asked Spirit as he pointed to the pink crystal that fell when Shipwreck turned back to normal, and upon a closer view, everyone could see that it was a shining gem shaped in a crude heart, but despite its appearance, Blind Master could sense the powerful _ki_ energy and life essence from the manifestation.

"I think that's Shipwreck's heart!" the ninja gasped, "I can sense it! It must be - !"

But before the Joe could finish his sentence, a blurry form, almost running as fast as Pietro in his superspeed, swooped down and snatched the heart from the ground before any of them could have the chance to pick it up.

"Hey!" yelled Daria, Quinn, and Brittany in outrage as the figure gracefully flew to the roof of a nearby building where he was joined was another stranger. And considering that the sun was directly behind them, none of the mutants or the soldiers from G.I. Joe could get a good look at their faces.

"Is it a Talisman?" the female asked, her voice creeping with a faint twinge of hope, but the bird, a male, shook his head, grunting with disappointment.

"Nah, it's worthless," he answered back in a harsh yet fluidly tenor-pitched voice, like the shrill cry of a falcon or a hawk.

"Who the hell are you creeps?" Scarlet Witch snarled as she hurled a powerful wave of blue chaos-energy at the two unknowns, the air now dangerously crackling with searing magical force as the barreled at the intruders. With a dexterous and agile leap, the male and female avoided the attack before the mysterious, winged stranger tossed the heart back to a stunned Wavedancer who caught it deftly.

"Keep it," spat the falcon, "It's of no importance to us…"

And with that, they left as quickly as they appeared, dashing off before anyone could do anything.

Althea breathed a sigh of relief as she placed the heart crystal on her father's chest, not sure what to make of this, and to her surprise, her scepter began to glow in a dark-blue luminosity before the jewel merged into the sailor's body, forming a tiny familiar symbol outlined in white radiance on the shirt of Hector.

"A keyhole?" queried Lance, confused, but with a faint burst of light, there was a clicking noise and the keyhole disappeared along with the ruddiness from Wavedancer's scepter.

"Did you hear that?" Justin asked, "It sounded like…like something got locked or something."

"Toad, Althea…what did you guys do?" asked Wanda.

"I dunno…" Toad murmured, looking at his hands as if still unwilling to believe that he and Wavedancer had just performed actual attacks of great power that were in no way part of their mutation, "It feels…weird, yo. And I have no idea why we got this stuff, y'know? Let's face it, lightning and thunder ain't part of my mutation as a frog, so it's not like I got a jump start on my X-Gene or something!"

"Hey, your foreheads…they're not glowing those strange symbols anymore," Xi pointed out, and indeed, what the lizard-assassin said was true. Althea and Todd's brows had no trace of the crests that mysteriously appeared minutes ago.

"And look, the Genie and that Dumbo-elephant thing are gone too," remarked Cover Girl, but Toad's Keyblade began to glow before Genie's voice rang out from it, startling everyone.

"Just give me a ring the next time you need me, the Genie-hotline open 24-7, major holidays not included! Till then, kids, _arriba_!"

With that, Toad and Wavedancer's weapons vanished, no longer needed since the battle had ended.

"I think, for some reason, only Todd can hold the sword…" Blind Master deduced at last.

"Keyblade," Toad said automatically and then blushed when everyone turned to look at him in surprise before emphasizing, "It's called a Keyblade."

"_Huh?_ Todd, how do you know that? That name came a little off the bat! After a fight and Shipwreck going insane, any helpful information would definitely help our frazzled brains!" Roadblock asked, rhyming.

Toad pondered a second or two before he helplessly shook his head and confessed, "I…I don't know, yo! It just…some voice in my head called it a Keyblade! It just is! I know it, yo! This thing, this weapon's called a Keyblade!"

"Huh? Really? Because whatever the voice told me, it sure as heck didn't say that this is a…Keyblade!" Wavedancer exclaimed in surprise as she held out her newfound scepter for everyone to see. Meanwhile, Fred was doing his best to run over the events that just happened minutes ago.

"Boy, this is weird, even for us!" the Blob said worriedly, his eyes troubled and his hands frantically making motions over and over, so anxious and nervous that the obese mutant was close to babbling, "OK, first we run into some Organization member named Axel who turned Shipwreck into an actual Heartless? And then we fight said Heartless only to see Althea and Todd listen to some strange voice out of the blue and they suddenly have these weird powers to use thunder and water? And on top of **that**, we get a weird genie and an elephant that look a lot like those characters from Disney movies and two weapons that can actually damage Heartless, all the meanwhile facing two nuts who are trying to steal hearts and are searching for something? _This is making my head hurt!_ What's next? Mickey Mouse coming over and fighting Heartless with us?"

"I know…" murmured Lina, holding a hand to her chest, "And remember what that Axel guy said? This isn't over, and something tells me that now we have this Keyblade and Althea's scepter, the Organization might be attacking us more frequently now."

"Something tells me that our lives have just gotten a lot more complicated," whispered Spirit in a tone of voice that was the closest to fear that Lance had ever heard his father utter before in his life.

---

"The Heartless has failed," Axel reported as he entered the chambers again, only to find that his other comrades of the Thirteenth Order were automatically waiting for him in the throne room of their headquarters.

"The girl, the Misfit, the one named Althea Delgado…" the Superior intoned gravely, "She **_will_** be a problem. What she has is an unknown, a variable, and yet it was powerful enough to kill one of the Hellfire Heartless, summon a creature of great strength, and destroy the experimental pod, the two-hundred and thirty-fifth experiment. I do **not** approve of variables in our operations to bring the Gathering, Axel."

"And there's more bad news…" Axel stated with a grimace, "I spotted them before those Misfits could have a chance to attack me. Falco Lombardi and Octavia are here on Earth as well."

There was a stunned silence as everyone looked at their red-haired ally. The Superior's deep voice then spoke from the folds on the food covering his head.

"Do they know where the Talismans are?"

Axel shook his head, explaining, "I don't think that they have any more of an idea than we do, my Liege. They were actually disappointed and watching from the sidelines, as if they weren't sure what to expect. They're not on the mutants' sides, I can tell that much, but they're now involved with Earth."

"Hmph, that's _one_ thing in our favors. We may be fortunate enough to have them kill off the heroes should they get in Falco and Octavia's ways. And then we have a chance to find those three Talismans before _they_ do. However, it would probably take time for the Oracle to even locate them, if it is powerful enough to work against the protective magic," Zexion grumbled, his arms crossed over his chest as he frowned darkly.

"And at least that dork Hamilton's experimentations worked," Demyx pointed out, "Thanks to him, we have a pretty good weapon against the mutants on both the Misfits and the X-Men, especially since it gets stronger each time they use their mutant powers on it."

"Unfortunately, we know very little of what these two Misfits are capable of," the member called Vexen stated a bit reluctantly, "When the Misfit known as Wavedancer killed the Heartless and freed her father, she did it in a way that managed to extract the pod from the subject's heart but did not cause a heart crystal in itself to be released from the parasite."

"Are you sure on this, Vexen?" the Superior asked a bit harshly, but for good reason. That _was_ troubling…

"Yes…there have been no change or sensations of energy we could detect from the collection of hearts we have so far," the scientist replied stoutly, convinced and resolute.

Xaldin sighed as he remarked, "Then what the girl has isn't a Keyblade, but it certainly isn't one of the Talismans…or else the Oracle would have prophesized it earlier."

"And the creature died before the Toad could even kill it with _his_ Keyblade," spat Larxene with malice, "Not that any of us expected that dumb, slimy, pathetic eyesore to be pure enough to wield it. God, the fates for the weapon's choosing must have _really_ lowered their standards…"

"Either way, this poses quite a conundrum," the Superior said at last, "We have the Keyblade wielder as well as a new weapon that could be used against the Heartless and quite possibly against the Nobody."

"What do you propose, my Liege?" Lexaeus finally asked, his stern face not changing its serious demeanor in the slightest.

"We can't kill all the Misfits and the Joes just yet," their leader answered in his deep voice, "The Keyblade may be worrisome, but I do not like unknown variables, and the girl, Althea along with her newfound toy is one of them. And add the fact that two of those Misfits now have gained powers from the Elementa Kingdoms, it raises more hints as to how much more difficult it will be to bring the Gathering of Twilight to Earth."

"At least the Keyblade came of no surprise. It was obvious that it would choose one of the heroes of the Earth," conceded Xaldin.

"But how could those little sneaks even _gain_ that sort of magic?" Xigbar asked, his good yellow eye studying the images in the waters, "That sort of stuff the mutt could never teach them, and it hasn't been witnessed for over a hundred years, not since the King - "

"**_DON'T_** mention his name, Xigbar!" growled Saix, and the rest of the Organization seemed to agree with him. Clearly, they hadn't forgotten the last time they tangled with the infamous King…

"We'll simply wait and observe," the Superior said at last, "Until we have a clear understanding of her limitations with the scepter and the Keyblade wielder, we wait and continue sending Heartless to infiltrate and attack their home and friends. Althea Delgado and Todd Tolensky cannot be met head on for now…but the others are an entirely different matter. And since they have such a close family with those other teenagers, it would be fruitful to kill the rest of the Misfits. They will be easy targets, their hearts will be an asset, and with them gone, Althea and Todd will be much easier to manipulate in working to our advantage in their grief and rage."

"Do you want me to go take another crack at fighting them?" Axel volunteered, and his companion, the thirteenth member, gave his friend a disappointed and resentful glace. The leader shook his head before he turned to another member of the order.

"Luxord, take the next pod and strike quickly. Do not engage in the new Keyblade wielder and Wavedancer if it can be helped. Do whatever you wish with the rest of the riffraff…" he commanded, and at once, a rather handsome and striking man came forward, distinctly making himself apparent. He was tall and could have been easily classified as middle-aged, though his short, blond hair and goatee was so pale, it was almost white, and his blue eyes were cold and calculating, clearly a man who liked to take a gamble. Both his ears were studded with gold and silver hoops along with earrings displaying the Nobody symbol, and in between his black, gloved hands, he kept expertly flicking a deck of cards which also bore the insignia of Organization Thirteen.

"I am ready," Luxord grinned a bit too eagerly, "In fact, I daresay I'm interested in seeing how well these Misfits can play a game of chance."

And with that, Luxord disappeared.

**Author's Notes: Next Friday, things get even more confusing as Luxord attacks and infects the next Joe chosen to eliminate the Misfits as they and the Joes along with their allies try to figure out the mysteries of what had just transpired! But as the Organization chooses new targets for their plans, it seems Pluto isn't quite done with his mission as of yet! Be here for the next chapter, "Time for Trinity" and until then, read and review! Constructive criticism welcome!**


	6. Time for Trinity

**CHAPTER 6: Time for Trinity**

"Let me get this straight, just so I'm not misunderstanding anything…" General Hawk sighed as he rubbed his eyes, feeling another migraine pop up in his head as Pluto, the Misfits, and their parents were gathered around the infirmary where Shipwreck was resting, unconscious but in stable condition, "We were attacked by a member of Organization Thirteen who calls himself Axel, had Shipwreck transformed into a Heartless, and Althea and Todd were given gifts of a scepter and a Keyblade along with summoning magic and two famous Disney characters that helped turned Shipwreck back to normal? And _this_ is why a good portion of the Pit has been thoroughly desecrated and damaged and will take months and months of fixing?"

"And you are forgetting that strange pod that popped out of Shipwreck when he was turned back to normal along with the two strange unknowns that mentioned something about a Talisman when they returned Shipwreck's heart back to us, sir," Xi piped up automatically.

"Thank you, Xi. That addition makes things a lot less complicated," the General sighed sardonically, wondering if aspirin could be taken with brandy. Indeed, given the various and sometimes conflicting testimonies retold by the Misfit handlers, the Misfits, and the rest of the Joes, Hawk was starting to wish his meeting with Flagg and the Jugglers went longer than normal. And having to listen to slightly skewed points of view about the Shipwreck-Heartless over a dozen times as well as surveying how much damage their headquarters have taken in wasn't exactly the best thing for the officer of the military to deal with.

It was late at night (past Trinity's bedtime), and all the Misfits and their parents along with Pluto were gathered around Shipwreck as he laid in an infirmary bed, still wearing his sailor hat despite being in a hospital gown, attached to an EKG machine and a IV tube. But Bree and Lifeline assured them all that Shipwreck wasn't in any danger. There weren't any bruising or broken bones, and the scans from the X-rays as well as Trinity's scanners displayed nothing abnormal, meaning that whatever turned Shipwreck into a Heartless was completely out of his system. Alfred Pennyworth was immediately summoned from the X-Mansion to watch the babies during this tense time while the others did their best to explain the event and fix the damage done to their home.

Though weary and fatigued, everyone could admit that the presence and the excitement and curiosity of the newfound abilities of magic and the weapons kept them up a bit in anticipation.

"I have to admit General that it sounds incredibly weird, but we're all really grateful that the Heartless disappeared," Roadblock responded wearily.

Everyone else was looking at Todd and Althea as the two of them were showing to their family the white scepter and the green-and-orange Keyblade.

"So that's what the voice called it?" Low Light asked, his eyes crinkling in thought behind his goggles, "The thing you have is called a _Keyblade_? Hmph, that's a new one. I don't think that we've ever come across that term anywhere, even with our times with the Slayers and the Scoobies. We can ask our friends to see if they can provide any research on this, but something tells me whatever the Keyblade is, it's not of this Earth."

"But where did it come from is the key inquiry," Roadblock rhymed, "And why manifest now? Why not before when all the Heartless were going wild and free?"

No one noticed Pluto smiling secretly to himself at this statement.

"Toad, Althea…what did the voice sound like? Has it been the voice of someone we've met before?" Fred asked.

Althea pondered a bit before she explained, "I'm not so sure how to describe it. It's like I already forgot what the voice was like, as if I dreamed the whole thing and how it faded away from my memory. But what I _do_ remember is that the voice sounded distinct, unique, and…well, really familiar, as if I've heard it somewhere before."

"That doesn't really help," Xi admitted, "Unless if we had Professor Xavier pick apart your brain, we'll probably go nowhere with it. But what worries me is that with this strange presence giving us these…abilities and weapons. How do we even know whoever gave us these things are on our side to begin with?"

"If it's against the Heartless, why wouldn't they? If they're fighting against them, doesn't it mean we're on the same side?" Justin asked.

"Not really, young one," sighed Spirit, "The adage, '_the enemy of my enemy is my friend_' does not always apply, and it could be a possibility that the Keyblade and the scepter are more dangerous than beneficial to protecting everyone. But, there is one good thing out of all this: it allowed us to save Shipwreck from being lost."

"All I know is that if I see anyone from the Organization again, I'll kill them, as slow and painfully as possible," growled Althea, "Nobody messes around with my Pops like that, at least not without having me shove my foot up their cloaked butt as down-payment."

"Hey, Toad, can I see that for a second?" Pietro asked, indicating to the Keyblade with his head, and the frog-teen shrugged easily as he handed the Keyblade to Pietro.

"Sure, here ya' go," Todd said as the albino mutant gripped the weapons firmly, admiring the intricate and detailed artwork, but then surprisingly, to everyone's astonishment, the Amphibionian Keyblade vanished out of Quicksilver's hands in a flurry of green light before it reappeared into Todd's numb ones.

"Whoa! Toad, how the heck did you do that?" Pietro sputtered.

"It wasn't me, yo! I didn't do nothing! I think…wow, I think this thing has a mind of its own, yo!"

"Like I said before," Blind Master voiced in gently, "I'm beginning to suspect that only Toad can be the one to hold this Keyblade, and logically, the same must also apply to you and your scepter, Althea."

"I'm still curious as to what exactly this thing is or what it can do," Wavedancer replied as she looked closely at her newfound, white staff, "I mean, it doesn't make sense that I'm given something that acts differently from Toddles' Keyblade, and we still don't have a clearer picture of what this thing can achieve in our fight against the Thirteenth Order."

"Maybe your scepter and Toad's Keyblade can pretty much do the same thing," Lance pointed out, "It's pretty obvious that these are weapons and tools that can actually blast Heartless, and it's more effective that anything we've ever come up with so far. Not even Forge's anti-matter bombs and Hawkgirl's mace have shown to be _that_ effective!"

"Too bad we don't have any way of finding out what the Heartless can do exactly. If they can infect and turn _anyone_ into a Heartless…" trailed off Cover Girl. Everyone immediately got the point.

"Hey," remarked Wanda, "I just noticed something. Althea, look at those smaller symbols, the ones that form the rainbow ring around the heart symbol. The dark-blue and orange ones…I think they're the same ones that appeared on yours and Toad's foreheads before you used your new magic powers."

"Now that you mention it…you're right! It **is** the same set of symbols!" Xi said with growing realization and excitement. Scarlet Witch then looked at the rest of the ring before she pitched out another hypothesis.

"But what about those other symbols, the ones that we haven't seen yet? Do you think maybe…they could mean that there's more coming?"

"It makes some sort of indication that there will be more people chosen for the situation," Roadblock rhymed effortlessly, "Though we may be reaching from pure guessing, to have more magical abilities to fight the Heartless would be a real blessing. And with Althea and Todd blessed with water and thunder, those eight other symbols could indicate more magical wonders."

"Yeah, but let's face it: two people against a whole army isn't worth much, especially with our resident Toad-the-Klutz," snickered Pietro, which (unsurprisingly) led to Wanda punching her brother on top of the head and sending him sprawling to the floor.

"He has a point," Blind Master said, looking at Todd and Althea, "It would be difficult if not impossible to depend on the two of you to deal with every Heartless we see and come across."

"And we still don't know how Shipwreck got turned into that Heartless in the first place. If we did, then we could try preventin' this from happening again to anyone else…including us," gulped Blob worriedly.

"And what about that keyhole along with that locking sound when we got Shipwreck's heart back? What do you think it means?" Lina asked.

"Unfortunately, we have no answers on that one, either. At least, not at the moment, but something tells me that the more with use this…Keyblade and this staff, we might be able to learn more," Cover Girl said.

"We better get some rest, first," sighed Hawk as he rubbed his forehead wearily, "And until we know more about what's going on with having the Disney characters, Genie and Dumbo, coming to help us fight, as well as to exactly whether or not your magic and this…Keyblade, may be more dangerous then we thought, we cannot let this get out of the Pit. This is a direct order, Misfits and Joes. We can't tell anyone about this, not until we know more."

"Wait, you're asking us to keep silent about this whole affair?" Roadblock asked, blinking and surprised, "What's the deal? This doesn't seem fair."

"I'll inform the League, the Titans, the X-Men, and the Ghostbusters along with Giles and the Slayers when we have more information," Hawk explained, "But one, we need to sleep on this first before we jump to any conclusions. All of us are dead-tired and I'm not exactly willing to spend another sleepless night explaining this whole debacle all over again. Second, what if these things are a menace? Having the magical ability to summon water and thunder as well as turn a Heartless back into a human being in no laughing matter, and they might have a dangerous side effect or some sort of condition on these new gifts. And the last thing I want to do is drag our allies into a bigger mess. Let's face it: unless we know who exactly did this for us, we can't trust him or her or their word. And third, I'm more worried about the **_wrong_** people discovering this, especially since some of the Jugglers and Eddington are working in the Hellfire and Organization's pockets."

"Not to mention some of us have very big mouths," Lina said a bit sheepishly as she looked at Toad and the recovering Quicksilver. Hawk sighed as he folded his arms over his chest.

"I'll tell them as soon as we know more about what we're dealing with, and I am not going to tell the other Jugglers. The only other generals who will need to know this will be Flagg and Whithalf, but we can't trust everyone with this secret, especially since this can be the thing that either saves us or dooms us all. And this includes Pluto being part of which we can't trust fully as well."

There was an angry, loud snort, and everyone turned to a rather testy Pluto who was frowning at General Hawk. The leader of the Joes just returned the look evenly at the mutt.

"Saving two of the kids from certain death doesn't buy my complete and utter confidence, Pluto. I'm not a fool, and…oh God, I can't believe I'm talking to a dog!" groaned the brown, haired man upon that realization.

Everyone chuckled, seeing the humor in this.

"Oddly enough, it's not the weirdest thing that we've done as of yet, General," Lance said after he finished laughing.

Daria, Quinn, and Brittany didn't say a single word while this entire discussion took place; the three girls just kept a silent vigil as they watched their father's chest rise and fall rhythmically as he rested.

Later that night, the Delgado Triplets were seated quietly in the green and lush gardens next to the ninja dojo of the Pit, just forlornly watching the stars and listening to the babbling sounds of the brook cascading down the rocks and into the pool. Despite the serene and peaceful environment, it really didn't match the turmoil and worry and anguish the three sisters kept bottled up inside them.

In fact, they were so troubled, Trinity wasn't even in the mood to cause any mischief or work in their laboratory. And despite the retrospect that they nearly lost their father, it still wasn't a light statement.

The Triplets just kept quiet, not bothering to even glance at each other, as they contemplated and moped. Daria was idly plucking blades of grass with her fingers, her eyes downcast. Brittany was lying on her back, her hands behind her head, and watching the twinkling diamond sky above. Quinn was busy trying to play the game, "Space Invaders", on her pink scanner, but considering that she was heavily losing on the first level, her mind and heart obviously weren't keen on playing.

"This stinks," muttered Daria, blowing on a blade of grass.

"Yeah," murmured Brittany to herself, "We nearly lost Dad."

The Triplet sister with the pigtail on the right side of her head sniffed a bit before wiping her nose with her hand, feeling the emotions threatening to get the better of her resolve. So imagine her surprise when she felt a furry head whine and rub affectionately against her side, and upon turning around, the Triplets saw that it was Pluto, truly feeling sorry for the girls and wanting to keep them company, even despite the experimentations they did to him.

Touched, Brittany scooted closer to the hound and hugged him gently, her lithe arms wrapping tenderly over the dog's neck while Quinn actually stopped playing her game and rubbed the dog's back affectionately.

It was strange how Pluto's presence could be so comforting; even in such a short time, Trinity couldn't help but view the dog already as a member of the family, even despite the General's caution.

"Thank you, Pluto," murmured Brittany, "You're a real sweetheart to want to be with us, even after everything we've done to you with the experimentations and dressing you up in petticoats and ribbons and duct taping you in front of the TV while we watched Barbie-princess movies all week long."

The dog actually winced at the memory of that while making the canine equivalent of a groan.

Quinn giggled as she hugged Pluto, saying, "Aw, you know we love you, Pluto! And we promise that tomorrow, for one minute, we will not not _not_ promise to do any sort of experimentation with lasers or the buzzsaws or the electric shocks! We'll just go for the direct dissection instead."

Pluto couldn't scoot away fast enough, and the three girls just cackled at the semi-joke. Polly, the pet parrot of Shipwreck, heard this as he gracefully flew down from out of nowhere and landed on Pluto's head, making himself home on the fur, but surprisingly, the golden-colored hound paid him no mind.

"Awk!" Polly informed to his fellow animal, "You think **_this_** is bad, you should have seen the Triplets when they were in their terrible-twos! _That_ period alone gives me the willies! We ran through eighteen caretakers in one week, and as a result, the Delgado family is now on the banned list of the National Babysitter Association!"

Pluto didn't doubt it for a second.

Daria then spoke, "But seriously, you guys…if you think about it, we nearly lost our Dad. If he died, what if…what if we'd become orphans? Althea is old enough to stay at the Pit, but what if people try to split us up and send us to different foster homes? Then we'll be separated from Claudius and Beak and Althea and the Joes, and we could go to different homes."

It was a depressing thought. Shipwreck never did specify what would become of his children should he had perished. And Althea, though eighteen and legally an adult, wouldn't be considered stable enough to be a foster parent, especially since the Delgados had enemies that would have done everything possible to ensure that the children would separate and live apart from each other.

"Maybe…" and then Quinn stopped before she continued, "Maybe we could go to Atlantis if it meant -"

"**_No way in hell_**," retorted Daria and Brittany sharply, and there was an uncharacteristic harshness and bitter tone in their voices when they snapped back their response. Apparently, they were still just as bitter as Althea (and perhaps more so since Shipwreck and Althea kept the existence of Ceridian a secret from them).

"Even if it meant that we could stay together?" Quinn pointed out. Daria and Brittany pondered this advantage before they realized that Quinn did make some sense in that suggestion. Quinn sighed as she drew her legs close to her chest in the night air.

"I wouldn't have been as crazy being with…her and Aqualad's uncle, especially since everyone in Atlantis would look down on us for being topsiders and being associated with Dad and the Joes. But if anything, I'd be willing to go through with it…if it meant that it would mean that I wouldn't be separated from you two."

"I remember," admitted Daria, "That was our biggest fear when Mom left us to live in Atlantis."

And after that incident, it wasn't uncommon that Trinity would always sleep in the same bed, the three sisters keeping each other company and quietly whispering and crying to each other for a month under the covers after the divorce. No one, not even Althea, knew the extent of their fears of being separated.

"I guess…it wouldn't be so bad, if we were together," Brittany confessed.

"And it would give us a chance to torture Aquaman and Namor for breaking up our family," cackled Daria gleefully, already scheming.

"But what if we need to run away and leave a trail of breadcrumbs in the water while running to an underwater gingerbread house with a gigantic sea-witch resides where we have to work off as slaves while waiting for a handsome Prince to fit us with the glass slipper before the sun sets in three days?" Quinn then couldn't help but say, letting her imagination get the better of her.

Daria and Brittany gave Quinn a deadpanned look.

"You've been reading those Grimm Fairy Tales again, haven't you?" Brittany finally asked.

"Hey, I had to after you and Daria locked me out of the lab just because I caused the last explosion, so I had to do something with my free-time! You're a meanie-head!" Quinn said childishly, sticking out her tongue.

"No, **you're** a meanie-head!" returned Brittany with a huge raspberry.

"You're **both** meanie-heads…and the idiots who share the same brain-cell which explains why **I'm** the smartest sister in this group," Daria put in a bit arrogantly.

"In your dreams," shot back Quinn and Brittany, but upon reflecting back on this childish fighting, the three adolescents started laughing, knowing that though they were blatantly insulting and getting upon each others nerves, it was a testimony to their closeness of their sisterly bond. Pluto just rolled his eyes at Polly and snorted, not sure whether to be amused or disturbed.

"Trust me," Shipwreck's parrot squawked, commiserating, "We could observe the Anti-Christs for years, and we _still_ wouldn't be able to understand them. One minute, they'll be fighting and arguing on how to cause explosions, and the next, they'll be laughing and having tea-parties with their dollies."

The three sisters just laid on the cool grass in helpless mirth.

"We're insane, aren't we?" Daria couldn't help but snicker.

"I'm crazy and darn proud of it," boasted Quinn.

"But we'll stay crazy and insane together," Brittany said in a soft and uncharacteristically philosophical voice, reflecting, and understanding the sentimentality behind that statement, the Triplets just shared a look before joining hands unconsciously. It was a rare and precious moment.

"Makes me wish we could do something wild right now, like steal Sergeant Snuffles…just to continue having this moment together," Brittany sighed wistfully.

"Uh…Brittany? We _did_ just steal Sergeant Snuffles, remember?" Daria clarified as she gave her triplet sister a knowing look.

Brittany then giggled sweetly, "Oh yeah! Silly me, I forgot!"

On cue, the Delgado Triplets, Pluto, and Polly could hear the Joe ranger, Beach Head, screaming from his office, "**_WHERE'S SERGEANT SNUFFLES? WHO TOOK SERGEANT SNUFFLES? WHERE ARE THOSE KIDS? I'LL KILL THEM! I'M GONNA KILL THOSE LITTLE RUGRATS WHEN I GET MY MITTS ON 'EM!_**"

"And that's our cue to split!" Daria giggled as Trinity took off and made a bee-line towards the Misfit Manor where they knew Beach Head wouldn't dare track them down at this time of night. Pluto yawned to himself before giving off a deep sigh of exasperation.

"Awwwk! Better get used to it, Pluto," Polly said, nearly groaning, from Pluto's head, making a rather cute scene, "The Triplets will send you to an early grave if you don't steer clear of them!"

Pluto just irritably snorted in agreeable commiseration as he rolled his eyes at the parrot on his skull.

---

The next day, the dawning sun brightened the entire sky as the darkness faded to a growing light blue, signifying a new day. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be a pleasant day as Luxord appeared, clandestinely hidden among the alleys in between buildings so that no one, not even the Joes on guard or Mainframe on the monitors noticed the bearded gambler of the Thirteenth Order as he contemplated his options.

"Hmmm…obviously can't infect any of the Misfits, not since most of them are with the Keyblade wielder and the girl, Althea," he murmured to himself shrewdly before he then spotted a fuming Beach Head, making his way irately towards the Misfit Manor, ready to tear people limb from limb in his search to get his teddy-bear back.

Luxord chuckled lightheartedly to himself.

"A gambler must always know of a promising venture when he sees it…" he decided as he teleported.

Meanwhile, Wayne Sneeden was absolutely livid, furious, and boiling enough to have his face redden and turn scarlet underneath the hooded ski-mask covering his face, his gloved hands twitching and eagerly awaiting the minute he'd get hold of those three insane demon-girls known as Trinity.

"I swear…" fumed the G.I. Joe Ranger, "If those kids hurt Sergeant Snuffles in any way, I'm gonna tie them to the closest railroad tracks before waiting for the next six-fifteen commuter train to run 'em over!"

"A bit lacking in the finesse and sophistication, I daresay," a voice said softly behind him, and as Beach head whirled around at the unfamiliar voice, several objects flew in the air towards him, and without even so much as a yelp, the man felt himself being pushed forward before colliding against the nearest wall, feeling the stucco graze painfully against his exposed skin and his head cracking hard against the surface, stars flashing before his eyes before the objects landed on the wall next to him, pinning his body restrictively.

_Whap, whap, whap, whap, whap!_

When the dizziness faded, Beach Head was able to focus his eyes before he spotted a black-cloaked figure in boots standing right before him, and Beach Head's breath caught in his throat as he realized what this meant from the numerous reports the Joes were briefed about.

"Who the hell are you?" the ranger could only utter as he was now in a spread-eagled position against the wall with several gigantic cards pinning his body firmly against the side, his muscles now bleeding from being pressed against the razor-sharp edges of the implements as he was dangling several inches off the ground.

Luxord chuckled before he chastised the Joe in front of him, like an amused disciplinarian on an unruly child. The warrior from the Thirteenth Order quickly closed the gap between him and the trapped soldier in a few strides before he brought out the experimental pod given to him by Hamilton from the Cadmus group.

"My name is rather unimportant now," Luxord said before he pushed the Heartless spore into the middle on the ranger's chest, pressing his palm facedown against Beach Head's chest, "I'd rather we just skip the formalities."

"Holy son of a bitch…" hissed Beach Head as the pod began to infect him inside, exactly like how Axel did with Shipwreck the day before.

"Let's not befoul the air with obscenities, my friend," the man drawled, "I would merely prefer watching you succumb to the darkness in your heart in a much quieter and agreeable manner, one that the Organization could find some use for."

Beach Head, unable to take it any longer, was about to bellow in agony, but the Organization member then sadistically covered Wayne's mouth, muffling him, as the pod continued to gnaw and eat at the ranger's heart, infecting him and weaving strands of darkness into his very core being.

Dear God, it was extremely excruciating, and his head was already swimming, causing his vision to blur. Despite the robed gambler gagging him, Beach Head's throat went dry from yelling himself hoarse.

"Oh come now…" Luxord chuckled rather sadistically as he applied more pressure over Beach Head's face, "Why spoil the moment and allow the Misfits and those Joes to be alerted by your screams of pain? I rather they be surprised once they see the **new** you, my friend."

The last thing Beach Head could comprehend was a sickening, wet noise of something popping and ripping apart, and had he not lost consciousness, he would have seen that it was actually his skin bursting apart grotesquely in blood and gore as the Heartless pod transformed him inside out…

---

"Misfits!" yelled General Hawk over their communicators as the Misfits and the handlers were about to get ready to do their morning training, despite their fatigue and unwillingness, "Red alert! Red alert! We're under attack! Red alert! **_We're being attacked!_**"

"No, it can't be! Not them! It's so soon after Shipwreck!" Cover Girl gasped as she went for her rifle, now having a cold feeling in her gut as to what exactly was the cause of the commencement of hostilities.

"Something tells me the Thirteenth Order's behind this!" Fred guessed.

"We'll find out soon enough! **_Misfits, move out!_**" Wavedancer yelled as she, her teammates, and her surrogate parents rushed out, weapons and powers ready for use. Before grabbing their pink-and-purple glovatrixes, the Triplets looked at Pluto who was silently observing this from the living room rather worriedly.

"Pluto, wait here!" ordered Daria sternly to the hound before she and her sisters dashed off, "You'll be safer from the Heartless if you remain hidden and out of sight. And besides, it's probably better that you don't go out; you can't help us much out there in the fighting anyway."

As the Triplets left, they didn't notice the kindhearted canine giving them a knowing smile behind their backs.

Meanwhile, the Misfits and their parents arrived at the western end of the Pit grounds where currently, a bunch of Joes were already at a tense and losing gun-fight with a very odd leviathan of a monster.

"What the heck?" Lance gaped as they saw what the other Joes were fighting.

It was a large, deformed teddy bear. As ridiculous as it sounded, however, there was nothing cuddly or friendly about this abomination. It was colossal, about two-stories high and immensely fat and portly with coffee-brown colored fur, and surprisingly, it was dressed in a battledress military uniform complete with the cap on top of its head, slightly skewed between the ears. But the bear was disturbing in the fact that it additionally had disembodied yellow eyes that were wildly and erratically rolling around in every direction in circular pools of black. And it's beige muzzle revealed a very wicked and snarling mouth full of jagged, misshapen white teeth, the shortest of the tusks being as long as two feet. But that was nowhere as menacing as the elongated, razor-sharp, black claws that were sticking out of the teddy bear's front paws, making it have a striking similarity to Wolverine.

And to drive the point home, the teenagers and the adults could see the familiar, abnormal symbol of the crossed-out heart positioned on the teddy bear's stomach and paunch belly.

"**_Another_** Heartless?" yelped Quicksilver, groaning and already exasperated, "What is this? Does the Pit have a welcome policy that says 'Heartless, please come and screw us over as much as you like?'?"

"Shut up, Pietro!" snapped back all the neighboring Misfits and Joes as they threw themselves into the melee along with the other Joes who were awake and alert for the night guard of their headquarters. And indeed, the resulting ruckus and chaotic bedlam was alerting the other occupied or sleeping Joes to rush out with their weapons and join in on the stand.

"And again, bullets and laser-fire aren't cutting this! It's not having any effect on it!" Cover Girl yelled as she stood side-by-size with the Joes Cutter, Roadblock, and Chuckles as they emptied their clips from their guns at the beast.

"And our attacks aren't doing much either! Geez, it's growing even bigger now!" gasped Avalanche as he and Scarlet Witch teamed up a devastating unison of fissures and hex-bolts, but to their confusion, like the incident with Shipwreck, each blast or tremor seemed to make the teddy-bear even stronger. In fact, the Heartless was now faintly glowing as it advanced in size and ferocity.

"Toddles, we have to combine our attacks together! Team up your magical attack with mine!" Wavedancer commanded, her quick mind coming to that solution.

"Got it, yo!" Toad responded as they got ready while the teddy-bear Heartless charged directly towards them.

Althea and Todd then struck the Heartless both at once.

"Aquara Water Dragon!" Wavedancer yelled, and at once, the instant she raised her hand above her head, a gigantic waterspout in the form of a serpent-like, horned dragon came screeching out of thin air.

"Thundaga Blitzclap Pressure!" Toad yelled, bringing his hands together to summon the impressive ball of electricity to generate an enormous peal of thunder from the heavens before pitching it forward like a baseball.

In an inspired and makeshift, yet brilliant, display of teamwork, the liquid dragon and the projectile of lightning and thunder actually combined before barreling directly at their opponent. The current of pulsing and devastating water merged with the energy ball and had it positioned directly in the front of the dragon's head, like a shield, and as a result, the contact with the thunderclap bathed the entire dragon with crackling and snapping streams of electricity, giving it the appearance of a silver snake.

"Whoa!" Pietro and Justin could both only utter dumbly as the thunderclap and the water dragon hurled towards the Heartless, about to strike.

"Yeesh, this one's gonna hurt!" Blob whistled, but the bear Heartless had another surprise up its furry sleeve. With a roar, the teddy-Heartless actually split apart, ripping off and detaching its arms, legs, and head from its pudgy belly. And to everyone's alarm and disbelief, the Heartless extracted itself to pieces, leaving the combined water and thunder to rush past the empty space in the center of where its body was originally positioned before it reassembled back together. And because the Heartless evaded the attack, Althea and Todd's magical spells missed it completely.

"Oops," Wavedancer groaned.

"Yeesh," winced Quicksilver as the attack struck a nearby building instead, causing a rather impressive surge of water and searing electricity as the monument was reduced to rubble and collapsed, "_This_ one's gonna **_miss_**."

Xi said innocently, "I wonder if General Hawk need to start taking an insurance policy on his office. This is the hundred and fifteenth time it got destroyed, I believe?"

"Hundred and **_sixteenth_**, actually," corrected Avalanche as he winced at the long rant of cursing and bothersome swear words thrown in by Hawk in the background when he discovered how Althea and Todd's water and thunder magic just desecrated it.

"Try it again!" yelled the Joe, Flash, as he kept firing from his laser pistol, "Try it again or else we're all screwed!"

"Aquara Water Dragon!"

"Thundaga Blitzclap Pressure!"

But to their panicked dismay, nothing happened when the two Misfits called out their attacks.

"Huh? Nothing…nothing happened! What's going on?" Wavedancer gasped. Toad then came to desperate measures as he raised his Keyblade over his head.

"Give me strength, yo!" he called out, "Genie, help us out!"

"Give **me** strength! Dumbo, stop that Heartless!" Wavedancer yelled additionally, and before anyone could realize it, the blue djinn and the flying elephant began attacking the Heartless, combining their magical auras and their stream of water to weaken the monster. But now apoplectic and beyond calm, the bear Heartless raised its claws before firing its nails at its opponents, the air now whizzing with deadly black spikes.

"Duck, you guys!" Dragonfly gasped as she managed to use her wings to shield the Joe, Snow Job, from being struck down by one of the shafts. Unfortunately, the Heartless had no end of ammunition as the entire sky kept raining down rough and crooked pieces of cartilage as hard as rock down upon the Joes and the mutants.

"Genie, what's going on, yo? Why can't we use magic? We've done it before!" Toad gasped as he hopped away from a falling spear.

Genie blinked before he answered, "You mean you don't know? Kid, number one rule about magic: _it has its limits!_ Yeah, some like yours truly, has an infinite amount of magical energy that I can use repeatedly over and over again to waste a big nasty or clean up the scruffy spot under the refrigerator! But you and Althea used up your reserves in that last attack! And like anything mortal, you need time to build up your energy again to cast the same spell, just like how you need to build up your energy for fighting or exercising or doing the rumba! Todd, there has to be a period of time before the magical energy in you reaches back up to full potential so that you can cast another thunder spell! This ain't no video-game, kid! There has to be a period between each spell you cast before you can do it all over again!"

"Of course!" cursed Spirit, "Every gift has a price! And it had to be _now_ while we're fighting for our lives!"

"Yeow! We need more firepower!" Blob bellowed, wincing as a flying claw grazed him while he did his best to beat back the Heartless using an actual tank as a club, battering and swinging wildly at his enemy while it roared and did its best to avoid having its legs being beaten to a pulp by the mutant teenager.

Pluto was watching all of this from the second-story window of the Misfit Manor, and comprehending the wisdom of those words, the dog decided again to take drastic measures as he looked upon the images of Daria, Quinn, and Brittany firing missile after missile from their glovatrixes. Despite those three adolescents being psychotic, rude, unruly, overly violent, demented, and having no sort of compunction and self-restraint whatsoever…

Those Triplets were really good kids deep down who would fiercely protect their loved ones with all of their human capability. And though eccentric, Trinity really did have admirable strength of heart.

And Pluto knew that that last fact couldn't be argued against as he stared at Daria, Quinn, and Brittany from his position at the house, the pupils in his soft eyes now glowing a bright, neon pink color.

"Omigod!" gasped Brittany as she looked at her sisters, and upon the exclamation, Quinn and Daria glanced back at their fellow triplet before they too noticed the anomaly.

"Your foreheads! They're glowing!" all three girls declared in shock. And indeed, on each of the Delgado Triplets was a glowing symbol of bright pink, Trinity's trademark, favorite color. The crest was a single, filled circle, but unlike Toad or Wavedancer's, the orb was partially surrounded with a ring, halfway around the sphere before jutting outwards at two end, one end being pointed and tapered while the top end was shaped like a pick farm tool, like a scythe.

"Whoa!" Brittany could only utter.

"At least it's a fashionable statement…" Daria could only joke weakly.

"But what does it mean?" Quinn asked no one in particular. A familiar voice then spoke in their minds, channeling through the medium of space and reality.

_It means that you have a chance to help your friends…_

"Huh? Uh…who are you?" Quinn asked.

_Someone who wants to help you three fight the Heartless_.

"Our scanners!" gasped Daria. And to their surprise, each of the girl's personal scanners, the tools they built from their own lab and toiled for a week to perfect and build from scratch was now hovering in the air on its own accord, encased with a delicate ruddiness before it sparkled once

Indeed, when the shiny orb surrounding the three toys of the Triplets faded, the tools were still pretty much the same pink, miniature handheld computers but with two slight differences. Now, on each of the rectangular cases, was the symbol of a golden, three-pronged crown, and when each of the girls opened their respective scanners, there was now a white button in the center of their consoles bearing a familiar insignia…

"The sign of the Heartless!" gasped Quinn upon seeing the red-and-black crest stamped on their new, foreign white button. Daria looked around angrily.

"Hey, what gives? Are you with the Heartless and Organization too?" she demanded angrily, confronting. The voice had a touch of annoyed offense to it as it clarified.

_**Trust me**, I'm not associated with the Heartless or the Thirteenth Order._

"But…but if you're not with the Heartless, then what did you do to our scanners? And why are you helping us? We don't even know you!"

_I enhanced your scanners to help you for this war, Trinity. Now, you three can do a special feature that will definitely make things easier for you. Press the button and aim your scanners at the Heartless; it'll reveal any weakness…as well as some other things._

"Like…like what?" Brittany gasped.

_Just use it, Trinity._

"Snake Eyes, wait! **STOP!** Don't kill that Heartless! **_Stop, please!_**" Daria cried out as she saw the ninja master about ready to decapitate the enemy, and upon hearing the rare sense of urgency in the young adolescent's voice, the masked and goggled ninja master actually stopped and stared at the Delgado, confused. Never before, in his years of being with her, had he ever heard Daria beg and plead like this.

Trinity, then tossing caution to the winds, pressed the white button on their scanners, and howling, the Heartless was slowly but surely becoming translucent.

"Huh?" Wanda gasped, "Trinity, what are you doing?"

"Scanning the Heartless! It's…it's…" but Daria's voice died in her throat when all three of the sisters' newly-improved scanners finished analyzing the specimen, and the experiment of darkness was now fully translucent as it revealed to everyone on the battlefield what the voice had been hinting at. To everyone's horror, there, hanging in a crucified manner by invisible strings in the center of the teddy-bear Heartless, was an unconscious Beach Head. The Joe ranger was dangling in thin air, as limp as a rag doll, and snaked all around his arms and torso were strands and wisps of black smoke and ethereal dark auras, displaying him rather sadistically like a puppet. But in the middle of the man's chest was a familiar oval-shaped, gray-colored spore, a pod, and it was sickeningly pumping and beating like an actual heart, and it was from this that all the darkness and auras trapping and possessing Beach Head were emanating from.

"**_BEACH HEAD?_**" chorused Roadblock and the neighboring Joes at once in surprise and horror.

"That Heartless is Beach Head?" exclaimed Cover Girl in shock.

"That means we can't kill this thing! Not unless we want to risk Beach Head getting killed as well!" cursed Low Light.

"And that little tidbit is supposed to discourage us _how_, exactly?" drawled Pietro thoughtlessly, earning him a well-earned smack upside the head courtesy of Lina and Wanda.

The voice then spoke again to the Delgado Triplets as the Heartless became opaque again, the scans now completed, before it began attacking the soldiers with a renewed ferocity and savageness.

_Why do you wish to help him?_

"Huh?" gaped the three adolescents.

_Why do you want to save Beach Head? You're always mean to him, never showed him much respect…_

"Just because we make fun of him doesn't mean we don't care about him! He doesn't deserve this! Yeah, he's a jerk sometimes, but we'd do anything to save from danger, just like we know how he'd dedicate himself to G.I. Joe and to all of us! We don't want him to die!" protested Daria hotly.

_Do you want to save him? Is this what your hearts really want to do?_

"Yes!" chorused the three sisters, and there was no question about it. They were amazingly **that** dedicated and determined…

_Then I'll give you three a final gift. If you wish to save Beach Head, then you better make this one count! I bless all three of you with the magic of the Stopra Kingdom!_

"The…Stopra Kingdom?" asked Quinn, thinking it was a joke of some sort. The voice chuckled before it faded away.

_It's a powerful form of magic, Trinity. It allows you to use the gift of time…_

"Uh…thanks, Mr. Weird-Voice-From-Nowhere…" Brittany said, a bit flustered but grateful nonetheless.

The voice then actually chuckled, appearing to be a bit more absent-minded and friendly.

_Gosh, there's no need to thank me. I didn't do anything…_

"Everyone, get back!" yelled Quinn, "We're going to try something! Everyone, get back!"

Upon hearing this, the Joes and Misfits managed to scatter and dash off before each of the three girls then felt something emerge in their hearts and inner selves, deeper and more fulfilling and powerful than anything they had ever encountered with their telepathy before. It was as if they were being subjected to a river of warmth and dry sands while feeling their heads swell pleasantly with the images of the past, present, and future, the wisdom and knowledge bonding with them and their psyche.

It was the weirdest yet most pleasant sensation.

With that, Daria, Quinn, and Brittany each had a small, glowing ball of pink aura materialize in front of them, swirling like a small universe of energy in their palms before they each raised a hand at Beach Head and cried out simultaneously as one.

"STOPRA…TIME FREEZE!"

With a roar, the Heartless charged…and stopped instantly in a fraction of a second as the fleeting image of a pink triangle with a clock centered in the middle flashed and blazed directly in front of the monster, acting as an energy barrier. With a soft noise of the magical energy of time being released, the Heartless remained stoic and froze in mid-step, now static and held in place, no longer a threat.

"Oh my God! Trinity, how did you do that?" Dragonfly gasped.

"We know magic now! Some voice just taught it to us!" Brittany said with worry as she pointed to her glowing forehead where the crest of the Stopra Kingdom was hotly blazing.

"Whoa! You stopped him, yo!" Toad gasped, looking at the Beach Head Heartless, now stuck in temporal stasis, outlined by the pink hue encasing all around it.

Spirit looked at Trinity before he said, "You must have an ability now that allows you to stop enemies in their tracks, similar to Piper Halliwell's power."

And without warning, another surprise appeared as three separate pink celestial auras of light appeared in front of Trinity, one for each girl.

"Whoa! Are they - ?" began Brittany.

"No way!" Quinn gasped, her hands to her mouth in amazement.

"They're…**_Keyblades_**!" finished Daria as the three pink sparks faded to reveal what had been placed into the Triplets' hands. Each one of the three Delgado children was now wielding a small Keyblade, appropriately sized for their small statures. The Keyblades were similar in that the blade portion of their weapons consisted of a bronze-colored head and body of an old-fashioned key, but the bottom portion consisted of a cross-guard and a grip, like a sword. However, unlike Toad's Keyblade, the rod of the key for all three of the girls consisted of a metal pointed arrow with a sharp tip at the top, like a clock-hand. The cross-guard was actually pink and circular, and upon closer inspection, all around the cross-guard were the numbers in sequence from one to twelve, like the outer rim of a clock. The grips were smooth, purple fabric, making it quite cushiony to hold, and hanging from each Keyblade was a symbol of a pink-triangle.

The others observing this were just as stunned as the Triplets.

"Unbelievable!" Althea gasped, "You three nutcases have Keyblades _too_? Oh, just perfect! The _last_ thing we need is that the Triplets now have weapons that can fight Heartless!"

"I think the thoughts of the possibilities of what they can do with these things just broke my brain, yo," groaned Todd, rubbing his temple with one hand, knowing it was likely that Trinity would abuse such gifts to no ends.

"Which is why they die, here and now…" echoed a cold and yet silky and refined British voice as Luxord appeared in a cloud of darkness, now un-hooded and showing his hardened face, his ears studded with hoops of gold and silver.

"I'd rather we just skip the formalities," Luxord said smugly before he raised his hands, and to everyone's confusion and horror, gigantic playing cards appeared out of nowhere, predominating everything on the grounds of the G.I. Joe base. And these weren't your playful, harmless ordinary cards one sees in poker; they were the strangest objects the mutants and the soldiers have ever witnessed. Each one was gigantic, taller than a man and being at least seven feet and was definitely made of materials than was not ordinary, flimsy cardboard. Each card was blank-white on the front while the back of them were rimmed with an intricate, dark-blue diamond pattern with the symbol of the Nobody partially displayed on the right-side. And like magic, the cards danced and rushed in rhythmic, straight lines, single file, as if eagerly anticipating the Organization member's command, which he gave with great assurance.

"Cards…attack!" and with that, the entire assemblage came rushing directly for the crowd.

"Yow! Cards? This Organization creep's attacking us with **cards**?" yelped Quick Kick as he dodged the flying sheets as they flew towards the Joes. Rock N' Roll saw one card flying straight at him, and instincts and basic training spring up his brain and senses, the bearded machine gunner twisted his body away from the approaching weapon while leaning back as far as he could.

_Slash!_

Horrified but thankful it only grazed him, Rock N' Roll gingerly touched the deep laceration the card made on the torso of his uniform, the thick padded fabric cleanly sliced through.

"Watch it!" Rock N' Roll yelled on his communicator, "Those cards are razor-sharp! If they hit you, kiss some body parts good-bye!"

"Who the hell is this guy?" yelled the Joe, Sci-Fi, as he managed to blast one of the card to pieces with his high-powered laser handgun, having it shatter like glass, "A Gambit copycat?"

"You jerk!" Scarlet Witch yelled in ire as she managed to hex another card out of the way before it could hack apart Cross-Country and Leatherneck, "You Organization creeps are really starting to annoy me!"

Blob, seeing that many of the Joes wouldn't be fast enough to dodge completely out of the way of Luxord's weapons, quickly got in front of Ace and Short-Fuse before several cards could bear down on the two Joes, blocking the attacks with his belly. Unfortunately…

"Yow!" Blob cried out in pain as the magical, overgrown cards bounced off his skin and collapsed lifelessly onto the ground, "That stings! Even with my powers, these things can cut!"

And indeed, the front end of Fred's uniform was shredded and sporting a few dripping gashes; even despite his invulnerable skin, Luxord's cards were beyond the ordinary.

"Cards!" yelled Whitelighter as he managed to telekinetically orb a pair before they could hit the Joe Heavy Metal and Xi before flinging his hand back at Luxord, guiding the projectiles directly back at their owner. Luxord was hardly worried as he raised a hand and caused the cards to half before snapping his fingers at Justin with a cruel laugh.

"Justin!" Blind Master gasped but it was too late as the smoke enveloped his son for several seconds before vanishing, revealing a rather different and transformed Justin.

"OK…_this_ I didn't expect…" Whitelighter blinked, now feeling incredibly stupid as he was nothing more than a six-faced die, magically balancing on one corner with the Misfit's face realistically painted on the front side. Quicksilver, despite the situation, couldn't help but laugh.

"Wow, we could use you to start a new craps gambling-ring here at the Pit, huh, chubby-cheeks?" the albino speedster snickered. Whitelighter just gave his friend a dirty look. Blind Master was now livid as he drew out his katana and charged at Luxord along with Dragonfly and Low Light (now transformed into pure energy). Feeling now that he could end things once and for all, Luxord disappeared before all the cards on the field now formed a single line and encircled Daria, Quinn, and Brittany.

"No!" yelled Wavedancer.

"Kids!" bellowed Spirit, but it was too late as the gigantic cards of the Organization member completely hid them from the audience's view. Daria, Quinn, and Brittany found themselves sealed off before anyone could do anything, and to their horror, the mammoth cards grew until they were all trapped in a large, circular room with a very high ceiling, the floor and walls made entirely out of cards. And before them was a sly Luxord as he appeared, ready to kill the three of them.

"Uh-oh…" murmured Quinn.

"I think we're in trouble…" gulped Daria.

"As much as it would be against the Superior's wishes…" he drawled before he disappeared, "I'm sure he wouldn't mind taking action to prevent more Keyblade wielders from causing us future problems. And I daresay that I can certainly eliminate you three; there is absolutely no chance that I can lose to three fragile girls."

"He don't know us very well, do he?" quipped Brittany with a roll of her eyes, quoting a classic cartoon line.

But there was no time to reflect and joke around. The Triplets suddenly found themselves madly dodging and trying to evade Luxord's attempts as he kept emerging from random cards everywhere, from the floor, walls, and even the ceiling, swiping at their bodies with cards like over-sized scimitars or sending gigantic magical dices to crush them.

"He's emerging everywhere! We can't hit him when he keeps moving around like this!" gasped Daria as she narrowly blocked one card swiped from the Organization member with her Keyblade.

"OK, Keyblades, **now** would be a good time to give us a little summon thingy like you did before!" Quinn gasped, grasping desperately at straws, as she smacked her Keyblade unconvincingly in a childish manner at the head, trying to make it function. But nothing happened.

"Mr. Weird-Voice-From-Nowhere, a little help here!" hollered Brittany as she narrowly ducked a dice that was trying to crush her against a wall.

And on cue, that ever-elusive yet familiar voice spoke again.

_You three don't have a Summon…but you **do** have a Keyblade attack. You can still win this fight, but you hafta trust your Keyblades and use its power to fight! Use you attack when Luxord's not hiding in the cards or else he can't be hurt._

"Huh? **_Luxord?_**" Brittany echoed as Daria and Quinn narrowly dodged the said Organization member's attempt to behead them with a swift swipe from a card.

_The name of the guy who's trying to kill you. His name is "Luxord" and he's only vulnerable when he's no longer hiding in the cards. You three are going to hafta draw him out somehow…_

"I have an idea! Girls, **hover-mode**!" Daria commanded, and with that, the Triplets all joined hands and used their mutant powers to levitate high above off the floor, all the meanwhile Daria was telepathically sharing her plan with her two other sisters before all of them readied their glovatrixes.

"Pellets…AWAY!" they cried out as they shot out multiple plastic casings of a foul-smelling liquid everywhere they could in the room of cards. Luxord scoffed from his veiled position; the girls must have been desperate.

"You missed, little ones. I told you that you three rugrats have no chance of defeating me…" echoed the laughing voice of the sneering Luxord from all around. Daria, Quinn, and Brittany all smiled as they then chimed altogether one sentence that absolutely stunned the gambler from the Thirteenth Order.

"The house doesn't always win, bee-yotch! Flash missiles…AWAY!"

With that, Trinity fired six separate flash missiles, and upon touching and sparking upon the rather unstable and volatile mixture of butane and rocket fuel from the pellets, the entire floor and lower-half of the walls lit up with a brilliant and searing flash of orange and red as there was a gigantic supernova of fire. Even from their altitude, the back-draft licked painfully at their ankles and feet.

"Hmph, looks like those cards aren't fireproof," cackled Daria.

"Too bad our Thirteenth friend is finding that one out that hard way…" pointed out Quinn as the fire spread to all the cards on the floor and licked up the walls, including the very spot Luxord was veiled under.

"Yeow!" hollered Luxord, now abandoning all pretense as he leapt out of his hiding place, trying to avoid being burned to death as he furiously and desperately swatted at the portions of his black cloak that were now on fire. That was the moment Trinity had been waiting for.

"Dog-pile, Mr. Organization-Creep!" chorused Daria, Brittany, and Quinn with a wild, frenzied war-cry as they, before the white-haired gambler could do anything to react, fell from above and tackled the card-wielder. And the servant of the Thirteenth Order found himself difficult to stand and fight effectively with three adolescent and violent girls punching and kicking…and groping.

"**_Bloody hell!_**" shouted Luxord in gall and violated anger as he kept trying to teleport amid the burning house of cards, but despite his best efforts, he couldn't shake the Misfits off him.

"Get off me, you little insane - ! **_Bloody hell!_** Get your hands off that! Ack! Don't touch me _there_, you little perverts! Get off! Let go of - ! Oooh! You depraved little bilge-rats! Aah! Quit groping me! Ow! Stop pinching that! Ack! That tickles!"

"Wow…this Organization member's been hiding his talents!" chirped a lewd and smiling Quinn.

"**_GET OFF!_**" Luxord bellowed, and with a blast of time magic, the three girls were sent flying off his personal space, but thanks to years and years of Storm Shadow and Blind Master's training, the Triplets landed easily on their feet, avoiding the intense fires as the flames began to spread.

"He looks so cute when he's mad, isn't he?" teased a shameless Brittany. "Mad" didn't even begin to cover it; Luxord was insanely apoplectic as he lividly drew out two razor-sharp cards like swords, one for each hand.

"I am going to take much pleasure in murdering you three little terrors…" Luxord growled as he charged, ready to eviscerate and decapitate.

"Now! All for one…!" Daria called out, throwing caution to the winds and doing whatever first came to her mind.

"…and one for all! Let's do this!" Quinn and Brittany yelled in unison before all three of the girls joined their Keyblades together, the tips of their weapons touching in symbolic harmony.

"TRINTY LIMIT!" Daria, Quinn, and Brittany cried out as one, and with a tremendous flash, they brought their Keyblades together, joining them high above their heads, the tips of their weapons symbolizing their unity.

And then it was pure chaos. Luxord himself didn't know how to best describe the situation, but all he remembered later was that there were several flashes of bright pink energy that flared and swirled around the apex of where all three of the girls' Keyblades before it grew bigger and bigger, like a black hole of pink, nearly sucking him into its depth before it discharged with a massive blast of energy that he could distinctly sense from the Sands of Time.

**_KAAAA-FFFWWWOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSHHH!_**

---

"Genie, get them out of there!" Toad pleaded as he, the Misfits, and the Joes kept trying to valiantly break the column of cards and free the girls from being Luxord's prisoner. Genie comically spat in his hands before he summoned a gigantic wooden hammer.

"Taste my patented Mallet of Pain!" the Genie bellowed as he brought down the hammer against the walls of the prison.

WHAM!

There was a second in which everyone just held their collective breath as the blue spellcaster struck the column of cards with all of his strength, leaving a deafening silence in which nothing happened. And then, like the classic cartoon gag, the hammer in Genie's hands started to ominously crack before it additionally spread to Genie's hands and body itself. And in accordance to the cartoon laws that would have done Bugs Bunny proud, the Mallet of Pain and Genie shattered to pieces like a broken mirror, leaving nothing but brown and blue jagged shards into a large and pathetic pile on the floor.

The lone piece atop of the heap, which humorously had Genie's mouth imposed on it, spoke up sheepishly.

"OK, they don't make Mallets of Pain like they used to…"

Quicksilver couldn't help but scoff in disappointment, "Boy, some Genie…"

"Shut it, Quickie!" snapped Toad in his summon's defense. But to everyone's surprise, there was a brilliant and fantastic upwelling and flow of pink energy before the cards absolutely disintegrated and disappeared, fading from the backlash of the Trinity Limit move inside. And to everyone's relief, it revealed an exhausted trio of mutant girls, weary but triumphant.

"Girls! You're all right!" exhaled Roadblock in relief.

"All right! We did it! We totally wasted the card-toting Gambit-copycat!" cheered the Triplets, linking hands and dancing in a circle.

"You haven't won yet…" growled Luxord as he appeared from the rooftop of a nearby building, now noticeably injured but thankful he managed to teleport before Trinity's magical attack from their Keyblade hurt him any further.

"Well done, you little brats…" panted Luxord as he gingerly held his bruised and aching side, the cloak fabric feeling disturbingly sticky, "You played the game well."

"Still itching for a fight, Organization creep?" growled Scarlet as she aimed her crossbow at the gambler, but Luxord grinned before he pointed to Beach Head, and to everyone's horror, Trinity's time-freeze had worn-off.

"Ta-ta…" Luxord commented smugly before he disappeared. Everyone braced themselves as the Heartless that was once Beach Head began to charge again.

And suddenly, another set of miracles occurred…

"AQUARA…TIGERSHARK TSUNAMI!" yelled a female's voice, a bit deep but refined, and out of nowhere, a voluminous and unstoppable tidal wave roared and thundered throughout the entire Joe base, rocketing to the skies above. White with foam and frenzied, the infinite body of the oceans and the sea crashed against the Heartless once Beach Head, crushing it heavily before trapping it into an unbreakable column of water.

"What the hell? Wavedancer, I thought the Genie said you couldn't do any magic because you used up all the energy in your last attack!" Gung-Ho exclaimed, confused.

"It wasn't me! I didn't do **this**!" Wavedancer yelled back on her communicators, just as lost as her fellow Joes were. And then, a blue blur as fast as the wind (and that was almost an exact replica of Quicksilver whenever he ran with his mutation) rushed directly at the Heartless trapped in the column of water. The hazy stream of the shadow-form was outlined with a silver aura, harsh and as elusive as the mist, and was surrounded with a channel of wind, steadily growing faster and faster before it struck Beach Head in the back.

"AEROGA…SHADOW PHANTASM!" cried out a male voice, and with that, there was a deafening sonic-boom before the shape actually sliced cleanly though the Heartless like a knife, nearly hacking it in half but weakening it greatly. With a whimper, the teddy-bear collapsed to the ground, shaking but still alive, now surrounded in a pool of black blood as it dripped from its wounds that cleaved in vertically down its center.

"What the heck?" Blind Master gasped before the blurry streak stopped at a distance in front of them next to another figure, and immediately, the Joes and the mutants saw who had saved them.

"Whoa…weird," Avalanche could only blurt out dumbly as the Misfits and the Joes looked at their strange saviors.

To be blunt, it was a winged, upright, anthropomorphized bird, a falcon really, and next to him was a woman with an athletic figure and an octopus for a head.

The avian appeared to be male with the way his was standing, a bit cockily with his legs spread out and one tense, feathered wing on a gun strapped to his side, as if he was expecting to use it. He had a deep-blue plumage, along with a pointed tuft of feathers tapering off at the back of his head, except for the feathers around his dark eyes which were bright-red. And those eye-markings matched the red pilot's bomber jacket the bird was wearing perfectly. Along with the jacket, the falcon's attire included brown, leather breeches (which understandably included a hole at his rear to allow the gathering of blue tail-feathers to stick out) and strange, silver-colored boots. But the bird was glaring at them all coldly, his yellow-ochre beak grim and frowning.

It was obvious that the bird wasn't very friendly and sociable at that moment.

The female next to him seemed a bit gentler and softer, both in her demeanor and in the aura she was giving off (in which Blind Master and Snake Eyes were able to sense). She had a rather toned and curved physique, trim and lean from obvious years of swimming, and though human-like, her skin tone was a pale, bright green. She was wearing a dark turquoise-green one-piece swimsuit that clung to her like a second skin and matching high-heeled boots that came up to her knees. But it was the woman's head that drew the most attention, for it was nothing but a dark-green octopus, complete with the eight tentacles and purple ring-markings around her eyes. And though she had no nose, the woman had a perfectly feminine mouth glossed with purple lipstick.

"Hey…they look familiar," mused Pietro, lapsing, and it hit Wanda and Blind Master where they had seen them before. The ninja master, despite being blind, could sense the signature life essences from the two humanoids, and they were **nothing** like the _ki_ energies of Earth…

"I recognize those auras!" Gabriel shouted, "They're the same ones who we saw after Wavedancer cured Shipwreck from being a Heartless! The ones who snatched and then gave us back Shipwreck's heart!"

"No, I'm serious! I swear, I think I've seen that bird before somewhere! Before all this!" Quicksilver persisted, but few paid attention to that comment.

Falco turned coldly to Althea before saying roughly, "Unless you want that Heartless to gain back its strength to kill all of you again, I suggest you stop fooling around and exorcise it with your scepter to bring your friend back to normal."

"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!" Althea yelled, using whatever strength she had left as she pointed the scepter at the Heartless. The rainbow of crests flashed in sequence on creature's body before the experiment of darkness howled upon making contact with the symbol trinity of the crown, the Heartless, and the Nobody…

**_FLASH!_**

When the light from Althea's staff subsides, a now fully-human and unconscious Beach Head fell lifelessly to the ground, and not too far off, a pink crystal flew out and bounced several times on the hard ground before coming to a complete stop fifty feet or so from the ranger's prone form.

"Oh no! Beach Head's heart!" gasped Brittany as just remembered another vital piece of today's events, and everyone turned to the spot in the distance. There, twinkling faintly underneath the bright sun, was the small crystallized form of Beach Head's heart, about the size of a baseball, radiating softly with a dull glow.

"I got it!" yelled Xi as he took off towards the heart, but then Falco's eyes glittered with brutal coldness as he took out his laser pistol and shot a blast at its weakest setting directly into the lizard-Misfit's back. Though it wasn't meant to kill and Falco clearly didn't wish to cripple the teenager, it was devastating nonetheless. And as fast as Xi was, Falco was unfortunately a crack-shot.

_Kawhooom!_

There was a furious discharge on infrared radiation as the laser pulse struck the Misfit in the back and sent him flying, screaming before he crashed to the ground, unconscious and twitching. There was a faint but disgusting odor of burnt flesh as everyone could see that the back of Xi's uniform and skin was now charred, smoking, and blackened.

"Xi! Oh God, hang on!" Bree gasped as she and Lifeline rushed to the young one's aid, with the medic laying his glowing hands on the lizard's back, easing the pain. Nothing was broken and Xi's spine wasn't severed, but it was serious enough to qualify as a second-degree burn (and that was Falco's _lowest_ setting on his gun).

"Hey, what are you doing? You yellow-tailed chicken-hawk, I'll pound you!" Fred bellowed as he charged, but Falco nimbly back-flipped to avoid Blob's fist striking him where he had been a second ago. He turned to his female companion.

"Octavia, go! I'll keep them busy!" the falcon ordered, and firm, the octopus woman nodded before she took off in the direction of the heart crystal.

"Hey, they're tryin' to take Beach Head's heart, yo!" Toad yelled before he unconsciously summoned his Keyblade out of thin air and into his hand.

"Over _her _dead body!" Wavedancer growled before she, Toad, Blind Master, and Spirit chased after the female octopus, intending to beat her to the punch first. Meanwhile, the other Joes and the rest of the Misfits were trying to engage and prevent the blue-feathered avian from doing any more additional damage…not that Falco was giving them a chance to subdue him. Falco aimed a devastating kick to the back of Quicksilver's kneecap as the mutant albino tried to rush up and punch the bird.

"AAAHHHH!" yelled Pietro as he crumbled to the ground, feeling his leg burn and throb excruciatingly as blood dripped out of his broken flesh, "My leg, my leg! **_The jerk broke my leg!_**"

"I got it!" Justin yelled as he orbed over to Quicksilver and started to bathe his leg with the light from his healing powers. Falco didn't bother as he was nimbly avoiding the tremors to the ground Avalanche was sending directly at him, the ground threatening to swallow him up whole in response to Lance's anger. With a quick spread of the feathers on his wings, Falco soared into the air, now untouchable thanks to his ability to fly, hovering far in the sky.

"Can't touch me when I'm in the air, chump," snorted Falco, "And I take the skies any day!"

Scarlet Witch was now vengefully wrathful.

"Big mistake, you oversized feather-duster!" the red-and-black haired teenager yelled as she aimed a massive hex-bolt at the bird, crippling enough to even cause the Juggernaut to wince in pain, and the energy projectile thundered and crackled loudly as he dashed towards the blue bird. Falco then coldly raised one wing before a shimmering shield of force materialized in front, protecting him, and upon striking the reflector slate, the hex-bolt returned back to the crowd below, two fold.

"Yeow!" Fred cried as he along with several others close to him got zapped. Falco then spotted a clandestine Dragonfly trying to take flight in order to beat Octavia to the heart crystal, and swooping down faster than the eye could blink, the avian tackled the insect-girl to the ground and applied a choke-hold around her neck with one wing while keeping her closely pinned to his body with the other, preventing her from using her wings on him.

"Don't!" pleaded Lina as she tried to break out of Falco's grip (for a bird, he was nearly as strong as Blob or Colossus), "What are you doing? Let me go! If we don't get Beach Head's heart, he could die! That's his heart! He can't live without it!"

"If he dies, it's not our problem…" Falco said coldly, still nearly crushing Lina's neck with the chokehold while maintaining the firm grip around her lithe body, "**_Octavia, check the heart!_**"

"Get your hands off my daughter, you son of a bitch!" yelled Cover Girl as she flew out from Falco's blind spot with her empty rifle now being effectively used as a club. Cursing, Falco gave the Misfit he was holding a brutal shove, sending her to the ground, before he raised his forearm in an effective outside block, stopping the butt of the weapon from cracking his skull. With a simple maneuver, the falcon managed to flip and wrestle the gun out of the female Joe's hands before tossing the club away.

Undaunted, the brown-haired woman aimed a fabulous cross-punch at Falco's beak, and Falco anticipated this as he leaned back, Cover Girl's fist soaring past his face by several inches. But what Falco didn't expect was for Cover Girl to anticipate his anticipation as she additionally stuck out her elbow in a jab at the last second. There was a swift crack as Falco rolled his head, taking the hit so that his neck wouldn't snap back, and despite the blood trickling out of his mouth, the falcon swiveled around and delivered a powerful knee into the Joe's stomach, leaving Courtney stunned and winded as she fell to the ground, senseless and in a fetal position.

Low Light, unsurprisingly, was as mad as hell when he saw this.

"Die, you feathered rat!" Low Light roared as he rushed towards Falco, and undaunted, Falco kicked at the sniper with several quick blows in rapid succession, aiming at the head, chest, and groin with his boot, but wisely, Cooper transformed right before the bird's foot could make contact…

_Whack, whack, whack!_

"Aaah!" cried out Falco in pain, feeling his foot ache, "Damn it to Andross and back!"

And it was no wonder. As the Cornerian pilot was busy trying to deal with his sore foot and dodging Low Light's punches, he saw now that the Joe was completely transformed into steel, increasing his body's defense dramatically.

Damn, _that_ one took him by surprise. Falco didn't even know that Low Light had the mutant ability to alter his body's atomic structure to whatever he desired.

Meanwhile, Octavia found her path blocked by Spirit and Toad as Wavedancer sprinted for Beach Head's heart, intending to not lose this race.

"This is not your concern! Get out of our way!" Octavia said in a sharp voice. Spirit was just as unyielding and determined as he and Todd readied themselves in martial stances.

"You're taking our friend's heart; that _makes_ it our concern, witch," the Native-American Joe said with gritted teeth before both he and the Misfit flung themselves at the Tigershark along with Snake Eyes who now leapt into the fray with his katana.

Octavia then realized the growing danger; as skilled as she was, she was certainly no match for the ninja master known as Snake Eyes, and add Blind Master, Althea, Toad and Spirit to the fight as well…

The octopus woman then managed to dash backwards before Blind Master and Snake Eyes' Japanese swords could touch her body, skidding to a halt before she slapped both of her palms to the ground.

"Aquara Tigershark Tsunami!" and to everyone's surprise, another gigantic wave of water encapsulated her as a shield of protective liquid before it came roaring out, threatening to drown all of them as another massive sure materialized out of thin air and grew rapidly, forming a enormous crushing force upon the four opponents and any nearby allies.

Snake Eyes paused before he adroitly dashed backwards to avoid drowning as the wave now flooded the entire field.

"'Aquara'?" yelled Blind Master in shock as he back-flipped to safety into the lower branches of a nearby tree right before a wave of seawater could sweep the Misfit-handler away, "Did she just say '_Aquara_'?"

Toad gasped as he pieced it together, saying, "Al! She's got the same magic powers as you!"

"And she's stronger too!" cried out Wavedancer as she used all her mental strength to divert a sizeable wave from pounding her and Spirit, "I can barely hold off _a fraction_ of this water that she summoned with my hydrokinesis!"

The female Tigershark, taking advantage of the distraction, managed to take an acrobatic flying leap before she snatched Beach Head's heart from the soggy ground and probed it with her magical senses before he excitement fell.

Octavia gave a look of pure disappointment and dismay as she gasped to her companion, "Falco, it's not a Talisman!"

"WHAT?" yelled Falco in fury.

But in that one instant, Octavia felt the heart being snatched out of her stunned hands as Falco flew to safety next to his partner, and they saw that now they were face to face with a furious and defensive Daria, Quinn, and Brittany, the three Misfits now holding their Keyblades in their hands and ready to attack.

Panting and exhausted, but extremely grateful that they managed to get their hands on their friend's heart, Daria, Quinn, and Brittany angrily drew out their weapons and pointed them at the stoic feathered-humanoid and octopus-maiden.

"You are not taking Beach Head's heart…" snarled Daria murderously, baring her teeth.

"We will not let you attack our friends or hurt our family…" Quinn said with outrage, her face turning red with fury.

"Nobody picks on Beach Head **_but us_**…" Brittany snapped, her eyes brimming as he protectively cradled the pink crystal to her chest with her other hand.

"So if you want his heart, you get through us first!" they finished in unison, bracing themselves for another ugly battle and angry and frustrated enough to kill.

There was a general silence as everyone glared and/or stared at Falco and Octavia, neither of them making any movement and just coolly watching the Misfit adolescents in front of them. Though unlike Falco, Octavia had a faint expression of reluctance. Then the blue-feathered avian's next words surprised all of them.

"It's not worth the trouble…we're done here."

And with an about-face, Falco and Octavia turned heel and slowly ambled away from the Misfits and Joes.

"Hey, get back here, you assholes! _We're_ not done with you yet!" yelled Low Light as he quickly snatched his sniper rifle from the ground and aimed the scope at the base of Falco's head, right where the spinal column entered the base of the skull. A sure kill. But before he could even pull the trigger, Falco and Octavia flew into the neighboring woods, as swift and intangible as the wind, expertly fleeing in a multitude of directions and making themselves difficult targets to lock on.

And with that…they were gone, and relieved, Trinity rushed to Beach Head before returning his heart to his chest.

"Please…" begged Brittany to the pink heart crystal in her hands, "Go back to Beach Head. Go back to where you belong. He needs you…"

With a flash, the heart faded and merged into the ranger's limp body.

"Hey…" remarked Wanda, realizing what was out of place, "Did you guys notice that? There was no keyhole, not like when Shipwreck was infected as a Heartless. And there wasn't any response from those Keyblades from Toad or Trinity. That's weird…"

"Not as weird as that bird and that octopus lady," Duke remarked, staring at the spot in the forest where Falco and Octavia had vanished, "What in the world would they want with Beach Head's heart in the first place? And what's all this junk about a Talisman?"

"This is getting more and more complicated," groaned a healed Pietro, "I knew I should have just stayed in bed today…"

---

In London, from the depths of downtown, a feminine figure, wearing a hooded and tattered midnight-blue cloak wearily but fearfully dashed away from the Black Friar's Club building, her boots clopping gently on the cobblestone streets as she darted under the safety of the shadows and darkness. Though she kept furtively and desperately glancing over her shoulder, making sure she wasn't being followed, the girl with dark hair just kept dashing towards the nearest port where she hoped she would be able to stow away into the next departing ship.

There was no time to waste. She needed to warn Professor Xavier…

**Author's Notes: Yep, that's it folks! Trinity now has Keyblades and the power of time! But you can bet the Organization isn't going to be very happy about this, and when the member, Saix comes during the times of Lance's seizures from Magneto's experimentations, the Misfits learn some even more disturbing facts about their newfound powers, and the matters with Falco and Octavia aren't helping as a new Disney character comes to play! Be prepared for the chosen on of Earth (gee, three guesses who THAT is) to be revealed in the chapter "Lance the Lionheart"! Until next Friday, read and enjoy! Constructive criticism welcome!**


	7. Lance the Lionheart

**CHAPTER 7: Lance the Lionheart**

"You have got to be kidding me," gaped Flash slowly as Toad, Trinity, and Wavedancer finished telling their guests what had gone on in less than two days at the Pit, right next to the now recovering and conscious Shipwreck and the unconscious Beach Head, now no longer wearing his ski mask, in the infirmary. Next to the Joe ranger, as a thoughtful afterthought, was a clean and fresh-from-the-dryer Sergeant Snuffles in Beach Head's arms to keep him company during his recovery in the infirmary. A gift from Daria, Quinn, and Brittany.

After the second Heartless attack, Hawk could no longer argue against the desire to keep the secret of the Keyblades and their mystical properties under wraps for much longer, especially since the Organization Thirteen were starting to become more bold and erratic with their attacks and infecting innocents in order to turn them into mindless soldiers. Plus, Hawk didn't wish to endanger anyone by remaining oblivious when they could very well be changed into Heartless specimens. However, the Epsilon Juggler knew that only certain people could be entrusted with this without having the information get any more out of hand than absolutely necessary.

Thus, only a select few were requested to meet up with the Joe leader, Pluto, the Misfits and their parents in the infirmary at the Pit several hours after the teddy bear Heartless was turned back to normal. The emergency coalition consisted of the seven original and senior members of the Justice League, Robin and Bumblebee from the Titans, Allo from the Dinosaucers, Quentin Blud and Jenny Calendar from the Ghostbusters, the Charmed Ones, Faith, Giles, Xander and Willow from the Scoobies, and the elder X-Men, Professor X, Logan, Ororo and Hank (Jake, Scott, and Jean were back watching the Institute).

After brief introductions (and the Professor was impressed at the level of brisk yet respectful professionalism among the different group-members), after warning that what would be told should not leave this room unless necessary, Althea, the Triplets, and Todd then recounted everything. With the Heartless attacks, how Shipwreck and Beach Head were infected with these strange spores inflicted by two members of the Organization, gaining strange weapons and magical abilities of water, thunder, and time, and how Althea's scepter somehow managed to "cure" her father and the ranger from their afflictions, only for their hearts to be nearly stolen by the strange beings, Falco and Octavia.

Needless to say, it was quite a story to hear, and several of the guests seemed dubious if not downright amazed.

"And you're just telling us this now, bubs?" Wolverine asked, a faint touch of harsh annoyance in his voice. Hawk shot Logan a deadpanned and tired look in return.

"To be fair, it happened so quickly and within the past two days, barely giving us a chance to rest and take this all in. And not to mention that we're not even sure if these Keyblades are even good in the first place! Not only is there the possibility that this could be a clever ruse by the Hellfire Club to trick us, but it could also be likely that these Keyblades and Aquara and Thundaga and Stopra magic can be dangerous enough in the wrong hands! It may be something that can fight the Heartless and the Order, but I don't think the kids are able to handle it."

"Gee, thank you so much for the lack of faith," drawled Quinn sardonically.

Fred then asked, "That's another reason why we contacted you guys. Have you ever heard of these things? I mean, if these are magical and everything, then maybe one of you have heard of something like this, something that's supposed to be used when things get bad. Y'know, like when Buffy got the Scythe of the Guardians in the end to fight the First at the Hellmouth."

"We thought maybe you could provide any insight, especially since we've got really powerful magic users here," Lina added, but to her disappointment, Allo, the Charmed Ones, and Willow all shook their heads.

"I'm sorry Dragonfly, but this is strange to me as well," Allo confessed, "The Dinosorcerer and Dinosorceress have never encountered such a weapon, at least not in the experiences and history I know of. And the same goes for the strange magic and the words, 'Aquara', 'Thundaga', and 'Stopra'. I can tell you that it is not any part of Reptilion magic."

"It's also not like any other magic I've encountered either," Hawkgirl said as she held up her unresponsive mace, silent and not showing any sort of reaction whatsoever, "If the N'th metal can't even detect those Keyblades, even when they've shown mystical properties, those must be powerful Talismans, more powerful than any of us can imagine."

The masked Thanagarian paused before she admitted in a hushed and awed tone of reverence, "It's like nothing I've ever seen before."

"And it's not in our Book of Shadows either, so the Keyblade doesn't originate from the laws of Wicca," Phoebe Halliwell said with an apologetic note, "And I can see General Hawk's point. Is it really safe to use the Keyblades and your newfound magic if we don't know much about them to begin with? It'll be like children playing with matches."

"But other than the magic and the Keyblades, we don't know any other weaknesses that the Heartless have," Spirit said, "They appear to be the perfect weapons sent against the Hellfire Club and the Organization Thirteen. The Heartless aren't heavily damaged by bullets and firepower, the attacks from the Misfits' mutant powers do not appear to faze it greatly, and in some instances, it even appeared to grow stronger and stronger each time we have fought it for some odd reason."

"And until then, since these…Keyblades are obvious weapons that can threaten the Thirteenth Orders goals to doom the world, then it means that your five along with your friends and family here at the Pit are gonna be in big danger and targets. Anything that proves to be a threat, the Organization assholes will gun you all down and do anything it takes to wipe you and the Joes off their radar. You can pretty much count on that," Quentin Blud added gruffly, his voice deep yet somewhat strangely haunting.

"Like hell they will," muttered Shipwreck before he winced, holding his bruised side, "I'd rather rot than let those bastards take my kids."

Allo silently gave Blind Master the evil eye, a look of blame; obviously, the two were going to argue but a look from both General Hawk and Justin gave them the grace to bite their tongues.

"And what about these pods? Were you able to find anything conclusive from your analysis of these new weapons?" Giles asked, idly rubbing his chin with one hand. Wanda then took out three plastic, corked test tubes that contained samples of the ashes of the pods that were extracted out of Beach Head and Shipwreck by Wavedancer's staff.

"We did every single test we could with the remains of those strange pods that popped out of the Heartless," Scarlet Witch recounted, "Scanning, X-rays, chromatography, chemical cataclysms, everything you can name, we did it. And we can't come up with anything new. Airtight and Trinity went over these with a fine-tooth comb and nothing. That's why we're giving these samples to you; if you can't detect anything from a scientific standpoint, maybe you can find some magical clues considering that these Heartless aren't natural."

"We'll try," Superman replied as he, Hank, and Giles each took a respective test-tube, "and we'll do our best to contact the others who might be able to provide some light on the subject. Sandra, Dr. Fate, and Dr. Strange are already trying to contact others they know of who might be able to provide anything significant about the Heartless, but I wouldn't hold my breath."

"Anything that might be helpful in identifying their weaknesses?" Hank finally asked. Wonder Woman and Piper Halliwell shook their heads.

"Sandra can't find any information about the Thirteenth Order or the Heartless from any of the archives in the citadel's libraries and the Council of Elders concluded that the Heartless aren't a part of this world to begin with, so this is definitely a new threat," Piper stated, a bit depressed.

"No one in their magical communities and societies have even _heard_ about the Heartless to begin with either," Diana sighed, "And the kingdoms that we mentioned they came to investigate during the crises with the Nexus in San Francisco, the ones that had the same telltale energy signature of the mystical forces that blighted Supergirl, were completely devastated and sent to ruins. Each and every one of those realms was completely wiped out, no essence of life nor could anything remaining that offer a clue. They have been rendered into nothing but dust, darkness, and nothingness, a trail of destruction and extinction caused swiftly by a massive power that no one had anticipated."

"Hmph, that actually sums up the Heartless and the Organization Thirteen down to a tee," Robin commented.

"That is not a good thing then," Jenny Calendar replied, "For if the destruction of those worlds have been wiped out by the Thirteenth Order and the Heartless in the first place, then it will mean the same thing for Earth and its inhabitants if we lose the Gathering of Twilight. And I'm beginning to suspect that these Heartless transcend beyond anything our worlds have been able to contact and touch. If not even the Powers That Be have any knowledge of these creatures, then it is possible that the realm they come from is so deep and depraved that no one would dare venture there to investigate."

"In other words, this weird place called 'Kingdom Hearts', the one that Raven, Batgirl, Phoebe, and Willow have seen in their dreams a little while back," Paige Halliwell said.

"Too bad there aren't any other leads or anyone else who can shed some light on the subject," Green Lantern said, "Lord knows we could use them."

Toad and Wavedancer then came to the same idea instantly upon those words, so simple at arriving at the thought that they were slightly ashamed that they did not come up with it before.

"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin', yo?" Todd grinned at Althea, and the hydrokinetic nodded before the both of them held out their respective Keyblade and scepter.

"Dumbo, can you come out, please? We need some help," Althea requested gently.

"Genie? You too, yo," Todd asked hesitantly, and upon the mention, Althea's white staff and Toad's Amphibionian Keyblade began to shake and quiver madly, almost jerking back and forth like a lid upon a pot of boiling water.

_Flash!_

With barely enough time for the audience to widen their eyes, materializing out of thin air within a massive cloud of auras and bright stardust, the baby and innocent elephant with oversized ears landed heavily onto the infirmary floor, silent and confused, but amiable and happy nonetheless. Meanwhile the massive and gargantuan Genie emerged, twirling a bit dramatically in the air, showing off a bit. With a puff of smoke, the familiar blue apparition with the goatee and the gold manacles around his wrists materialized in front of the Misfit and loomed over him teasingly.

The Joes and Misfits' guests were stunned and astonished to say the least. Even the stoic Batman had to raise an eyebrow, admitting that he was taken aback slightly from the sight of two Disney characters.

"Hello, you reached the Genie Hotline, where our motto is if we can't make it happen, then you better hope you bought the extended warranty, refunds included! This is your local Genie speaking, how may I help you with whatever disaster or crisis you may have?" Genie drawled, eyebrows wiggling and a gigantic smile of fun-and-fancy-free on his visage.

Despite the seriousness of this, a few observers couldn't help but laugh.

"I like him; he's funny," giggled Willow, despite the stern face of Giles giving her a look to control herself.

"Wow, he's exactly like those 'Aladdin' movies," blinked Xander, chuckling, "Right down to a tee."

"Genie…could you or Dumbo help us? We need to know if you two know anything about the Keyblades or the magic or…well, where you come from and why the Heartless are attacking here," Brittany asked. To her frustration and disenchantment, Dumbo made a sorrowful hooting noise with his trunk and a whine before he shook his head as a negative, his ears flopping a bit. Genie was a little less gracious as he transformed into a replica of the robot from the "Lost In Space" TV series and replied back in a monotone, robotic voice.

"_Warning…does not compute…warning…does not compute…_"

"Huh?" blinked Faith, and Genie transformed back into his normal form before he explained.

"Sorry, kids," Genie said, "Can't even remember anything other than what I can do or the laws of my phonemically-cosmic powers with the itty-bitty living space. All I know is that me and the D-Man here have been given orders to follow those that wield the Key and protect him or her from the baddies. We're meant to come out whenever we're needed to do whatever it takes to stop those that want to waste the Keyblade's chosen, but other than that, sorry! I only know what I've been sent here to do."

"That's it?" blinked Ororo.

"What about Dumbo? Or even Pluto?" Roadblock asked, pointing at the dog next to him, "Does the dog ring any bells? Or how about explaining to use about the nature of the Keyblades or these magical spells?"

Genie painted a big red "X" in the air with one finger before saying contritely, "Nope, sorry. Though I gotta admit, the Pluto-guy does seem a bit déjà vu, all I know is what I'm meant to do and to what extent my new little buddies here can do magic."

"So you don't know anything other than what you're supposed to do?" Green Lantern asked, frowning and obviously disappointed.

"Nope, nothing, nada, zilch, zero, clean slate," the Genie remarked, actually detaching his head from his body and in classic cartoon humor, patted it upside down to empty the contents, only to show that his mind was completely devoid of anything, "We're sorry, but operators are unable to process your request right now on the account that - "

"We get the point, but thank you anyway," J'onn interrupted with graceful respect and politeness.

"Wait a minute," pestered Robin, "So you don't remember anything? Not even Aladdin, Princess Jasmine, all your friends?"

The Genie blinked (and Batman could see that the djinn wasn't lying in the slightest), flustered a bit before he asked dumbly, "Huh? The who?"

"Never mind," Robin groaned, rubbing his head with one hand. Professor Xavier contemplated deeply; it seemed suspiciously as if someone deliberately altered Dumbo and Genie's memories if they knew absolutely nothing about their past lives and associations…

"Does anyone else think that maybe there's a reason why we're suddenly seeing so many Disney characters when these Heartless show up?" Cover Girl pointed out, "Think about it: Pluto, Dumbo, Genie…anyone else think that there might be a pattern here?"

"It's a weird pattern if there really was a reason," Bumblebee remarked, "Other than the String Theory that perhaps in alternate realities and dimensions and what we consider fantasy and make-believe actually exists somewhere else, I'm still trying to figure out what are the reasons that Disney characters out of all possibilities are involved in this whole Heartless mess."

"It is a bit out from left field, I gotta admit, squirt," Logan muttered, "Hell, out of a whole possible list of warriors and soldiers who could be tough and mean enough to kick the Hellfire's collective asses, like when we were in the SWAT Kats' dimension, a dog, an elephant, a Genie, and God knows what else from Disney would be the _last_ thing I'd choose."

"Perhaps it is simply a strange coincidence and nothing more," Ororo sighed, putting out that possibility. Batman just narrowed his eyes at the three aforementioned characters from his position; he didn't believe in coincidences, especially ones with freak occurrences of _this_ nature. Genie winced before he whispered to Wanda and Lina.

"Wow…is Mr. Tall, Dark, and Anti-Social always like he's about to punch someone's lights out?" the blue spirit conversed softly with Scarlet Witch and Dragonfly. Both girls gave Genie some pitying looks.

"He's a good guy, don't get him wrong, Genie," Lina clarified, "It's just that this is how Batman is, and he's really unemotional and to-the-point when it comes to the serious issues, especially regarding the Heartless. But don't worry, he's a nice person deep down underneath."

"Deep, **_deep_** down underneath," added Wanda cheekily with a smirk.

"I'm right here, you know," growled Batman from behind.

"Well…" Daria pointed out, "On the upside, things aren't so hopeless with the Heartless now! We have a way to fight them, and it's all in our hands, the one and only Misfits!"

"Yeah, just think, yo! From now on, we'll get to deal with any Heartless that comes up from now on all over the world! How cool is that, yo? It's like **we're** the answers to everyone's prayers!" Toad chimed in, puffing out his chest in an attempt to appear manlier.

There was a deadpanned silence as the Justice League, adult X-Men, Robin, Bumblebee, Allo, Faith, Quentin, Jenny Calendar, Willow, Xander, and Giles looked at Althea, Todd, Daria, Quinn, and Brittany with deadpanned expressions, pursued lips, and restrained feelings of worry and impeding senses of doom.

Giles sighed as he then spoke what was on everyone else's minds.

"Ah yes, the Earth is doomed," he said with lugubrious sarcasm.

---

"Let me see if I can fully understand the reasons behind this disgrace, Luxord," growled a now dangerously-growing Superior from his throne as he and the other eleven members of the Organization looked at the gambler, Luxord, who was doing his best not to grimace and exhibit any sort of embarrassment, "Three…pre-pubescent, adolescent, childish, immature…_girls_? Another set of chosen from the Misfits, a new trio of Keyblade wielders, humans that now can harness the magic of time from our greatest foes…are three…little…girls? **_You…were defeated…by three…GIRLS?_**"

That last sentence had risen to the highest crescendo ever made possible by the human voice box.

Luxord looked like he was going to remain stubbornly silent out of embarrassment and discomfort, but then again, considering his state, he really couldn't have much emotion to begin with. Not to mention that the Superior was already considerably outraged and angered in front of the audience of the other hooded members of the Thirteenth Order. The bearded gambler didn't need to make his plight worse and even more unbearable by hesitating and making his leader wait impatiently and give his Liege another reason to be wrathful.

"Yes, my Lord," he answered back in a resentfully barbed yet respectful voice. There was a tense and agonizing pause as the glare from the Superior's face intensified even more, to the point of marring his entire head.

Then the Organization members, Axel and Demyx, couldn't hold it in any longer, and the both of them burst out howling with laughter.

"BWAH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" the two guffawed in complete hysterics, earning a few disapproving glances for their inappropriate behavior, especially from the Superior and Luxord themselves.

"Oh shut up!" snapped Luxord, narrowing his blue eyes and having his face heat up uncomfortably underneath his cloak, "I daresay you two would not find it funny to have been violated and humiliated by those demon-girls!"

This statement just made Axel and Demyx laugh even harder, now draping awkwardly over the seats of their thrones.

"Hey, you should be grateful, Luxord! That's the most action you'll ever be getting in this lifetime! I would think you'd be flattered at being manhandled by three girls! Bwah hah hah hah!" Demyx chortled in between gasps and chortles.

Axel then couldn't help but snidely joke, "Aw, come on, Demyx! Let's give Luxord a little credit! So he got his butt kicked by three mutant psychotic girls! It's not as bad as it seems! There's worse embarrassing fates and defeats…and unfortunately, I can't think up of one that beats _this_ low point!"

This set off another round of laughter from the miscreants.

"**_I'm warning you two…_**" growled Luxord, his eyes now shining with absolute fury, his gloved hands clenched.

"Too bad he can't leave the Organization," Demyx howled, rubbing salt in Luxord's wounds for all it was worth, "I can imagine him being more comfortable playing dollies with Trinity and dressing up in pigtails and a play-skirt to have a tea party with them and their stuffed animals!"

"Yeah, Luxord would be a good transvestite! Or better yet, we can dress him in one of those little boy sailor suits and give him a lolly!" Axel cackled. Luxord absolutely had enough as he then drew out two more gigantic cards in his hands, ready to use the razor-sharp weapons as swords to decapitate and cause severe bodily harm, seething.

"And I can picture your respective heads rolling on the floor when I am through with you presumptuous, arrogant - "

"Enough!" yelled the Superior, now raising a hand up to cease the quarrelling between the three men, "We have more pressing issues at hand with the unexpected arrival and blessings of new wielders of the Keyblades and the magic of the Elementa Kingdoms."

"If we only had an idea of where the Talismans are," Marluxia intoned, "Are you sure Falco and Octavia have no idea of where they reside in and are simply acting a farce to throw us off on the wrong track?"

Xaldin shook his head as he said, "No, the Oracle has not given us anything that may prove otherwise, and all scrying attempts in their minds have shown that they have absolutely no clue. They are as oblivious and ignorant in their locations as we are. The downside is that it would take months, perhaps years, before we can have the Oracle locate the ones who bear the Talismans in their hearts."

"I have already alerted the members of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club of these recent events, my Liege," Zexion stated, "Should I perhaps send Blackheart and Galatea to attack and destroy the Pit?"

"No, I have a better idea…" the number one member of the cult declared before he turned to one of his cohorts.

"Saïx…" commanded the leader, and immediately, one of the robed men of the Thirteenth Order rose from his throne before removing his hood, revealing a long, silver mane of meticulously straight hair, pointed ears life an elf from the _Lord of the Rings_ series, and narrowed, malicious yellow eyes. But the most discerning and noticeable thing about Saïx was that his entire face was marred with an "X"-shaped scare crisscrossing over his nose and between his eyes, obviously a testament to a wound gained from a battle long ago. But there was no discomfort or grim reminder from the man; his face was pure, emotionless calm.

"Go to the Pit with **_two_** spores and chose another set of victims for the Infection," the Superior intoned, "The Misfits apparently have problems with one of the Hellfire Heartless pods, so _two_ should be enough to thin their ranks so that the existing Keyblade wielders can be easily manipulated in their rage and grief to play right into our hands. However, unlike Luxord, you are free to act however you wish with these drabble. Kill one or kill as many as you like, but leave the ones that harness the Keyblades unharmed for now."

"How I've waited to hear that…" Saïx managed to say with a growing and sadistic toothy smile, like a snake, before he disappeared in a cloud of darkness.

---

Several days after the Heartless attack and the pod-infection of Beach Head, the Misfits were doing their early morning training over the obstacle courses, complete with the wall-climbing, crawling underneath barbed wire, and tire-hopping. Lance was about to use a tremor to knock down one of the targets when suddenly, his brain felt as if someone had taken a sledgehammer and split his skull right down the center before filling it with hot, molten lead.

The pain was completely and mind-numbingly raw and excruciating as Lance fell to his knees, and he was dimly aware of people yelping and screaming all around him, the ground now quaking and fluctuating madly in response to his powers running amuck from the reactions to his senses and body. There was a sudden coppery taste in his mouth as blood started to dribble out of his mouth and from one nostril before his arms and body began jerking wildly, a sign of an epileptic seizure.

"Lance!" he could hear Wanda distantly screaming before he fell against the hard ground and blacked out…

He was vaguely aware of blurred and incomprehensible words being spoken all around him in a sea of foggy gray, and it was sort of a pleasant feeling, to float around in nothingness like that, the numbness and having absolutely no pain. It was peaceful too…

"I thought he was supposed to get better, Lifeline."

"He'd still be subject to attacks. Just because they happen less frequently does not mean that he would be absolutely cured from the experiments that Magneto did to his DNA."

"Does he always suffer from these attacks and seizures?"

"Are you kidding, yo? You should have seen it when Lance was first found by G.I. Joe! He had attacks nearly every day until Lifeline and Airtight could figure out a way to lessen the whack-job Magneto did to his genes!"

"Uh…" groaned Lance before the misty gray fog cleared, the pressure squeezing all around his brain and making his skull throb excruciatingly before he found himself being looked at by a group of the weirdest people he had ever seen and witnessed, with the closest being a strong-faced Native American, complete with a feathered headband, stroking his hair in a comforting yet alien gesture. Then Lance yelped as he laid eyes on Lina and Xi, taken aback from their remarkable and unnaturally frightening features.

"Aaah! Who…who the hell are you?" Lance cried out as he tried to sit upright, but that movement cost him dearly as another spike of pain shot up his spinal column and woozy, Lance feel backwards into the pillow, feeling like he was going to throw up. The Native American soldier looked pained as Lina and Xi looked at the other Misfits worriedly. The man gripped Lance's hand firmly, bringing Lance back to his senses.

"Lance, calm down," he ordered softly, "It is simply Lina and Xi, fellow mutants such as yourself. They mean you no harm."

"Who…who are you?" Lance blurted out, panting to ease the screaming of his brain and muscles as well as lessen the urge to vomit, his brow now sweating. The Joe's face fell, pained; though he expected it, it still hurt. A medic, dressed in red and black, came slowly and laid a cool compress on Lance's forehead to dull the migraine ringing inside his skull.

"Lance, you had another seizure, and temporary memory loss is expected afterwards during the recovery, but try to remember hard, all right? You're at a military base known as the Pit, which houses the unit known as G.I. Joe. Do you remember anything yet? Is it all coming back?"

"Pluto…" croaked Lance weakly. Everyone stopped and blinked, confused at the choice of Avalanche's first choice of a name upon regaining consciousness before a bark behind them made the teens and adults turn around. There, unnoticed by everyone, was the golden hound, his tail thumping softly against the checkered floor, looking at Lance with a mixture of emotions.

"I'm not sure whether to be relieved or insulted," Spirit commented wryly, but still relieved nonetheless that they got Lance into stable condition in time before the seizures got even worse.

Later that night, Lance was alone and slowly recuperating from his bout with near-death, his feelings running a gamut of resentment, bitterness, fear, and frustration, his back and rear-end now sore from the bedsores of lying in the infirmary bed for so long. He felt a shudder run through his body, and knowing it was an aftershock of his previous seizure, Lance just gritted his teeth and breathed in and out heavily through his nose, forcing down the urge to vomit until the nausea subsided. So far, he emptied his stomach three times and yet he still felt horrendously and intolerably sick.

He was weary and yet he couldn't sleep, his nervousness taking a toll on his nerves and peace of mind. He had bits of his memory flashing back, but all he could fully recollect was the fact that he was in this state because of that damned Magneto and his genetic experimentations on him during his training in the Brotherhood-era, recalling how the mutant tyrant left him nearly dead in the desert. He didn't even recall who found him, who else stayed with him in the Brotherhood, or who were the Joes who even discovered him and saved him from certain death. The medic in red told him that he'd gain his memory back in a day or two, but still, the lost feeling of helplessness that resulted from this personal hell was nothing short of unbearable.

Lance was then startled out of his reverie of dark thoughts when he felt something furry and prickly nudge and press against his hand, and Lance looked to his right to see a pair of familiar, wide, innocent eyes and a golden, floppy-eared head. Pluto whimpered a bit in worry before he rubbed affectionately against Lance's hand.

Lance managed to offer a rueful smile as he murmured, scratching Pluto's muzzle, "I guess I could use the company, Pluto, since I'm still having trouble remembering who's who and you're the only one here."

Pluto made a content dog-groan, enjoying the touch of the teenager's fingers hitting that spot behind his ear, causing him to thump his hid leg up and down against the floor rhythmically. Lance remained silent a bit before he then, though he had no reason why exactly, he started baring his soul out.

"I hate this."

Pluto just looked at the bed-ridden geokinetic and listened silently, showing pity. Though it was a one-sided conversation, Lance hardly cared as he continued speaking with faint traces of anger and sadness.

"I hate being helpless."

Pluto made a soft whine of affection from his throat.

"I wish I…I wish I was never cursed with this to begin with, the fact that my genes have gone through wear and tear thanks to all those genetic experiments Magneto did to me, that my body has its periods of breaking down at risk to my life, and that this is almost too much to handle for the rest of my life, knowing that I'm…I'm handicapped by this."

Lance's voice was distant yet hoarse, the resentment constricting his throat, a tight ball of grief, but remarkably, he still continued stroking Pluto's chin therapeutically.

"It's so unbearable sometimes…and it never gets any easier. It sucks…"

Pluto then actually got up on his hind legs and leaned over the bed, managing to rise up to that his muzzle was level with Lance's astonished face before Pluto licked Lance's cheek affectionately. Lance sputtered but managed to laugh, and for one instant, he managed to forget the fact that he was suffering alone in the infirmary.

"Hmph, it's so funny," Lance murmured as he scratched Pluto behind his left ear, "You haven't been here for so long, and yet you already feel like you're part of the family. I don't even know you very well, and yet I feel…safe and happy around you. Only wish I knew where you came from and why you're here with us instead of where you belong."

Pluto just gave a secretive smile, but then another voice rang out.

"Hey, so here's my favorite and only little patient, fresh from the mental hospital! I'd normally ask if they gave you a lobotomy, but knowing you and your little head, it wouldn't have done you much good anyway."

Lance blinked before he looked around, asking, "Pietro?"

Suddenly, a brown and furry little head popped up like a demented jack-in-the-box at the foot of Lance's bed, startling the adolescent with a yelp before he groaned to himself in aggravation, recognizing the face.

"**_Surprise!_** Miss me, Lancey-poo?"

"Oh no…not you!" Lance wailed. Pluto cocked his head at the figure of the Coyote who was now exuberantly pestering Lance in his mind, and upon seeing this, Lance blinked.

"Wait a minute…Pluto? You can see the Coyote? The one I'm hallucinating about? You can see him too?"

Pluto barked an affirmative noise, and the Coyote cackled wickedly as he zoomed over to the hound and draped a paw around the canine's shoulders.

"Hiya, fellow dog-crusader and canine-extraordinaire! Name's Coyote, Lance's guardian spirit and friend and all-around consultant for all those times our little Earth-Shaker here does something stupid or needs some advice. And I also do a little torture on the side! But seriously, why do all the chit-chat with you in a dingy atmosphere as this piece of hovel? I'll have my people contact your people and I'll be eager to trade some more of Lance's embarrassing stories over a rawhide bone or two!"

Pluto, despite himself, couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh great!" groaned Lance to himself, nearly wailing, "Just perfect! **_Of course_** Pluto and the Coyote would get along with each other? What better way to completely make my life an even more of a living hell? Another notch in the Great-Circle-Of-Crap is complete!"

Pluto chuckled as best as he humanly could before he made a grunting noise at Coyote, rolling his eyes playfully and mischievously. Coyote wiped his eyes as he finished laughing, saying, "Trust me, sometimes, Lancey-Boy's even _worse_! But on the upper hand, he's just _so_ much fun to make fun off!"

"I pray for the day when karma comes back to bite you back on your furry, tailed ass!" Lance snapped back at his imaginary friend, ignoring Pluto.

"Ooh, sounds kinky! Should I get the handcuffs, whips, and blindfolds too while we're waiting?" drawled the Coyote, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Get out, or I swear the minute I get better, I'm getting the nearest chainsaw and going psycho on your butt!" Lance snapped, and Coyote sniffed before winking outlandishly at the mutant before vanishing into thin air. Pluto didn't say anything (by default, of course), but he remained by the mutant's side, resting his head against the clean sheets and bedside.

"So…as long as you're here…hey! You wanna talk about Kitty, my ex-girlfriend?" Lance asked, brightening as he suddenly got a brilliant idea of how to pass the time with his only visitor. On cue, Pluto raised one eyebrow and made an odd noise before he turned around and scampered out the door as fast as his paws could take him. Lance's eyes widened in surprise before he gave the departing dog a dirty look. Unbelievable! Not even Pluto, a dog, wanted to stick around to listen to him rant about Kitty Pryde.

"**_Hey!_** Thanks a lot, you dumb mutt!" snapped Lance, griping, before moping and resting back into his bed. Still he shouldn't be too surprised; hardly anyone on the Pit was willing to tolerate another session about the X-Girl for several hours, so Pluto was simply using his common sense to avoid the torment.

Sometime after three in the morning, Lance managed to finally drift off to an uncomfortable but stable sleep, and had he been awake, he would have heard the door to the infirmary creak open before the four-legged, golden animal silently padded his way across the clean and disinfected floor. Pluto just looked at Lance with compassion in his eyes for several seconds before he hunched back and leapt onto the bed and sheets. Though a large canine, Lance hardly stirred, the dog's footsteps as gentle as a falling leaf. And panting affectionately, Pluto managed to awkwardly walk in a circle three times around the bed before settling down next to Lance and rested his head against the teenager's thigh.

And a half-hour later, when Lifeline went in to check on his three patients, he was taken aback to see the head of Pluto pop up defensively and inquisitively from Lance's bed upon the entrance. Though common sense told the Joe medic that animals and pets were not supposed to be allowed in the infirmary for sanitary reasons, Edwin just chuckled at the sight of Pluto protectively staying by Lance's side. Pluto gave the canine-equivalent of a smile as he cocked his head at the doctor.

"I suppose just this once, Pluto…" murmured Lifeline as he patted the dog on the head before checking Beach Head's vital signs. Pluto gave a playful and friendly growl before he dozed off next to Avalanche.

---

"Feeling better, son?" Spirit asked Lance later the next morning. The Misfits were already done training and their exercise regimen, and considering that it was the weekend, the other Misfit handlers decided that some rest and free-time would be good for the kids. As a result, most of them were either lounging around the Manor and relaxing or playing pranks (Pietro and the Triplets handiwork, of course). But thankful for the free time, Spirit took the advantage to use the opportunity to visit Avalanche, and Lance managed to gain back most of his memory when he woke up. Lifeline was getting ready to discharge Shipwreck after seeing that he had completely recovered from his ordeal with the Heartless pod. Beach Head, on the other hand, was being kept in the infirmary for one more day, and of course, the ranger wasn't the least bit pleased.

"Yeah, I am. It's still depressing though that I had to go through all that again, losing my memory and having convulsions…" Lance said, closing his eyes in comfort as the Native American Joe affectionately tussled Lance's hair.

"Be sure to take it easy, all right, Shipwreck?" Lifeline warned cautiously.

The sailor, in his typical goofy and reckless personality, just waved off the fears and concerns from his friend as he finished buttoning his shirt and scoffed, "Ah, I'm all right. Those Thirteenth Order landlubbers couldn't keep a good sailor down even if they had a hundred Heartless to use on me!"

"Is that so?" a voice then rang before each and every one of the residents in the infirmary got a sudden chill as a portal of darkness emerged from the middle of the room, and before anyone knew what was happening, two small ovals flew out, with one heading directly towards Shipwreck and actually attempting to touch Hector.

Then to Saïx's surprise, the spore was met with a backlash of white radiance as Shipwreck's body

"Huh? What…gives?" stammered Shipwreck, seeing that the pod Saïx cast on him couldn't even touch his body. To his bewilderment and shock, it was as if the gray, nascent experiment was being barricaded out with a field of something sturdy and powerful originating from Shipwreck's soul. Undefeated, the pod then flew backwards before it selected the next victim of its own accord, which unfortunately happened to be Beach Head.

"Oh God," gasped Lifeline as the ranger screamed when the pod entered Wayne and began to burrow into the Joe ranger, this time unhindered in its efforts unlike its previous attempt to infect Shipwreck for a second time.

"**_AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!_** Oh God, my life just continues to suck!" Beach Head bellowed in pain and torment before he began the metamorphosis.

"What in the name of the Great Spirit?" gasped the Joe before he looked to the right to see the now-infamous block cloak and hood emerging rather

"I was going to waste the Heartless pod on your invalid son, but I think you would be a much more adequate and powerful host to suit our needs," Saïx intoned in a flat voice as he then idly tossed the second pod towards the Native American…

"No!" was the last thing Spirit heard Lance screaming before it all went dark…

---

"Another Heartless?" Blind Master exclaimed as the Misfits and their parents rushed over to the infirmary where the battle began, the medical sanatorium and wing now desecrated with a missing wall and supplies strewn everywhere with the shattered glass and concrete. And this time, to everyone's dread, there were two Heartless.

"Hey, I recognize that one!" Low Light said, pausing in between shots with his rifle, and indeed, one of the Heartless was the familiar teddy-bear like the one Trinity had battled before several days ago.

"Damn it to hell!" cursed Roadblock, "It's Beach Head!"

"Yeah, but who's the other one?" Dragonfly gasped as she pointed to the second enemy that was howling and screeching in high-pitched wails, easily piercing enough to send uncomfortable shivers down anyone's spines and nerves. It was an upright, gigantic humanoid eagle, complete with a white, feathered head and a muscular body of a man, covered with a sheen plumage of brown and black and wearing light-brown, leather armor that was remarkably similar in design to the American Indians, right down to actual leggings and moccasins. On its back were two gigantic black wings, each displaying the symbol of the Heartless and easily making its wingspan as large as several buses, powerfully beating the air all around and making short yet intense gusts of winds. Yet the eyes were actually the most disturbing for they were blood-red with black pupils, narrowed and scrutinizing the same way a bird of prey analyzes a field before spotting a rabbit or a mouse to swoop and mangle to death. Upon spotting the Misfits, the eagle opened its hard, yellow beak and screamed, the entire headquarters of G.I. Joe feeling the vibrations of the ear-shattering squeal. To everyone's alarm, the air rippled before a powerful wave of compressed air came rushing directly towards them, rivaling the sonic booms of those created by a nuclear bomb.

"Genie, help us out!" Toad yelled as he summoned his Keyblade, and with a flash, the Genie created a magical shield to protect the Misfits as the sound waves from the Heartless' attack destroyed a few buildings nearby instead, reducing them to rubble (but thankfully, no one was hurt).

"Nice save!" Blob said thankfully at Genie before Scarlet Witch hurled a hex-bolt at the eagle in front of her right at the same time the Triplets joined hands and sent a devastating bolt of white, psychic lightning. Unfortunately…

"**_HUH?_**" yelled a confused Wild Bill as the eagle began to glow and enlarge, swelling in size and proportion significantly, "What in tarnation? That bird's getting bigger all of a sudden!"

"Hey, and it's energy readings are going through the meters!" Brittany pointed out as they analyzed the eagle through the scanners they were given, "That's weird! This only happened before, usually around when - "

Trinity all gasped collectively as it then clicked in their minds, and Daria contacted each and every Joe and Misfit on her communicator.

"Everyone, don't use your mutant powers on the Heartless! _Repeat: don't use your mutant powers on the Heartless!_ **_It just makes it stronger!_**"

This took everyone hearing this by surprise, and even Roadblock had to blink as he responded back with a flabbergasted, "Huh? Say what?"

"Don't use your mutant powers on it! Our scanners found out why the Heartless are getting stronger and bigger! **_They absorb energy from mutant attacks!_** That explains why bullets and missiles don't make the Heartless like a Glo-Worm reject, but Wanda's hex bolts and our psychic lightning do! These Heartless get stronger each time a mutant uses their powers on them! They absorb mutant energy! That's why the Organization keeps sending them to us! They're Heartless versions of Sentinels, except they get stronger if they get hit by any energy from the X-Gene! **_That's_** how come our magic hurts them but not our mutant powers!"

"Yow, not good…" murmured Scarlet Witch, blinking. This statement pretty much meant then that she was helpless in one aspect along with the rest of her teammates. Xi then fell to a different tactic automatically.

"That doesn't mean we still can't damage these things with _indirect_ attacks!" the green lizard cried out in battle-excitement as he expertly reached into the pouch strapped around his waist with both of his hands before impressively flicking out a row of steel shuriken in one and a set of curare-laced plastic-explosive darts in the other. The eagle Heartless shrieked in pain as the shrapnel and explosive darts embedded into its face.

"Good idea, Xi! Let's let these overblown, cow-tippin' jerks have it!" Fred roared as he managed to grab an extremely heavy and damaged I-beam that consisted of steel and had to weigh at least several hundred pounds. With a mighty heave, Blob flung it against the backs of Beach Head and Spirit.

"Don't hurt him!" Lance was heard yelling, limping alongside Shipwreck and Lifeline as the two Joes supported the teen, still wearing his boxers and a hospital gown on top, "Don't hurt him! That's Spirit and Beach Head! One of those Organization creeps infected them in the infirmary!"

"Shoot, he's right! It **is** Spirit!" Quinn exclaimed as she used her scanner, displaying the unconscious form of the Joe for everyone to see, the soldier drifting in the air and encased in a web of dark aura from the Heartless spore inside him.

"Yow! We can't kill them then! We have to turn them back to their old selves!" Leatherneck hollered as he did his best to avoid another blast of the sonic boom that the eagle Heartless that was once Spirit created again to incapacitate the Joes.

"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!" Wavedancer called out, pointing her scepter at the two Heartless and deciding to jump right to the punch without any thought or hesitation. Saving Spirit and Beach Head were the utmost priority. But with a flash of the ten crests and the pillar of light caused by the three symbols, the Heartless faltered a bit backwards before they glared murderously at Wavedancer and charged.

"Ack! Oh by Reptilion, it didn't work!" yelped Whitelighter as he orbed away from a particularly nasty claw-spear from the teddy bear Heartless before it could impale him.

"Huh? What gives? Genie, I thought the scepter was supposed to cure them from the Heartless!" Xi protested. But Quinn answered it as she looked through the scanner.

"I think they weren't weak enough!" the Triplet sister cried out on her communicator, "Wavedancer, both of them still are uber-strong, too strong for you to just simply snatch the pods out of their bodies and heal them! Their energy readings are through the roof! I think you need to weaken them enough, and **_then _**you can change them!"

"Oh, just perfect!" cursed Wavedancer as she avoided another sonic scream sent by Spirit, "Life is never easy, is it?"

"What gives? I thought this magic is supposed to be powerful! What's the whole point of having these stupid gifts if they have limits and require certain things before they actually work? You don't see the whole _magic-has-limits_ rule in TV shows or comic books!" snapped Pietro accusingly at the Genie who glared back at the mutant speedster.

"Life is hard, smart-mouth," Genie shot back tartly, giving the albino teen a glower.

Scarlet Witch, despite the war-zone chaos, couldn't help but pause and cry out in exasperated glee, "Thank you! Lord knows how many times **_I_** need to tell my brother off! But having Genie do it is a new one!"

Blind Master then decided to at least try to weaken the two Heartless as he drew out his steel katana from its sheath. But before he could get close, Spirit caught the ninja in the air and slammed him to the ground, pinning Gabriel and nearly crushing him.

"Oh geez, yo!" groaned Toad, wincing as he hefted the green Keyblade in his hands, "Spirit, if we get you back to normal, please don't ground me for the next hundred years for what I'm gonna do!"

_Slash!_

The eagle Heartless arched back and howled in agony as Toad brought down his Keyblade on the arm of his enemy, and like a hot knife through butter, the feathered arm was completely cleaved off, the limb now lying uselessly in a pool of black blood and the experiment now seriously handicapped.

"I got him!" yelled Justin as he orbed in and grabbed the injured Blind Master from the ground and teleported away with Gabriel in tow from Spirit before the Heartless could hurt the ninja any further.

Lance was absolutely livid as he grabbed Todd by the collar of his uniform and snarled, froth and spittle at the corners of his mouth, "Toad, so help me, if my Dad loses his arm when he turns back to normal, I'm going to bury you alive after jamming that Keyblade of yours down your throat!"

Dragonfly then tried to lead the exhausted Lance away, saying, "Lance, you're still recovering from your attack! You have to go and rest, stay safe!"

But Lance roughly shoved the insect girl aside, snapping, "Screw this! You think I'm just going to stand around and not help my Dad? I still owe him after everything he did to sacrifice for me by taking me in! **I'm not leaving him, just like he wouldn't for me!** I'm fighting too!"

Unfortunately, at that moment, Lance felt sick before he fell to his knees and coughed up blood, feeling another side-effect from the aftermath of his attacks. Dragonfly bit her tongue before she tried again to reason with her friend rationally.

"Lance, there's no point fighting bravely if it means that you'll die quickly," Lina begged.

"Either way, I'd die if anything happens to Dad," coughed Lance, spitting out blood, "Oh God, I feel so sick…"

Pluto was touched. Even if it meant great cost to his own life, even if it meant endangering himself, even though he was certainly in no condition to go out and fight and risk causing another attack and seizure…Lance was willing to do anything to save Spirit. The mutant obviously owed a great debt of gratitude and affection for the Native American Joe, one that was both formed from honor and growing love.

Pluto then knew that Lance had a courageous heart, and smiling, Pluto's eyes began to glow as his pupils turned from black to a rich chocolate brown, glittering like stars.

"Uh…oh God, if I'm gonna die, please…just let me save my Dad first…" Lance groaned to himself in a pleading prayer, but because he was so dizzy and innervated, he didn't notice that his forehead was glowing in a brilliant shade of brown, like the color of the purest and freshest earth, unpolluted and untainted. But Low Light did as he tried to help Lance up from his sprawled position on the ground.

"Holy shit!" the sniper gasped as he stared at the glowing symbol that was now on Lance's forehead, amid his bangs. It consisted of a brown orb with two marks surrounding it, one at the bottom of the circle and one at the right side, an equilateral diamond at the two o' clock position. The mark at the bottom of the sigil consisted of an arc, symbolizing a ground-line of some sort, and the right side of the line expanded a bit, forming a flat mouth end.

"Who…who are you?" Lance murmured, his eyes glazed. The sniper blinked.

"It's me, Avalanche, Low Light! One of your guardians from G.I. Joe!" Cooper protested.

But Lance wasn't talking to Low Light; he was talking to the voice in his head.

"Who are you?" Lance said wearily again, his voice almost thick and slow with dizziness and fatigue.

_Someone who can help you save your Dad…_

"Can't you choose someone else…or maybe help cure me? I…I can't live with being like this," pleaded Lance, almost begging and desperate. There was a touch of sorrow and pity in the voice as it clarified to the mutant.

_Lance, I'm sorry, but I can't help you with this. I can't heal you because it is not my responsibility and I don't think I can. I'm not **that **powerful. And I don't want to choose someone else; I want to bless **you** with this gift. But the question is whether or not you want it. I can't force you to accept this is you're not willing…_

"I'll do anything. I'll give up my life. Just save him, please!" begged Lance, and the voice became a bit stern but compassionate nonetheless.

_I **don't** work that way, Avalanche…at least not if it can be helped. And the Kingdom of Gaia should be enough to give you enough strength._

Lance then could feel it, a calm feeling that was unlike anything he could ever have comprehended before in his entire life. He felt as if his mind and body were expanding, becoming not only one with the ground beneath his hands and feet but actually sensing as if he was the entire planet itself. It was almost experiencing like he was a god of some sort, the various rocks, tress, and remnants of the dead organisms each having a miniscule soul and spirit connecting directly to his, their auras slowly building and gathering inside, making him feel better, warmer, and safer bit by bit.

With that, Lance went down on his knees and slammed both of his palms flat against the ground, and for once, unlike each time he utilized his seismokinesis, his eyes maintained their brown, bloodshot pupils.

"GAIA…EARTHQUAKE FORCE RUSH!" Lance yelled.

Like magic, an actual fault-line formed directly in a straight path directly towards Spirit and Beach Head, stemming from the Misfit himself as he summoned all the magic he could directly with his newfound connection to the Earth. The ground then shook, but remarkably, it didn't throw any of the buildings or the nearby Joes and mutants nearby, their feet still planted firmly on calm, stable ground. All of a sudden and out of the blue, the humongous crack in the dirt began to glow, emitting a smoldering blaze of yellow from the depths of the planet itself, spreading like a wave of wildfire as it headed directly towards the two Heartless as the tremors and shaking intensified more than ten-fold, collapsing the ground underneath the two opponents in a partial landslide. Trapped, the Heartless could only both howl with cheated helplessness as the light formed all around the earth touching the servants of darkness before a gigantic and ground-shattering eruption of energy from the crevice and right directly underneath.

**_KABOOOM!_**

The eagle and the bear found themselves caught in a pillar of fire and life energy of the Earth itself, consuming them and destroying their bodies bit by bit as the scorching and baking essence of the Gaia forces enveloped them before fading away, leaving the two monsters of the Organization weakened and severely battered. And it wasn't over yet…

"Hey, what the heck?" gasped Lance as an orb of brown light formed in front of him.

"Whoa! You got a Keyblade, yo!" Toad gasped at Lance.

And indeed, it was true. As the blaze in front of Avalanche faded, it revealed a s truly stunning weapon, perhaps more intricately designed than Toad or Trinity's. Like its predecessors, it was fashioned similar to a sword except that the blade part consisted of the rod and head of a key. But it was also a bit different as well. The key was gray-colored metal, like pewter, with the mouth of the key actually shaped like a roaring lion's head, wonderfully carved down to the shaggy mane and the teeth in the yawning mouth. But additionally, the entire key and blade portion of the weapon was completely encased with a block of brown quartz, the crystallized rock shaped and carved exactly like a sharp blade, giving the outside appearance of an actual, gigantic broadsword. And the edges and tips of the quartz were razor sharp. The cross-guard of the Keyblade was in the shape of a trapezoid, almost like the outline of a bell, and it was entirely made out of shiny, unvarnished copper. And hanging from the spherical pommel of brass at the bottom was a brass keychain, and at the end was a carved, metal sigil of another roaring lion's head against an entwined heart. Yet the entire Keyblade was huge; from one end to another, it was taller than Lance, but as light as a feather.

_Summon him…_

"Huh? Summon who?" Lance asked the voice.

_One of the members of my court, the most loyal friend you can ask for. He is with you right now, though your Keyblade. Summon Simba through the Steel Quartz Keyblade…_

Steel Quartz. Well, no one could say that it wasn't an appropriate name for his new gift as Lance did his best to shakily stand on his two feet.

"**_Give me strength!_**" yelled Lance as he raised his Keyblade up in the air, and to his surprise, several flowing streams of light erupted from the dirt and ground all around the geokinetic and swirled in circular motions around the teenager before they were amplified upon the strength of the Steel Quartz Keyblade in Lance's hands. Lance, as if not acting out of his own accord, felt his body fluidly move before he drew back the Keyblade and plunged it forward before twisting it in the counter-clockwise direction, as if he was locking something. On cue, the streams of energy gathered around the tip of the quartz point, forming a sphere and raising the blade above his head, Lance pointed the weapon to the skies above. Instantly, the skies parted, bringing a stream of light, like a rising sun, before, to everyone's amazement, a large furry form emerged from the clouds and landed heavily next to Lance, stunning the mutant.

The fur was a deep orange, darker than Pluto's pelt and sparkling with dust from the sky, but it had a red, shaggy, unkempt mane of fur surrounding its head, soft and fluffy like goose down. The animal was powerfully strong, a broad frame and thickly muscled limbs quivering with anxiety and battle-eagerness, along with a square, whiskered jaw and a white muzzle full of teeth and wicked claws. And Lance then realized who his ally was supposed to be.

"Holy shit," Lance breathed, "You're a lion!"

And with that, Simba tossed back his head, his amber-and-brown colored eyes full of protective courage and determination, before he opened his gaping jaws and roared underneath the fading beams of sunlight bathing him and Avalanche. The bellow of the King of Beasts made everyone literally stop and stare.

"Whoa, _Lance_ has a summon now?" gasped Wavedancer as Dumbo managed to snatch Quick Kick and Wet Suit from the air with his trunk before bear Heartless could claw at them. The single deep and reverberating roar then literally caused the eagle and the bear Heartless to stop and snarl viciously at the newcomer, sensing another direct threat, a formidable challenge by instinct. Now abandoning everything else, Spirit and Beach Head now focused their complete and undivided attention on Lance and Simba.

"Lance, you moron! Get out of there!" Quicksilver yelled, but it was too late as the dark eagle opened its beak and sent another spine-shivering and earth-shattering scream, and like clockwork, the air in front rippled under the intense, cold-hearted cries of the damned before another peal of rushing air came directly towards the lion and the geokinetic, an unstoppable, devastating, and crushing sonic boom. Lance then turned to Simba.

"I hope you know what you're doing cause I sure as hell don't!" Avalanche protested, but Simba gave him a calm look of brave boldness, rumbling in his throat but giving a single nod with his head, an indication that Lance should trust him. Feeling like he was about to run up to bat in a baseball game with a toothpick, Lance readied his Keyblade.

"OK, let's do this! **_Together!_**" he exclaimed, resigned to whatever his fate would be. And right before the crushing sound wave was about to hit them, Lance raised his Keyblade in the air and Simba tossed back his head, and for a glorious, beautiful, and spectacular moment, both the lion and the mutant teenager flashed an earthly brown aura before they struck.

"**_Proud Roar!_**" yelled Avalanche as the Steel Quartz Keyblade in his hands flashed and Simba let loose a deafening, deep bellow from his soul, and at once, another sonic boom was created, the air now swirling all around the two in a protective barrier of energy and wind, canceling out Spirit's attack immediately. And to everyone's surprise, both Beach Head and Spirit were engulfed with the same brown conflagration before they both howled, falling to their knees, as Simba's calling ravaged through their senses and bodies, causing an unbelievable amount of pain to the two Heartless. With a crack, the eagle's feathers completely molted along with his leather armor cracking to pieces, dropping to the floor, and Beach Head was convulsing madly, disoriented and stunned. Quinn gasped as she looked at her scanner to see that both of the Heartless were significantly weakened, enough for Althea to try again.

"Wavedancer!" Quinn called on her communicator, "It worked! Whatever Lance did, the Heartless are weak enough! Hurry, now you can change them back to Spirit and Beach Head!"

Althea, though incredibly fatigued and only hand enough strength to rise on one knee, managed to point her staff at both of the experiments of darkness and yelled as best as she could, "Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!"

There was a final and tormented howl as the all ten colorful symbols of the scepter engulfed the two Heartless before trapping them both in a gigantic column of translucent, white light…

**_FLASH!_**

"It worked! Well I'll be damned! Lance saved Spirit and Beach Head!" gasped Roadblock as the two familiar Joes toppled back to the soft ground, now free and cured from their infection with the Heartless pods. On cue, the two spores Saïx infected the ranger and the tracker with popped out of their bodies before disintegrating into ashes and a plume of black smoke along with two familiar, twinkling objects not too far off…

"Their hearts!" gasped Daria as she went over to pick up the one closest to Beach Head. Lance was about to go recover his adoptive father's when a voice from above startled everyone, and Simba growled menacingly from his throat, his deep purrs now bloodthirsty and murderous.

"I'm surprised you have access to such powerful magic," Saïx remarked as he revealed himself with his hood off, displaying his scarred face for all to see, as he teleported and hovered above in the air.

"You looking for a fight, you bastard? Cause I'm still strong enough to take you down for what you did to my Dad, you coward! And I have a Keyblade and a powerful friend now, so you don't scare me!" Avalanche snarled.

"Hmph, this is the part when I die of laughter. You think your mere lion can stop me, little Earth-Shaker?" Saïx said stoically before he sadistically grinned and summoned his trademark weapon that defined his status in the Organization. It was a gigantic and wince-worthy, broad claymore sword, silver and so meticulously polished that it sparkled and gleamed under the sunlight. But unlike most swords, this one was particularly daunting. The weapon had a traditional cross-guard and pommel, like any normal sword, with the pommel being a pointed spear-head and the guard above the handle curved upwards and was yellow-colored, like a crescent moon. But the entire blade was edged on both sides and jagged in a symmetrical pattern. And on the end of the sword was no typical point but a yellow, razor-sharp, four-pointed star surrounded by a spiked, blue arc of metal like a halo.

And from the way he expertly twirled and hefted the weapon, it was quite clear that he knew how to utilize and kill with such a deadly tool. Saïx's face betrayed no emotion as he gripped the handle of his claymore so that the blade pointed downwards.

"Let us see if you can truly know how to wield that Keyblade of yours, little Avalanche," Saïx sneered as he was about to swoop down, but before anyone could move, a blurry stream of silver rushed directly towards him from the skies above, roaring with deadly swiftness and the intensities of a devastating tornado.

"Aeroga Shadow Phantasm!" cried out Falco, looking remarkably like a hawk descending down upon its prey with talons outstretched. Saïx managed to block the kick to his head with his sword, and Falco simply struck the flat side of the metal blade before flipping backwards and landing on the ground in a martial arts defensive posture.

"Hey, he's fighting that Organization guy?" blinked Blob.

"I don't get it! He's not working for the Organization? Even if he's after hearts?" Dragonfly murmured in confusion.

"He may be their enemy too, then," Blind Master remarked.

"Well, aren't you gonna try and get me?" Falco retorted impatiently, goading the silver-haired man in front of him, but Saïx just narrowed his eyes.

"Another time…" he drawled as he disappeared, retreating.

"Lance, get Spirit's heart!" Althea yelled, coming to her senses.

"I don't think so, cripple!" a voice shot back sardonically before Falco swooped down from the skies and grabbed Spirit's heart from Lance before the mutant teen could react, brutally shoving his down as he rushed past. Lance furiously looked up from his sprawled position to see the smug bird-humanoid casually flipping the heart with one hand in the air, tossing it to himself, as he scrutinized it with a beady eye.

"**_Give my Dad's heart back, you asshole!_**" Lance roared with a fury and animalistic instinct that he never knew existed before inside him. Falco just surveyed the sudden formation of the soldiers and the mutants surrounding him before he finished probing the heart crystal, sighing in dissatisfaction and displeasure.

"Don't bother," Falco retorted dryly, "Save your speech. Your Spirit's heart is useless. It's no Talisman."

"And you honestly think that's going to buy you a cease-fire, you son of a bitch?" growled Low Light, his sniper scope aimed directly at the no-reaction zone above the falcon's quirked left eyebrow.

"I suggest you surrender and give us back that heart," Roadblock versed in a hard voice, his machine-gun pointed at the Cornerian pilot, "Or else from this world you will messily and violently depart. And afterwards, you and your friend had better explain on what you know about this Organization, and maybe then we'll decide if you're good or not based on your Heartless information."

"You better talk, Falcon!" threatened Wanda.

"Falco," snapped back the bird bitingly and with venomous acid as he glared at Scarlet Witch, "My name's **_Falco_**, Ms. Bitch-of-the-Year, so get it right."

"In a few seconds, you name's gonna be Dead-Duck," growled Wanda, her hands now crackling menacingly with chaos energy as she was about to blast him, her scowling face now almost as red as her uniform. But Falco apparently wasn't keen on planning to be an army prisoner as Octavia then struck from behind.

"Aquara Tigershark Tsunami!"

"Damn it!" Wavedancer cursed as she and a good portion of the crowd turned to see a rushing wall of water that towered over them by at least ten feet rushing directly towards their positions. Meanwhile, the rest of the Joes and Misfits were prepared to tackle the avian to the ground, fully aware that this was nothing more than a well-placed distraction for him to make an escape. But Falco then used another tactic…

"Catch, you chumps!" he called out rather mockingly as he tossed the heart crystal in his wings as high as he could into the air, the sunlight catching it for the few precious seconds it defied gravity.

"No!" yelled Lance as he leapt after it, and though he crashed painfully to the floor, the mutant managed to grab it. Falco mentally scoffed; that was _so_ predictable…

"Aeroga Shadow Phantasm!" the pilot roared before he tore through the air with his magical attack and broke through the lines trying to grab him.

"Yeow!" Pietro yelled, getting winged.

Xi gasped, "Hey! He didn't need to wait and recharge his magic!"

Yet before the pilot could make his getaway, with a yelp, the alien found himself being grabbed roughly from behind and felt his arms being pinned to his sides like a vise and dangling above the ground so he was unable to gain any traction to fight.

"You're not going anywhere, Falco," Superman intoned severely in his baritone voice as he kept the struggling bird pinned in a fierce bear-hug from behind, nearly crushing him as the other members of the Justice League along with the Scoobies, Faith, Xander, Willow, and Wood rushed from the sidelines to help the Misfits and the Joes deal with Octavia.

"Wanna bet?" snarled Falco, and to the Kryptonian's surprise, the bird was engulfed with fire, getting hotter and hotter before there was a fierce burst of flame and the alien rocketed out of Superman's arms in the form of a firebird with enough force to knock down a steel, two-ton tank, burning Superman a bit. And with that, Falco tore off in the sky along with Octavia, narrowly missing the occasional gunfire and energy blast before they vanished out of sight.

"Are you all right?" Wonder Woman asked as she helped the singed and charred Superman, his uniform noticeably damaged.

"I'll live…but that bird won't the next time I get my hands on him," muttered Superman.

"So, who's the lion?" asked the Flash as he and his allies ambled up to the Misfits and Joes.

"Simba…" Lance whispered. Everyone turned to their friend who was now walking and limping slowly towards the gigantic lion before kneeling in front of the cat's face, allowing themselves to stare into each other's eyes.

"Huh?" blinked Pietro, now utterly stumped.

Lance smiled as he clarified louder, "The lion…his name is Simba."

"From '_The Lion King_' movie?" queried a now thoroughly stunned and flabbergasted Sci-Fi as he stared at the strange lion that helped them. Simba was now sniffing the mutant teenager in front of him after spotting that Lance was still holding the Keyblade in his hand, his wet pink nose gently pressing against his free hand and neck. Shipwreck and a few of the other Joes became slightly wary and increasingly worried.

"Lance, kid, get back," warned the sailor of G.I. Joe, "We don't know if the lion's…_friendly?_"

The bearded Delgado uttered this last word with shock before he and the others watched with touched amusement before Simba then gave a playful growl, his ember eyes lightning up, before he gently tackled Lance to the ground and began nuzzling against the mutant's face, purring. It was clear that Simba would never harm Avalanche. Lance, despite his bruises, was chuckling as he tried to push the heavy feline off him.

"Ack! Simba, quit it! That tickles!" Lance sputtered amid the giggling and stifled laughter from the crowd observing this, the lion's fur and tongue scratching his cheeks.

"Wow, Lancey…" cackled Quicksilver, "You're getting more action from Leomon and Simba than you ever did with - "

He then suddenly trailed off as Wanda took Spirit's crossbow from the ground and pointed the mouth underneath her brother's chin, her face dark and her mouth baring her teeth.

"I dare you to finish that sentence, Pietro…" she warned, "My trigger-finger is getting itchy."

"I'll be good," Pietro chuckled meekly, holding up his hands in a submissive manner.

Suddenly, to everyone's surprise, the crystals in Lance and Daria's hands began to glow before they rose a bit in the air, levitating of their own free will and surrounded in a sphere of celestial and heavenly aura.

"Hey, look at their hearts!" the Flash remarked suddenly, and indeed, to everyone's amazement, as Beach Head and Spirit's pink, crystallized hearts floated and descended back to their chests, with a growing yet gentle luminescence, two miniature keyholes formed in the very center where the auras vanished into the Joes' bodies.

"A…keyhole?" Hawkgirl queried. This was certainly a new sight for the Thanagarian.

"Just like with Daddy's!" gasped Daria, Quinn, and Brittany in unison, recalling when Shipwreck was turned into the pirate-Heartless. But that wasn't then end. Now this time, Lance felt a strange vibration in his arm, and he looked down to see that his Keyblade was glower with a brown illumination, faint but evident. With a wild motion, the Keyblade jerked Lance's arm straight out, as if it was alive, the quartz blade now pointing directly at the prone, unconscious figures of Spirit and Beach Head. Before anyone could react, the head on the key inside the quarts started to glow a separate orb with brown light before two jets of energy shot out from the Keyblade and directly into the keyholes, scoring direct bulls-eye. With a loud clicking noise, the keyholes of light disintegrated and faded away, a trial of lights flying upwards to the sky.

"Okaaayyy, what just happened?" blinked the Joe, Cross-Country.

Martian Manhunter answered back in his deep, calm voice, saying, "I think Avalanche's Keyblade has an effect on those who regain back their hearts, similar to the actions of Althea's scepter had on Shipwreck when the Heartless pod in him was exorcised. If one loses his or her respective heart - "

"Keep it short, Green Giant," Quicksilver said automatically with impatient rudeness, already bored with the droning explanation, and Scarlet Witch, Batman and Hawkgirl all glared at the mutant speedster a look that told him to shut the hell up. Wood then summed it up gracefully.

"I think he's saying that Lance's weapon sealed Spirit and Beach Head's hearts when those locks appeared, like what Althea did to Shipwreck," the African-American Watcher stated.

"In other words…a Keyblade can lock a person's heart?" Duke asked, blinking.

"Makes sense," Cover Girl admitted, "A **Key**-blade and a **key-**hole…"

"Well, looks like things are good now, so see ya!" Genie grinned as he and Dumbo vanished back into Althea and Todd's weapons, the fight now over. But remarkably, the lion remained, rumbling and standing regally amongst the heroes, his head held high like a prince.

"Hey…" remarked Faith, "Doesn't anyone else kind Simba kind of odd from the others? He's not disappearing or nothing. He's not goin' away back into the Keyblades like Genie and Dumbo do."

"I guess he must be different in that aspect and that he can come and go when he pleases, not just when he's needed," mused Blind Master.

"Hey, he's the Lion King, he got the right to strut and follow his own rules," Xander chipped in, smiling, "Wow, and my parents said that nothing important could be learned from watching cartoons."

"**_Hey, wait a cotton-picking minute!_**" cried out a familiar voice inside Lance's head as another furry form popped out of nowhere.

"Oh no, not him again…" groaned Lance, rolling his eyes, much to the confusion of everyone else in the audience as the Coyote marched right up to Simba, outraged and insulted.

"Hey, move it, **your Majesty**!" the Coyote snapped sarcastically, taking care to add extra venom to the disdainful use of the royal term, unseen by all except the mutant earth-shaker, "Let's get one thing straight, flea-farm! I'm the only one who can guide and pester Lancey-poo here, and there's not enough room for both of us! So you get back into whatever - !"

Yet with a snarl, Simba growled at the Coyote, showing every one of his sharp fangs, and to Lance's surprise, he could hear Simba's voice in his head, snapping at the Coyote spirit, _Leave Lance alone!_

With a yelp, the Coyote whimpered and ran behind the audience, his tail in between his legs, peeking out fearfully from the sea of bodies shielding him from sight (not that anyone else but Simba could see what Avalanche was hallucinating about).

"Wha - ? Hey…**you can see me?**" the Coyote protested, astonished, and Simba growled, staring directly at the spiritual annoyance before he clearly voiced lucidly for both the Coyote and Lance to be made aware.

_Yes, and let me warn you right now: I will guard and help Lance and his family with everything I have, and if you so much as even crack an ill-suited joke at him, I will rip you to shreds. He's under my protection, in the name of the King. Do you have a problem with that? I will treat you with respect if you leave Lance alone and honor him like any decent being, but cross that line, and I'll hunt you down. Are we clear?_

"Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnccccccceeee!" the Coyote pleaded, sounding more and more like a very annoying, temper-tantrum-giving Pietro, "Make Simba stop! He's picking on me!"

"Hmmmm…the Coyote is scared of the lion?" Lance grinned at last, feeling incredibly smug, "I'm beginning to like Simba more and more already…"

"Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnncccccceeee!" whined the Coyote, cowering in front of the defensive and cagey Simba who was still snarling at him, "_Call him off!_ This isn't funny anymore!"

"The Coyote?" asked Lina at Fred and Pietro, raising an eyebrow, "He's seeing the Coyote in addition to have the Disney characters Pluto and Simba here at the Pit too? And Simba can actually _see_ Lance's figment of his imagination in his head?"

"Lance has taken weirdness to the next level," moaned Fred, rolling his eyes, "If Freud were here, his brain would have a nervous breakdown the instant he sees what goes on in Avalanche's head."

"It doesn't surprise me," admitted Pietro, shrugging noncommittally as Lance played more with Simba to the amusement of the crowds observing this, "I always said Rock-Boy here's going to be the first one to crack out of all of us. Just didn't think it would be in this way with Disney characters."

Meanwhile, a bit far off in the distance, out of sight and detection from any of the soldiers or the Joes' security systems, a pair of deep, blue eyes calmly analyzed the scene before him before he chuckled to himself, satisfied. Though he wouldn't have hesitated to coming to the Joes and Misfits' collective aides should Saïx had struck the first blow, he was infinitely glad that it was handled without his assistance.

"Hmph…I always knew there was a reason I called you 'Lionheart', kid," Leomon muttered to himself, his arms crossed over his chest and he eyes closed, contemplating. Another chosen one who could summon the forces of the Gaia Kingdom. Who knew?

Still, Leomon warily looked over the area in the distance where Falco and Octavia had disappeared to. He was no fool in how the Joes, Misfits and X-Men would react when they learned his secrets…and his relationship with the Cornerian pilot and the Tigershark. And he knew how much more hostile things would get between himself and Falco and Octavia when they reached the critical point in his mission, especially now that Leomon made his choice on who to side with should the Heartless and those who allied with them became overwhelming.

Before he left, Leomon took one last fleeting glimpse over the scene at the Pit before vanishing through another rip in space and time, feeling his jaw clench with guilt. He then whispered in a prayer, "Your Majesty…**_please_**…forgive me for what I will have to do…"

---

"Experiments 237 and 238 have failed, my Superior…" Saïx immediately reported as he teleported in the Organization's headquarters, calmly striding in through the portal of darkness he had summoned.

"And another one of those pathetic Misfits now harnesses _another_ Keyblade!" snapped Larxene, her hair contrasting against her glittering, angry eyes and her flushed face before she drawled sarcastically, "Nice work, Saïx! We now have more and more of the mutants who know not only the King's magic, but there's **_more than one_** Keyblade to deal with!"

"It **_is_** troubling," admitted Xaldin, "This has never happened before. One or two chosen ones, perhaps. But now **_three_**, if we count those Delgado Triplets as one functioning unit, Keyblades reside on Earth. Yes, it will help us in our secret goals to harness Kingdom Hearts and it is a positive sign that the Gathering is to be on this planet, but with too many ones chosen to wield different Keyblades, we could be facing a possible army of them, exactly like the Keyblade War at the last Gathering!"

"Though likely, I'd doubt it, Xaldin," Xigbar scoffed, "This pitiful mud-ball is hardly a breeding ground for a bunch of losers with pure hearts. It's hardly 'pure' to start with…"

"There is also something else troubling, my Superior," Saïx continued on, droning in an unemotional and stony voice, "The Joe sailor…Shipwreck, I believe he is named…he was immune to the second attempt at infection. Unlike the soldier, Beach Head, that Luxord had infected earlier, Shipwreck was resistant. The Heartless spores that Hamilton had bequeathed to me could not even touch him and his heart."

There was a stunned silence as the other members looked at the scarred comrade before turned to their leader who was contemplating and in deep, silent thought before he answered back in his deep voice.

"It seems that the Misfits and Joes may have inadvertently discovered a weakness to the spores of the Hellfire Heartless," the hooded man announced at last.

"And apparently, their friends from the Justice League and the Slayers have shown up at the Pit during the attack. Frankly, I'm surprised that they found time out of their busy schedules of fighting the lesser evils of this planet to immediately come to the mutants' aides upon a moment's notice," Saïx added.

"Then we'll have to make sure that they do not interfere with the next victim we choose for the Infection," the Superior clarified before he turned to the blond Larxene and gave her an order.

"Hamilton will take one to two days before he and the resources from Cadmus can provide us another Heartless pod. This time, we shall make absolutely sure that the fools, Falco and Octavia, along with the Misfits and Joes' allies will not come to interfere in your mission. Go and await for the next pod before choosing another person to infect. If anything, this little test will see just how well these Keyblades can assist us and the Hellfire Club. Just…don't break them if it can be helped."

"Do I detect a soft spot?" Larxene asked as she stepped fully into the light radiating from the fountain of the Oracle. Her black and silver-studded cloak oddly contrasted against her blue eyes and pale skin, almost a sickly white, and the only thing natural on her face was the blush of pink in her cheeks. She was pretty, with her shoulder-length blond hair slicked back and hugging the base of her head and two tendrils of hair sticking out backwards like a pair of insect antennae.

"Remember: those Keyblades will ultimately work within our favor after we finish seeing the full effectiveness of the Heartless pod experiments in time for the Harvest, Larxene," Vexen piped up.

"I'm not dumb. I'm not going to break those wimps…I'll just play with them a bit," the girl said coyly before she disappeared.

**Auhtor's Notes: Yep, hope you enjoyed this chapter, folks! And yes, Simba was one of the coolest summons and partners in the Kingdom Hearts games, a fan-favorite! Next week, we will see more and more questions revealed about the matters with the Heartless and the keyholes as Larxene invades the Pit during the high tensions and Xi's personal journey in the next chapter, "Deer-est Xi"! Until next Friday, read and review! Constructive criticism welcome!**


	8. Deerest Xi

**CHAPTER 8: Deer-est Xi**

"Falco, you were really cutting it too close for comfort," Octavia said in a subdued yet concerned tone as she finished tying the bandage around the avian's ribs, "Even with the Curaga magic, it will take a day or so before you fully heal and are recovered from Superman's attempt to crush you in half when you tried escaping the mob."

The blue-feathered humanoid just gave the octopus woman a dry glower as he reached for his shirt and jacket, the white gauze wrapped snuggly around his bare chest and torso contrasting greatly against his plumage. Still, deep inside, he was grateful for her companionship, not to mention this was the closest he would ever hear to an "_I-told-you-so_".

"To be fair, Superman wasn't trying to crush me," he said rather flippantly, almost borderline arrogant, "He was just trying to keep me from making my getaway…not that he'd be able to succeed, mind you, Octavia. Not even the Man of Steel can stop us from our mission, especially thanks to the blessings we've been given."

Octavia gave Falco a look for his audacity, but she bit her tongue for the sake of her friend. After all, both she and Falco were in the same boat…

Falco caught that little spark in her eye, that tidbit of regret and worry, and he said gruffly as he pulled his head and beak through the neck-hole of his long-sleeved shirt, "No, Octavia. Not a damn chance in hell. We can't let ourselves get attached to their troubles."

The ex-Tigershark then said calmly, rationally, "Falco, it could help us if we had the Keyblade wielders to help fight with us, and you know the Sovereign and the Champion are the only ones powerful enough to help defeat the Organization and bring our homes and family back, especially since the King - "

She stopped, her hand fluttering to her heart. Even now, it was still painful, and Falco could empathize with her on that aspect. He too felt the guilt and heartache, if not more so, though he would gladly walk through the acid-pits of the planet, Venom, before even admitting it openly.

Falco's voice then became harsh as he snapped, "And did it ever occur to you how they'll react when they find out that we're going to sacrifice three of their friends or three innocents to get the Talismans in the first place? Being the delusional twits they are, they'll outright refuse or even be willing to doom everything at the Gathering, just to protect the three!"

"The Keyblades are ultimately a good thing, Falco," sighed Octavia.

"Yes, but they still can stop us in our mission to find the Sovereign and the Champion! And you saw what they Keyblades and that staff of Wavedancer's did! They sealed those hearts! What if Spirit's heart was a Talisman and Avalanche sealed it before we could take it? You saw what how the pod failed when it attacked Shipwreck a second time! He was immune! All because his daughter locked his heart! And if the Heartless can't take his heart now, then how can we if the Keyblades seal it first? We don't have that kind of power, and you damn well know it!"

Octavia was silent. She remembered how stunned and overwhelmed with surprise she was when she too witnessed what happened in the infirmary. And the sight of Lance locking Beach Head and Spirit's heart in the same manner before they fled the Pit made it easy for the Cornerian pilot and the Tigershark to piece the logic together. And considering that only Heartless have the ability to steal and extract hearts from beings, and yet Althea and her Misfit friends had the tools to actually free the heart crystals from the Heartless themselves…

It put them in a very complex and tense situation. Falco finished putting on his red jacket and zipped it up furiously before he finished his tirade.

"As long as this continues, we can't let anything get in our way…not the Misfits, not the Joes, not the X-Men, and not the Keyblades and Pluto."

"Need I remind you who sent Pluto here in the first place?" Octavia said the falcon.

Falco's eyes narrowed as he gritted his teeth with resentment and bitterness at the recollection, snarling, "If that damned mutt is on our side, then why the hell is he helping the Misfits and their allies over us? He's nothing more than a traitor!"

Octavia couldn't help but snort in disbelief at the irrationality in _that_ accusation.

Falco then muttered as he looked up the starry sky, seeing with some noticeable worry that the number of celestial pinpoints of light were lessening in numbers bit by bit, "Let's just hope Leomon remembers to follow his true purpose. From what I've been able to deduce, his time and role will come soon enough, especially if the Gathering is getting closer."

"And you honestly think that Leomon will be willing to go through with it?" Octavia sighed, crossing her legs idly as she sat, "I don't like forcing him to choose in this, especially since this has been hard on him too…and it's obvious he has some concern for the heroes he has run into this world during the past escapades. In fact, it would be reasonable to say that his heart has inadvertently connected to the X-Men and Misfits and their allies."

Falco's mouth was set into a flat line as he said rather callously, "He'll do it…and I don't care how much it hurts him and his heart as long as he gets the job done."

"You aren't the boss of him, Falco," sighed Octavia.

"No…but he won't betray the one who sent him here either. He owes the King too much in order to be willing to abandon his duty to find the Sovereign and Champion."

---

"And that's what happened?" Green Lantern asked as Lance finished telling his testimony over the course of the events with his Keyblade and Simba. Once again, all the entrusted members of the Joes and Misfits' allies were all gathered around the infirmary at the Pit, the same ones that reconvened the first time after Beach Head's first infection with the Heartless pods. Thankfully, Spirit and Beach Head were conscious and expected to make a complete recovery, according to Lifeline and Bree's diagnoses. And to Lance and Todd's extreme relief, Spirit had both his arms intact, despite having one of limbs hacked off by Toad's Amphibionian Keyblade during the battle; apparently, any damage done to the Heartless had no lasting effect on the human once turned back to normal.

Now, each and every one of the people who attended the last meeting with Shipwreck and Beach Head were back in full force to discuss the last Heartless attack by Saïx several hours ago, as well as discussing the appearances of Falco, Octavia, and Simba. And it was hardly a pleasant feeling, being brought back to old issues that couldn't be answered and to frustratingly deal with new ones.

"Just what we need," groaned Xander, "More people to fight and argue and bitch-slap until the end of the world."

"And this Falco and Octavia are very powerful," remarked Willow worriedly, babbling in her characteristic, nervous manner, "I mean, perhaps not as powerful as the First and Apocalypse and Trigon the Terrible, but still pretty bad. Of course, if they were bad, then they wouldn't be fighting the Organization too, but then they could be bad as in not on our side. But then they wouldn't be using the same magic as Wavedancer and Toad and Trinity and Lance…although I don't know of anything Disney characters who look like them and - "

"Rosenberg, you're babbling, so shut it," Quentin gruffly ordered, not in the mood for pointless rambling to waste everyone's time and attention. The red-haired witch turned beet-red with embarrassment before she offered a meek apology. Piper Halliwell glared at the dhampir with disapproval.

"Maybe you should take your own advice, you sexist pig-head," the Wiccan shot back with disdain. Quentin just growled at her, his vampire side bubbling slightly underneath his stony façade. It was pretty apparent from the rolled eyes and familiar exasperated faces that Piper and Quentin hostility has been going on for quite some time at the Ghostbusters.

"Enough," Jenny Calendar ordered sternly before she turned to General Hawk and commented, "I must say, General Hawk, that this is starting to become more worrisome, and I would have never thought it would have been possible. Not only is the Thirteenth Order being more audacious and bold in their attacks, but we have two additional threats to deal with. True, Falco and Octavia do not appear to want to directly kill you and the Joes unlike this Axel or Luxord, but that does not make them any less dangerous. And we still do not know anything about these…Talismans that they are seeking in random hearts."

"Something tells me that these Talismans aren't a good thing," Wood murmured (though not part of the first meeting, he was allowed to stay for this one), "Who knows what will happen if they get into the wrong hands or if Falco and Octavia get them first?"

"Then we'll have to make sure that they don't get them," Superman exhaled wearily, "And it was a good thing you contacted us immediately after Spirit and Beach Head got turned into Heartless, Hawk. At least we'll be able to keep a closer look to the Joe headquarters from now on."

"And not only that, but I'm telling you, I've seen Falco before," piped up Pietro, "Look, I know it sounds crazy and you guys probably don't believe me, but I'm being serious here! I think Falco looks familiar somehow."

"You're right," quipped the Flash rather maliciously, sneering, "It **does** sound crazy, and we **don't** believe you, Pietro Jerk-Off."

All the Misfits did their best to cover their respective laughter with fits of coughing while Wanda wasn't even trying to hide her glee at the nickname. Quicksilver's face turned absolutely purple as he gave the Justice League member the purest evil eye he could, making a mental note to use an especially evil prank on Wally at the first chance he got.

Hank was busy recounting the stock of the weapons and abilities that could be used against the Heartless, ticking each one off a blue, furry finger as he stated, "Just to recapitulate our resources then: Pluto, a Disney character, comes to the Pit for refuge after being pursued with the intention of elimination and/or capture by the Heartless and Thirteenth Order on the basis that the canine is beyond extraordinary, though we have no idea how. Then Althea is bequeathed with a staff that allows her to change infected humans turned into Heartless by strange spores, granted that they are weakened enough in the first place, along with magical powers over the element of water appropriately named 'Aquara'. She additionally has the ability to summon an assistant to battle in the form of a flying, baby elephant that is remarkably similar to the Disney character, 'Dumbo'. Toad is then gifted with the ability to harness the magic of thunder named 'Thundaga' and has the ability to summon the Disney character, Genie, with his Keyblade named the Amphibionian. Lance has the ability to summon the Disney character, Simba the lion, as wall as harness the magic, 'Gaia', which logically is Greek synonymous for 'earth', as well as use a Keyblade called Steel Quartz. And Trinity has magically-enhanced scanners that can reveal to us if a Heartless was formed by a human and can utilize the magic of time with 'Stopra' magic and can do a unified offensive attack called the Trinity Limit with their Keyblades…er, oh dear. We don't have a name for their Keyblades -"

"Trichrona," chimed Quinn, "We named our Keyblades 'Trichrona'."

"The three of us make the _tri-_ part and _chronos_ is Latin for time, so we just slightly feminized it to suit us," Brittany explained. Hank nodded the name acceptingly as he sighed, leaning back and his brain tired.

"Anything I am missing?" Beast asked wearily, and to his relief, the Misfits shook their heads. Leave it to Mr. McCoy to be able to sum it all eloquently (and in a bit of a boring manner as well).

"But one thing I'm confused on is this: if the pod managed to infect Beach Head again, why did it fail when it tries bonding to Shipwreck?" Ororo asked as she nodded at the G.I. Joe sailor. Shipwreck felt a bit uncomfortable as all the attention in the room turned to him, but he solemnly nodded.

The sailor said, "I'm not sure what happened myself, you guys. But the best thing I can explain is that when that Thirteenth Order jerk tossed the pod at me…it couldn't touch me. Hell, it was trying for a full ten seconds or so, trying to get into my chest, but for some reason…geez, this is gonna sound weird. But for some reason, I felt something in me pushing it back, keeping the Heartless thing out. Something white and like some kind of energy barrier was keeping that Heartless thing from touching me."

He noticed the odd looks of confusion and disbelief from the general majority of the audience, and Hector sighed as he held up his hands in a submissive manner, showing that he wasn't hallucinating, joking, or lying, and that he was perfectly serious.

"I know, I know, it sounds weird, but I don't know how else to explain it! **But it happened.** I think…I'm immune to the Heartless now for some reason."

"But…" trailed off Professor Xavier, "I do not understand. Why is that the Organization could not transform you into a Heartless the second time, and yet they apparently had no problems with Beach Head? Spirit is certainly understandable considering that he was enduring that horrible event for the very first time, but not regarding the cases with you and Mr. Sneeden. And if I recall correctly, both of you eventually got your hearts back in the end and both became 'locked', so to speak, so there's no difference in -"

"Wait! That's it! The locking! Those strange keyholes! **_That's_** what was different between Shipwreck and Beach Head!" gasped Blob, interrupting the Professor. Several of the others then guessed it at the same time as well.

"Of course…" Shayera murmured, "Those keyholes! Wanda, Triplets…didn't you all mention earlier how Shipwreck had a keyhole when his heart returned but Beach Head **_didn't_** when Trinity fought him? In fact, the time a keyhole did present itself at Beach Head's heart was -"

"Was when Lance sealed it with **his** Keyblade!" Lina finished excitedly, "That's why Beach Head wasn't immune yet! Because his heart didn't get a keyhole to appear when Trinity got their Keyblades! It was when Lance got his Keyblade that the keyhole appeared and created that locking sound! The _same_ one that happened when we got Shipwreck's heart back for the first time!"

"It _was_ like something got locked," Wanda recalled, rubbing her chin, "When Shipwreck and Beach Head and Spirit all got a keyhole symbol appearing on their bodies when their hearts were returned back to them, there was a clicking noise when Althea and Lance used their weapons. And I remember that it didn't appear to Beach Head when he got turned into a Heartless the first time."

"So in other words, if a person's heart is 'locked'…" trailed off Cover Girl, her face showing a twinge of hopeful excitement as the logic came to her.

"Then the Organization's Heartless must not be able to infect them again," Robin said, his eyes widening slightly behind his mask, "It makes sense! That explains the difference between Beach Head and Shipwreck's infections! Althea, your scepter and the others' Keyblades probably have the ability to lock people's hearts when they're taken by the Heartless! So if we ever get the Heartless back, we have a way of preventing them from being stolen again!"

"Hey, why don't we just prevent it from even happening in the first place, yo?" Toad chirped in excitedly as he brought out his green and orange Keyblade with a flurry of green auras, much to the slight wariness of some of the crowd. Toad then pointed his Keyblade at the members of the audience before he spoke out.

"Seal all our hearts, yo!" the Misfit commanded. Nothing happened, not even the faintest glimmer of light.

"Maybe we should give it a try," suggested Brittany as she, Daria, and Quinn brought out their pink Keyblades together in one, fluid, synchronous motion, pointing their weapons again at their allies, the pointed ends first.

"Does anyone else feel as if we're facing a firing squad of some sort?" Wonder Woman couldn't help but comment in a deadpanned and slightly annoyed tone (and really, who would like to have a sword or blade pointed in his or her direction?).

"With the Misfits having these things, it's pretty much a given," grumbled Logan. But fortunately, to everyone's collective peace of mind, nothing happened. Like Toad's Keyblades, Brittany, Daria, and Quinn's weapons were completely unresponsive.

"Hey, I don't get it. It worked with Lance and Althea's, so what gives?" Daria said, blinking.

"I think it must only work when the situation is right," Blind Master said slowly, "Think about it: we have four people who now have the abilities to seal a heart, and yet only two of the weapons have done so. Toad and Trinity have Keyblades haven't been used yet, but Althea and Lance's have. I think only certain Keyblades can lock certain hearts."

"So that means I'm immune too? Like Shipwreck now? **_THANK GOD!_** Being a Heartless twice is worse than staying with these lunatic kids for a full month!" Beach Head griped in his typical, anti-social personality.

"That does make sense, I daresay," Giles murmured, "Not all people's hearts are the same, so thus, logically speaking from numerous texts describing the human soul and body, only certain types of magic would have stronger or weaker effects on the right and appropriate heart if they find it suitable. That is why some types of magic cannot work on some mythological beasts whereas it would have great effect on other beings."

"In English, G?" Pietro asked, waving his hand in a rude manner to ask the Watcher for a summary for his short-attention span. Giles glared at the albino teenager with disapproval and affront, but Phoebe then answered for her mentor gracefully.

"In other words, different hearts need to be locked by different Keyblades, Pietro."

"But…what happens if we find a person whose heart needs to be sealed by a Keyblade we don't have?" Xi asked at last, realizing a potential downside to that assumption. General Hawk sighed as he addressed the Misfits.

"We have no choice but to deal with it the best we can and seal anything that we can then," the Epsilon Juggler said before he gently ordered, "Wavedancer, Toad, Trinity, and Avalanche…people's lives will be in danger from this, so you can't let your guard down or goof off with these gifts you've been given. Any time a Heartless shows up and if it's a person, do your best to use the scepter and the Keyblades to free it and bring it back to normal. And for everyone's sake, if you can seal a heart, then do it. Lessening the amount of people being targets for potential soldiers for the Organization is all the better for us and worse for the enemy. You all have to be present for any Heartless threat that comes up on Earth; if it needs a Keyblade or the staff and you're not there, then we won't be able to save that person. Am I clear, Privates?"

The six Misfits nodded grimly.

"In other words, deal with the Heartless, seal whatever we can, and hope for the best, huh?" Althea remarked, frustrated and not sure if this was entirely good news on the account that there were some bleak facts as well. The leader of the Joes nodded.

"Well, it is something," conceded Allo, "At least we have a way to keep ourselves safe from the Heartless and the Organization."

"Yeah, but _where_ the hell are these Keyblades and magic crap coming from?" the Slayer Faith asked, "That's what **I** wanna know. I mean, this ain't no five by fives or nothin'! We still don't know if these things are gonna help or hurt us in our fight against Organization Thirteen, especially when there seems to be a lot of strings attached! And we don't even know where these things came from or why they're here or who sent them! I'm grateful and all, don't get me wrong, but it'll help if we could get some answers to this."

Despite the importance of Faith's queries, no one could think of anything to say as they all contemplated silently, slightly lost. And additionally, no one noticed Pluto serenely resting his head on top of his paws in front of him, a knowing twinkle in his eyes.

Later that night, Low Light was watching the stars among the cliffs of the small mountains that were nearby the Joes' headquarters, looking at the crescent moon among the stars and clouds in the dark sky. Alone, within the cover of foliage and shrubbery all around him, quiet, and cold…it was these sorts of environments the sniper loved the most, having quiet time in solitude away from other people. _Especially_ being away from other people.

Though it was risky, Cooper wasn't the least bit worried at being attacked or ambushed by Cobra soldiers or any stray Heartless. Not only did he have his sniper gun and Bowie knife strapped to his uniform, but should push come to shove, the blond and mercurial Joe could always depend on his mutation to make a clean getaway for backup after calling for help on his communicator. But that was only when push came to shove; Low Light absolutely hated depending on his mutation (and for calling on others for help). Still, the one thing Low Light disliked more than anything was being helpless and unable to fight back.

Being out on a night like this was certainly a bit soothing after all the dread and anxiety going around the base due the Organization's recent attacks. Low Light was certainly at peace.

"Rowr!" yelled a playful and familiar voice from behind the Joe and before he could react, the man felt himself get roughly tackled by a lithe and lightweight body as he transformed instantly into stone via his mutant powers at the last second before he landed on the grass on his back with the figure lying on his chest. Low Light got ready to reach out and snap the assailant's neck within less than two seconds until he realized who had pounced on him.

It was Xi.

The Misfit handler felt the blood burn underneath his face dangerously, his whole visage turning nearly as red as his sniper goggles. He counted to ten, hoping he could rein hold of his temper before he growled slowly, stabbing each word, "Xi…get…off…of…me…**now**."

"But I want to pounce on you again," Xi chimed happily, euphoric even, "It's so much fun and -"

"**_NOW._**"

Hearing the murderous tone of anger in his guardian's voice, Xi blinked twice before he awkwardly and meekly got off the Joe's broad chest as the sniper turned by into his regular flesh-and-blood form, muttering darkly to himself. Xi, though slightly fearful that he angered the Joe, tried to innocently ameliorate the tension.

"Do you want a hug?" Xi asked.

"No," muttered Low Light.

"Are you sure?" Xi tried again, eager to kiss and make up, "It always cheers me up."

"Yes…" the Joe growled, now feeling his temper bubble precariously before he sidetracked deliberately, "Can't you see I want to be alone? Why aren't you at the Pit with the other lunatics, kids and adults included?"

Xi looked a bit embarrassed and snubbed as he explained, "Well, I must confess that I needed to escape the Manor for a while. I pounced on Lina and Wanda in a most unwelcome manner, and now, they and Cover Girl are hunting me down, so to speak. Though in retrospect, I should not have attempted to pounce and hug them while they are all in the process of giving each other facials and painting one's toenails. So, we decided to wait until they calm down and the mess is cleared up."

Low Light raised an eyebrow as he warily asked, "_We?_ Who's 'we'?"

A bark from behind answered his question as the familiar, golden-furred Pluto emerged from the bushes and squatted next to the teenager. The Joe rolled his eyes.

"Oh great," the blond-haired man muttered, "Just what I needed…a pity party! And get away from me, you dumb mutt! Can't you see I wanted to be alone?"

Low Light had said this while Pluto ambled towards him and started muzzling against the sniper in a friendly and affectionate manner, but upon that gruff retort, Pluto gave the Joe a dirty look before sniffing and walking a bit with his head and tail snottily held high in a manner that said "Fine-be-that-way". The Joe then found himself surrounded, with Pluto lying on the grass on his right and Xi sitting Indian-style on his left. Low Light then tried to concentrate on watching the sky, but it was not as pleasant or relaxing when you were in the presence of a nosy dog and a very nosy Misfit. And unfortunately, Low Light knew that he tried to make a run for it, Xi would predictably follow him, and the sniper didn't want to give up this spot after making some trouble to feel comfortable.

Low Light stubbornly kept his mouth shut, hoping that Xi and Pluto would get bored and leave, taking a hint.

"Do you want a hug now?" Xi asked again. Apparently, Low Light was asking for too much.

"No, I don't want a hug, Xi," rumbled Low Light, "I don't want a hug now, I don't want a hug later, and I want you to stop asking me and leave me alone!"

There was a pause, and finally, the Misfit handler thought he gotten the point across and Xi would leave.

"Low Light? What does it mean to have a heart?" Pluto couldn't help but raise an ear at this sentence, interested.

The sniper had to grit his teeth to prevent himself from screaming until he was hoarse as he snapped, "Xi, what did I just say? I told you to stop asking me questions and leave me alone!"

Xi then clarified in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, "Actually, to correct you, you specifically said, word for word, 'I want you to stop asking me' and left it ambiguous enough to mean that you did not wish to have me ask questions on whether you would like a hug. And I am not; I am merely asking you about a heart. You did not specifically say, word for word, 'I want you to stop asking me questions entirely'."

Low Light knew that Xi had a point (and he was cursing Spirit for being thorough with the Misfits' English lessons during their tutoring). And frustratingly enough, the sniper had the foresight to see that if he changed his demand, the lizard, in all honest and innocent directness, would find another loophole to annoying him with unintentionally. Deciding to choose the lesser of two evils, Low Light reigned in his temper and muttered, "Damn…all right, fine. What was the question again?"

"What does it mean to have a heart?" Xi repeated slowly. Low Light had to open one eye and study the Misfit youth in front of him, seeing if the adolescent was joking or pulling his leg. But it was clear that Xi was serious.

Low Light felt his anger disappearing as he realized Xi was simply curious, and considering that the Heartless have been attacking the Pit on a regular basis, it would be normal for the lizard to ask questions about this. The sniper paused a bit before he explained the best he could.

"I guess…it just means to have a soul, to have feelings for other people. Ugh…Xi, I don't think I'm the best person to explain this to you. I'm not even sure what it means to have a heart myself."

Xi looked at the Joe before turning his gaze back to the view of the cliffs, the lights and activity from the Pit bustling about even the late hour, before he then asked with some rare hesitation.

"Can…can one artificially create a heart like that?"

Low Light had to think about it, given the amount of times he had seen miracles of the supernatural thanks to his adventures with the Titans, Scoobies, Slayers, and Charmed Ones before he sighed and honestly answered, "No, no one can create a heart like that artificially…or else it wouldn't be real."

There was a tense pause until Xi's next sentence then made Low Light feel a bit pained.

"So…then by all rights…I do not have a heart," Xi stated forlornly.

Low Light blinked; _that_ was something new. And he was bewildered on how Xi came to such a conclusion until the Misfit then sadly voiced his logic.

"You forget that I was not born of normal origins like the other Misfits, from a womb of a female. I was created and engineered in a laboratory by Cobra to be the ultimate assassin. So if a heart can not be artificially constructed, then by that logic, even though I am a living and breathing being, I have no heart to begin with. I am incomplete."

There was a brittle, half-hearted laugh before Xi became gloomy again, whispering, "On the bright side then, not even the Heartless shall want me since I have nothing they value."

Low Light was starting to feel like kicking himself for opening his big mouth and not leaving when he had the chance, but on his gut instinct, the sniper sat up and looked at his charge.

"Xi, don't go thinking that kind of crap," he ordered sternly, "You have a heart, just like everyone else here. Just cause you were born in a lab doesn't mean you don't have a heart and a soul. It's something everyone has, it's a given."

"Not exactly," Xi murmured, "After all, it is like the Phoenix Force when we fought at Apokolips and how it couldn't be empowered by emotion because it does not have it. And it may be true for me as well, then. I lack the capability to understand the heart because it is possible that I do not have one."

Pluto looked sympathetic and concerned when he heard this. But then again, he could understand why Xi was starting to have uncertainties about himself…

"Xi, there's no point trying to argue against it. The fact is that you have those things, period. Kid, you're worrying yourself over nothing. And you can't be dumb enough to believe they don't exist! Look at when the Charmed Ones summoned the souls of Jubilee's parents and Chance Furlong from the dead! Look at all those heart-crystals that the Organization's been after! After seeing all this, you can't possibly have any doubts on whether a soul and heart exists!" the soldier said a bit impatiently.

Xi gave Low Light a rare look of confused worry and conflict as he confessed, "Low Light…it is hard to believe in something you can not see, you can not feel or physically touch. I…I guess I'm just hesitant and not sure what to believe of all of this."

There was another minute or two of silence before the Misfit again confided in Low Light.

"It is hard to understand because things such as these defy logic, and I have so much trouble understanding what makes a heart."

"Why does it bother you so bad?" Low Light couldn't help but ask before he could stop himself, "Why are you so intent on finding out about a heart and whether or not you even have one?"

"I…I want to know if I even have the right to exist, I guess."

Low Light's face fell; this was similar to the times he went through extreme survivor's guilt when he escaped Cobra and General Bragg's efforts to wipe out all the experimental mutates on the island facility, Moreausseau. It hit a little close to home. And Pluto's look of compassion mirrored the Joe's face exactly.

"It's sort of terrible to have such feelings, feeling alone and that you're different from everyone else. That you may be more different than others. And…and if I don't have a true heart, then I'm not sure if I can even have a right to be with my family. And I don't want to leave them, to be a hindrance. I want to stand by them until the end itself, but…it would hard to belong with others with hearts if you yourself lack one."

"You're not different, kid. C'mere," and to Xi's surprise, he felt himself being enveloped and gently dragged over to Low Light's lap in the sniper's brawny arms, hugging him gently. Xi gave Low Light an amused look, feeling Low Light petting him and rubbing the spot between his shoulder blades as an act of comforting Xi.

"I thought you didn't want a hug," Xi couldn't help but point out.

"Aw, shaddap," the Joe muttered, but if anything, Xi knew Cooper didn't mean anything truly malicious as he felt his senses and nerves being lulled into a euphoric high from the warmth and the stroking. As the minutes passed on, Xi eventually lost himself in the petting and curled into a round ball in the Joe's lap, purring now like a content cat and twitching with instinctive glee as Low Light's callused fingers ran through his hair and brushed his scales. It was a strange yet endearing picture, just the two of them cuddling, like a father and his son, under the night sky on the mountaintops.

After another minute or two, Cooper then spoke gruffly.

"Xi?"

"Hm?" the lizard said, breaking out of his bout of purring.

The sniper warned with embarrassment, "You tell **_anyone_** about what happened here…and I'll make sure you never get a single cookie here at the Pit ever again."

"I understand," Xi said, wincing at the threat, but still content to be with his guardian for the moment, knowing that Low Light was simply defensive and ashamed of admitting his true feelings. Pluto just gave a hidden smile as he watched the parent and child interact in their own special and unique manner.

---

Two days later, in the mid-afternoon, Low Light was again over at the small hillsides bordering the Pit headquarters of G.I. Joe, doing a small hike to his normal and private sanctuary after lunch.

And considering that all the Misfits were trying to stop Trinity from using their newly-invented, robotic trash-compactor from destroying the Misfit Manor (it already ate Roadblock's bed and Wanda's desk), it was a welcome reprieve and given that Cooper wouldn't be bothered by the mutant teenagers this time in his quiet solitude. Spirit and Beach Head had been fully discharged from the infirmary after a day of recuperation and bed rest, the allies would come over at a moment's notice to help the Pit if another Heartless came to attack, and though many of the soldiers were spooked, it was relatively quiet and peaceful.

As Low Light stepped among the shades of the neighboring trees, he knew that he shouldn't be optimistic and that he should enjoy this time while he could, breathing in the fresh air through his nose therapeutically. Still, it was moments like these he appreciated the most, and he would have sat back down on the grass and taken in the view…if a bolt of yellowish and powerfully charged lightning didn't come hurtling down at him from behind. Even without turning his head, the sound of the energy assault and the years and years of military training snapped the blond, strapping man to attention and to his reflexes. With a sprint dash and a evasive roll, the Misfit handler managed to dodge the shaft of energy by a few inches before it struck the ground where he was a fraction of a second ago, leaving a small yet worrisome blackened crater in its wake. Heart pounding, Low Light slid to a stop at see a blond-haired female stranger smirking in front of him, several feet away. Though he had no idea who she was, the black cloak and silver zippers and drawstrings that she was wearing was a dead giveaway.

"Wow…you're fast," Larxene marveled cockily, "Better than I expected, really."

Not being one for words, Low Light immediately transformed himself into brick rock, a non-conductive solid against electricity, and in one fluid motion, drew out his sniper rifle from his back, unlocked the safety, peered through his scope, aimed at the spot right between her eyes and fired a single, lethal shot. All in the matter of two seconds tops. But with a wave of her gloved hand, the warrior from Organization Thirteen easily deflected the bullet before sending another barrage of lighting dead center into Low Light's chest, sending him back flying before crashing into a tree.

The Joe sniper hissed in pain, realizing that in the attack, his rifle was sent flying somewhere in the shrubbery, lost. And even in rock form, the front of his body was still numb; clearly, this female's thunder magic was nothing to scoff at.

"You…" the Joe groaned as he struggled to rise, but to his surprise, the female opponent simply turned her back on him and started to walk, almost stroll, down the path from the mountains, obviously dismissing him.

"Don't bother," she scoffed, "Just wanted to have a little fun. It's your Misfits I'm really after."

Low Light felt his rage intensify despite his agony and he managed to lean against the tree for support as he growled, "If you so much as even look at them, I'll -"

"You'll what? Snarl at me? Pfft! Don't delude yourself, Joe. You couldn't stop me even if you wanted too, but I'll be sure to tell that lizard you're so fond of that you said hi right before I kill it. What's that genderless freak's name…oh yeah, Xi," Larxene purred as she continued strolling away and out of sight. Low Light was now apoplectic, and he forgot his injuries as she rushed at her with stone fists ready to crack her skull. Or so he had hoped before she flicked her other hand, and there was a flash of yellow…

_Whipsh, whipsh, whipsh!_

"Aaaaggghh!" howled the sniper as he sank to his hands and knees in agony as three of Larxene's yellow kunai (throwing daggers) were embedded into his left shoulder, right-side abdominal muscles and his right thigh.

"Strike one…" Larxene said coyly in a sadistically playful tone as she continued to daintily meander down the beaten path towards the Pit, and considering the fact that she could have just teleported to the Misfits' house with her magic and the fact that she was arrogantly sashaying her hips and arms back and forth, it became clearly obvious that the blond girl was antagonizing Cooper deliberately.

Low Light uttered a fowl oath under his breath as the kunai vanished from his body, leaving bleeding and gaping stab wounds before he transformed his body's atomic structure again to pure energy, making himself untouchable and certainly formidable before he blitzed Larxene again. But before any of the plasma pulses could sear directly at her head and between her shoulder blades, Larxene expertly teleported and faded in a portal of black aura, disappearing to safety in the portal and leaving the Joe to strike nothing but empty air and a tree or two. But he certainly felt the enemy's presence teleporting _behind_ him…

"Holy fuck!" cursed Low Light in excruciating agony as he now crumbled to the ground, a thunder-elemental dagger embedded in the back of each knee, a crippling blow and soft spot behind the kneecap. With the nerves and cartilage severely damaged, his legs could no longer support his heavy body and the Misfit handler toppled to the ground, the blood now pouring freely from his limbs. Apparently, no matter what form he changed his body into, Cooper could still be injured by the weapons of the youthful female (and these were magical weapons to begin with).

"Strike two…" Larxene giggled cruelly. Low Light then decided to throw caution to the winds and weakly managed to transform into a gaseous and intangible state, his body now in the form of pinkish, opaque smoke, and he fled down the path as fast as he could travel by air. Knowing he couldn't handle the servant of the Thirteenth Order alone, Cooper knew that the only best option left was to try to beat his enemy to the punch and warn the Joes and the kids about the threat before it was too late. Unfortunately, Larxene then teleported to the base of the mountains right before the Joe, appearing directly in front of him before he could glide to the gates of the Pit…

"Strike three…" she chuckled with a wave of her hand, and instantly, Low Light roared and bellowed from the pit of his stomach, streams of thunder energy surrounding him and streaking across his form like water before he fell to the ground, twitching and in normal flesh-and-blood mode, back into his human state. And with a quick flick of her hands, Larxene threw all ten of her throwing knives and pinned the Joe to the ground with them, the blades centimeters away from lacerating Low Light's head and torso but surprisingly were able to fasten the fabric of his sniper's uniform to the earth. Apparently, the girl was an expert and accurate marksman.

"That was **so** predictable," Larxene boasted as she strutted towards the fallen military man, magnanimous, "But then again, I haven't had this much fun in ages, goading you like that."

"You…bitch…" hissed Low Light, still in unbearable pain.

"Please, don't insult me," drawled Larxene as she pressed the spore in a seductive manner onto Low Light's chest, "I'm more of a vixen. After all, a bitch doesn't know how to play cat-and-mouse games as well."

That was the last thing the Joe heard before he blacked out from the pain of the Hellfire Heartless seed burrowing into his chest.

---

**Kabooom!**

"Huh?" Pietro gasped as he and the other Misfits heard the audible sounds of the heavens crashing and flashes of yellow and orange electricity snaking throughout the air, a sure sign of a freak and violent storm approaching, "Thunder? Lightning? But…it was clear a moment ago!"

"Is Shipwreck bothering Storm again?" blinked Roadblock, looking up from the newspaper in the sitting room, "Then he better stop if he wishes his life to be sustained!"

"That isn't why there's thunder, Marvin!" yelled Spirit as he looked out the window, fear and surprise etched on his face, "The Organization's here!"

"What? No way! Aw, man, these guys don't give up, yo!" Todd gasped as he and the others rushed out of the house, only to see that the Native American Joe spoke the truth. There, in their front yard, was a young girl with blond hair and a pale complexion save for her flushed cheeks, and at once, the teenagers and adults recognized the infamous black clothing and hooded robe of the Thirteenth Order.

"You creeps really don't know when to give up, do you? We've had enough of you idiots wrecking our home! **_Get out!_**" snarled Althea as she, Todd, Daria, Brittany, Quinn and Lance all rushed in front of their family and drew out their respective scepter and Keyblades. Surprisingly, the lion Simba, appeared next to Lance's side automatically, snarling and ready for an attack, despite Lance never actually consciously summoning the ally. Larxene smiled as she summoned a portal of darkness and stepped backwards into it, but she then replied in a mocking and lighthearted tone of voice, clearly baiting the leader of the Misfits.

"No, it's a lot more fun irritating you pathetic genetic losers. And as for leaving, I'll go when I'm good and ready and after my Heartless pet does some damage to your friends and home some more. Until then, you twerps, try stopping **_this_** Heartless!"

With that, the Organization female vanished right as the mutant adolescents and their parents heard a general commotion and numerous yells of pain mixed with gunfire and exploding payloads as another fiery explosion consumed yet another building. Apparently, the girl wasn't bluffing; there really was another Heartless attacking the headquarters.

"I'm really starting to wish that we had a foolproof way of making sure that these hooded landlubbing-pests could stay out of their daily visits," Shipwreck muttered as he instantly thought of his twin Eagle pistols in the house.

Meanwhile, several bright flashes of light blazed gently outside the boundaries of the Joes' headquarters before they revealed the Justice League, the various members of the Titans from the Teen Titans and the Titans East, and Faith, Giles, Willow, and Paige Halliwell. They had arrived via the Mass Device and Paige's Whitelighter orbing the instant General Hawk notified them of the current Heartless attack…only to find themselves unable to transport directly within the Pit itself.

"Huh? What gives? This ain't where the action is," remarked Faith bad-naturedly, irritated that she wasn't immediately in the heat of the fighting.

"Oh no…" groaned Willow as she then immediately sensed the magical aura cast around the center of operations of G.I. Joe, immediately guessing the reason considering that this was the same tactic that the Organization used to prevent them from interfering in the battle for the Nexus in San Francisco several months ago.

"A barrier…and a particularly strong one at that. I cannot even phase through it," remarked Martian Manhunter as he attempted to put his hand through the obstruction of paranormal energy, only to have it painfully sear his green skin and causing it to slightly smoke. No matter how much he could try, he couldn't alter his molecular density to walk through.

"_Lock unlock! No magic block!_" Paige chanted strongly, staring at the shimmering wall of energy, but unfortunately, not even the spells of Wicca from a Charmed One could cause it to shatter. The brunette bit her lip in aggravation; another dead end.

"And we can't tunnel underneath the ground either," Raven said stoically in her dry, trademark expression, "It runs underneath and above, a complete and unbreakable sphere."

"Can't we break it? Hawkgirl, your N'th metal mace can break a hole through this thing, can't it?" Speedy asked, the Titan already having his bow and arrow drawn out and ready, but the Thanagarian shook her head miserably.

"It would be too slow and take too long, Speedy," Shayera replied, frowning, "By then, it might be too late."

"Geez, these guys really are starting to get annoying!" griped Cyborg, "So now we're out of this fight…**_again!_**"

At the same time, the fully suited Misfits and the Misfit handlers managed to rush over to the area of the ruckus from their house to see another daunting sight as it tore up everything it could in its path.

"Yow…that's a weird Heartless," blinked Fred. And indeed, it wasn't like the typical Heartless that the mutant teenagers have seen before in San Francisco. This heartless was absolutely gigantic, being over twenty feet tall and had a gargantuan, brawny body complete with strapping, well-defined muscles, oversized limbs and claws, and had a bald head completely devoid of hair with pointy ears like an elf. Yet what was bizarre about the fiend was that it was wearing a pair of red sniper goggles (with each lens artistically made out of the black-and-red symbol of the Heartless), and its entire body make-up was radically shifting, cycling between various states of matter and color. For one moment, it would be gray, solid rock and within seconds, it would change to pure, white plasma energy before it would again switch to chalky, brown dust, its form nothing more than a cloud of dirty air. Yet despite all its erratic behavior in altering its atomic structure, the sniper goggles remained the same and consistent throughout. And despite the screeching and howling, there was something familiar about the monster…

"Oh no," gasped Cover Girl, her face going white as she immediately guessed who the Heartless was, especially considering that there was only one Joe she could instantly think of that had the ability to modify his atomic structure of his body and wore similar goggles…

"It's Low Light!" exclaimed Trinity in horror as they finished scanning the Heartless, their instruments now displaying a clear image of their beloved sniper, unconscious and dangling in the translucent form of the Heartless while being hung by strings of dark energy, before fading away. Larxene then appeared again in front of the heroes as the other Joes continued battling Low Light with everything they had.

"Seriously, I should have joined the Marines! Lord knows how much more peaceful **that** option would have been!" griped Wet-Suit as he let loose another grenade.

"Enjoying the fact that your precious Joe is now a Heartless? I know I am. I had fun breaking him in before I infected him…and I just love watching a man struggle and fight vainly before he passes out in pain. It makes winning so much more enjoyable," she grinned with disgusting pleasure.

"You sick whore!" screamed Courtney with frenzied, uncontrollable temper as she took out her rifle and started shooting at the Organization servant who easily evaded and deflected the bullets with her daggers.

"'_One must do violence to the object's of one's desire; when it surrenders, the pleasure is greater_'," quoted Larxene with malicious and sadistic glee as she sent down several shafts of lightning on Cover Girl and Dragonfly. If it wasn't for Quicksilver running and snatching the two of them out of the path right before the attack collided with the ground, they probably wouldn't have survived.

"Huh? What did she say?" yelped Blob as he used the charred remains of a wrecked Jeep hood to fling at Larxene who dodged it easily enough.

"A quote from Marquis de Sade!" yelled Roadblock as he fired his machine gun at the Organization female, emptying his sash, "She's definitely a sick broad!"

"Leave them alone, yo! Thundaga Blitzclap Pressure!" Toad snarled as he brought his hands together and hurled the large and deafening thunderclap directly at his foe, the crackling ball of magic streaking across the air and whizzing so quickly, one would have difficulty tracking it by eyesight alone. But Larxene didn't even make any sort of attempt to dodge the magical attack and allowed it to hit her, dead center in her chest.

**_Kazap!_**

To everyone's confusion, Larxene was still standing, not even the least bit singed, before she sneered at Toad, saying, "I can play the thunder game too, you little frog! You can't fight thunder with thunder!"

And with that, she hurled down all ten of her knives at Todd, her magic now significantly stronger and even more extreme and concentrated than the assault she had tried using on Cover Girl and Dragonfly.

"No!" yelled Wanda, and Althea pointed her staff as her fiancé.

"Give me strength! Dumbo, save Toddless!" Wavedancer screamed, her heart pounding and not even sure if her friend could make it in time as the flying elephant emerged from nowhere, and despite its well-being, as a noble act, Dumbo threw himself in front of Toad, all ten of Larxene's kunai hitting the babe in his back with a sickening squelch as Dumbo fell to the ground, screaming and wailing in anguish and distress as it bled heavily. Had the baby elephant not flown to shield Toad, it would have been the frog-like mutant who would have killed.

"Dumbo…hang on, yo!" Toad gasped as he knelt next to the elephant who was starting to twitch and shudder, still sobbing in his woe with his trunk making mournful and torturous wails and hooting noises, the blood now cascading down his back. Whitelighter then laid his hands on Dumbo before the elephant began to glow, bathed in the healing illumination of sunlight. Scarlet Witch was now angry beyond comprehension.

"You sadistic tramp!" she yelled as she hurled a powerful hex at Larxene, but she easily teleported out of danger before reappearing in a safe distance.

"Give it up, goth girl!" the member of the Thirteenth Order laughed, "I doubt it's a big loss! That dumb baby would hardly be a match against one Hellfire Heartless, so if anything, I'll be putting Dumbo out of his misery!"

"'Hellfire Heartless'?" shouted Blob as he dodged a fireball from Low Light who know fully transformed his body into fire, "She calls them **_Hellfire_** Heartless?"

"Considering _who's_ sending them in the first place, the name fits," grumbled Spirit as he aimed a bomb-shaft with his crossbow at the Heartless and fired, setting off a painful explosion in the Heartless' face. Taking a different tactic and realizing the distraction, Avalanche and Simba teamed up together with the same combination they did for Spirit and Beach Head.

"Proud Roar!" yelled Lance, raising his Keyblade over his head at the same moment his lion companion threw back his head and bellowed a single, concentrated bellow from his soul and gut, his baritone roar generating another sonic boom as Low Light was engulfed with the essence of the earth kingdom, but smirking, Low Light immediately transformed into a dark and disgusting cloud of black, charcoal dust, making himself insubstantial and as a result, the attack from Simba's voice passed through it harmlessly. Xi then tried to strike from above, but transforming again into metal, the Heartless sniper grabbed Xi and held him in its claws with the lizard struggling futilely. And to everyone's further shock, Xi arched his body and shrieked in malaise as the Heartless' hands began to glow. And instantly, faint but definite specks of light and essence began to seep out of Xi's body and transferred directly to the creature restraining him, and the Misfit felt himself growing weaker and weaker.

"Low Light…please…don't…" Xi whimpered as his body was draining precariously bit by bit.

"What's going on?" Dragonfly gasped as Xi screamed again in pain, nearly sobbing in agony, "Trinity, what's Low Light doing to Xi? Low Light's getting bigger!"

"He's absorbing him!" Quinn exclaimed in shock as she viewed upon this with her scanner.

"Huh? That's impossible! Xi doesn't have any energy attacks for the Heartless to absorb!" Avalanche reported back angrily in frustration as he and Simba dodged another shaft of lightning sent by Larxene.

"Uh…I guess we should have spotted this earlier…but it appears these Hellfire Heartless can absorb mutant energy and get stronger just by physical contact alone," weakly chuckled Brittany as she spied on this with her scanner.

"**_WHAT?_**" chorused everyone hearing this, and Daria quickly explained.

"It's sort of like Rogue's mutation! It's hard to explain why, but it's pretty obvious! Even if a mutant makes bare contact with them, these Hellfire Heartless can absorb their energy by touch! This means even if they touch us, if we have the X-Gene, these suckers can get stronger! They're energy leeches, no matter how they come in contact with mutant energy!"

"Gee, life's never easy, is it?" Shipwreck groaned to himself as he continued firing upon Low Light. Genie, instantly summoned by Toad's Keyblade, managed to snatch Xi out of the Low Light's hands before carrying him to safety from the sidelines, while Wavedancer was about to try using her water magic on Low Light. But from her blind spot, Larxene managed to send her flying with a wave of her hand and Wavedancer grunted in surprise, but ninja-training kicking in, she landed on her feet several yards away, skidding to a halt. But then the raven-haired hydrokinetic realized that she no longer had the staff in her hands…which was, by sheer bad luck, dropped next to the Organization member. Knowing she could never utilize or pick up the foreign and unknown weapon of power, Larxene then did the next best thing.

"Hmph, serves you right if I smashed this piece of junk," Larxene said callously as she stepped harder and harder on the staff, and to Wavedancer's horror, she could hear faint wisps of cracking as the antagonist's foot applied more pressure on the one and only tool that could cure Low Light.

"No!" wailed Daria, Quinn, and Brittany in unison before they, in desperation, brought their Keyblades together and used the last of their remaining magic to stop the blond enemy.

"All for one…!" started Daria.

"…and one for all!" finished Quinn and Brittany with determination and battle-fury as the Delgado Triplets brought their Keyblades together.

"TRINITY LIMIT!" the Triplet sisters commanded in unison.

But to their shock, Larxene teleported away, avoiding the pink time magic and missing her completely. Thankfully, she left the staff behind and Wavedancer was able to dash forward and snatch it back into her own possession, holding it to her body tightly and protectively.

As Xi was worriedly trying to stand up and join the battle despite the protests of his other comrades, a certain and familiar dog watched from the sidelines. The hound recollected back to the previous night, fondly reminiscing the subtle yet rare bond between Xi and Low Light cuddling on the mountains, that Xi truly wished to protect his parent and family. Despite his eccentricities and ignorance on vital matters…Xi knew that a heart shouldn't be taken for granted, regardless of his puzzlement over it. And it was rare to ever find a person who didn't dismiss the value of hearts.

With that, Pluto smiled as his eyes began to glow a pure emerald green…

"Xi!" Wanda gasped, staring at her companion, "Your forehead!"

"Huh?" Xi answered back groggily, lost, and Dragonfly then took out of her pocket a small, compact mirror as opened it hurriedly before handing it to the lizard adolescent. Xi gasped as he looked at his reflection.

"It's one of the crests from Wavedancer's scepter! The green one!" Xi said, recognizing the symbol immediately due to his photographic memory. Indeed, it was one of the sigils, illuminated with the purest green one could ever witness. It consisted of a single green orb, and directly positioned at the top was a equilateral, isosceles diamond while at the bottom, in a straight line and pointed-end downwards, were three equilateral triangles all in a row, almost symbolizing the ground with roots.

"Wait…" Justin said slowly, "Xi, if your forehead's glowing like how Lance and everyone else's did…"

"Then that means you know magic now!" Blob said excitedly.

"And look! Look what's around his head!" Quicksilver gasped as he pointed. There, nestled snugly in Xi's black hair, was a wreath of intertwined leaves, similar to the wreaths worn by the Greek champions of the Olympics in the mythological eras. And this ring of leaves was glowing softly in the same color as the sigil on Xi's forehead, with each cotyledon perfectly shaped and pristine, shining like dew, with the entire crown itself made of distinctive and diverse needles from a surfeit of different tress such as maple, oak, birch, beech, and even ivy.

"Whoa! That thing just appeared out of nowhere!" Scarlet Witch realized out loud. Then a familiar yet elusive voice spoke gently in Xi's mind.

_The power of the wood kingdom…Xi, I gave you a powerful spell of your heart. Let go of your mind and body and say, "Woodra Leafblight Revolution". The rest will follow._

Xi then found himself in some sort of uncontrollable trance, as if he had eaten a busload of cookies and was no longer in full-control of his body functions during the sugar-induced euphoria. He crossed his lean arms over his chest, locking his back and legs straight as a pole, his tail fluttering limply. Then, to his friends' collective shock, the crown of leaves around his head began to fall apart and detach itself, slowly gliding in an invisible current of air. And like a graceful stream, the multitude of leaves grew, becoming larger and increasing in their numbers before the plethora of green snaked all around the lizard Misfit, caressing him in a shield of flora. And the wind all around Xi picked up, growing more and more violent before the rustling of the edges of leaves literally cut through the air and whistled, making them razor-sharp before Xi uttered his attack.

"WOODRA…LEAFBLIGHT REVOLUTION!"

With a dramatic movement, Xi flung out his hands, outstretched, and upon the command, the leaves flew out in a multitude of directions, the entire field now engulfed with a storm of lethal, green shrapnel, each leaf encased with a small glow of intense, photosynthetic energy, measuring in Fahrenheit temperatures of hundreds. And the serrated edges of each leaf were strong and keen, like the metal blade of a knife. Unfortunately for Larxene and Low Light, it was like being besieged by a thousand of knives swarming all about the air like bees.

And with such a widespread attack, there was no way either of them could fully dodge the magical assault from the Woodra Kingdom.

"ACK! You cheater!" squealed Larxene as the magical offensive onslaught caught her completely off-guard. Low Light, unluckily to himself, was in the form of rock and dirt when this was happening, and wood magic was extremely effective in whittling down _anything_ made of gravel and mud. The Heartless didn't even have enough time to instinctively change itself into another figure that could withstand the leaves as they completely engulfed him, such an effective attack completely slashed him through its very core and it toppled to his hands and knees. Blind Master could sense its life essence and energy dwindling dangerously low, and he called out to Wavedancer who was still wearily holding her staff.

"Now Wavedancer! You can change Low Light back to normal!"

"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!" the Misfit cried out, and with a flash of the ten sigils and the pillar of light, the human and unconscious form of Low Light toppled back to the ground, now free of the Heartless infection bestowed upon him as the pod and his heart flew out a bit and landed clumsily on the grass. With a sharp snap, the pod broke apart and disintegrated. Xi then gasped out loud, his yellow eyes widening, as an orb of green light formed in front of him.

"What on Earth?" Blind Master murmured in an awed whisper, feeling the rip in reality and space as the alien yet deceivingly powerful speck of aura and spirit energy formed in front of the teenager.

"Is that - ?" gasped Cover Girl.

"Another Keyblade? What is this? The '_Everyone-Gets-A-Powerful-Weapon-Against-The-Heartless_' Day? **_This is so not fair!_** Why is everyone else getting a Keyblade but me? God knows how perfect I am to deserve one!" whined Quicksilver in an annoying and grating voice in the background.

"SHUT UP, PIETRO!" a good chunk of the spectators around him shouted simultaneously, including Wanda unsurprisingly. Xi didn't even snap back, however; he was in too much shock to even voice a single word from his dry throat. The Keyblade was the most gorgeous and beautiful thing Xi had even seen before in his life. It was long and thin, with the rod portion of the blade consisting of green and yellow scales like a lizard, overlapping each other layer by layer and alternating in color, and the head and mouth of the key portion formed by a three-pronged maple-leaf, green and translucent like the purest and flawless emerald gem. The cross-guard of the weapon was circular, but surprisingly, it was made of flawless and sparkling gold flattened and shaped like intertwining strands of lush ivy with minute and artistic carvings of actual tiny golden leaves. And from the pommel of gold was a green keychain (consisting of a chain of leaves) with a green-and-yellow lizard on the end.

Then the voice beckoned to the lizard again as Xi gently grasped the grip of the Keyblade with one claw.

_Say what is in your heart, Xi…_

"But…But I -" began Xi, and the voice gently interrupted the Misfit before he could continue.

_Xi, the Keyblade chooses those regardless. Trust the Keyblade. It chose ya' for a reason…_

"I…I do not understand," confessed the lizard-assassin, and the voice chuckled. Xi may be naïve and new to his developmental behavior patterns, but he had no shame in admitting it and asking what to do.

_Gosh, very few of us understand the heart to begin with, Xi. Just trust it and it'll tell ya' what to do._

"Give me strength," whispered Xi under his breath, pointing the Keyblade to the ground. Instantly, the Keyblade began to glow a soft tone of pink and light green, the main colors of the coming of the spring season, forming a nascent yet budding ball of soft light between the grass and the head of the blade as the Misfit held the weapon gingerly with confused astonishment. With a fling like swinging a gold club, Xi tossed the orb of luminosity away from him, and the instant it landed on the grass, a cloud of rose petals erupted from the dirt before a medium-sized figure bounded out and happily leaned back on its hind legs and arched back, its forelegs dancing joyously at freedom. The animal was four-legged and thin, with a small body and head, having brown and coffee-colored fur as soft as goose-down and spotted with white. It had cloven hoofs, graceful, lightweight, and a fluffy tail which was wagging back and forth happily. But the most discerning part was the large and innocently wide brown eyes, pools of virtue and kindness that could make even the most hardened criminal weep.

With that, the figure looked at Xi with joy before it bayed like a lamb with an adorable "_Blah-ah-ah-ah-ah!_"

It was the famous deer fawn, Bambi, the Prince of the Forests.

"No way, yo!" Toad exclaimed, nearly dropping his Keyblade in shock as he and the others witnessed this. Snake Eyes made a hand-gesture to the Joe, Scarlet, who could only nod dumbly.

"I know, I know…we've seen some weird stuff before in the history of G.I. Joe…but **this**…" the redhead said before trailing off, not sure if she could find the right words to elucidate her thoughts clearly.

"Amazing…" Xi could only whisper to himself, jolted, as Bambi playfully and energetically pranced to the lizard and started to nuzzle against the Misfit's thigh, rubbing his soft, furry head against the hard scales. Helpless and having no idea what to do, Xi just reached out and scratched Bambi gently between the ears.

"Bambi?" Quicksilver blurted out in disdainful shock before he started howling with laughter (despite the seriousness of the situation), hooting, "You've got to be kidding me! Oh geez, and I thought Dumbo being a partner was pathetic! Ooh, watch out Heartless, because he comes Bambi! **_Oh, give me a break!_** What's he going to do? Make the Heartless sick by giving them puppy-dog eyes? Is his secret attack to look cute?"

"**_SHUT UP, QUICKSILVER!_**" snapped back the people nearby the Misfit speedster.

Larxene was now apoplectic and insane with fury as she appeared above the Misfit.

"**_Oh, no way in whatever you idiots pass of as hell!_**" she screamed as she flung all ten of her thunder dagger directly towards Xi, the deadly projectiles making a beeline directly upon Xi's exposed body.

"Xi, look out!" cried Roadblock, realizing that the attack came too fast for the Misfit to dodge. But then to Xi's surprise, Bambi rushed over and actually burrowed in between Xi's legs before flipping the lizard (yes, flipping him) onto his small back, and so taken by surprise, Xi barely had enough time to grab hold around the fawn's neck before Bambi gracefully and supplely bounded and leapt out of the shafts of thunder and lightning, with Larxene missing Xi completely as Bambi carried him out of danger.

"Amazing!" Xi could only utter with shock. Regardless of being much bigger than the fawn, Bambi was acrobatically leaping in and out of each blast of magic that sent everyone else scattering to avoid as if it were nothing. And in order to carry Xi _this_ readily, Bambi must be stronger than he appeared.

"Why won't you stand still and die?" Larxene screamed, now being more and more irate with each failure to strike down the newest Keyblade wielder. And she knew how the Superior would feel had another one of the Misfits been blessed with magic of the Elementa Kingdoms. And to her horror, she could see that Bambi had another ability she failed to foresee. Each and every time Bambi landed on the ground, numerous amounts of clear spheres were dropping everywhere, shining softly underneath the sun. They looked so much like mere air bubbles, but they were all glowing in a silver light, and surprisingly, Wavedancer, Trinity, Toad, Xi and Avalanche all felt stronger as the balls of magical essence surged into them. It wasn't the least bit unpleasant. If anything, each and every orb made all of them tingle refreshingly, giving them a sense of strength and clarity to their fingertips.

"Whoa! What's going on?" Avalanche asked.

"I feel…stronger!" Quinn exclaimed dumbly, and Genie recognized the situation at once.

"Duh! Of course you feel stronger!" the blue djinn called out, "Those are mana orbs! The deer-kid's dropping mana orbs for all of you guys to use! **_Mana refuels your magic!_** Don't you see? Bambi's a walking…er, hopping battery of magical power! When he's out, he refills all your magical reserves and energies and replenishes them! He's helping you cast more magic with less waiting! You better take this advantage now, kids!"

The Misfits got the hint immediately in unison.

"Stopra Time Freeze!" yelled Daria, Quinn, and Brittany, raising a glowing finger at the distracted Organization member, and with a flash, the livid and furious Larxene was frozen in space and time, making herself an easy target.

"Xi, Avalanche, let's finish this **together**!" ordered Wavedancer on her communicator, "Let's give this bitch a trio-team magic attack before Trinity's time-freeze wears off! You ready?"

"I am ready and fully recharged!" Xi yelled as he crossed his arms over his chest, still riding on Bambi's back, "On three! **_One…!_**"

"**_Two…!_**" Lance said, laying his palms flat against the ground, the dirt and earth beneath him starting to tremble with anticipation.

"**_THREE!_**" bellowed Wavedancer as she sent a glowing, azure-colored finger directly at the Organization female, calling out with deadly finality, "**_Aquara Water Dragon!_**"

"Woodra Leafblight Revolution!"

"Gaia Earthquake Force Rush!"

All three attacks united in a beautiful array of blue, green, and brown as the converged directly on the blond girl in the black cloak…

**_KAWHOOOOOOM!_**

When the dust and grime cleared, to everyone's joy, Larxene had disappeared and Xi, now relieved, rushed over to Low Light's heart before placing it on his guardian's chest.

"Uh-oh!" gasped Whitelighter as he pointed at the distance, and everyone looked up to see Octavia and Falco making their way as speedily as they could to Low Light and Xi.

"Aw man not…again…yo?" gasped Toad as his Amphibionian Keyblade began to glow before it jerked forward at the unconscious Cooper MacBride. A keyhole appeared as the heart started to fade…

"No!" howled Falco as he swooped down and ready to snatch the heart crystal away, but now frowning, Bambi leapt up and delivered a mighty clout from Falco's blindside with his head, doing the deer-equivalent of a very effective and painful head-butt.

Crack!

Falco cursed a multitude of swear words as he crashed to the ground, blood running down his split beak. Damn, that fawn had a skull of iron and as Octavia rushed to his side, Bambi purposely and teasingly bayed at them while marching directly in their path, blocking them from reaching Xi and Low Light as a beam of light emitted from Toad's Keyblade into the keyhole. With a click and a flash, the keyhole faded away and the crystal was now fully locked in Low Light's body. Cover Girl sighed with relief while Falco was now shaking with rage.

"Do you morons have any idea what you just did?" he roared, having half a mind to go for his gun and shoot Xi directly in the heart at full power, being murderously furious. The Joes all aimed their guns at the two intruders, but Cover girl raised a hand, signaling that there had been enough fighting before she turned to the Tigershark and Cornerian pilot.

"It means we saved Low Light's heart," she growled evenly.

"And what if your Low Light's heart was a Talisman?" Octavia snapped with irritation, "With his heart locked, we have no way of knowing nor obtaining it if it was one in the first place! You may have doomed your world had you sealed the Talisman away so that no one would be able to use it!"

"It's not worth the sacrifice!" snarled Xi, his eyes now slit and narrowed, "No matter how powerful these Talismans are that you seek, you have no right to say who can live and die in order to save the world! I'd do this again if I had a second chance because I'm not sorry at all! If you had anything that resembled a heart, you would know that no one's heart is considered expendable! It's too precious for anyone to give up and be sacrificed for!"

Pluto swelled with pride as he heard these words while Falco and Octavia swelled with anger, and they could see the Justice League, Titans, and Scoobies approaching from the distance, the barrier Larxene erected now completely abolished.

"This isn't over, you fools…" Falco promised with hate.

"We won't underestimate you Misfits in the future," Octavia said coldly, and with that, they left before the Joes and Misfits' allies could stop them.

"Wow, that was intense…" murmured Xi as Bambi whimpered and nuzzled against the lizard's thigh, rubbing his soft fur against the adolescent's scales.

"Whoa!" Beast Boy gasped as he looked at the fawn, distinguishing the Disney character instantly, "Is that…no way, dude! You got **_Bambi_** as a helper?"

"Something tells me we're going to have that kind of reaction towards you for a good while, little guy," Cover Girl sighed with half-hearted humor, smiling at the fawn who just gave an adorable "_Blah-ah-ah-ah-ah!_" in response.

---

"You failed, Larxene…" Vexen said simply for everyone to hear as she stumbled into the headquarters of the Thirteenth Order. Among the members of the Organization were the members of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club and General Black and General Silver of the Omega Jugglers. And from the way they had gathered among the pools of water from the Oracle Fountain, it was apparent that they all viewed upon that last battle via scrying. Larxene just managed to keep herself composed and calm, despite the boiling and poisonous pit of embarrassment in her stomach as she brushed idly at the charred rips in her cloak where the leaves from Xi's magic grazed her. Luckily, she managed to break free of the time spell Trinity cast at the last minute…

"Well, it wasn't exactly a fair fight to begin with since those little snots got lucky with that Bambi summon!" she snapped.

"I find it rather disgraceful if not downright humiliating that members of your powerful order are getting their asses collectively kicked by _Disney_ characters, of all things that could have been chosen to fight them," drawled General Silver rather condescendingly, and this earned him a few glares from the members of the Organization.

"I'd doubt you could do any better, considering that those Disney characters are beings of great and powerful magic while you and the other members of the Hellfire Club can't even handle the soldiers of G.I. Joe and the vampire Slayers," Xaldin shot back rather coolly.

**_That_** shut them up.

"Let me guess…more evidence that the King is meddling in our affairs for the Gathering?" drawled Harry Leland.

"What was your first clue? I mean, other than the goddamned mutt, Pluto, coming in and ruining everything?" snapped Pierce rather bad-naturedly.

Lex Luthor then said, "Still, this should be fortunate enough for us to manipulate. If we could perhaps manage to entice or turn a few of the Keyblade wielders on our side via brainwashing or dark magic, or maybe we can use the leeway of the Joes and their families to force them, then we'll own them easily - "

"No…" the Superior said at last, "This has gone far enough. Two or three Keyblades, I could allow and the appearance of several loyal members of the Light Side I could perhaps swallow and tolerate…but _five_ members of the Misfits who now can not only wield the blessings of the Elementa Kingdom and who have an unidentified and variable staff that is neither a Talisman nor a Keyblade is beyond acceptable."

Sebastian Shaw then spoke, "We figured it would be too much of a risk to allow more and more Keyblades to show up on Earth. Even with their inadvertent help in harnessing enough hearts for the Harvest, it still could be too risky to allow too many potential threats to oppose us in the future. Thus, our current goal for the moment is to kill and eliminate the Joes and the Misfits who _haven't_ been gifted yet."

"As if you couldn't have done that earlier when the _first_ Keyblade appeared," grumbled General Black.

"To be fair, none of us expected this pattern of the blessings," Selene said, "Though we anticipated one or two of the Misfits could have been chosen by the dog, we didn't think that the hands of Fate would be insane and idiotic enough to bequeath powers to fight the Heartless to _solely_ the Misfits. Not even a single one of the Joes have been chosen, and they are far more stable and resilient than any of those gutter-trash children. We thought that Pluto would at least select one of the X-Men or members of the Justice League or one of the…Scoobies at this point. Ugh, I will never get used to using **that** embarrassing moniker!"

"Still, what could be the chances that the rest of those Misfits will gain magic and Keyblades?" Emma Frost pointed out, "The probability of it happening are incredibly microscopic! There is no way anyone in this entire era of human existence that would possibly think it would be smart enough to give **all** those maniacal young twits powers to fight the Heartless."

"They might as well just surrender then if that was the case," Galatea had to admit, "I doubt the King actually would think that the Misfits would actually have a fool's chance of winning the Gathering if they did have the powers of the Keyblade. It's like he's practically _begging_ us to win!"

"**_It is better to be safe than sorry_**," Blackheart then coldly intoned in his deep, demonic voice, "**_If the Superior feels that it would be fortuitous to eliminate that possibility entirely, then we may, as you humans so eloquently put it, cover all bases._**"

"Then why don't we simply assassinate the remaining Misfits immediately then?" Slade asked, his good eye scrutinizing the Superior, "If we strike now, we can catch them off-guard and considering that they have neither Keyblades nor gifts from the King and that mongrel, they will be far easier to kill."

"Because we could use their hearts for the Gathering, especially since even one of those hearts could inadvertently give the Organization and the Hellfire Club additional vitality and infinite strength. If we killed them directly, then we may miss out an opportunity to increase the power of the Heartless and the Nobody…and generate loyal soldiers. At least when they perish by the hands of the Hellfire Heartless, the defenseless Misfits' deaths will be more fruitful when they generate additional soldiers for our cause," the Superior replied in a calm, rational tone as mirages started to appear from the pools of clear water pooling in the basin.

Then leader of the Thirteenth Order then turned to a brown-haired and brawny man wielding a yellow, red, and black tomahawk along with his one-eyes companion, a man with long-purple hair tied in a ponytail and wearing a black eye-patch over his right eye and scarred face while carrying two, purple gun-arrows., equipped with lethal, diamond-shaped energy-shrapnel

"Lexaeus, Xigbar…you two know what to do now. Target only the remaining Misfits and obtain their hearts. _Eliminate them_," the Superior ordered as the Thirteenth Order and their associates looked upon the images of Pietro, Wanda, Lina, Fred, and Justin, hovering serenely yet condemningly, like infamous targets of wanted-posters, above the fountain of the Oracle for all to see. The two men nodded as they vanished.

**Author's Notes: Yes, that was how Bambi was in the first game of "Kingdom Hearts"! Not only did he replenish your magic, but he actually dropped rare items like potions and materials that you could synthesize to create strong weapons and accessories! And next week, things get a little tense due to the rest of the Misfits being put into solitary for their own safety, but despite the annoyance, Xigbar and Lexaeus still won't stop until the five powerless Misfits are dead! Find out next Friday in the chapter, "Fire and Wind, The Bond of a Twin", and until then, read and review! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and constructive criticism welcome!**


	9. Fire and Wind, the Bond of a Twin

**CHAPTER 9: Fire and Wind, the Bond of a Twin**

"Then it's settled," General Hawk sighed as he addressed the Misfits and the Misfit handlers in their living room later that night, "Until we can somehow manage to fully secure the Pit and prevent future Heartless attacks and infections, all Misfits who have not been blessed by magic or Keyblades will be in confinement and close watch here at the Pit and specifically at the Misfit Manor, starting now."

Hawk expected a large amount of protesting and heated objection and he wasn't disappointed. There was a general uproar from everyone as they took in this news, but despite their arguments, the G.I. Joe general knew that this was the best option for everyone's collective safety. Once Low Light was fully stabilized in the infirmary and the Joes continued to salvage what they could from the battle wreckage, General Hawk decided that since the kids were primarily being targeted by Organization Thirteen and the Hellfire Club, the Joes and their allies needed to keep a closer eye on them.

Shipwreck, Beach Head, Low Light, and Spirit were all thankfully immune to the Heartless pods that the order had been inflicting them with, so they wouldn't be in jeopardy and perhaps even had a better chance of being a help in fighting the experiments of darkness thanks to their "resistance". And Althea, the Triplets, Xi, Lance, and Todd now had Keyblades and powerful magic to help fight the Thirteenth Order, practically their own army in any case. However, the five remaining Misfits were a completely different story altogether.

Superman, Batman, Giles, Jenny Calendar, Robin from the Teen Titans, and Professor Xavier had a private conference with the general beforehand after Low Light's infection, and they agreed wholeheartedly that the Keyblades would make **all** the Misfits be targeted, and though the chosen seven have ways of protecting and defending themselves, the other Misfits didn't. And none of them would put it past the Organization and the Hellfire Club to using Pietro, Wanda, Lina, Fred, and Justin as leverage to get back or hinder Wavedancer and her other Keyblade wielders. Though none of them had any idea why, it was logical that something held the Misfits in high regards to bequeath them these gifts, and following that rationality, the Organization will try harder to kill any or all of the army mutants. And it would be better for them in the long run if they remained close to the base and their home instead of going off and running amuck; to give the enemy more chances and opportunities would be risky, and Hawk wanted to kids safe.

Naturally, Hawk just mentally braced himself as the complaints started.

"This isn't fair!"

"So we're basically prisoners and grounded until this whole Heartless thing lets up? This stinks!"

"Hawk, are you sure this is necessary?"

"But I was planning to update my wardrobe at the latest Tommy Hilfiger fashion-show in New York! And it took me three months advance to get the reservation at the Juvenex Spa, and I don't wanna cancel it!" whined Pietro. He then caught the various looks of exasperation and deadpanned incredulity at his shortsightedness from the various teenagers and adults. Even General Hawk himself has to raise one eyebrow.

"Hey, do you have any idea I had to whine, gripe, plead, and put up a fuss to get that reservation at the spa? They have the best manicurists and my skin's due for another herbal wrap!" the Misfit speedster defended rather obstinately.

"Well, you can't say that Pietro's not honest," supplicated Daria, though she wasn't sure that could be considered a strong point for Pietro in this case. Roadblock sighed before he turned to the Adonis and explained gently, saying in verse.

"Pietro, the General's right. We need to keep you kids out of sight. Since none of you have Keyblades and magic, having you kids fight the Heartless would be especially tragic. I'm not saying you and the others without magical powers are helpless, but with the Hellfire soldiers absorbing mutant energies you fighting in battle won't have much success. And since the Organization is targeting us because of the Keyblade, you kids need to go in solitary to prevent yourselves from getting killed, I'm afraid."

"**I'm** not afraid!" protested Scarlet Witch heatedly, and Fred looked ready to agree, cracking his knuckles with a determined and ready expression on his face.

"We know you aren't, Wanda, but you need to look at this from our standpoint," Cover Girl sighed, "From what we can tell, should you ever find yourselves left alone with a Hellfire Heartless, you wouldn't have much of a chance with winning, considering anything related to the X-Gene would make it more powerful. Like Lina told Lance when he tried to help Spirit when he was infected with those strange pods, there's no point in fighting bravely if you'll die quickly."

"But everything turned out all right when Lance got his Keyblade!" Fred couldn't help but argue heatedly, "So in that case, we'd probably get Keyblades and magic too in order to help out and beat back those Heartless and Inner Circle creeps!"

"There are still several more of those strange, multicolored symbols that haven't been used yet that are on Al's scepter, yo," admitted Toad.

"We can't depend on that, though, Todd," Spirit pointed out, "There's a possibility that any additional magic will go to other people that are not Misfits, and we would rather not leave your lives and safeties up to chance. And not to mention, we still have no idea on how or why you, Althea, Xi, Trinity, and Lance were given these weapons and whether or not this isn't some kind of twisted game that has us play right into the Hellfire Club's hands."

"It does seem like the sort of stunt for the Hellfire Club and the Thirteenth Order to pull," Blind Master agreed, "After all, no matter what we do, it always seems like they'll be two steps ahead of the game and anticipate whatever we can throw at them."

"And we're definitely not giving the chance for the Thirteen bastards to get a chance to turn all you kids into Heartless and use you as a chance to get to us in some clichéd hostage situation. If Low Light being a Heartless meant that he could use his mutation against you kids, then imagine how hard it'll be if you kids were forced to use your powers on your own teammates! And deep down, you know that's likely," Shipwreck said in a stern tone, completely uncharacteristic of his goofy demeanor. And when the G.I. Joe sailor was worried, then you knew that it was serious.

Daria then asked, her mind trying to find a loophole, "So…none of us can go anywhere to goof off? Not even the Institute or the Watchtower? **_Even us?_**"

"Yes, Daria," Hawk highlighted in a tired voice, "The order applies to all of you with Keyblades and magic as well. Since these pods have been infecting ordinary people, we can't risk having only some of you available to fight and cure whoever was infected, especially since those Keyblades have the ability to make people immune. Althea is certainly needed because her staff can 'cure' people, and the more individuals who can use magic, the better chances we have to protecting our allies and making sure that the Heartless don't go out of hand."

"That's true," Lance remarked worriedly, with Simba at his feet and resting his shaggy mane against the teen's knee, "So far, the Heartless have only been trying to attack the Pit since they want to wipe us out. Can you imagine what would happen if a bunch of Heartless attacked New York or Jump City or even Bayville?"

It was a grim thought.

"In other words, no matter where the Heartless pop up, we're gonna need to be there, yo. All of us who can at least help out," Todd said, a bit depressed. This was not going to be a pleasant point, especially with he and Althea being so close to making further progress on their wedding plans.

"But that stinks! We wanted to go bug the X-Geeks! And Jamie's due for a little kissy-time!" whined Quinn.

"**_I think protecting the world and fighting the Heartless to make sure our friends and the worlds don't die from the Organization is more important, Private!_**" barked Hawk harshly, already losing his temper. The kids and adults fell silent at the angry tone, and the G.I. Joe general managed to reign in his anger before he continued.

"Kids, a lot is falling on you, and these may be the one and only things that can save us and the world from being destroyed, especially if the Gathering of Twilight is made out to be as bad as we've been hinted at. I know it's not fair, but it's the truth. We can't go on half-assed like before; you need to take this seriously."

"I just wish I knew why we were chosen…and why the heck was I given this instead of a Keyblade. Let's face it General Hawk, this staff isn't a weapon like a sword I can use," Althea commented.

"We'll figure it out when we have more facts, Wavedancer," Spirit provided, "Until then, we can't worry about the lack of information and ignore the situation of future Heartless attacks on hand."

Still unwilling to let this go, Pietro argued, "But it isn't good to do nothing but hide! We've got lives outside being Misfits, General Hawk."

"And duty comes first, especially in this case, Private. I am sorry, but my decision stands: I rather have you kids safe until we have more of a surefire way to keep the Heartless from attacking the Pit and endangering all the Joes and you as well. And I don't want you kids dead."

Justin raised his hand as he hesitantly spoke, "Is it all right if I contact Allo about this, sir? He's expecting me this weekend for my visit."

The general nodded, saying, "Inform him that if he any issues, he's free to talk to me about it."

"He isn't going to like this, sir," Justin sighed, biting his lip and already picturing the look of annoyed ire on the Dinosaucer's face when being told that Justin needed to be in close watch and isolation under the Pit and, thus, needed to be cut off from his family for safety reasons. Hawk nodded, commiserating.

"I'll talk to him with you, Justin," Blind Master offered, and Whitelighter along with the other Misfits and their parents gave the African American ninja master an incredulous look of discomfort. Even Hawk could see that it would be like adding gasoline to a fire.

"Why don't** I** talk to him?" Roadblock jumped in quickly, much to Blind Master's chagrin and affront.

"Smart move," muttered Spirit under his breath. While Bambi continued to nuzzle against Xi's hand, the lizard Misfit then asked a question that had been plaguing his mind.

"How are we going to keep safe? I understand that we have Keyblades and magic, but for the other members of our family, how are they to escape out of the Heartless' reach if the Organization can storm past the magical wards the Charmed Ones and Willow cast over our headquarters, not to mention none of the Joes' weapons have greatly fazed them."

"We thought of that, actually," Cover Girl said, "Remember the holding safe-cell that Althea showed you one time when you were here recuperating at the Pit for the first time after Magneto abandoned you? The same underground one you ran to when Cobra attacked? Hawk managed to enforce it with pure adamantium laced with holy water and runes from Raven's magical books from Azarath, and not only that, but Giles and Willow from the Scoobies placed a number of magical protective wards along with the Charmed Ones using a sealing spell from their Book of Shadows. It's even more impenetrable than the other magical wards that the witches have placed all around the Pit before."

"Not that they did much good considering that the Heartless and the Thirteenth Order members are still coming and able to invade our home," Fred sighed with worry.

"It's still better than nothing," pointed out Roadblock.

"But one question: why aren't you putting the Joes in solitary along with us? The ones that aren't…well, 'immune', to the Heartless as Low Light and the others?" Lina asked finally.

"Because unlike you, the Joes have years of training and they can use their weapons and firearms which gives them a slight advantage over our mutant powers," Althea explained tiredly, "Plus, though I really don't agree with you on this, General Hawk, they would prefer to be in the thick of battle and get hurt rather than allow the rest of us to get hurt from the Heartless."

"You're right, we don't agree with that," Wanda said, frowning and offended, "We've proven that we can hold our own in battle, and just because we don't know magic or have Keyblades doesn't mean we'll be easy targets."

"And our safeties aren't worth more than the Joes," Lance protested heatedly.

"I know, Wanda and Lance, but like it or not, those are my orders," Hawk pointed out, and that settled the matter, taking out the real sting of any simmering arguments.

"I guess we'll have to deal with it then," Fred sighed, giving in. Pietro rolled his eyes, but thankfully didn't make a smart remark.

"Hey, Xi…what's your new Keyblade called? You thought up of a name for it?" Daria asked, going off-topic. Xi smiled as he continued to scratch Bambi's head with his claws.

"I have decided to settle on the name 'Rainforest Scale', since my magic now derives from the power of wood and plants and because it will be a testament to how I first met Toad and Roadblock and joined the Misfits," the lizard replied.

"It fits," Blind Master agreed after trying out the name several times in his head.

"A better name should have been '_Is-Meant-For-Pietro-So-He-Won't-Be-Bored-Silly_' Keyblade," Pietro couldn't help but mutter before he could stop himself.

"Shut it, Pietro," Xi and Wanda shot back. Bambi just looked at the speedster before, to everyone's amusement, he stuck his tongue out in a cute yet insultingly bold manner.

---

It was two days later after the discussion with Hawk and when Xi gained his magical powers, and things were still just as boring as ever. True to Hawk's word, Wanda, Pietro, Lina, Fred, and Justin remained under close watch and were forbidden to leave the Pit and the Misfit Manor unless in extreme emergencies. Few attacks by Cobra blighted the world currently, so there was no need for the Misfits to go on missions. Low Light had been released from the medical ward yesterday (and was fussed over to no end by a relieved Cover Girl). Pietro actually attempted to sneak out twice (and got caught and grounded both times thanks to the electromagnetic and infrared sensors Trinity placed on all the doors, windows and chimney). As a result, Quicksilver was now forced to baby-sit Claudius and Beak as punishment during Alfred's days off and that included diaper duty. Fred, Lina, and Justin adapted suitably well to the confinement. Fred and Lina entertained themselves with Fred's cooking in the kitchen (thankfully without any interruptions from Bobby Drake), and Lina had more time to study first-aid and brush up on her medical knowledge with Lifeline and Bree. Justin kept himself busy reading and writing e-mails to the Lavadome and X-Mansion (only to find that Allo was still incredibly angry and Jake wasn't answering back his contacts).

Wanda could understand the cabin fever herself, and though she could tolerate it, a downside of the solitary confinement was that it gave her brother more and more opportunities to play pranks and annoy Wanda (and everyone else) as a way to relieve his boredom.

As Wanda was in her room early afternoon, idly typing a e-mail to the West Coast Misfits, trying to figure out what was the best and nonchalant way to ask about how Craig Starr was doing without seeming smitten or pathetically interested (she'd never live it down), she felt her face burn when she heard smooching, kissing sounds behind her head and over her shoulder. She didn't need to turn to see who it was.

"Pietro…" the gothic girl in heavy makeup growled, "You have one second to leave my room or else I'm going to take this laptop and shove it down your throat."

Being the typical annoying brother (and one had to pity Wanda coincidentally), Pietro said, cooing in a sing-song and grating voice, "Ooooooh! Wanda's got a cru-uush! Wanda's got a cru-uush! Normally, I'd offer drinks and cigars at the prospect that someone out there that actually appeals to you that doesn't look like Marilyn Manson, but then again, if Craig was seriously interested in you, I would be worried on how mentally brain-damaged he would be enough to ask you for a date."

"Get out!" Wanda snarled, throwing a hex, but on cue, the speedster dodged it and the energy-blast went through her bedroom window, shattering the glass. Pietro cackled from the doorway.

"I know whose allowance for the next month will be going!" the silver-haired teen bragged.

"**Get out** or so help me, this laptop will be shoved into the _other_ end if you don't get lost, dear brother," repeated the black-and-red haired sister dangerously.

"Actually, I was meaning to come up here to ask you," Pietro said innocently, "I used up all my clear nail polish and I was wondering if you could lend me yours?"

Wanda was beside herself with disbelief and outrage, feeling her teeth grind against each other as she said in a hard voice, "Let me get this straight: you want me to lend _you_ something after you spent a good part of these past two days annoying the hell out of me?"

"Yes," replied Pietro easily, in the same manner one might say the word "Duh".

"GET LOST!" yelled Wanda as she then hexed the door of her bedroom to slam shut into Pietro's face. But sadly, that wasn't the end of it as Pietro then called out from behind the wooden slab.

"Oh Waaaannnnddddaaaaa…" he called, "Are you missing something? I'll give you a hint: it's black, has whiskers, and is your most cherished stuffed toy."

Wanda looked on her bed to her growing horror that her beloved stuffed animal, the black cat she named "Mr. Stupid", was no longer on its renowned place next to her pillow on her bed. Pietro took Mr. Stupid.

"Give him back, you jerk!" screamed Wanda as she leapt off the bed and ripped the door open with a fury and speed she seldom reached, and the chase was on, Pietro hooting and carrying Mr. Stupid in his hands as he ran away from a furious Wanda, throwing hexbolts all the meanwhile.

The pursuit went down the stairs. Up the stairs. Out of the house. Into the house. Out the window. Through the rosebushes. Up on the roof (don't ask). Down the attic. Down the laundry chute (again, don't ask). Up the basement steps. It was a scene that could do Benny Hill proud, and no one in the Misfit Manor wanted to intervene considering that no one was foolish enough to want to get accidentally blasted by a stray hex-bolt.

Then Wanda finally managed to hex the living room rug to magically come alive and wrap itself around one of Pietro's legs before he could make a quick getaway, and this enabled Wanda to make a grab for her stuffed cat.

"**Give back Mr. Stupid!**" Wanda yelled furiously, feeling her fingers wrap around the cat's body, but as she tightened her hold on her possession, Pietro unfortunately still had a desperate hold on Mr. Stupid's head which only intensified as he pitched forward, tripping on the rub Wanda had hexed. There was a fraction of a second in which the two twins could have sworn time slowed to a crawl, in which both Pietro's body weight was suspended by the slim figure of stitched cotton and fabric pulled by his sister in the opposite direction. Regrettably, physics took hold as the conclusion became inevitable…

_Rriiiiipppp!_

Wanda and Pietro just remained motionless, blinking. Now, instead of a whole stuffed animal, Wanda was left holding the lower portion of Mr. Stupid's body and Pietro, sprawled to the floor, was left holding the ripped remains of Mr. Stupid's head, stuffing popping out.

Pietro gulped. He didn't mean to; it was an accident, a joke that got way out of hand. Unfortunately, Wanda's eyes were wide with fury and disbelief, and all the color drained from her face, making her look even more like a vampire underneath the heavy makeup and her stiffened, enraged body.

There was no question about it; Wanda was absolutely livid.

Wanda's eye twitched, and realizing that the end was nigh, Pietro immediately got down on his hands and knees and prayed under his breath that it would be swift and painless, instantly submitting to whatever his sister would plan for him and knowing that it was better than hiding. Two seconds passed, then ten, but Pietro still waited to the first blow to descend on him. But a noise made him look up.

Wanda had two streams of tears running down her face, and her expression was a mixture of betrayal, hurt, and disbelief. Refusing to give in the urge to break down, the twin sister turned heel and fled without even a word.

Pietro felt like the world's largest heel; out of all the times he had annoyed and teased Wanda, he had **never** made her cry. This was undoubtedly the first time since he seen the wardens escort his sister to the mental asylum when Magneto abandoned her. And since she didn't give in the urge to hit him, it probably meant that she was in a deeper kind of torment that ordinary physical violence wouldn't have settled.

Wanda just stomped out of the Misfit Manor, literally taking Xi and Fred by surprise and causing them to yelp in the kitchen upon seeing the angry rivers and stormy murderous resentment etched on her face, her mascara running. She didn't even realize where she was going as she hurriedly past by the various buildings in the Pit, her surroundings a blur, until she nearly collided into the chest and torso of a soldier. But before she could stumble, two strong and warm arms caught her before a familiar voice cut through her blurry vision.

"Wanda, are you OK?" The Misfit girl looked up to see that she walked into Bree and Lifeline, with Edwin being the one to help the mutant girl to her feet. Upon seeing her crying, Edwin grew concerned. Ever since arriving on the Pit after the destruction of Magneto's asteroid, Bree and Lifeline were the first Joes that helped Wanda and Pietro recover. In fact, they were the first humans the two Maximoff twins grew to trust and feel safe around. Abandoning all pretense, Wanda just hugged Lifeline and buried her face in his chest and allowed the medic's arms to wrap around her soothingly.

"Hey…shhhhh…it's all right, it's all right…" Lifeline said gently, still cradling Wanda against his body comfortingly, feeling her tremble.

Over cups of jasmine and chrysanthemum tea (Bree's favorite) in the infirmary, Wanda morosely explained what happened with Pietro and Mr. Stupid, and Lifeline and Bree just listened respectfully and attentively, understanding. They knew that the stuffed cat was a present from Althea to Wanda as a comfort toy to help her cope when Magneto abandoned them and how G.I. Joe stepped up the plate to assist them in recovery and healing, both mentally and physically. To Wanda, it wasn't just a stuffed animal; it was a symbol of her stability and promise of finally being where she could be at home, where she belonged. A sincere gift.

Despite talking about it, it did little to lessen the feelings of helpless anger and hurt that was still bubbling in her stomach.

Bree got up from the table before she said to Wanda, "I'll go check up on Pietro."

"Why? He's probably gloating and not the least bit sorry," spat out the goth with venom and bitter hurt, but she was surprised when the blond-haired medic placed a soothing hand on her shoulder and corrected her.

"Sweetie, Pietro isn't like that, and you know that deep down, he feels really guilty about it. From what you told us, it sounded like it was really an accident rather than your brother just openly tearing off Mr. Stupid's head because he wanted to."

Wanda just remained stubbornly silent as Bree left, and Lifeline just looked at Scarlet Witch in concern, contemplating. Then Edwin's next words surprised her.

"What hurts for you is not necessarily the fact that Pietro accidentally ruined something important, but that it reminded you of some unpleasant memories of how unfair life was for you in the past."

The red-uniformed medic said more as a statement rather than a question, and Scarlet Witch looked up, a bit surprised that he could pinpoint the exact reasons behind her angst and emotional distress. The Misfit looked hesitant to talk, but the Joe didn't press her as he calmly poured more tea for himself and his friend. It took two additional refills before Wanda then finally spoke.

"He was always Father's favorite."

Edwin just looked at her, his dark brown eyes showing nothing but attentive empathy.

"I hate it…how things are always so good for Pietro while I'm the one who gets royally screwed. I mean, Pietro thinks he can get away with anything, and he never grows up! If he even had one ounce of common sense and maturity, then maybe he would even do dumb stuff like this in the first place! He just needs to grow up, and yet despite how many people try to pound that into him, he never learns!"

Lifeline just sipped his tea while Wanda continued raving, the dam to her emotions and inner psyche breaking even more.

"And the thing that gets me is that he doesn't seem to care about anyone other than himself! When he's hurt, he's all sorry and expects everyone to bow down and make him feel better! But when he hurts other people, he doesn't even care! He just stands by and refuses to accept the consequences and hopes that they settle themselves without needing him to actually do something!"

The Joe remained silent.

"And…I guess I'm jealous of that, that he's had arguably the better deal in this family."

A pause before Wanda drained the last of her tea and bitterly and resentfully admitted, "I know that living with Father was no picnic, but it's obviously a hell of a lot better than staying in a mental institution for a good portion of your life, all because of something you can't control. So Pietro had to live with him! Big freaking whoop! At least he has a power that has no repercussions whatsoever while my abilities can make anything go haywire and made me so dangerous that my own family had to lock me away."

Wanda's mouth thinned out.

"It's so frustrating! Sometimes…I just wish he never existed! I just wish I never had a brother! I'd be a lot happier without him around! I almost **_want_** the Heartless to take him away!"

Then Lifeline spoke, and though soft, it had a hint of honed steel underneath.

"You know that's an ugly thought, Wanda," Lifeline chided. Scarlet Witch still pouted, folding her arms defensively across her chest. Apparently, she still was stubborn.

"In fact, I'm willing to bet that despite all the insensitive things he has done to you, you cannot truly recall a specific instance when Pietro wanted to specifically hurt your feelings out of vindictiveness and spite. And not to mention that you can actively remember when Pietro has tried to do the right thing as well, despite better judgment and his lack of foresight. I daresay that there have been a few times he's tried to do what's right and help you and show that he does care. And you know that deep down, he loves you. It just that unlike you, he has difficulty admitting and showing his emotional side."

Wanda just remained silent, but she reluctantly felt her defenses slipping. Leave it to Lifeline to find chinks in her armor.

"My father, in some ways, was almost exactly like Magneto, and I can understand the frustration at seeing how life would be so much simpler if people change, that the one who's hurt you the most just wakes up to reality and realizes that what they're doing is wrong, and that you could just press a button and make them see things the way you do so that they understand what you've been through. Unfortunately, that's why there's such a thing called the Serenity prayer: _God, grant me to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference_."

"Then why can't he change for once? Why can't he be the better person? Why does it always have to be us who has to cut him slack?" the girl griped.

"Maybe it's because he's scared too."

Wanda gave Lifeline an incredulous look, snorting.

"And what's so scary about it?"

Lifeline gave Scarlet Witch a pitying look before he said, "Only Pietro can best answer that for himself, Wanda."

Neither of them noticed a familiar dog slipping away from the doorway of the infirmary, having listened in on every word…

As it turned out, Bree didn't need to look too far to find Pietro. The Maximoff brother was sulking and thinking sad and dark thoughts in the Pit dojo, idly tracing his finger along one of the padded mats on the floor and hidden in the dim room.

It was clearly obvious that Pietro was feeling incredibly guilty and ashamed, unable to push the image of his sister crying out of his head no matter how many times he tried. Seeing her angry and swearing murderous vengeance was one thing (he had to endure that every day if not every hour of his awakened life), but seeing her cry…well that was a different matter.

Suddenly, there was a sound of movement behind him, and Quicksilver turned, expecting to see his sister ready to kill him in the most gruesome and bloodiest way possible, but to his slight relief, he saw the familiar golden fur and black, floppy ears and tail. It was Pluto.

The canine just amiably patted over towards the mutant, tongue hanging from his mouth as he panted, before he reached next to the speedster and squatted down.

"I suppose you're going to get on my case too, huh?" drawled the teenager rather testily and moodily, but with an affectionate whine, Pluto just rested his head against Pietro's shoulder and nuzzled against him.

Apparently not.

Pietro rolled his eyes, not sure if he was in the mood for company, even if it was a dumb dog. Heck, Pietro testified many times before that he was no animal lover, and Pluto was hardly an exception. Still…

"It's not like I mean it."

Pluto just stayed silent and listened attentively.

"I don't like making Wanda all sad. Yeah, irritating her is one thing because it's all fun and it helps me get by and spread a little cheer and joy to everyone."

Pluto let out a loud snort, and Pietro, though he had no idea why, immediately got defensive.

"Okay, okay…I admit, spreading the joy and cheer for my benefit mostly, although there's nothing wrong with being a prankster! The world needs to stop acting so serious and learn to laugh a little! Yeah, my pranks get a little out of hand -"

There was another snort of disbelief from the dog.

"Okay, okay, **a lot** out of hand, but I always know when to stop! I'm not stupid – oh, don't look at me like that, flea-farm! I didn't say I wasn't a risk-taker! There's a difference! And I don't like to see her cry like that! I feel bad enough as it is! It's not like I'm a sadistic jerk!"

The hound gave the adolescent a tongue-in-cheek look.

"Besides…it's not like she had it worse," Pietro then muttered, and there was a twinge of bitter and wishful thinking in that statement that made Pluto lift his head a bit, puzzled. Though he had no idea why, Pietro then sulked and continued tracing idly on the mat with one finger as he kept talking.

"Wanda may have been in the mental asylum since she was a kid…but she has no idea how easy she had it, how jealous I was of her. She doesn't have to live with the guilt of watching the wardens take her away and being unable to do anything to stop them because you're afraid to anger Father. Wanda doesn't know how much it hurts to remember that I practically betrayed her. And she didn't have to live with him as long as I did."

Pluto murmured as he rubbed his head against Pietro's comfortingly.

"It still haunts me, the fact that I never had much of a childhood," Pietro muttered like a hurt child, "At least when Wanda was in the Brotherhood, he showed a lot more leniency and gave her a lot more praise than I ever got. To tell you the truth, Wanda was probably his favorite, more so than me. He at least showed her that he cared a bit while with me…he was indifferent and I was always a disappointment. I could never really be a kid and run around because he'd discipline me that was not how he wanted me to behave and make him proud. I couldn't have fun because he taught me to fear humans and said that being a mutant has no room for playing and laughing like a normal family. And everything I did to try to prove myself, I was never good enough, resourceful enough, strong enough for his ideals. And I believed it…to the point where I'd come crawling back with my head bowed like an animal."

There was a pause before Pietro then finished with, "I guess that's why I act out so much. I don't want to be ignored. I just want…some attention, something Father never really did for me unless he wanted something or an opportunity to berate my faults."

Pluto then raised his head and affectionately licked the mutant's cheek, pressing his wet nose against the mutant's skin. Pietro was hardly amused.

"Ew! Dog slobber! Thanks a lot!" griped Pietro.

Pluto just panted, not the least bit sorry, and the mutant youth then realized the situation on hand.

"Oh God, I can't believe I'm talking and pouring my guts out to a dog!"

Pluto gave the albino mutant teen a deadpanned look with little sympathy that said somewhere along the lines of, "**_I_** have to listen to you, so how do you think **_I_** feel?"

"Am I interrupting something, Quicksilver?" asked a pleasant and cheery voice from behind, and the mutant speedster turned to see that it was Bree.

"How's Wanda?" Pietro asked quietly, almost ashamed.

Bree gave a soft smile before she knelt down and ruffled Pietro's hair a bit (he let it pass) before she answered, "She's got her feelings hurt and cried a bit, but I think it'll take some time and more than a simple apology to fix this one, kiddo. Give it time. Me and Lifeline helped her see that you didn't mean to, but it left a lot of raw feelings she's been having for some time that she hasn't resolved yet."

Pietro remained shamefaced and silent before he piped up right before the woman left the dojo.

"Does she hate me?"

Bree turned with a sad smile. Even with his cocky attitude and pompousness, Pietro had his periods of vulnerability as well, though he would rarely let them manifest much to his detriment.

"Pietro, there's no need for me to respond to a question you already know the answer to. From what I can see, you can do two things: sit there and wonder or try your best to make amends."

The Joe medic then left, leaving Pietro conflicted.

Later that afternoon, when Pietro and Pluto finally decided that it was best to go back home and see if Wanda came back…

"Hey, what's going on?" Pietro asked as he got back to the Misfit Manor, only to catch a fleeting glimpse of the Misfit handlers followed by Trinity, Toad, Wavedancer, Xi, and Lance teleporting out of the living room via the Mass Device. Fred, Lina, and Justin were left behind along with the two babies, Claudius and Barney, along with the parrot, Polly.

Fred turned to Pietro and hurriedly explained with some worry, "We just got a call from General Hawk! Another Heartless has been spotted, and it's in Jump City, where the Teen Titans are!"

"What? Then why aren't we – oh, right," Pietro protested before he caught himself, recalling Hawk's talk with the Misfits two days ago. He then kicked the carpet in frustration at being left out.

"It's better this way, Pietro," sighed Lina as she picked up Beak, "We'd be in the way, especially since these Heartless would use our attacks to power themselves up, and our parents just want us to be safe. They'll be able to handle it without us."

"At least on the upside, the Justice League and Teen Titans are there to help out and make sure the Heartless is contained, so it's not like Jump City will be in big danger. And at least the Pit's not being attacked," Justin added optimistically.

"Awk! Nice way of jinxing it, chubby-cheeks!" Polly crowed, squawking. Justin gave Pietro a tired frown.

"You **had** to teach Polly that nickname, didn't you?" Whitelighter muttered. The albino speedster just grinned shamelessly, showing all his teeth. Pluto just rolled his eyes.

At the same time, Wanda was still hanging around the infirmary with Lifeline and Bree, unaware of what was happening with her family and friends. The female Misfit still wasn't in the mood to go back home and deal with her brother, and understanding, she was allowed to just hang out while the two Joe medics stocked their medical bay.

"I guess I'll be visiting here more often now since I'm confined to the Pit until this entire Heartless fiasco is settled," sighed Wanda as she helped Bree fold clean and sterile sheets for one of the infirmary beds.

"Still, Hawk just wanted you kids safe, and considering that these creatures get more power and strength from absorbing anything from the X-Gene, it's to be expected. Though I will agree with you: it plain sucks to be stuck here while everyone else is having fun fighting," giggled the blond nurse as she tucked in one corner of the bedsheet underneath the mattress.

"I hardly call fighting and warfare fun, Bree," scolded the pacifistic Lifeline, though he had a playful gleam in his eye, as he restocked the penicillin boosters supply, "We still haven't fully fixed the holes in the infirmary walls after Beach Head and Spirit had been infected into Heartless."

"On the upside, we now have a stunning view of the obstacle courses," quipped Bree.

"And Lifeline, Bree…I didn't say this before…but thanks, for listening, and…and for everything," Wanda then sheepishly admitted, displaying a rare smile.

"Anytime you need a friend who's not a Misfit or your parent, we're here for you and the others, Wanda. Don't forget that," Lifeline replied warmly.

"How touching," a cold voice echoed all around the room, and though she had no idea why, Scarlet Witch had a feeling of dread and horror, as if she knew what it meant, and her worst fears were only confirmed as the man materialized out of thin air in front of them.

That black cloak. Oh God, that meant…

Before Wanda could do anything, Bree's reflexes were faster as she deftly took a metal tray nearby and flung it at the head of Lexaeus, but with barely any indication of effort, the brawny, brown-haired man simply batted it to the side with his weapon, and to Wanda's astonishment, it was a black, yellow, and red tomahawk, almost like a mixture between a sword and an axe. Still, it was obviously a distraction as Bree rushed towards the warrior before letting loose a ferocious and flying kick at the opponent's head, intent on taking him down fast and quickly. Wanda then aimed a hex-bolt directly at the man's weapon, but with ease, Lexaeus blocked the energy-burst, having it crackle and fade harmlessly, before he grabbed Bree's foot before it could collide with his jaw. With a grunt, Bree found herself crashing against the hard countertops of the infirmary, her body colliding against the numerous supplies and glass doors, sinking to the ground and with blood running down her forehead and back.

"Ohhh…" she groaned, nearly sobbing, and Lexaeus decided to act as he took one of the Heartless pods Hamilton gave him and magically shot it at the nurse.

"No!" screamed Wanda as she tried to use her powers to blast the Heartless pod and veer it off-course, but like the previous experiments, the chaos energy actually was absorbed by the spore and left it unhindered as it burrowed into Bree's back. The nurse screamed in pain, curdling into a fetal position as she began the inward and agonizing transformation. Lexaeus then threw the second pod at the mutant teenager, but now coming to his senses, Lifeline did a noble sacrifice.

"Wanda, move!" he yelled as he got in front of the girl and shoved her to the floor and took the pod full-blast, and with that, the second spore burrowed into the man's chest with a flourish. Wanda just sat there, stunned and petrified with horror as Lifeline fell to his knees, hissing and clutching his body, trying to keep himself from falling apart and he trembled and quivered from the darkness eating away at his soul and heart.

Lexaeus just smirked; though he was normally not a person for words, this would be entertaining to say the least.

"Wanda…go! Warn…the others!" Lifeline managed to croak, his eyes now turning yellow as both he and Bree began their drastic and dire metamorphosis. Lifeline managed to feel some relief as Scarlet Witch hurriedly dashed out of one of the tarp-covered holes in the walls, following the advice of the medic and making her escape. Lexaeus made no attempt to stop her; she would lose her heart sooner or later anyway.

That was the last sight Lifeline saw before he lost consciousness.

---

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" chanted Raven as she invoked streams of dark, telekinetic shadows from thin air, assembling together in her hands before a massive web of energy shot out from the white-cloaked adolescent and promptly ensnared the Hellfire Heartless (the exact same type that attacked San Francisco during the siege for the Nexus and the one that attacked the Pit while chasing Pluto) before it could try to stomp on Low Light and Spirit while they fired from high-powered grenade-launchers at their opponent. And since Raven's powers were not derived from the X-Gene, the Hellfire Heartless gained no additional power boost from her interference.

It worked, and the black experiment from the Thirteenth Order roared as the chains formed from the Titan's power held it fast, preventing it from moving a step further. Which allowed Starfire to swoop down, hammering an aerial array of green starbolts and peppering the monster with multiple hits in the back and head, leaving thick scorch marks. Enraged, the gargantuan ogre then actually managed to summon multiple shafts of black lightning to rain down on the Justice League, the Titans, and the Misfits.

"I got it!" yelled Green Lantern, summoning a force-field with his ring while the Flash darted in and out of the strikes, grabbing Cover Girl and the Titan, Cyborg, out of harm's way since they were out of range of the ring's protection.

"Nice one, Flash!" Robin yelled as he hurled several explosive Birdarangs at the black creature, but then immediately afterwards, there was a sharp shriek of outrage from Cover Girl followed by the sounds of several punches making contact with one's body.

"You jerk!" Courtney was heard screaming over the sounds of the beat-down.

"_Ack!_ My hand – _erk!_ – it slipped, I – _gak!_ – I swear!" Wally was heard protesting as best as he could despite Cover Girl now straddling the Justice League member on the ground and wringing his neck with her hands, squeezing mercilessly.

"You'd think he'd learn one of these days," sighed Martian Manhunter. Meanwhile, under the protection of the emerald refuge from John, Trinity finished analyzing the Heartless' data with their scanners while Shipwreck and Roadblock fired simultaneously from their guns, aiming dead-center in the chest, head, and right between the eyes.

"Trinity, isn't that Heartless made up of someone we know?" Beast Boy asked, apprehensive and on pins and needles.

"No, it isn't!" Daria exclaimed, the conclusion coming to her head.

"We're not sure why, but our scanners can't detect anyone inside this thing! Whatever it was created from, it wasn't from a human being or any other being! This thing is empty! Not like the Joes that got infected back home!" Brittany yelled over her communicator for everyone to hear.

"Then there's no need for me to use my staff then because there's no one I need to free from the Heartless in the first place!" Wavedancer said, catching on.

"Exactly! Why waste the energy?" Quinn nodded.

"Then it's free for killing without repercussion!" Hawkgirl snarled as she swooped down right before Raven's telekinetic hold gave away, and with one swipe, the Thanagarian buried the head of her mace deep into the back of the skull of the Heartless, the weapon immersing into the flesh with a sickening squelch.

That gave Wavedancer the perfect opportunity to use her magic as the Heartless pitched forward onto its knees, weakened and dazed enough to allow the female angel to fly out of the way as the Misfit leader raised a hand over her head, invoking crystal streams from thin air.

"Aquara Water Dragon!" and with a thunderous roar, the horned serpent, shimmering in the sunlight, rushed towards the Heartless and struck it full into the torso, sending it flying and thoroughly drenched with enough force to break every bone in its body. Despite its injury, the Heartless summoned another blast of dark lightning, but this enabled Genie to act as he was summoned out of Toad's Amphibionian Keyblade.

"Sorry, you are temporarily in a no-lightning zone," Genie stated in a whimsical tone as he transformed into a blue lightning rod, absorbing all the lethal attacks from a safe distance without having it touch a single one of the heroes, "In accordance to our 'No-Ugly-Heartless' policy, we are sorry to inform you that your fine for this violation will be a nice big helping of pain followed by immediate demise."

With that, Toad and Xi both let loose a terrific battle cry as they soared towards the Heartless thanks to a mighty heave into the air by Superman and Wonder Woman. Drawing out their Amphibionian and Rainforest Scale Keyblades, both the mutant teenagers, remembering their years of training with Blind Master, swiped as hard as they could as they flew by the Heartless' neck.

**_Slash!_**

With a shudder and a death whimper, the head of the abomination detached from the shoulders before it died, disintegrating into black smoke.

"All right! Scratch one Heartless, y'all!" Cyborg cheered.

"Victory!" squealed Starfire with exuberant glee.

"Not exactly, you sorry bunch of deluded lackeys," a voice rang out from behind, and oddly enough, it sounded similar to the lingo and tone of a surfer dude. They all turned to see a battle-hardened man in the infamous black cloak and robe of the Organization Thirteen, and the man was wielding strange, purple-colored claws that looked similar to spiked gunblades. The enemy had a massive, ugly scar running across his left cheek and over his right eye, he wore a black eye-patch, a testament to some fierce and dangerous battle from long ago. His dark, purple hair had several streaks of gray in it, and his long tresses were tied back in a ponytail.

"You!" growled Hawkgirl as she and the other heroes readied themselves for a counterattack.

Xigbar actually ignored the Thanagarian and looked at the Misfits as they armed themselves with their Keyblades, scoffing, "Hmph, so you're the Keyblade wielders. Normally, I'd consider you kids as threats, but boy, did the Fates blow it!"

He laughed at the private joke, clutching his stomach with one hand, and having enough, Superman, Flash, and Low Light all decided to tackle him at once, blitzing him, but to their amazement, all their attempts to grab and punch the servant of the Thirteenth Order were in vain. Their fists just passed through, and it was clear their opponent was phased in an intangible state exactly like Shadowcat or J'onn's powers.

"What the hell? We can't even touch the bastard!" Low Light cursed.

The man continued, not showing any indication that he was bothered, pointing at the Misfits, "Man, did they choose duds this time! You Misfits are nothing like the Keyblade wielders before you! Taking over this planet will be easier than any of us thought! You're all so easy to fool!"

"Huh? What did he just say, yo?" Toad blinked. Other Keyblade wielders? _Before them?_

But instead of clarifying, the man then vanished in a plume of black aura before any of the heroes could attempt to stop or follow the evil warrior.

"Wait…something doesn't seem right," Roadblock announced, frowning, "Why summon the Heartless and show up if he's not going to fight?"

"He has a point," Robin agreed, "I mean, why attack with just one Heartless in Jump City? And not infect anyone in the meanwhile? It's not exactly a tactic you use to invade an entire city and to be a match for all of us and those Keyblades…unless…"

The human vigilante trailed off, but Batman the guessed it before everyone else.

"The Pit…" he said solemnly without emotion.

"Shit, it was a decoy!" cursed Low Light, his face going white underneath the red goggles.

---

"Scarlet Witch, run! Go to the cell like you've been ordered, Private!" roared Beach Head as he and the other Joes fired repeatedly upon the two Heartless that were once their valued medics, Lifeline and Bree. Not too far away, the lone Organization member, Lexaeus was spying on the battle, giving command to his now brainwashed servants.

"Ignore the Joes," he said coldly, "Your targets are the remaining Misfits. Follow the girl and she will lead you to the others."

With that, the two dark creatures ambled past the various bullets and missiles that struck them over and over as they charged with moderate speed. Bree was now a tall, femininely-curved black-skinned Heartless with stunning yellow eyes, almost cat-like, and wearing metallic red-armor that formed a breast-plate, arm and leg guards, and a tasteful metal thong. The Heartless' face was covered, however, with a red face-guard bearing the Heartless symbol. And what made it worse was the fact that the Heartless was additionally wielding three, three-pronged, whirling blades similar to the blades of a helicopter, with two of the weapons in the Heartless' hands. The female Heartless was actually standing on the third whirling blade, balancing on the center on one leg, like an acrobat balancing on a ball in the circus.

On the other hand, Lifeline was transformed into the stark contrast. He was an ape-like Heartless with red, pimply skin, laced with bumps and grotesque, acidic boils, rough and yet surprisingly resistant to the numerous bullets being fired upon it. There was no question about it; Lifeline's Heartless was monstrously revolting and repulsive. This Heartless additionally had wide yellow eyes, no nose, and a gaping mouth of white, triangular teeth. And along with the Heartless symbol on the center of its chest, the Heartless had ten glowing purple spikes on each hand growing from its skin, and upon a closer look, they were oversized needles of energy, slim and poisonously deadly.

"Private, get going!" Beach Head roared, but ignoring the Joe, Scarlet Witch ran off to the side in a safe distance before, in an act of inspiration, used her probability manipulation on the floor with a snap of her fingers. Like clockwork, the ground beneath both of the Heartless' feet crumbled and turned into mud, the spongy ground now too soft and slick to support their body weight. Now enraged, the Heartless that was once Lifeline held out its forearms before it fired, and in an instant, the whole field was besieged with sharp needles, the energy making them so hot that they easily pierced through metal and concrete. Taking this as a cue, the female Heartless then used the two helicopter blades in its claws before they began to spin at incredible velocities, and with a flourish, actual pressurized blades of air flew out, the atmosphere rippling as the projectiles rushed by as sharp as any knife.

"Yow! These guys are throwing everything they can at us!" yelped Tripwire as he dove for cover before one of Bree's air-blades could slice off his head.

"And watch it! These things are powerful!" the Joe Big Lob yelled over his communicator as one particular energy needle from Lifeline gouged directly through the armored tank he had been hiding behind while reloading his rifle.

Dusty couldn't help but gripe as he jumped over another energy projectile, "Anyone else find it ironic that our two pacifistic Joes in the group make really violent Heartless in the first place?"

Meanwhile, Lina, Pietro, Justin, Fred, the babies, and Polly were watching this fight on the monitors of the reinforced bunker Hawk had instructed them, only to see to their horror that the Joes were heavily losing ground and Scarlet Witch still was in the thick of battle.

"Oh no! She's not coming here like she's supposed to!" Justin gasped.

"I'll go after her," started Fred, but Pietro stopped the fat mutant before he could take another step towards the door.

"Hold it!" Pietro said strongly, "Only a complete and worthless idiot would do something as stupid as gets himself or herself killed for Wanda's sake and leave the safety of solitary!"

There was a tense and confused silence for a moment or two before the mutant teenager then added rather cheekily before zooming off.

"Which is why **I'm** going!"

"Hey!" protested Blob, but with a clang, Pietro closed and locked the door, preventing his three teammates from leaving the safe haven and going off on his own.

"Did anyone else see the hypocrisy in that statement?" Lina finally asked wryly as she picked up Beak.

"This is Pietro we're talkin' about, Lina. 'Hypocrite' is his middle name," Fred quipped.

"I thought you said yesterday that his middle name was 'obnoxious'," Justin pointed out, despite his apprehension, carrying Claudius.

"Pietro's got enough middle names to make a list," Fred clarified dryly.

"You guys…" Lina gasped, dawning, at Justin and Fred, "Where's Pluto?"

They all looked around, but what the insect-girl has said was true; the golden-furred hound was not in the holding bunker with them…

Meanwhile, Wavedancer and her group along with the Justice League and the Teen Titans teleported immediately back to the Pit, only to find that to their horror, the Mass Device was diverted from their original destination. They were once again outside the boundaries of the G.I. Joe headquarters, unable to appear in the thick of the battlefield because of yet _another_ energy barrier that was encompassing the entire center of operations.

"Damn it!" swore Blind Master, his hand tightening its grip on his steel katana. The Organization's handiwork again.

"Those clorbag varblernelks! It is another barrier of Q'aylath! Those Order of Thirteen have created this barrier to stop us from helping out our friends!" Starfire gasped, now fearful that there would be no way to assist the other Misfits before it was too late.

"And none of us have ever managed to find a way to penetrate through these blocks, no matter how long we tried to study and find on back at the Watchtower and Titans Tower," Green Lantern commented worriedly.

"And it's strong! The energy readings from this magic spell are too high for our scanners to measure and detect any structural weaknesses! If it can't allow Martian Manhunter to phase past it, then it's probably resistant to energy attacks and airtight as well!" Quinn stated with dread as she analyzed the readings on her pink scanner.

"Genie, do something, yo! It's magical, right? Then break it with your magic!" Toad begged.

"Badda-bing, badda-boom! Rock and roll, shake and jam, what we need is a battering ham!" Genie cried, rolling up his sleeves in a fashion before wiggling both of his fingers and creating a rainbow of sparks and cosmic aura. With a poof, an actual gigantic roast ham appeared before it flew and struck the magical shield with enough force to hammer down a mountain, and indeed, it was so powerful that the ground actually quaking significantly.

Unfortunately, the barrier still held fast, with not even the slightest scratch.

"Hmmm…I should have tried a battering _Spam_…" mused Genie, scratching his head.

"Um…don't you mean 'battering **_ram_**', Genie?" Cyborg asked, not sure whether this was funny or pathetic.

"Now where's the fun in that?" Genie blinked.

"Nice to see you find this funny, you immature spirit!" snapped Wonder Woman angrily, hands on her hips and annoyed thoroughly at the childishness of the Disney summon, "Our comrades and allies may be in mortal peril and all you can do is spout off crude and tasteless jokes!"

Simba then turned to Avalanche, his ember eyes relaying his message for his friend telepathically.

_Wait, there may be a way…Lance, use your Keyblades._

"Huh?" gasped Lance, startling those around him.

_They are tools of great power; if there is a way to break the seal the Organization placed here, it would be through the Keyblades_, repeated Simba firmly, his voice serious and solemn.

Spirit guessed what Simba and Lance were doing and he asked, "Avalanche, what is Simba saying?"

"He says use the Keyblades! If there's a way to break the barrier, it can be done through the Keyblades!" Avalanche repeated.

"Is this true?" Shipwreck asked Genie for confirmation who looked as lost and wary as they did.

"Hey, I'm not sure! In cases like this, anything can happen! There's a lot of stuff I don't know about the Keyblades!" the spellcaster said back honestly, wide-eyed and clueless.

"We've got nothing to lose by trying! **Do it!**" ordered Wavedancer sternly as she drew out her staff and pointed the crystal head at the barrier. In unison, Toad, Trinity, Avalanche, and Xi drew out their respective weapons as well, and for a few tense several seconds, everybody did not dare say a word as the seven Misfits stood there, legs apart, eyes closed, and concentrating everything they had on wishing that the barrier would be gone.

Then to everyone's surprise, Wavedancer's scepter, Toad's Amphibionian, Trinity's Trichrona, Avalanche's Steel Quartz, and Xi's Rainforest Scale all began to glow a respective dark blue, orange, pink, brown, and green light, radiating softly before a giant keyhole actually shimmered into the visible spectrum, appearing right on the surface of the barrier.

With a gleam, the keyhole clicked before the entire barrier disintegrated before the allies' very eyes.

"The force-field! It's gone! Dude, you just unlocked the force-field!" Beast Boy gasped.

"Whoa…what a rush…" Daria said, opening her eyes and suddenly realizing she was a little light-headed from using the magical life-force of the Keyblade.

"Well, come on then! The barrier's down and I'm not waiting for an invitation! The Jerk-Off won't be able to do anything without us helping and saving his sorry butt!" the Flash griped before he, Superman, and Wonder Woman sped off with the heroes following behind.

Meanwhile, the two Heartless had managed to free themselves and were attempting to stomp towards Scarlet Witch, firing their energy projectiles at her and the mutant found it difficult to find a way to use her mutant powers to effectively without powering up the Hellfire Heartless. Then, before she could find herself subjected to certain death, a silver blur snatched her away and carried her to a safe distance from behind the Heartless, and out of their range of sight, the two dark monsters were thoroughly confused as they looked around, despite the numerous Joes still firing upon them.

"Are you OK, Wand?" Quicksilver asked, truly worried, but the first emotion that came to the red-and-black haired goth was anger, feeling the sting of the hurt from her brother still ripping off Mr. Stupid's head.

"Leave me alone, you jerk!" Wanda snapped, shoving her brother aside. Pietro, instead of being defensive, just looked…pained.

"Hey, I'm tryin' to help you here! We need to get back to the bunker where it's safe!" he protested.

"Oh like you care!" the female Misfit shot back with malice as she tried to side-step past her brother, but Quicksilver grabbed her arm, risking it even though she would most likely punch him.

"Hey, I'm sorry, all right? Yeah, I'm a jerk and an insensitive clod who doesn't think, but I do care! You're not the only one who's worried! So quit being stupid! You want to die here?"

"Oh screw it!" Scarlet Witch snapped, her eyes brimming, "That's Lifeline and Bree! The Organization infected them in the infirmary! Don't you get it? **Those Heartless are Lifeline and Bree!**"

Pietro went numb as the two aforementioned Heartless managed to spot the pair of Misfits and began to charge again. Like Wanda, Pietro had nothing but good feelings and hidden affection for the two medics. Making up her mind, Scarlet Witch wrenched her arm free before she used her powers to hex a lone oil barrel to go flying directly into the enemy, the metal canister cracking upon impact and soaking the two creatures of the Organization with black liquid. Enraged, Lifeline fired some additional energy needles at the female youth, and on instinct, Wanda tried to hex the needles away with a brush of her hand.

In retrospect, the mutant should have realized that if the Hellfire Heartless could become stronger by absorbing mutant energies, then by the same token, their weapons also followed suit. And Wanda was stunned as the energy needles grew the moment the blue chaos-energy collided with the projectiles, causing them to grow as large as wooden logs. The mutant could only gasp as they headed towards her, but Quicksilver was thankfully faster as she zoomed by and carried her out of danger a hair-width's away from being impales. Unfortunately, though Wanda managed to narrowly evade them, her brother was not so lucky…

"Aaah!" Quicksilver squealed, howling, and Scarlet Witch could see that one energy needle actually managed to piece through the speedster's ankle, crippling it and wounding the foot horrifically.

"No…" gasped the girl as the other Heartless was about to let loose its helicopter blades upon the two, but seeing as how its attention was focused solely on the mutants, it didn't see Superman, Wonder Woman, and Flash all simultaneously tackle the two ogres with a fury of punches and strikes.

"Don't worry! We'll hold them off! And the other Misfits and Joes are coming!" Superman yelled as he and the other two members of the Justice League did their best to avoid the mad swipes of the Heartless' claws. Meanwhile, Wanda couldn't help but feel incredibly stupid and angry, but deep down, she was more infuriated at herself for getting her brother hurt than actually at Pietro's foolishness.

Not that she would admit it openly.

"You idiot! What are you trying to prove?" Wanda shouted as she tired to help her brother up. Pietro just glared, narrowing his eyes.

"Hey, why should you be the only one fighting? You think I'm just going to stand by and let you get killed? If anything, I'm not leaving you! And if you're not going back to the bunker, then I'm not either! At least not without you!" he growled.

"If you think this makes up for what you did to Mr. Stupid…" Scarlet Witch muttered.

"I know it doesn't, and that's not why I'm trying to help you! Geez Wanda, don't make me admit it, and I know you know why I'm trying to save your sorry butt! And you're not the only one who wants to help Lifeline and Bree, especially after everything we owe the Joes!"

Wanda however wasn't listening as she was then too busy staring at Pietro in growing, confounded astonishment.

"Whoa…I feel…weird," confessed Quicksilver, holding one hand to his head to dull the pounding headache. Scarlet Witch then gasped as her eyes hurriedly spotted a faint gleam of light from her brother's forehead.

It was one of the colored crests that she herself had spotted on Althea's staff, the one colored silver, purer than any shiny dime or coin she had ever seen before in her life. It consisted of an orb and on the left side of the orb was a jagged, three-pronged curve that remarkably looked similar to the outline of a bat's wing. A simple sigil of wind.

"Wow…" blinked Wanda, realizing what this meant, "Pietro, I think you can use magic! You can save Lifeline and Bree!"

"HUH?" yelped a rather confused and annoyed Pietro before he too stopped at stared at Wanda while his raven-haired sister was trying to urgently drive the point home.

"Pietro, you're forehead's glowing one of those marks we've seen on Wavedancer's scepter! Will you stop standing there and looking like a complete idiot? Your forehead's glowing like it did for Xi and Lance! You can use magic now! So stop gawking and use whatever it is to save Lifeline and Bree!"

Quicksilver was now jabbering like an idiot as he kept staring and pointing at his sister.

"Oh, will you quit goofing off?" shrieked Wanda, feeling a sudden urge to slap her brother senseless, "Just do something, dammit! I swear, if you let Bree and Lifeline die, I'll never forgive you!"

"Uh, Wanda? Your head's glowing too…" Pietro babbled uncertainly, his mouth opening and closing like a goldfish.

Wanda then realized what Pietro was indicating as she then noticed that her hand was slightly bathed in a faint tint of red, as if there was a light source radiating from her body. Scarlet Witch then managed to duck a nearby energy needle from Lifeline as she somehow miraculously found a puddle of water and looked into her reflection on the ground. There, to her jolted amazement, was a miniature symbol of red now glowing on her forehead amid her black bangs. It consisted of a red, filled circle, glowing brightly like fire, and on the right side of the circle was a flickering curve of red snaking around and pointing to the top, like the outline of the flame on a candlestick. And on the bottom, pointing downwards, was an equilateral diamond.

And before Wanda could actually figure out what to do with this, two orbs of beautiful light materialized in front of both Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, the two of them immersed under the radiance of silver and red.

"Amazing…" Scarlet Witch could only gasp, realizing what it meant after witnessing it happening to her friends, touched and humbled at the same time of being chosen.

"Meh, I only knew it was a matter of time," bragged her less-than-modest twin as the light faded, instantly jovial and getting over his shock.

Indeed, now both the Maximoff twins were the proud owners of their own Keyblades. Pietro's was a beautiful silver and white, sparkling and somewhat translucent, as if made out of colored glass. The blade portion was shorter than normal, about three feet or so, and the mouth of the key consisted of a complex series of intricate and artistic spiraled silver metal, forming a Victorian spear head. The tip of the blade itself was pointed with a sharpened fragment of white marble, and the rainguard was also a circle of white marble, but stamped on the stone was a silver "M". Connected to the rainguard rock was a heart-shaped cross-guard made of the same translucent, shimmering material the rod of the Keyblade was made of, and the grip was soft and velvety. And hanging from the pommel of white marble was a silver keychain with a silver emblem of a winged foot.

On the other hand, Scarlet Witch's Keyblade was made of lightweight red and black material, not exactly metal or rock and was as smooth as bone. And to her surprise when she grasped it, it was pleasantly warm, as if radiating heat from a furnace within. The cross-guard and rod of the Keyblade was as black as obsidian rock, and the blade portion of the Keyblade was longer than Pietro, certainly capable of being used as a fine broadsword. And the mouth of the key consisted of three horizontal, red, sharpened rods, and when Wanda took a closer look, she saw that each mouthpiece was shaped to form a single red flame. And hanging from a ruby pommelstone was a black keychain bearing a medallion ingeniously shaped into a red witch's hat. However, like Pietro's, on the rainguard of the weapon was an emblazoned, red "M".

Two Keyblades for the twins, each depicting the first letter of their last name "Maximoff". A testament for the brother and sister. Then a calm yet cheery voice explained softly, echoing in their heads.

_Zephyr and Vengeful Blaze…Keyblades of the Aeroga and Fira Kingdoms…_

Neither of them noticed Pluto watching all this calmly from underneath an Army Jeep, his eyes glowing a never-ending cycle of red and silver, fluctuating slowly under the dim shade of the vehicle. The canine gave a soft smile; the twins were in good hands now. And Althea and the others arrived just in time.

"Wavedancer, those Heartless! They're Lifeline and Bree! Oh my God, the Organization must have infected them while we were in Jump City!" Brittany exclaimed in horror as she and her sisters scanned them.

"Bastards!" yelled Avalanche as Toad and Xi then teamed up their magic attacks, knowing they needed to weaken the two experiments in order to free the infection pods from the Joes even though they were risking depleting all their magical reserves.

"Thundaga Blitzclap Pressure!"

"Woodra Leafblight Revolution!"

Unfortunately, despite the tremendous display of the energized cloud of glowing leaves crackling with electricity gulfing the two opponents, it apparently didn't injure them as much as the Misfits hoped it would as Lifeline and Bree then began to fire their projectiles at the new arrivals, their hides charred and smoking but still hardy enough to not have Althea's staff have any effect on them.

"Take them down! They're still kicking!" Shipwreck yelled, firing his dual Eagles, and in response, the Misfits, Joes, Titans, and Justice League charged, attacking as best as they could while worriedly trying to avoid getting killed by the numerous blades and harpoons being thrown their way to cut them down.

The voice then spoke directly to Scarlet Witch's psyche and consciousness.

_Wanda, you have an ally. Summon him with your Keyblade and he'll help you rescue your friends…I know you care about them which is why he'll help you and remain true to you and your family._

Wanda instantly followed the instructions, not even bothering taking the time to question the voice. After all, Lance, Althea, Xi, Todd, and the Triplets have trusted the mysterious voice in their testimonies to find that no setbacks happened so far, and there was no reason to mistrust the voice now. And the girl also knew that logically, if the voice was working for the Organization, then why help them fight the Heartless?

"**_Give me strength!_**" yelled Scarlet Witch, and before she even knew what she was doing, she expertly twirled around her Keyblade by its grip like how a cheerleader twirls a baton before she pointed the blade of her weapon downwards the stabbed the head of the key into the ground. On the instant Scarlet Witch's Keyblade came in contact with the earth, veins of red snaked everywhere around her, forming a lattice of steaming cracks over red-hot coals and lava. A figure them flew out of the ground before roaring to the heavens above, but to the twin's surprise, the figure was only at best three feet tall. It was slim, snake-like, but had fragile, twig-like, clawed hands and feet and was as red as the deepest ruby with an orange, scaled belly. It additionally had orange whiskers and miniature blue horns atop of its head and wide, playful white eyes with black pupils before the fires faded and the sunlight revealed it to be a small, red Chinese dragon.

"I am Mushu!" cheered the dragon in a high-pitched yet cocky and reassuring tone of voice as he perched on Wanda's head, his claws digging into her black hair.

"No way!" gasped Scarlet Witch.

Pietro made a dirty face as he commented with disdain, "You've got to be kidding me! Whoever's been choosing whatever Disney characters to help us has really been losing whatever sanity he had left! We've been sent a little lizard to fight the Heartless? Oh gee, I can see the Organization guys quaking in their cloaks on _this_ one!"

"Dragon!" snapped Mushu, "**_Dra-gon!_** Not lizard! I don't do that tongue thing!"

Then to contradict this statement, Mushu unconsciously and automatically flickered out his forked tongue.

"Mushu," begged Scarlet Witch, hoping to break the argument, "Please, we need you to help us! Two of our friends have been transformed into Heartless and we need to stop them before they hurt our other friends and change them back to normal! Please! I normally don't ask nicely, but this is important!"

"You got it!" yelled Mushu as he let loose a rapid fireball attack instantly from his mouth, a stream of tiny red pellets flying in a steady stream, like machine-gun bullets. And since Lifeline and Bree were still covered with oil from the time Wanda hexed the fuel barrel, Mushu's dragon fire had an explosive, combustive effect as Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Flash got back hurriedly.

**Kaboom!** Both Bree and Lifeline howled as the flames started to spread all over their skins and armor.

"Yow, it just made them even madder!" Fred gasped as he, Lina, and Justin looked on, running to the field. They decided to go help out Wanda and Pietro, against Hawk's orders, and left Claudius and Beak back in the bunker, with Polly watching them.

_Wanda, Pietro…use your magic._

"And how do we do that?" snapped Quicksilver sarcastically, "Want me to wiggle my ears and say 'bippiddy-boppidy-boo'?"

The voice had a touch of annoyance in it as it clarified, _Please be serious. The blessings of Fira and Aeroga are now a part of you. Pietro, you have the power of Aeroga, the wind Kingdom. Wanda, you have the power of Fira, the fire Kingdom. Search deep inside, and it'll give you the words to say._

The two Heartless then immediately decided to try one last attempt to fulfill the Organization's orders as they abandoned all pretenses and fired a devastating and unavoidable barrage of projectiles at Scarlet Witch and the injured Quicksilver. With such a huge array and so spread out, there was no way the Maximoff twins would be able to narrowly dodge it.

"Kids!" hollered Shipwreck and Blind Master in dread, but Pietro and Wanda surprisingly didn't make any indication that they were scared.

Wanda looked at her sibling, and despite knowing the truth, she couldn't help but rib mercilessly, "You sure you're not going to run away?"

Quicksilver looked at Scarlet Witch with determination before he said strongly, "Not this time. Not to Lifeline and Bree."

She nodded, satisfied, the two Maximoff twins united as Pietro then flung out a hand, feeling the warm yet fleeting and ephemeral surge of turbulent forces of magic welling inside his soul, making him feel like a tornado was threatening to break loose from his body. This was the power of the magic inside him. The silver-haired speedster just stood there, his back straight and his legs locked, his left outstretched hand starting to glow a silver light while his right hand and pressed and supporting his left arm to keep it steady as the air all around began to shimmer.

"AEROGA…GUARDIAN HURRICANE!"

To everyone's surprise, an actual sphere of violent and fierce winds then suddenly encapsulated both Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch the instant before the two Heartless' attacks struck, and for a fleeting moment, everyone couldn't tell what would happen as the bubble of silver air currents and typhoons collided with the energy needles and air-blades.

They didn't need to worry. With a simple noise, Quicksilver's magic reflected back each and every one of the attacks straight back at the opponents, and the Hellfire Heartless both roared and screamed as their bodies were brutally sliced with the blades, the needles painfully stuck into the faces and torsos.

"Whoa!" Toad and Beast Boy couldn't help but marvel aloud.

"Wanda, it's all yours!" Quicksilver grinned.

Scarlet Witch then pleaded softly to herself as she brought her hands close together in front of her, "Please, let me free Lifeline and Bree. Give me the magic to help save them."

Upon those words, Scarlet Witch felt a surge of heat emerge from her soul before a small swirl of flame surged into the narrow space between her palms, and surprisingly enough, it didn't burn her skin in the slightest, but felt comforting. With Mushu resting on her shoulder, the female Misfit then separated her hands, splitting the fireball in half so that both her palms were radiating the magic, coursing and burning brighter by the second.

"FIRA…"

She began to twirl around, almost like a ballerina doing a pirouette, her arms now forming a L-shape and in response, the two epicenters of flames began to swirl and expand upon the air, twirling and increasing all around her until she was literally encased in a enormous pillar of inferno.

"CRIMSON WHIRLWIND!"

With that, Scarlet Witch brushed back her hands as she came to a full stop, and following the command, the entire surge of conflagration became an unstoppable wave of intense fire, bathing Bree and Lifeline in seconds. They never even had a chance as the nova consumed them, eating away at their dexterity.

Daria looked at the readings on her scanner before yelling, "Wavedancer, they're weak enough now! Those Heartless pods in their bodies are nearly toast! Do it!"

"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!" shouted Wavedancer, holding her staff high above her head, and both Bree and Lifeline howled inhumanly, sending shivers down everyone's spines, as the ten colored symbols of the Elementa Kingdoms and the three sigils of the crown, Heartless, and Nobody engulfed them in a blazing glory of illumination…

**_KAAA-WHHOOOOOOMMMMM!_**

With a dying shriek, both the Heartless perished and disintegrated before out fell a limp and unconscious Lifeline and Bree, the two Joe medics reverted back to normal. With a faint shimmer, the two sickening spores of the Hellfire Heartless popped out of their backs before they cracked and vanished in wafts of vile smoke. And along with the pods came out…

"Their hearts, yo!" cried out Toad, pointing at the two pink crystal, lying side by side, glittering amongst the wreckage and crater-ridden dirt. Whitelighter then decided to act as he reached out a hand with her telekinetic orbing.

"Heart crys - !" the teen began, but Falco was quicker as he delivered a swift punch from behind.

Crack!

Justin toppled forward with a groan, unconscious, as Octavia then summoned another tidal wave with her magic while the blue falcon made immediately for a beeline towards the two Joes' hearts. Beach Head rushed over to the unconscious Misfit while Lina and Fred dashed after the Cornerian pilot, eager to stop him by any means necessary.

The other heroes, unfortunately, were having quite a bit of difficulty with Octavia.

"Aquara Tigershark Tsunami!" the octopus woman called out, and immediately, the entire field was flooded with a gigantic tidal wave, actually managing to catch Blob and Cyborg by surprise as they floundered helplessly in the seawater, under the imminent threat of drowning. However, Falco yelped as Lina nearly whizzed by and managed to slice his shoulder, deep and bleeding. And from the way she kept trying to circle back and swoop down, the insect-girl wasn't going to let up and give him a chance.

"Funny thing about mutant powers," snarled Dragonfly, "They won't work on the Hellfire Heartless, but they'll sure as hell work on you, jerkface!"

Falco then suddenly found it difficult to evade her wings as she continually buzzed him, threatening to slice his head off, as the other heroes were about to reach the hearts. Then the avian reached a critical decision as he threw both his wings out and invoked another magic.

"Reflega!" Falco cried out.

To the Misfit's surprise, a shimmering, translucent and clear orb like latticed glass surrounded the falcon in a blink of an eye, and the instant Dragonfly struck it with her wings, it disintegrated before out shot out shards of clear, white energy, blitzing everyone and causing surges of painful, shocking sensations to course through their bodies the instant the shrapnel touched them.

"**_By Hera!_**" Wonder Woman yelped as she collapsed, surprised that the magic was powerful and agonizing enough to hurt even her, an Amazon from Paradise Isle. Even Batman grunted as he was sent reeling, one stray piece unluckily catching him on the temple.

"Give me strength! Simba, stop that feathered asshole!" Avalanche yelled, pointing at Falco with his Keyblade, and before the blue feathered humanoid could even process the thought, the massive and bloodthirsty lion emerged from thin air and leapt at him, claws and teeth bared, roaring. But Falco then skillfully fell backwards and landed on his back, narrowly evading Simba's attempt to pin him down before taking his laser pistol and aiming a shot dead-center into the lion's stomach as it was just above his position. Samba roared in pain before collapsing on his side, his belly smoking from the intense heat, and Avalanche forgot everything else as he rushed to her partner's side, allowing Falco to grab the two hearts of the fallen Joes and scan them as Octavia did her best to incapacitate the others.

"No! They're going to take Bree and Lifeline's hearts!" Wanda gasped.

"And I can't run over there! Not with my leg injured!" Pietro groaned. Then he began to take out his frustration on his silver and white Keyblade.

"Hey!" protested Pietro before he started whacking and hitting his Keyblade with the palm of his hand impatiently, griping, "Hey, come on, you piece of Keyblade junk! Where's **my** Disney sidekick thingamabob?"

The voice sighed, and one could almost picture the owner rubbing his head in pain; he had seen babies with longer attention spans than _this_, and arguably, at least Toad and Trinity listened.

_Pietro, the Keyblade didn't choose you so that you could use it like **this**…_

"Hey, considering that Lifeline and Bree's hearts are going to be taken by Falco and Octavia, I have a right to frustrated! If you're so good, then tell me how to use this stupid thing so I can help! What's the point of having a Keyblade if I can't protect people?" the speedster snapped impatiently and quite rudely as well.

_Why he thought **you** had a strong heart, I'll never know…_

"Hey, less commentary, more advice," growled Quicksilver. The voice continued.

_Pietro, you don't have a summon…but you can achieve a move with your Keyblade, a powerful attack called the Strike Raid._

"And how do I do this so-called…Strike Raid?" the teenager asked in a patronizing, hasty, and hotheaded tone of voice. The mysterious benefactor bit back a reprimand barely before explaining.

_Throw your Keyblade at your opponent. Trust your weapon and it'll listen to your heart. It won't miss. But, please, I ask you, don't kill Falco…_

"Why?"

_Because he is not your enemy. He never was. He has a good heart too._

"I can't make any promises, considering I still wanna pay that feathered jerk back for before…but I'll try," Pietro sniffed loftily. The voice sighed in aggravation; it was apparent that Quicksilver was probably even more difficult to work with than the Triplets.

_I guess I should be relieved that you're honest at least._

"Mushu, help Quicksilver out!" Wanda yelled. The diminutive dragon nodded, obeying his master's command.

Pietro drew his arm back, praying he could aim right, before he flung the Keyblade as hard as he could at Falco, yelling, "Strike Raid!"

"And I'll handle this! _Yah!_" crowed Mushu as he let loose a ferocious blast of flame at the same time.

Like an arrow, the Zephyr Keyblade literally whistled in the air, spinning and rotating so rapidly, it was a nothing but a silver disc, and to the twins' amazements, when Mushu's magic came in contact with Pietro's weapon, it surrounded the spinning blade for a mere fraction of a second before the entire Keyblade began to glow, now covered with fire and increasing its deadly effectiveness, a rapid projectile of air and flame and ready to strike its unfortunate victim painfully.

Falco, all the meanwhile, felt his hope plummet as he finished scanning.

There was no question about it; Bree and Lifeline's hearts did not consist of the Talismans. But it was that one moment of hesitation that cost him before he spotted the twirling Zephyr Keyblade of Quicksilver's, bathed in the dragon fire Mushu cast.

**THWACK!**

Falco then let loose the harshest string of foul curse words he had ever uttered in one sentence in his entire life as the flaming discus struck his wing with incredible force, setting the jacket sleeve of his uniform alight and causing a compound fracture in his right arm. He could feel the blood starting to run down his feathered inside the cloth as he dropped the crystal hearts which allowed the Flash to zoom by underneath and snatch them safely before the precious objects could hit the ground.

Falco looked back to where the attack originated from to see a triumphant Quicksilver deftly catching his Keyblade as it circled back to him like a boomerang.

"Ha ha! That was for breaking my leg earlier, jerkface!" crowed Quicksilver at Falco before giving him a rather insulting and childish face and stuck his tongue out. Falco just murderously gave Quicksilver a piercing death-glare before he dashed off, calling to Octavia.

"They weren't Talismans! Octavia, we can go!"

With that, the ex-Tigershark finished her assault before she too leapt away with great bounds and jumps, and using his laser pistol to keep a few of the Joes busy from firing upon her, Falco and Octavia managed to dart away and out of sight.

"This isn't over…" hissed Batman vengefully as he looked at the area where the bird and the woman vanished.

"Uh…so, is it done, y'all?" Cyborg asked, blinking at the smoking rubble, charred ground and scant remnants of flaming puddles of gasoline and oil.

"I think so…" murmured Scarlet Witch, holding her Keyblade in front of her, and it caught the attention of all the allies gathered on the field.

"Oh, great suns and moons of the Naktar cosmos!" squealed Starfire as she gave Wanda and Pietro both a bone-crushing bug, taking them by surprise, "Friend Wanda, Friend Pietro, you both have now gained great magic and Blades of Key to fight the Heartless! Oh joyous days, I must sing!"

"Uh, no! Really, Starfire! Don't please!" protested Quicksilver, gasping for air as his ribcage was being slowly crushed.

"Wow, you guys both have Keyblades and magic now?" Dragonfly gasped.

"And you're forgetting the all-mighty, all-powerful family guardian of fire, sent to protect our little 'ol Scarlet Witch from the dark, fashion-challenged losers of the Organization Thirteen and the Heartless! I'm talking the one-of-a-kind, all fantastic…**_MUSHU!_**" the dwarf red-dragon announced rather pompously and ostentatiously as he emerged from the collar of Wanda's jacket and exalted himself on top of her head for everyone to see, expected to hear applause.

Instead, there was just a deadpanned silence, and the red dragon opened one eye to see everyone giving him a very odd look.

"Let me get this straight…you got Mushu as a helper?" Green Lantern couldn't help but remark, a little disappointed (and who could blame him).

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? You wanna start something with me, Green-Boy? Huh? _Do ya'?_ I'll incinerate you to a crisp if you don't watch that big mouth of yours!" Mushu yelled, hopping up and down in a childish fit and making a fuss.

"Speaking of big mouths…" Raven commented, rolling her eyes.

"Wow, he's almost as full of himself and loud as Pietro and Wally," mused Low Light.

"Hey! We resent that!" Quicksilver and the Flash protested in unison, much to the amusement of everyone else, before they glared at each other and said simultaneously, "Stop copying me! Quit it! You're doing it right now!"

"Enough," Roadblock sighed, placing a hand in between the two quarrelling speedsters before he turned to Pietro and asked, "Quicksilver, what about you? Where's your partner?"

"I didn't get one!" the Misfit pointed out hurriedly, almost making it difficult to keep track of his words, holding his Keyblade up, "I have a move I can do with the Keyblade! The voice guy told me I have the ability called 'Strike Raid' and it lets me throw the Keyblade like a boomerang or something!"

"Cool! You have an attack technique like we do!" realized Trinity.

"Makes sense, considering there isn't a Disney character sane and stupid enough to be willing to stay with Pietro Jerk-Off to be his partner," sneered the Flash, and Pietro just haughtily retorted back.

"Pft! Oh, whatever, Flash! We all know you're jealous that I, the all-wonderful and all-perfect Pietro Quicksilver Maximoff got the power of wind magic and a Keyblade while you've got nothing, chump-boy! And besides, I'm too perfect to be working with a lame Disney character, and God knows there's no way I'd be suited to working with a puny dragon-reject like Mushu and my sister here, and – YEOW! **_MY BUTT!_**"

There was a general chorus of chuckling and giggling as Pietro was valiantly and helplessly trying to pat out the bunch of flames that mysteriously singed the seat of his pants, thanks to a certain and casual blow of dragon-fire from Mushu as he snuck up behind the speedster for the insult. Quicksilver whirled on the angelic-faced dragon, complete with a makeshift halo above his head constructed via his tail.

"Did I do that?" Mushu asked innocently.

"Come back here and die! I'll make a leather wallet outta you when I'm through wringing your scrawny neck, you little lizard!" Quicksilver roared, chasing after Mushu (as best as he could considering he was hopping on his uninjured foot) and trying to pound him with his Zephyr Keyblades, madly swiping thin air as the dragon dwarf evaded each and every attempt to hack him, hooting and laughing.

Amid the general amusement of the group, Wanda couldn't help but smile and said, "I have to admit, I'm starting to like Mushu already."

Later that night, when Bree and Lifeline were resting comfortably in the Joe infirmary, fully stabilized and expected to be up and running in a day or so, Wanda was sitting idly within the lush and pristine gardens next to the Pit dojo along with Pluto, hearing the babbling brook and the water cascading among the rocks and pebbles while the plants and flowers all around her radiated a relaxing coolness. It was so refreshing, and it was one moment that was welcome ever since the events of today's battle. Mushu has disappeared back into the girl's Vengeful Blaze Keyblade earlier.

"Hey," a voice said sheepishly from behind, and she turned to see that it was an apologetic and remorseful Pietro, his hands behind him and awkwardly scuffing the grass with his now-healed foot.

"Hey," Wanda was able to say. She wasn't sure how else to respond to Pietro after tearing up Mr. Stupid but then after helping her fight the two Heartless and saving Lifeline and Bree, but it was a bit of a conundrum to have such conflicting feelings. But Pietro gave a meek smile before he presented to Wanda what was behind his hands. Wanda gasped, touched. It was the cat, Mr. Stupid, but completely stitched back together expertly, with the seams hidden and the toy smelling fresh as if run through a washer and dryer.

"Mr. Stupid…" Wanda sighed with relief as she gratefully and eagerly took the stuffed toy and cradled it close to her chest, feeling her bad feelings vanish and feeling that all was right with the world again. Or at least, her little corner of it.

"Yeah…" Pietro said a bit awkwardly, embarrassed, "I thought…well, Bree said I should do something to make amends, and this was the only way I wanted to say I was sorry."

There was a pause before Pietro then murmured, "I really am, Wanda."

"I still may want to kill you later," the goth shot back, smiling.

"Fair enough. I…deserve it," the albino admitted with a grimace. Scarlet Witch, despite herself, couldn't but help raise an eyebrow.

"What's this?" gasped Wanda in mock surprise, obviously being melodramatic, "Is my pig-headed, drama-queen of a pompous annoying brother finally admitting that he's wrong? Darn it, of all the times to be without a tape recorder…"

"That admission does not leave this garden, by the way," Pietro said stubbornly, frowning as he pointed at Wanda. Then he took a closer look at his sister's face.

"Hey, you're not wearing make-up…" realized Pietro, and indeed, it was true. There wasn't even a smudge of mascara or lipstick on Wanda's face, so she no longer had that creepy, dangerous gothic appearance to her any longer. Instead, she looked…natural and rather content, almost peaceful; it slightly reminded Quicksilver of the baby girl he had fun with laughing and playing right before they were violently separated by their father.

"I…after the whole Heartless thing, I was too tired to put any on. I know, I know, I look ugly, so don't you dare say it if you know what's good for you!" Wanda retorted defensively.

"Actually, I was about to say you look nice," Pietro said sincerely, and that rather surprised her, so she just kept quiet and continued looking at the stream, patting Pluto's head and stroking his fur.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you got chosen to have a Keyblade," Pietro then said in a soft voice, softer than Wanda ever heard him talk before in his entire life, "After all, Magneto looked on to you as his favorite, saying you had the most potential."

"Really?" Wanda was all she could utter in a teasing voice, yet inside her gut, she was heavy with surprise and touched shock.

"Yeah, so it's pretty much obvious why you were given a Keyblade. Strength of your heart and everything…" muttered Pietro, pouting. It seemed like a day for never-ending miracles; this was one of the few times Pietro would ever admit his faults publicly. And Wanda could see how hard it was for her brother to say that, especially now that she could see a hint of the result of all the berating and verbal harassment Pietro had to put up with Magneto while in his service.

"Father was wrong about a lot of things…and you were one of them," Wanda then admitted before she looked directly into her brother's widened eyes.

"You're special and have a good heart too, you know. Deep, deep, **_deep_** down."

"Thanks," Pietro drawled waspishly and sarcastically, dragging out the word.

"And just so we're clear, you're also an annoying, hyperactive, insensitive dingbat with a small brain, big mouth, and God help me when each and every day, I just want to snap your neck like a twig or hit you with a blunt object upside the head and repeatedly!" Wanda added, sneering.

"At least I'm honest," drawled Pietro, obviously proud of the profile. Wanda couldn't object to that one, technically.

"And you're also forgetting one thing I have that you can't ever be better than me at that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world," Pietro smirked, lying back on the grass.

"And what's that?" the goth asked suspiciously. Wanda readied a hex-bolt in case it was going to be a crude joke, but her sibling then surprised her as he then spoke.

"Being your twin brother."

Pluto looked pleased to hear that.

It was unexpected, and for a moment, the goth Misfit wasn't sure if the albino was being serious, but there was no attempt to stifle laughter, no devilish smile, no twinkle in the eye. Quicksilver truly meant that, and it caused the girl to drop her defenses a bit before she laid back on the grass next to Pietro.

"I guess…I have something that you can't ever be better than me at too that I wouldn't trade for the world, then."

It was left unsaid, but the twins knew it didn't have to be announced. They just sat side by side among the gardens, admitting that deep down, no matter what, they would always be there for each other and the other Misfits and Joes. And though it was unsaid, it was a solid promise from the heart. And Pluto couldn't have been more assured that he made the right choice. Even with Pietro.

---

"Experiments 240, 241, and 242 have all been wasted by those Misfit brats, my Superior," Xigbar reported as he and Lexaeus teleported to their headquarters, steeping out of the smoky, black portals.

"At it least it was not a complete loss," chuckled the Superior, "For each time a Heartless is vanquished by those Misfits, it gives us all the more power to help with the Harvest."

"But now two additional Misfits have gained powers over the wind and fire Kingdoms," Lexaeus said in his deep voice, "Shall we continue our original plans to eliminate the remaining three Misfits?"

"Of course," their leader intoned, "Make no mistake, I am starting to see that these Misfits are a great danger to our cause and though the Keyblades can be manipulated into our very hands, I still would find great assurance if the ones named Dragonfly, Blob, and Whitelighter were permanently taken care of. Their hearts would be a suitable addition to the collections we already have."

"Do you want us to have another go at it?" Xigbar asked, but the hooded man shook his head as he called out in a clear voice.

"Zexion…" and at once, a youthful man, almost a teenager really, teleported in, his cloak dramatically fluttering about along with his silver drawstrings. His hood was lowered, allowing all to see the tanned, smooth face and studying, scheming dark eyes. He had messy, black hair, almost spiky in a way, with most of the tendrils combed in such a way that his bangs were leaning closely over his right eye.

"Take two of the pods Hamilton can provide you and head for the Pit," the Superior ordered, "Remember: the insect girl and the fat ones are the mutants we want to rid of, and since they do not appear to be as hard-pressed and skilled at combat as the others are, you shall have an easier time destroying them."

"Good," Zexion stated in a calm voice before he vanished, "I do rather hate fighting. Violence is rather not my expertise."

**Author's Notes: Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! Wow, it's super-long! Anyway, next Friday, we now see our adorable little Misfit medic, Lina, as she and Cover Girl endure the trials sent by Zexion! Find out next week in the chapter, "Prayer of a Medic", and until then, read and enjoy! Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome!**


	10. Prayer of a Medic

**CHAPTER 10: Prayer of a Medic**

"Well, this just stinks!" griped Pietro as he peeled a potato, "After the battle with Lifeline and Bree yesterday and after single-handedly saving their hearts and the Pit from being totally wasted, General Hawk sends us to KP duty all because we stepped outside of the bunker for several minutes!"

"To be fair, we **did** disobey General Hawk when he ordered us to stay in the bunker whenever a Heartless attacked," Wanda pointed out dryly as she peeled alongside her brother, accepting of her punishment of KP duty gracefully, wisely seeing that not much would get done by complaining about it. And she was not alone. Following the usual rules of engagement, Shipwreck, Blind Master, Cover Girl, and Roadblock were assigned to join alongside the twins, Lina, Fred, and Justin as they all peeled a considerable mountain of vegetables in the Pit's galley, making all aforementioned teenagers feel a little guilty.

Thankfully, most of the adults understood why the kids wanted to try and help out, and what lessened the seriousness was that at least Wanda and Pietro helped Lifeline and Bree recover their hearts after the battle and that the Maximoff twins gained magic and Keyblades as well. And to everyone's further surprise, Wanda's Vengeful Blaze Keyblade managed to lock Bree's heart afterwards (Lifeline, on the other hand, didn't manifest a keyhole).

Still, it didn't stop General Hawk from sternly handing out punishment as a further dissuasion to prevent future foolish bravado.

"Well, at least you guys now have Keyblades and magic and stuff, so you won't need to stay confined to the Pit like we do anymore," Fred highlighted, though he was trying his best not to moan with jealousy. After all, not a lot of people like getting left out in battle with cool abilities in addition.

"If it makes you feel any better, Freddy-boy," Pietro carried on blithely without even thinking, "You probably wouldn't have been given one anyway."

"Pietro!" hissed Lina as Fred looked incredibly angry and hurt at that thoughtless remark, but before a fight could escalate, Roadblock strongly interrupted the tension as he dropped another vegetable in his bucket.

"Cool it, both of you!" he ordered, "Give it a rest! Fred, just keep peeling and Pietro, quit being a pest! We have a lot more spuds to peel by the end of the day, and having you two fight and insult each other won't make them go away."

"Well, I'm just saying, maybe it's a given that we'll be given Keyblades and magic too!" Blob protested, still not willing to let the subject drop, "I mean, there's three more symbols on that scepter of Althea's, and only me, Lina, and Justin don't have magic and Disney character-friends! So why not? It could be possible, and I want to fight the Heartless to!"

Roadblock didn't press the matter, although he had an inkling of why this stuck so badly in the Texan's craw. With so many of his friends gaining powerful abilities, Fred was simply feeling left out and useless, something that rather piqued and tormented his issues of rejection and self-loathing.

"We can't leave it up to chance, kid," Shipwreck said, sighing with fatigue, his fingers aching, "Saying '_coulda_' or '_shoulda_' isn't going to mean that it's definite. And like Hawk and the rest of us have said before, there could be three other people who get those magic that aren't Misfits, like the Slayers or the Justice League or the Titans or even the X-Men. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if the X-Men learn this magic stuff since they're in this as much as we are."

Fred grimaced, groaning, as he griped, "Great, Jean 'Perfect Princess' Grey getting magic and being even more snobby and self-righteous. Thanks, Shipwreck! That's enough to make me even **_more_** depressed! The thought of Jean being better than me!"

"Huh? You mean it's not the general truth?" blinked Pietro with mock innocence, and thankfully, Wanda smacked Pietro in the back of his head before Fred could think of a rather unorthodox way to use his potato peeler.

"Will you shut up? Geez, I wonder why the heck were you chosen to have a Keyblade is beyond me!" the Maximoff sister griped.

"If I recall correctly, we only know it's a specific person who's doing the choosing and that it somehow relates to strength of heart," mused Lina, remembering the discussion they had in the living room with General Hawk. Pietro then managed to reveal that the voice actually slipped with a rather significant statement when advising the speedster about using his Zephyr Keyblade on Falco.

_Why he thought **you** had a strong heart, I'll never know…_

That along with the indication that Falco wasn't their enemy made Hawk and the other Misfits even keener on discovering who were their mysterious benefactor and informant, provided that they were two different beings.

"And why anyone would think that Pietro has a strong heart _does_ boggle the mind," Fred quipped dryly.

"It does raise some valid points we haven't even considered," Blind Master said with some afterthought, "Whoever is behind the voice that contacts a person whenever they've been chosen for the magical gifts and abilities and the Keyblades, he or she somehow knows about us or is watching our movements, as if checking to see that we have certain criteria that makes the person capable to handle the enhancements."

"Not only that, but it also indicated that they know exactly what's going on with all this Heartless and the Gathering of Twilight," Cover Girl said, "Something tells me that whoever's behind this magic stuff, he or she is pulling strings and making sure that everything happens here on Earth."

"Too bad that jerkface Falco and Octavia aren't on our side," Shipwreck thought aloud, "It's a given that they know exactly what's going on, and they have access to the same type of magic Al and Pietro have, but they won't tell us what's up. And it would be a big help if someone could just tell us what's the big deal with the Organization and the Heartless."

"That's right!" remarked Justin, his eyes lighting up, "Pietro, your wing magic is called '_Aeroga_', the same thing Falco uses to do that dash-attack thing. That means you both can do wind magic."

"Too bad we don't know who makes the decision on how a person gets magic or whatever qualifies as a strong heart," Blind Master sighed, "Although it does make sense. Since the Heartless are evil creatures of darkness, you would entrust a Keyblade to a person who has a strong heart and not evil, otherwise there's no point in fighting these monsters if you give the weapons to people in the Hellfire Club of Wolfram and Hart."

"What makes this more complicated is that we're not sure if this isn't a game," Roadblock versed, "It could be that the Thirteenth Order's trying to trick us and sending these things to make their jobs easier and drive us insane. Let's face it: it's really likely that this is some sort of plan, and the Organization and Inner Circle are exactly the types to pull this type of twisted scam."

"Marvin's got a point," Cover Girl mused as she finished peeling a potato, "We don't know who's behind all this and if they're working for our benefit or theirs. And if this being knows Falco and Octavia, I'm willing to guess that it's the latter."

"And we still don't know where this magic is coming from," repeated Lina in slight frustration.

"Actually…" and with that, Fred stopped, causing all eyes to fall on him as they momentarily stopped peeling.

"Yes? You were going to say something, Fred?" Blind Mater pressed encouragingly, letting Fred know that whatever he was going to offer wouldn't be laughed at.

Fred swallowed before continuing, "Did anyone ever think that maybe Pluto has something to do with this? I mean, if you think about it, the Heartless have been popping up on Earth for a while, and yet all this Keyblade and magic stuff only pops up when Pluto came to the Pit."

Upon response, everyone turned a bit to the corner of the galley where, lying on a stack of potato sacks and snoring quietly, was a sleeping Pluto, his black nose popping up and down rhythmically as he rested.

Shipwreck looked dubious, but managed to say, "Well…stranger things have happened since we've been in G.I. Joe. And it does have some sort of logic to it, Blob, don't get me wrong. But not only have we got no proof, but it does seem a little out there, you know?"

"Yeah, exactly what sort of help can we expect from our resident flea-farm?" chuckled Pietro. Had anyone continued taking a close look at Pluto, they would have seen that the golden-furred hound opened one eye a crack before continuing his façade of his peaceful and innocent slumber. Though the canine was a bit worried, he knew that it was only a matter of time before the Misfits and Joes would wise up and discover his secret.

---

"Dragonfly, I need medical assistance, stat! Code Blue! **_Code Blue!_**" the Joe named Doc yelled as he wheeled into the infirmary with a twitching, bloodstained Joe on a gurney. Doc was a tall, lean African-American wearing a green uniform and dark shades, and Lina knew him to be an excellent doctor and army surgeon, equal with Lifeline. Which was why he took over as temporary head medic while Bree and Lifeline were recuperating in the medical bay; considering that their Heartless infection was only yesterday, neither of the Steens were well enough physically and mentally to resume their duties.

The insect-girl jumped up and brought over the defibrillator and a ready IV unit-stand before she went numb as she viewed down upon the critically wounded Joe. There, lying on the cot on his back, blood staining his Hawaiian shirt on his chest, was the brawny yet tender-hearted Phillip Provost, also known as the Joes' undercover agent, Chuckles. He was one of the new recruits trained by Beach head when Cobra tried to use the BET machine to infect humanity and allow the residents of Cobra-la to become the supreme rulers of the planet.

Dragonfly even recollected the first time when she was adopted by Cover Girl and the other Misfit handlers and taken to the Pit. Lina thought she would die of shame and humiliation as she nervously walked around the army base, seeing many of the soldiers glance her way, and the girl nearly broke down when she came face to face with the sandy-haired Joe, huge, intimidating, and certainly scary.

But Chuckles surprisingly didn't spit at her in contempt like Mr. and Mrs. Chakram did.

In fact, the first thing out of Chuckles' mouth wasn't a disparaging remark but rather, a warm and merry, "Somebody call Disney cause Tinkerbell's better-looking, long-lost, younger sister's about to break out with her own contract to stardom, huh, honey-bun? What's your name, kid?"

"Li…Lina…" she murmured a bit fearfully.

"Ah, short for 'Angelina'. Hmph, I have a niece who's named Angelina too, surprisingly. Hope she turns out as well-adjusted and cute as you are, kid. Welcome to the Pit. I'm Chuckles, and it's a pleasure ta' meet ya."

Despite herself, Lina back then was shocked at how the man could be so accepting and non-freaked over her mutation, much less joke about it in such a kindhearted manner. And as it turned out, all the other Joes were pretty much the same. But Chuckles made the strongest first impression. And since then, Lina could admit that each time she saw the Joe, during one of the scant times Chuckles wasn't on a mission, Lina always made sure to say a shy hello, in which Chuckles would always warmly return with a smile.

Lina remained numb and froze as she looked into the man's face, blood trickling out of one corner of his mouth as she then saw the gaping entry wound of the bullet as Doc ripped open Chuckles' shirt. Right below the heart, a sure kill. Lina's hands shook so much that it was a miracle that she was able to ready the epinephrine injection into Chuckles' arm vein and ready the IV.

"What – what happened?" Lina choked hoarsely.

"Undercover mission in Italy gone wrong," Doc hissed as he tried to stabilize the now convulsing Chuckles, going into seizures and jerking erratically thanks to the blood loss from his bullet wound, "Tried to stop a Cobra drug cartel deal and ended up getting hit in a firefight, and Flint used a Mass Device teleporter to bring him here since we couldn't risk exposing Chuckles in the local hospitals. Damn it! The bullet punctured his lung, he's got a hemothorax!"

Indeed, it was true. Chuckles' breath was coming out in weak gasps as blood surrounded his lungs, nearly whistling and the monitors were showing his rapidly decreasing blood-pressure. The two did everything they could to stabilize Phillip, but in a matter of two minutes, even with the chest tube, Chuckles flat-lined and Lina just stared in horror as Chuckles hand went limp and cold in hers, his dead and glazed eyes staring up at her.

They couldn't save him. Doc tiredly rubbed his eyes.

"Time of death…" Doc intoned in a professional yet somber voice, looking at the clock, "One thirty-one P.M."

Doc wearily turned to Lina, already evaluating what needed to be done and how to tell Hawk to inform Chuckles' next-of-kin.

"Lina, can you get me Chuckles' medical file so I can give it to General Hawk while I help prepare him?"

Lina just stood there, shock-still and lightly quivering, her breath coming out in miniscule and shaking whimpers and her face pale and clammy, almost as if the blood drained from her head. All she could do was stare at Chuckles lifeless, glass eyes and the blood smeared all over his torso and body.

"Lina?" Doc asked, now growing concerned and worried, but before he could touch her, Dragonfly just bolted out of the door and ran aimlessly outside, foregoing her duty as she reached the nearest alley she could find between buildings. Lina nearly collapsed before she leaned against the wall and slid down to a sitting position weakly, her back sliding against the weatherworn wood and metal. God, her stomach churned. She felt so sick, and her breakfast was threatening to make a return from its deposit this morning…

To her surprise, Dragonfly felt a warm head and body brush against her out of nowhere, touching her chilled skin, and the insect-Misfit blinked back to see that it was the canine, Pluto. Pluto whined and affectionately rubbed the side of his face and snout against Lina's leg, and it was clear that he was attempting to comfort her.

"Oh…Pluto…" Lina choked as she hugged the dog close to her body, and in understanding, Pluto just allowed himself to be fondled as Lina cried a bit, mourning for Chuckles and feeling some guilt and fear over his death. And it wasn't that unexpected. Despite being a Misfit raised at the G.I. Joe Pit, Lina was pretty much still a teenager, and the prospects of death and fighting always scared her, striking a chord.

Seeing the man and a friend die right in front of her was a new experience, and one that she realized she would see over and over again in this lifetime, as a medic and as an army mutant.

"You know, no matter how well trained a doctor or medic is, no matter how much they are told and prepared for the eventuality, when they go through their first death of a patient, it always shakes them to their core," a voice said quietly from the sidelines. The female Misfit and hound turned to see that it was Cover Girl, leaning against the wall alongside her daughter. She had somehow managed to find the youth.

"Doc told me what happened after you left the infirmary. And don't worry, he's not mad," Courtney explained softly, and Lina did know what to feel about that, but she certainly had a gauntlet of conflicting emotions inside.

The Joe, in understanding, sat down next to Lina before she offered, "You know, when Bree came by for the first time to be a nurse here at the Pit, regardless of her care-free and gung-ho attitude and her nursing training, she actually broke down and wept after she witnessed and failed saving her first Joe casualty. And even afterwards, she still cried for several more times of the friends and fellow Joes she and Lifeline couldn't save as time went on."

Dragonfly blinked before she offered a weak smile at the attempt to cheer her up. Pluto barked happily as he laid a paw on Cover Girl's leg, and the soldier giggled a bit as she scratched the hound's head, hitting the right spot behind his right ear. For several minutes that soon dragged on to half an hour, Lina, Pluto, and Cover Girl just watched various Joes amble across the Pit with their usual activities, and for good fun, they saw Lance running around with Simba, with the geokinetic actually riding gleefully on the lion's back.

Lina then coughed, almost a sob, before she admitted, "I…I don't know why it bothered me so much. I mean…I've seen death so many times before. Gideon nearly killed Allo, the Furies over on Apokolips, the H.I.V.E. students' corpses when Trigon arrived, the officers and civilians over at San Francisco. I…I saw all of them and it didn't affect me as much. I was sad, yes, but…"

"But it's nothing like watching the patient you are trying to save die despite your best efforts, and that we all take the deaths of our friends and allies much harder than those of the H.I.V.E. students or the San Francisco PD…because we've known them more intimately. And Chuckles was one of the first Joes who was nice to you, joked around and made you feel welcome," the female Joe finished in understanding.

Cover Girl paused before she commented with great sadness and regret, "He was a good man."

Lina, as a rare act of helplessness, rested her head against Cover Girl's shoulder, a shoulder that had unquestionably been there without condition for her since her parents left her.

"Does it ever get any easier?"

"No," murmured Cover Girl, being truthful, "If anything, you being in a medic's position or in General Hawk's position considering that he has to notify Chuckles' family makes it even more difficult."

"This was my first death with a patient I actually know," Lina murmured, feeling comfort at Pluto's tongue licking her hand, "It wasn't even something I saw from the sidelines like Selinda's death at H.I.V.E. Academy. This…this was just…"

She broke off, not sure how to explain it, but Cover Girl got the general gist of it. Heck, no one would be able to get over seeing the death of a friend or acquaintance in front of their eyes unless they were truly heartless (no pun intended).

The white-haired girl exhaled through her nose wearily, her antenna bobbing up and down.

"It's funny…I thought being a medic would allow me to avoid fighting since I'm not as well-trained and battle-eager as the others while making sure I could live out my dream to be a doctor. But now…oh, I don't know. Maybe I should have been a lawyer like my brother or a violinist…"

"A violinist?" echoed Cover Girl raising one eyebrow.

"When I was a kid, I used to take violin lessons, and it turned out it was an enjoyable hobby, or at least it was to me. No one else in my family had the patience to learn a musical talent, and I used to play until I got the notion that I would actually be a good doctor when I was in junior high," Lina wearily explained.

"Lemme guess…you wanted to be a doctor because a family member died and because it prompted you to help people, right?" Cover Girl asked wryly. She was familiar enough to know that for a majority of aspiring doctors and youths entering the medical profession, it was the number one, clichéd reason why they pursued such an occupation.

Lina hesitated before she replied softly, "Actually…I wanted to be a doctor because my parents wanted me too."

The female Misfit handler blinked at Lina; that response was unexpected.

"I…I don't know why…but I still miss them. A lot. Even after all the mean words they said, even after they marched up to the judge and said that they would never acknowledge that they had a daughter, even after my mother slapped me…oh! I can't forget everything I had with them! Anwar and my other brothers and sisters, the times we'd sit down to my mother's homemade curry, my mother letting me try on her wedding dress, my Dad buying me my first bike for my tenth birthday and teaching me to ride it…"

Cover Girl said softly, rubbing Dragonfly's shoulder, "In other words, you still love your parents even though they disowned you, and being a medic was probably the one pleasant thing your family expected out of you, something good that you remember about them. So you wanted to hold on to that."

Lina sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand before she nodded, a bit ashamed, as she clarified, "Oh! I wish…I wish it was just plain black and white, that I didn't have all this loyalty and love for my family, even after what they did to me! I just wish this wasn't so fickle, that…that…"

"That you could just hate them because it could make your life so much easier," Cover Girl replied.

Lina nodded, a bit breathless and apprehensive. She liked Cover Girl too, but sadly enough, it wasn't as strong as the love she used to have for her old family. She wondered if the handler would be incredibly insulted, but the Joe put Dragonfly's fears to rest.

Cover Girl's voice was then firm.

"Lina, let's get one thing clear: I'm not sad or offended that I can never take your parents' place and if anything, I'm glad that you've come into my life and gave me the chance to experience what it's like to be a role model and a maternal figure. If anything, I don't want you feeling guilty that you still love your parents as much as you hate them. It's a good thing."

Pluto panted, nuzzling against Cover Girl.

"Just remember that no one wants to see their friends die, and that there are other ways to do that without being a medic. If you want to be a medic, make sure that it's what you want to do, not because it's something that you thought would make people proud of you. And…when you're ready, I'm sure Doc and Lifeline would be all right with you leaving the medical profession if that's what you want," Cover Girl finished.

Lina nodded, numb emotionally. This was so much to deal with; she felt that she needed several hours to cope with her turbulent thoughts.

Suddenly, Wanda, Xi, and Bambi appeared in their line of vision, heatedly chasing a terrified Pietro and all three of them covered with shaving cream thanks to one of Quicksilver's pranks.

"Get back here and die, Pietro!" screamed Wanda as she kept hurling hexes, which her brother was rather skillfully avoiding.

"**Yeow!** Bambi, that hurt!" wailed Pietro as Bambi managed to give a powerful leap and rammed his head into the speedster's butt painfully. Even with Quicksilver's super-speed, the fawn was surprisingly able to catch up with Pietro.

"Good boy, Bambi!" praised Xi as he continued his pursuit, murder in his eyes.

"Speaking of trying to prevent more people from dying, you might want to let Doc know that he'll be getting another patient soon," Courtney sighed as Pietro started screaming in a falsetto voice as one of Scarlet Witch's hexes found its mark on his hair, setting his tresses on fire.

---

Three days later, it was actually a beautiful spring morning, with warm sunshine and cool breezes. Still, the general populace of army soldiers at the Pit was slightly tense if not wary and apprehensive. Though Lifeline and Bree were back to normal and were now running around the infirmary and B.A. caused yet another explosion in the galley thanks to his seaweed-potato chowder recipe he had been working on, the semblance of normalcy did little to qualm the fears of the other Joes. True, they would always care about the Misfits and would fight to the last breath to protect this planet and each other, but it still didn't stop from the suspicion and unease to spook the men and women. Any one of them, from the senior officers to the newest recruits, could be the next victim of being turned into a Heartless, and it would only be a matter of time.

Heck, there was even a betting pool on how many days would it be before the next Heartless attack by the Organization.

Still, Cover Girl decided to take advantage of the peace as she came back from the motor pool, finishing her work alongside Cross Country and Breaker on working on the tanks, deciding to go back to the Misfit Manor and perhaps help fix that hole in the floor from Trinity's silly-putty experiment, grade some of the history tests from the last class, check on the babies, perhaps a bubble-bath should the mood strike…

The Joe female was then brought out of her musings to hear a sniffled wail coming from next to white tool shed that was a bit out and away from the Misfit Manor in the front yard, where Shipwreck kept the lawn equipment. Curious and concerned, Courtney strode over in a half-run to see, huddled out of sight behind the storage unit, was a piteously sobbing and heartbroken Lina, her green eyes and nose streaking.

The Misfit handler was immediately concerned and vexed as she quickly rushed over to her adopted charge and knelt down.

"Shhh…hey, Lina? What's wrong? What happened?" Cover Girl asked, worried and eager to get the insect Misfit out of any danger immediately, her mind coming back to the bunker Hawk prepared for the non-powered Misfits.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Cover Girl, it's awful!" wept Lina as she hugged Cover Girl tightly, unwilling to let go and her body cold as ice and shaking, trembling.

"What happened?" Cover Girl repeated.

Lina then stopped weeping and said in a cool, collected tone, dropping her sadness and scared demeanor instantly, "It's awful that you will now be a Heartless."

And before the words of alarm could set off in the woman's brain, Lina shoved the Hellfire Heartless pod directly into Cover Girl's back, right between the shoulder blades.

Cover Girl wheezed as her chest felt like it was going to burst from all the iron-clad pressure torturously squeezing all around her, her lungs feeling as if they had been doused in gasoline and acid and her blood feeling cold, like veins of ice slowly seeping everywhere in her muscles. Before she lost consciousness, the Joe collapsed on her side and gasped, "Lina…?"

"Lina" gave an evil smirk before she was encased in a cloud of darkness to reveal a young-faced man, a teenager really, with messily combed yet stylish dark hair, a complete stranger, but Cover Girl could still distinctly recognize the black, hooded cloak.

It was a clever ruse, a disguised illusion to catch her off guard. And had Cover Girl not been in pain, she would have mentally chastised herself for being so easily duped.

Zexion just wordlessly smiled a bit triumphantly as Cover Girl's sight blurred…

---

"You guys, another Heartless attack! This time there's two Heartless attacking the Pit! I just got a call from Hawk on my communicator! The other Joes are trying to hold down the fort!" Althea yelled as she ran back into the Misfit Manor along with Todd and the Triplets, her voice nearly breaking from the intensity of her yelling. However, it was enough to get everyone's attention as they immediately acted, hearing the explosions in the distance followed by the general demonic roaring.

Spirit turned to Fred, Lina, and Justin as they all just stood awkwardly in the center of the living room and watched on. The Joe ordered gently, "You three, go to the bunker and lock it. Do not come out until the battle is over! All right, young ones? That is an order! You all are not to leave the safety of the holding cell until we say so."

The three teenagers nodded morosely, speechless. Quicksilver, upon suiting up in his silver and green battle uniform in several seconds thanks to his super-speed, just couldn't help but quip, "Ah, don't worry about it! Just leave the Heartless slaying to us chosen Keyblade wielders! And hey, you guys will get a good view of the action on the cell's monitors!"

"Somehow, that doesn't exactly make us feel better, Pietro," Fred griped, frowning.

"It wasn't supposed to," the speedster said bluntly, and Justin quietly orbed himself, Fred, and Lina as he grabbed their hands, gracefully avoiding any more snipes, over to the bunker where they would be safe.

"Misfits, let's move out! Let's teach this Heartless what we're all about!" Roadblock yelled as he loaded his machine gun.

Meanwhile, over at the middle of the Pit, things were getting quite hectic as General Hawk and Beach Head led the other Joes for a distractive strike upon the two monsters of darkness as they tore up everything they could within their reach while aimlessly searching…

"Keep it up! Don't let them get to the Misfit Manor! Drive them back, soldiers! Drive them back!" Hawk roared over his communicators before he let loose with a high-powered blast from his laser pistol, setting a intense and combustive discharge into the face of one of the invaders.

There were two Heartless now, ravaging everything they could get their hands and claws on, and yet a few such as Hawk and Snake Eyes could additionally sense that the two Hellfire Heartless were searching for something. No doubt that destroying the base and trying to go after the mutants with Keyblades wasn't a high priority on their list. One of the Heartless looked exactly like the dark monsters that attacked Jump City several days ago and San Francisco during the battle for the Nexus.

However, the second Heartless was much more unique and unorthodox. It was clearly a feminine creature of darkness, judging from the slim frame and curves and distinct bosom, with the red and black Heartless symbol imprinted on its chest. However, though its torso and face were distinctly human (even the glowing yellow eyes were feminized with long eyelashes), the rest of its body wasn't. To put it quite bluntly, the female Heartless was also part-tank. The Heartless' arms were actual tank-turrets, the barrels of the gigantic guns large enough to fit a full-grown average human inside, and its lower portion from the waist-down were treaded tank wheels, tracked and completely swift and agile and even remarkably able to turn and swerve in impossible angles upon a moment's notice. Add the fact that the female Heartless was also decked in thick, steel armor along its chest, back, and neck, and it was literally a force to be reckoned with.

"Yow, the thing's fast!" Beach Head yelled, cursing the Heartless' agility and cunningness, as the rocket missile he fired from his bazooka struck only ground where the tank-Heartless had been only a mere second ago, sprinting quickly on its treaded wheels and leaving a cloud of dust in its wake.

"Potions!" yelled a voice from behind, and there was a flash of blue light before, to the soldiers' collective puzzlement, several small glass vials filled with colorful liquids appeared out of nowhere before they peppered both of the Heartless, and with a roar, upon the moment the containers shattered, there was a huge combustive effect as both fiends literally were engulfed with blue, red, and white fire and magical energy.

The Joes turned to see Piper, Phoebe, and Paige Halliwell, all of them wearing black jumpsuits bearing the Ghostbusters insignia, and Phoebe was holding a wicked, double-edged sword with a golden handle. It was Paige who attacked both of the Heartless with her potions and teleorbing.

"The Charmed Ones?" blinked Iceberg after sending a missile to distract the two experiments.

"Where are the others? The other recruits or the Justice League?" Gung Ho asked as he ducked a shaft of black lightning and fired back with his pistols.

"They're in Metropolis fighting with Dr. Polaris! And the Titans can't come because they're in Steel City, trying to stop Cinderblock and Dr. Light! And Jenny could only spare us because the rest of the Ghostbusters are out recruiting as well trying to fight a small demon mercenary uprising sent by Wolfram and Hart over in the city of Transylvania to assassinate the Monster Fighters Incorporated! It's just us!" Piper yelled as she tried to freeze both of the Heartless with her temporal stasis.

Unfortunately, the time-freeze didn't work, and both Heartless continued sending their attacks, with the Hellfire Heartless releasing powerful surges of black lightning and the female Heartless aiming both of its tank turrets at the group of Joes and the Charmed Ones and firing.

"Duck and cover, man!" yelled the Joe, Footloose, as they Joes ducked intense energy attack of dark energy from the first Heartless, some of the army soldiers scurrying and rolling for cover as the lightning struck the various buildings, tanks, armored vehicles, and the ground, leaving some craters (Piper tried but she couldn't freeze the lightning either).

"Turret blasts!" Paige yelled, her quick thinking allowing her to raise a hand right before Cover Girl shot out two gigantic and presumably destructive tapered cannons, the black, pointed missiles remarkably bearing the Heartless insignia, but with a soft noise and a flicker of blue and white sparks, the ammunition vanished before it could hurt the Joes and the witches. With another wave of her hand, Paige telekinetically orbed the explosives to reflect back to the Heartless, causing a gory explosion that ate away at the monsters' bodies and flesh, leaving ragged and bleeding wounds, although the tank-Heartless was less injured due to the armor.

Piper then tried freezing the two drones of the Organization again, but like before, the Heartless just remained fully mobile as they continued their assault.

"Uh…Piper? They didn't freeze!" Paige said slowly.

"Gee, thanks Paige, I can see that," drawled the eldest Halliwell with great irritation and sarcasm as she then flicked her hands again, causing a noticeable explosion and actually causing a few worrisome dents in the tank-Heartless' armor. She was grateful that her molecular combustion still had a desired effect.

"I think the Thirteenth Order apparently put the Nexus they stole to good use," groaned Phoebe as she ducked alongside Beach Head and General Hawk, "Thanks to the energy from the Nexus and Gaia forces, the Hellfire Heartless they keep sending must be stronger than the ones we fought in San Fran! That means possibly that they're more resistant to our spells and some of our Wicca attacks!"

"Remind me again why Hawk thinks you Charmed Ones are so helpful?" Beach Head couldn't help but snap rudely and bitterly as he let loose another blast with his missile launcher. Phoebe glared at Wayne but chose to ignore the jab.

Meanwhile, the Organization member Zexion teleported to the hidden and reinforced holding cell where Lina, Fred, and Justin were safely hidden. Or so they hoped…

"This was hardly a challenge," scoffed the dark-haired youth as he approached the door, ready to kill the three remaining, defenseless Misfits, but to his surprised, his gloved hand was violently thrown backwards as an incredibly surge of magical energy flickered to life and flared up, shielding the doors. Zexion frowned at the defensive barrier. Apparently, despite luring out the Keyblade wielders and their parents, they were smart enough to make sure that their other worthless kin would be safe. And despite being a powerful member and master of the Heartless and Nobody, Zexion wasn't invincible and the Joes' efforts in this case were enough to prevent him from carrying out his orders.

"Lucky little annoyances…" growled Zexion, seeing that he wouldn't be able to easily enter the barracks without some noticeable and difficult effort, one which the young male was hardly willing to endure. Unlike the other members and the Superior, fighting was not something Zexion truly valued nor enjoyed.

Still, he wasn't known as the "Cloaked Schemer" for nothing as another plan began to form in his head. If he couldn't get to Dragonfly, Blob, and Whitelighter, perhaps he could draw them out…

"I might as well enjoy another show," chuckled Zexion rather vindictively as he utilized a powerful illusion over the battlefield…

At the same time, Daria, Quinn, and Brittany were scanning the Heartless to see if they could detect anything from the two Heartless as the Misfits and their parents rushed to battle.

"The first Hellfire Heartless is clear! There's no one inside it!" Daria exclaimed.

"Yeah, but the second one isn't!" Brittany gasped in horror as her scanner revealed the Joe inside the tank-Heartless, displaying Cover Girl being mercilessly and sadistically dangled and hung upon the wisps of black smoke, the Hellfire Heartless spore beating within her chest.

"Cover Girl!" Spirit moaned, realizing it and wondering why it took them so long to figure out why their female Misfit-handler was missing in action, feeling incredibly stupid for not figuring it out sooner.

"So let's take them out and get Cover Girl back!" Avalanche yelled as he laid his hands against the ground, invoking his magic from the earth kingdom, yelling, "Gaia Earthquake Force Rush!"

Unfortunately, this proved to be ineffective as both Cover Girl and the other Heartless madly jumped and strafed to avoid it, the fault-line and tremor bringing forth the seismic energy and devastating attack missing it narrowly. The Delgado Triplets shared a look before they invoked their magic.

"Stopra…Time Freeze!" they yelled, and with a click and a surge of pink light, the Hellfire Heartless was forced to halt in mid-air and it madly jumped out of the way of Avalanche's magic, remaining stuck and frozen in time and space, encased in a bubble of time energy. Unfortunately, Trinity was only able to freeze that one, for the Heartless that was once Cover Girl shrieked with rage before barreling towards them with full-force, ready to mow them down.

At the same time, to General Hawk and the other Joes along with the Charmed Ones, surprisingly, they didn't see the Misfits fighting the two Heartless at all. What they were viewing, each and every one of them, were a group of familiar figures in black cloaks, charging directly at them, along with the two Hellfire Heartless.

"Organization members!" gasped Paige, realizing who they were.

"Fire! Don't let them get close!" yelled Duke as he continuously let loose with his laser rifle.

The Misfits and their Joe guardians, busy trying to stop Cover Girl, were surprised to say the least when they were encountering fire from lasers, missiles, and the occasional molecular blast from Piper herself while trying to simultaneously avoid Cover Girl's assault.

"**_Hey!_** What's going on, yo?" Toad yelped as a bullet grazed past his forearm painfully.

"What the hell? They're firing at us? **_What the hell's going on?_**" Low Light exclaimed in disbelieving outrage as he transformed into adamantium, allowing the bullets to ricochet off his chest and leaving a few holes in his uniform.

"Watch out!" yelled Blind Master as he and Xi grabbed the Triplet out of the way of an incoming bazooka blast, the explosion on the ground causing them to go flying, pitching forward. Unfortunately, they additionally had to deal with several shuriken from Quick Kick's attempts to keep them busy, narrowing dashing in various directions as the metal stars whizzed by. One even managed to nick Gabriel on the ear.

"Yow! We can't keep this up!" yelled Shipwreck, realizing it wasn't going to be good to fire upon his own teammates until there was absolutely no choice (and even then, the sailor was incredibly loathed to perform such an act) as the tank-Heartless fired another consecutive round of blasts from its arms again.

"Aeroga Guardian Hurricane!" Quicksilver yelled, holding out his left hand, and thanks to his quick thinking, the turret missiles bounced off the orb of silver winds invoked by the speedster's magic, leaving them to reflect back upon Cover Girl.

Althea reached to a decision as she ducked one laser shot, yelling, "Split up! Half of us take out the Heartless! The rest of us will try to figure out how to stop Hawk from firing on us!"

At the same time, Lina was watching this with growing frustration, horrified that the Heartless was Cover Girl and unwilling to just stand by, the gnawing grief and helplessness eating at her gut like acid. Though it was foolish, she could tell that fighting the Heartless and fighting amongst their own allies left the situation very bleak for her family. Dragonfly then understood why Lance was so willing to fight and die to help save Spirit when he was infected.

"We have to help them!" Lina wailed before she whispered to herself, clasping her hands together, "Oh by Vaishnava, please…just let me save her! I don't want more people to die in this war like Chuckles!"

Fred and Justin shot each other a fearful look, hesitant and wordless.

"If you two won't help me, then I'll go by myself!" Lina snarled furiously as she immediately set her teleporter watch to activate the Mass Device and send her directly into the battlefield. But Fred's voice then rang out.

"OK, OK, we'll go, we'll go! You're not goin' alone!" Fred practically roared.

"_We will?_" gulped Justin, wide-eyed and not exactly willing to break the rules, "But…but General Hawk - "

But Fred wasn't going to give his friend a chance to object as he grabbed him roughly by the collar of his shirt before nodding to Lina, holding on to her, and without further ado, Lina teleported the three of them out of the bunker.

"Just as I thought," chuckled Zexion as he saw Lina, Fred, and Justin appear in the middle of the battlefield, trying to avoid the attacks as Toad and Scarlet Witch combined their magic together.

"Thundaga Blitzclap Pressure!"

"Fire Crimson Whirlwind!"

With that, a beautiful and rather loud, crackling roar rang throughout the army base as a wave of red flame surrounding by a snaking stream of orange lightning shot at the opponent, and this time, it struck the Heartless dead center, heating the metal rather painfully and causing it's skin to scorch and sizzle on contact.

"It wasn't enough!" cried out Quinn, "My scanner says that it wasn't weak enough to change Cover Girl back to normal!"

"Watch out!" yelled Lina as she took to the air and flew down before snatching Quicksilver out of the way from one of the Heartless' tank blasts.

"Huh? Dragonfly? You're fighting? I thought you were back at the bunker since you're usually not the fighting type!" Quicksilver couldn't help but blurt out upon looking into the face of his savior, and on retrospect, that probably wasn't the best thing to say under the given situation.

"Not when Cover Girl's life is in danger!" snapped Lina, but then she stopped when Fred, Pietro, and Justin were all staring with eyes as wide as saucers and their jaws collectively dropping wide.

"Lina! Your forehead! It's glowing! You're gettin' magic now or something!" Blob gasped. Indeed, on the Indian girl's dark skin was a contrasting hue of a crest of sky-blue. It consisted of a single orb, like all the others, but a curved streak similar to the shape of a backwards question mark, snaking from the left side of the filled circle and almost completely surrounding it. And at the very top of the curved mark were seven small, jagged spikes, ridging the top surface of the curve like peaks of a mountain-ridge.

_Dragonfly, I hear you…_

"Huh?" gasped Dragonfly, nearly startled out of her wits at the voice, and had she been looking at her reflection, she would have noticed that her forehead was beginning to glow in the same color as Pluto's eyes were.

"Who – what?" the girl stammered, for once speechless at a stranger's voice being in her head.

_I'm answering your prayer…_

"Shiva?"

_Hardly. I'm not God, and I sure as heck don't pretend to be, Lina…_

Then Lina realized who it was; it was the same anonymous being who blessed the other Misfits with magic and Keyblades before in the past attacks.

"Can you help me? Please! Cover Girl's a Heartless now! Please!" Dragonfly begged.

_Yes, I can help you, but only if you're willing to learn the magic of the ice kingdom. I can give you magic that can help save your mother, but this means that there's no turning back. The gift will stay with you for the rest of the war…and you will risk being a target and seeing your friends and family getting killed as well as you._

Lina paused, the fear creeping in and conflicting with her desire to help her adoptive mother.

_There is no turning back if you accept to this to help fight against the Heartless, Lina. The whole world'll rest on your shoulders. You'll have one of the most difficult positions in the fight against the Heartless._

Lina took a shuddering, deep breath before she nodded, saying, "Yes, I'll take it! **_Please!_** I just don't want more people to die!"

The voice chuckled, understanding and compassionate, as it said before it faded, _Good 'cause I don't want more people to die either. May the blessings of the Blizzaga Kingdom be with you, Dragonfly._

As Pluto ceased his session, out of all the Misfits being too immersed and distracted by the battle with the Hellfire Heartless, by pure chance, Blob cast a look around to suddenly spot Pluto, trying to remain inconspicuous, as his eyes gave off the last flickering glow of light-blue.

Pluto then blinked as innocently as he could as he then realized that the obese Texan was staring at him.

"No way…" Fred murmured.

Meanwhile, thanks to divine intervention, Bambi, Simba, and Dumbo emerged from Xi, Avalanche, and Wavedancer's weapons only to form a line in front of the Misfits, and to Zexion's horror, his illusions couldn't disguise the Disney summons in the slightest. The elephant, the deer, and the lion were out in full view, protectively getting in the way and line of fire in front of (to the Joes and Charmed Ones views) the Heartless and the Organization members.

"What the hell?" the Joe, Airborne, remarked as he viewed this from his position in his helicopter, stunned and pausing right before he was about to shoot several missiles upon the targets below.

"Hey, what gives? Simba and Bambi and Dumbo are protecting those Organization guys? They're getting in front of 'em!" the pilot named Slip Stream gasped from his Black Hawk helicopter.

"What are you dumb animals **doing**?" roared the paratrooper, Rip Cord, trying to get a clear shot with his firearm, "These are guys from the Organization Thirteen, the bad guys trying to destroy the world with the Heartless!"

Dumbo just shook his head, hooting from his snout in a high-pitched distressed manner while Bambi whined, pleading, and Simba gave a guttural and fierce roar of anger, as if trying to tell all of the Joes and the Charmed Ones something rather heatedly.

"I don't get it! Why are they protecting them? Did the Organization bewitch them or something, maybe brainwash them?" Iceberg said, completely blown down and the rocket launcher limp in his hands, but then to everyone's surprise, the Joe ninja, Snake Eyes, shook his head as he gave a few motions with his hand to Scarlett whose eyes widened when she got the message in sign as Genie, Mushu, Scarlet Witch, Trinity, Quicksilver, and Toad all kept trying to subdue Cover Girl.

"What did Snake Eyes say?" Duke asked the red-haired woman who relayed the message.

"Snake Eyes says trust the animals! He can sense something! Not everything is what it appears to be!" the female Joe yelled in a strong voice, and though she was confused, she had faith in Snake Eyes' judgment and ninja senses (much to Duke's irritation).

"But…what's going on? We don't see the Misfits anywhere, and yet their summon Disney sidekicks are protecting the Organization hoods! What's there to this 'not everything is what it appears'?" Airborne asked over his communicator.

The Charmed Ones then guessed it correctly as they all shared a look before they joined hands and chanted a spell, invoking the Power of Three.

"_For those who want the truth revealed, open hearts and secrets unsealed, banish those who deceive and lie, reveal the evil one's disguise! Leave us those of good and true, show us those that fight the evil through!_"

With a swirl of soft winds and the laws of white Wicca, to the Joes' amazement, the figures of the black cloaked opponents in front of them disappeared, melting away as ethereal and ephemeral as dew in the morning sun, to reveal a rather annoyed and defensive bunch of teenage mutants, with a red-faced and frustrated Wavedancer, mad as hell.

"What are you guys doing? Why were you shooting at us?" the raven-haired leader demanded, one hand on her hip.

"The Misfits?" gasped several of the Joes, and Phoebe held out a hand to cease the arguing as she explained.

"We thought you were the hooded people from the Organization Thirteen! There was some sort of illusion spell cast on the Pit that altered your appearance in our eyes and made us see you as our enemies! It was some sort of glamour-spell in reverse, so that we saw you as our enemies instead of the Misfits, hoping that we would fight each other! If it wasn't for Dumbo, Simba, and Bambi, we would have never guessed it! It was a trick from the Thirteenth Order! Sorry about that."

"Easy for you to say, Phoebe," grumbled Shipwreck, "You didn't nearly get blown to bits with a missile launcher!"

Rip Cord looked incredibly embarrassed as he actually turned to Dumbo, Simba, and Bambi, feeling his face flush as he said contritely, "Hey…sorry about the 'dumb animals' crack I said earlier."

The elephant, lion, and deer fawn just nodded, giving affirming and non-condemning noises of forgiveness.

"Gr, I wish I could get my hands on the creep that cast that glamour-spell," growled Low Light, and as if one cue, thanks to the Charmed Ones' powerful Wicca, Zexion suddenly felt the invisibility shields he cast on himself suddenly weakening. As hard as the youth tried, the dark magic from him were nowhere near as powerful from the might of the three most powerful Wiccans ever, not to mention it took him completely by surprise.

Zexion felt his cloaking influence wane before he shimmered into full view a bit from the sidelines, close enough to see the angry and murderous glares from the Joes, Misfits, Charmed Ones, and Disney summons. He was now fully exposed.

"Just my luck…" Zexion grumbled, making a grimace.

"Yeah, and all of it bad, dickhead," Piper growled before she flicked her hands at the Organization member and blasted him with her molecular combustion, sending him flying with the general explosion and causing him to crumple into a sore and charred heap, his robe now tattered and smoking from the Halliwell's magical attack. Thankfully, he was strong enough and had the powers of the Nexus flowing in him that Piper wasn't strong enough to vanquish his life immediately. Zexion glared with indignation in his eyes before the other Joes fired with their weapons, and Phoebe and Snake Eyes charged with their swords out and ready.

"You're not getting off that easily, asshole!" growled Althea as she and Xi struck simultaneously, "Aquara Water Dragon!"

"Woodra Leafblight Revolution!" Xi called out, but with a fling of his hand, Zexion managed to deflect the magical attacks of the pounding current of clear water surrounded by the cloud of razor-sharp and glowing leaves off-course, though just barely as it shot out at an angle, as if hitting an invisible barrier. Had the two been a little bit stronger in their magic…

"Potions!" Paige commanded, causing the lethal bottles in her hands to flicker in a blaze of Whitelighter essence before she flung them with her telekinetic orbing, the magical brews ready to break and combust the opponent into oblivion.

"Another time…" the servant of the Thirteenth Order muttered as he shimmered away in a dark aura, teleporting just before Snake Eyes' katana and Phoebe's broadsword could descend on his head.

"He got away!" growled Paige, frustrated, as her vanquishing vials missed their mark.

"Doesn't matter!" barked Low Light as he aimed with his sniper rifle, "Just help us free Courtney! She's under the Organization's control!"

No one bothered to mention that the Joe sniper was quite concerned over Cover Girl's unfortunate predicament. Meanwhile, Lina yelled as loudly as she could, "GET CLEAR!"

With that and facing Cover Girl as best as she could, Lina brought her hands together, her vision blurred with watering fright and determination as she called out her magic, feeling the first words from her mind spring into life through her tongue.

"BLIZZAGA…"

There was a sudden flash as an orb of light blue appeared in Lina's hands before it took shape and solidified.

"What on Earth?" Dragonfly gasped softly as she paused in mid-spell to see that what appeared into her hands. It was a beautiful, translucent violin, sized perfectly for the insect-teenager, made out of foggy yet shining white ice, and the strings themselves were thin and delicate strands of ice crystals, all of them radiating a bright glow. And along with the violin was a bowstring fashioned exactly the same way.

Dragonfly felt there was no time to wonder considering that Cover Girl was still up and running, so desperately, the Misfit grabbed the violin before she started playing it, the bow sliding over the strings like silk and the familiarity of playing an instrument she hadn't practiced with since childhood coming back to her in a rush.

"…ARCTIC REQUIEM!"

To everyone's amazement, each string on the violin began to radiate even more fiercely, and upon each time Dragonfly played, actual streams of ice and snow began to emerge, flying all around the field like artic comets. The entire ground and air was filled with chunks of glittering ice and snow crystals, dancing on air as then seven gigantic bursts of ice magic flew out from Lina and towards the tank-Heartless that once was Cover Girl. Desperate, the monster tried to scurry out of the way, but to its rage, the minute the ice emerged in view, the Heartless discovered that the entire surface of its treads were cased in ice, making the wheels and lower part of its body immobile.

In short, the tank-Heartless was frozen-stuck.

The Heartless then shrieked in fury as it tried to blast all the Misfits using its turret guns, but within a matter of seconds, its metal hull and armor had zero resistance to the cold, and as a result, the frost from the ground clambered upwards, encasing and cocooning the dark-skinned ogress until it was enclosed in a cover of thick, shimmering hoarfrost, frozen solid and trapped.

All that remained of the Heartless that was once Cover Girl was a gigantic tower of misshapen and wildly-formed ice, with the faint and blurry figure of the enemy entombed inside it. And now the Heartless had been effectively weakened enough…

"Al, she's ready!" Quinn screamed, reading the energy levels on her scanner, and Wavedancer didn't even hesitate as she pointed her staff, invoking the ten sigils and the trinity symbols invoking the pillar of light.

"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!" she yelled, and instantly, Cover Girl was encased with a blinding illumination as she roared…

**_Flash!_**

The Heartless vanished, reverting back to the familiar figure of Cover Girl as she toppled to the ground, the Heartless pod and her heart emerging out of her body. And there was another sight that caught everyone's eyes as an orb of light blue flickered to life in front of Dragonfly, forming a long object before the Misfit's very eyes.

Dragonfly's eyes were shining with amazement and grateful tears. She knew right then that she was blessed with a Keyblade of her own, one that she could use to help protect and save her friends. Her Keyblade was light-blue and white, like the colors of ice and snow, and was somewhat translucent like foggy crystal. The key potion consisted of a head that was made of three, large, sharpened icicles, and at the tip of the blade was a beautiful, twinkling butterfly made of ice and yet intricately detailed. The crossguard was made entire of smooth, white material that was layered and grooved, depicting a bell-shaped outlined made of multiple layers of ice. Interestingly enough, on both sides of the crossguard were artistically-placed and miniature insect-wings, those found on a dragonfly, each side displaying five each and protruding out like sparkling thin sheets of crystal. And hanging from the pommel was a crystal chain with a carving of a white dragonfly against a red plus-sign, the symbol of first-aid and the Red Cross.

The voice whispered in her head gently.

_Keyblade…the Icewing Keyblade…_

"Cover Girl's heart!" Low Light yelled, getting everyone's attention.

"And I think you know what that means!" Wavedancer yelled as she and the other Keyblade wielders rushed towards it, but to their surprise, Falco and Octavia appeared in front of them from above, landing softly on the grass. They calmly stood there, blocking the Misfits' path to the unconscious Cover Girl and her glowing heart nearby, despite being surrounded by General Hawk's soldiers and the Charmed Ones alongside the army mutants.

This was surprising to say the least. None of the heroes expected the Cornerian pilot and the Tigershark to just actually appear out of nowhere and get in front of their faces like this. Low Light and Shipwreck, however, didn't seem to be in the mood for mind games.

"Get the hell out of our way!" the Joe sailor growled as he aimed one Desert Eagle pistol at the two.

"Please, don't make this difficult," Octavia said slowly, "If the heart's not a Talisman, we'll let you have it. You have our word. We're giving you one chance to see that we're not your enemies and that our mission to get the Talismans is for the greater good."

"Then why the hell are you doing this, yo? Why couldn't you talk to us before?" snapped Toad.

"We're talking to you **now** at least," emphasized the female warrior, "And we're at least trying this now to see if you Misfits could see this so that you can't hinder us in the future and let us carry out our missions without interference."

"Boy, you're even stupider than you look if you think that we'd just smile and say '_go ahead_' after everything you two have done to us!" snapped the Joe, Quick Kick, fingering two ninja stars in his hand.

"I _told_ you there's no point reasoning with them," Falco muttered to Octavia, crossing his arms over his chest and sulking, as if he argued that to the octopus woman many times. Octavia looked a bit regretful but still hopeful that the Misfits and Joes would be willing to take the path of least resistance.

"Please understand: to save all worlds and defeat the Heartless, a few people's hearts sacrificed isn't a high price to pay, especially if it brings back the worlds the Organization conquered before in the past," she pressed.

General Hawk decided to diffuse the situation before it got violent as he raised a hand, signaling to the troops to hold their fire, as he growled, "Falco, Octavia, there can't be any negotiations regarding the safeties of my men and women. You may not be our enemies and against the Heartless, but you certainly aren't trusted among us, especially since you're endangering innocent people to get your mission accomplished. We're in no obligation to help you. And I'm sure the X-Men, League, Ghostbusters, and the Titans would agree with me. I'll give you one chance to back off, and we won't fire. Otherwise, I'll give the command to shoot to kill. **You have one chance**."

Falco then finally smirked as he scoffed, "You won't kill us."

"Don't tempt us, asshat," Low Light snarled as he aimed his sniper rifle at the avian's head, but then Falco pointed at the Hellfire Heartless from behind, the one everyone else forgot temporarily in the excitement and confusion.

"I wasn't tempting you. I was merely saying that your two Misfits, Blob and Whitelighter, are now Heartless fodder," the bird droned snidely, and to everyone's realization, the remaining Heartless roared as Trinity's time-freeze spell vanished and wore off, and with that and remembering Zexion's instructions, the black-skinned charged towards Fred and Justin who were still no longer under the safety of the bunker and in plain sight of the enemy.

"Goddamn it to hell!" roared General Hawk, "I told them to stay in the bunker!"

"No!" yelled Wavedancer and Avalanche as they saw the Heartless' arms stretch and elongate like rubber before it grabbed the two teens and slammed them both against the wall of a nearby building within a blink of an eye. Justin tried to orb, but he forgot that any energy from his mutant power just made the Heartless stronger, and as a result Blob and Whitelighter couldn't do anything but writhe and howl in agony as the Heartless began to glow and grow bigger and bigger, absorbing their energy by mere contact.

Falco then got to the point as he said, "Looks like either you can try to fight us and get Cover Girl's heart and let your two Misfits die in the process, or you stop the Heartless, save your friends, and let us see if her heart's a Talisman. It's your choice: us or your friends. Considering that only the Misfits' magic can fully kill that Heartless, and there's a chance that your Joe's heart isn't a Talisman, I suggest you do what's easier."

Damn, it was an effective and near-stalemate.

"Bastard," spat Althea as they saw that Octavia was already scanning the pink crystal of Courtney's in her hand, but without further argument, all the Misfits (bar Lina), their handlers, the Charmed Ones, and the Disney summons charged to rescue their two teammates. Before Hawk could decide to command the Joes to fire at will, Octavia sighed and tossed the heart crystal back to a stunned Dragonfly.

"It's not a Talisman," she explained.

Lina exhaled with relief as she rushed to Cover Girl and placed it over the woman's chest. With a flash, the crystal disappeared and an actual Keyhole formed, causing Lina's Icewing Keyblade to glow. Realizing what this meant, Dragonfly stood up and held out her weapon, and with a gleam of light blue, there was the ominous clicking noise and the keyhole disappeared, sealing Cover Girl's heart safely.

Dragonfly sighed, but she turned to the falcon and the octopus-humanoid with some confusion. She asked warily, "So you just gave it back?"

"We gave our word," Octavia said simply.

Falco coolly looked upon the scene before the avian instructed emotionlessly, "Octavia, let's go."

With that, the Cornerian pilot and the Tigershark turned back and ambled away, calmly and without the slightest urge to hasten. The Joes nearby were stunned with disbelief and fury.

"So that's it?" growled Leatherneck, "I thought you were fighting the Heartless! Hell, are you against Organization Thirteen or not?"

"We are," Octavia said brusquely as she continued walking.

"There's still one more Heartless! Why aren't you taking it down then? Aren't they your enemies too?" yelled the Joe, Lieutenant Falcon, Duke's half-brother.

Falco then actually stopped and glared at the Joes, one wing cockily resting against his laser pistol, as if a warning, before he retorted, "It's not our problem. Whatever issues you have with the Thirteenth Order isn't really our concern. Just because we're on the same side doesn't mean we're on the same team. You made it clear you won't step aside and let us do our job of finding the Talismans, so we're sure as hell not going to help you settle your feuds with the Thirteenth Order. And we're not going to trouble ourselves with every single Heartless that pops up. Anything that's not important to our mission for the Talismans, we'll just leave it up for you to take care."

"And let people die trying to fight these things?" raged Scarlett.

"It is a shame and a tragedy…but we are not obligated to save everyone. Especially since you can't see things our way," Octavia said, her eyes showing a bit of sympathy but still resigned to just walk away along with Falco.

"You're just as bad as the Organization, ya' yellow-feathered varmits!" Wild Bill shot back with venom. He was contemplating taking his Colt pistol and firing directly into the bird's chest, but before he could, Duke placed a restraining hard on the soldier's shoulder.

"Look, all of you! There's no point arguing with them! Let's just help take that Heartless down and save Fred and Justin!" Duke roared, and seeing that he had a point, the small group of Joe charged to join alongside the Misfits and other Joes, guns blazing. Before he sped towards the ruckus, General Hawk turned fiercely to Octavia and Falco.

"When you two will be in need of help, don't come crying back to us," he warned, and Falco snorted as he left alongside his companion.

"Don't make me laugh, Joe. That'll **_never_** happen," and with that, Falco and Octavia disappeared.

The stray Hellfire Heartless meanwhile was gaining much vigor and vitality as Whitelighter and Blob grew weaker and weaker in its claws.

"Aaaah! It hurts, it hurts!" shrieked Justin as he felt the violent withdrawal seep out of his skin and flesh painfully and into the Heartless' body.

"I…so…weak…" choked Fred, his eyes half-open and his struggles to squirm out of the Hellfire Heartless' claws diminishing by the second.

"Let go of them!" roared Roadblock and Blind Master in insane fury as they both charged, with the machine-gunner brandishing his empty gun as an effective club and the ninja master using his drawn katana blade. Yet barely worried, the Heartless snarled and another blitz of black lightning at the two, and the men fiercely had to temporarily sidestep and cease their rush unless they wanted to be struck down by the attack.

"I got it! Just take out big and mean!" Genie yelled, absorbing the black lightning by transforming into a lightning rod upon a moment's notice.

"Fira Crimson Whirlwind!" Wanda yelled.

"Gaia Earthquake Force Rush!" Lance added a second later, but to both of the Misfits' collective dismay, nothing happened.

"Aw, shit! We used up all our magical reserves! We don't have enough energy to try a second spell right now!" cursed Avalanche, his eyes wide with horrified loss.

The voice then rang one last time in Dragonfly's head before it vanished.

_Dragonfly, you have a Keyblade attack like Quicksilver and Trinity. Trust your Icewing Keyblade…it'll follow your heart if you want to help your friends. It'll listen to your desires. Just point your Keyblade at the Heartless and use the Sonic Blade technique._

Tossing caution to the winds and eager to save Fred and Justin (who were in danger because of her foolishness in the first place), the mutant adolescent complied immediately, knowing time was of the essence.

"Sonic Blade!" yelled Dragonfly as she bent her right knee forward and pointed her Keyblade at the Heartless. To her amazement, before she could comprehend what was happening, the Keyblade in her hands began to glow before she was actually propelled forward, gliding on the ground as if sliding at incredible velocities on a sheet of ice, leaving a stream of sub-zero artic energy in her wake. To be precise, it was as if Lina was charging like Quicksilver would in his super-speed mode. And with the Keyblade in her hands, Dragonfly's attack was deadly and sharp as she rushed into the arms of the Hellfire Heartless.

**_Sshhhhhooooooooossssssssmmmmm!_**

Whitelighter and Blob just groaned as Dragonfly's Sonic Blade tore through both of the Hellfire Heartless' arms, completely and thoroughly cleaving through it's appendages at the wrists, and once freed from the enemy's grasp, both Fred and Justin toppled to the ground, nearly unconscious but still alive. Now the Heartless had nothing but bloody stumps where its claws used to be.

"Dumbo, get them, quick!" Wavedancer yelled, almost fearful her partner wouldn't make it, and with that, before the Heartless could attempt to absorb the two mutants and continue, the flying elephant swooped down from the skies as quick as he could and snatched the teenagers in his trunk (amazingly, he was strong enough to fly _both_ Blob and Justin), leaving the black monster to strike nothing but bare grass and dirt.

Althea, despite being so fatigued, then tried one last time with her scepter.

"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!" she cried out, raising her weapon over her head, and the Hellfire creature screamed before the lights engulfed it.

**_KABOOOOM!_**

The Heartless let loose an ear-piercing wail before it died, disintegrating and collapsing into dust and smoke before fading into thin air. Althea, now seriously weakened and her energy spent on that last attack, crumpled, feeling faint, and alarmed, Shipwreck and Todd caught the hydrokinetic before she could hit the ground.

"Al, you all right?" Todd asked, out of his mind and clammy-faced, but Althea managed to open her eyes and nod, panting and her breathing shallow and painful. Her head was swimming so much, it was no wonder she couldn't stand on her own two feet.

"Wow…I guess using those scepter attacks really takes a lot out of me," Althea gasped as Dumbo wailed softly and rubbed her forehead affectionately and lovingly with his nose.

"Which is why you shouldn't be doing that often, kid," Shipwreck scolded, but still infinitely grateful his daughter was safe.

"Are you two all right?" Roadblock asked worriedly as Lifeline finished laying his glowing hands on Justin and Fred's foreheads, healing them from their close brush with death.

"Yeah…I guess so," Fred managed to croak through his dry throat and Lina, overjoyed, gave him a ferocious hug.

General Hawk was now giving an absolute glare that would have instantly incinerated Lina, Fred, and Justin to ashes within seconds as he said in a very displeased and serious tone of voice, "Privates…exactly what part of 'stay in the bunker whenever there is a Heartless attack' did you three **not** understand?"

"More KP duty, sir?" Justin asked meekly, shriveling up under the Joe leader's eyes.

"Like there's no tomorrow," rumbled the general, his temper bubbling underneath his game face.

"At least we have another Misfit who now knows magic, General," Low Light sighed with relief as he cradled an unconscious Courtney in his muscular arms, cradling her protectively against his broad chest.

"Too bad we still don't know how they're gaining the magic in the first place," Phoebe sighed.

Blob just turned with suspicious eyes towards the dog Pluto, and he found that to his further skepticism that the golden hound was trying his best to not meet Fred's gaze as he stared at the floor.

---

Later that night, Doc wearily went over to the morgue section of the Pit's medical bay, where he, Lifeline, and Bree have kept the bodies of their fallen comrades from various past battles, those who have died nobly in their fight to protect the country. He needed to check up with Chuckles, especially since, after the embalming, he still needed to be prepped up so he would look suitable for the funeral services, especially since Phillip's wife, Jessie, requested an open casket.

And despite the apparent importance, Doc didn't find the time to stitch up Chuckles' body after the preservation procedures until now, primarily because of the Heartless attacks and a recent argument between the Joes Leatherneck and Wet Suit that resulted in a black eye, a broken arm, and several third degree burns because of the fact that they were fighting in the galley right when B.A. was bringing a dish of seaweed flambé.

As Doc entered the morgue, he was surprised to see the metal tray containing a pale-skinned yet peaceful body of Chuckles, modestly covered with a cloth, and next to him, stitching his bullet wounds on his chest skillfully with inconspicuous thread was a calm Lina, gently sowing with tender care.

Lina just looked up at Doc, not the least bit startled, and just said softly, "I thought I could help finish him up since he needed to be shipped back to his family tomorrow."

Doc, despite his bewilderment, offered a small smile, understanding. The Joe doctor pointed out, "You didn't need to make a special trip up here."

"I was here anyway, checking up on Cover Girl and making sure she's all right, and I figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone. Pluto is keeping her company, sleeping next to her bed," Dragonfly replied gently, and her face was serene and composed, almost nonchalantly cheery, despite nearly losing her adoptive parent.

Doc's smile went wide. He asked, "And how's Courtney doing?"

"She's already complaining about being bored and threatening Lifeline bodily harm if he reminds her that she can't have any sugary treats or coffee while recuperating in the infirmary one more time. Already, Cover Girl's been begging me to help sneak in a cinnamon roll for her…with extra frosting," giggled Lina.

"You need any help?" Doc asked, indicating with his head at Chuckles.

"No, I'm almost done. And…I wanted to do this by myself, as a way to say good-bye to him."

"Is this what you really want?" the man asked, and Dragonfly knew instantly that he wasn't referring to patching up Chuckles.

"Yes, more than anything. I realize that now," Lina said softly but with unyielding steel, and her green eyes were determined and sure. Doc smiled again; he couldn't have been more pleased.

---

"Experiments 243 and 244 have been defeated, my Lord," Zexion said as he teleported into the realm of the fountain of the Oracle where the Superior and the other members of the Thirteenth Order had finished viewing the events in the scrying pools of water.

The Superior was now incredibly livid, doing his best to restrain himself, quite a change from the last time Xigbar and Lexaeus returned with news of their failures. Of course, Zexion's _I-told-you-so_ tone of voice wasn't helping either.

"And you didn't think of trying to assist the Heartless or tried to directly kill the girl and the dog before either of them could harness the forces of the Blizzaga Kingdom?" he hissed, growing annoyed and irate.

"I was busy trying to play my mind games and illusions on the Joes and the Misfits to even bother," Zexion said rather airily, as if bored and far above mere physical violence. Apparently, this wasn't the right thing to say considering that the Superior actually grabbed the youth's robes on the front of his uniform and jerked the member of the Organization so that they were face to face, the pressure around Zexion's collar threatening to strangle him.

"I would highly advise you to not take that tone of voice with me, Zexion," growled the leader, "Just because you were one of the original apprentices of Ansem and one of the founding members does not make you expendable, especially if you stand in our way of gaining power and becoming complete beings again. Is that clear?"

Zexion nodded, his face grave and stoic, betraying no emotions of fear; he was stubbornly prideful. With that, the Superior released his hold on the dark-haired man before turning his attention to another male, this one with piercing cold blue eyes and a hardened, chiseled face, battle-hardened, and with long, black hair tied in a series of dreadlocks, dropping over his shoulders.

"Xaldin, from what I have learned, Hamilton and those in the Inner Circle tell me that we are quite seriously depleting the number of Hellfire Heartless pods available in our reserves, so to prevent complete usage and build an adequate supply for the harvest, you may only take one pod to the Pit. However, you are free to act towards the Joes and the Misfits as much as you wish. However, take extra care to either eliminate the dog, Pluto, or the remaining non-blessed Misfits. I daresay those two children should hardly be a challenge for you."

"As you wish, my Superior. I will not leave until Blob and Whitelighter have been slain and their hearts become ours," Xaldin said with a cunning and sadistic smile as he left, a cold wind blowing in his wake.

**Author's Notes: Next week, check back for the chapter, "Every Blob Has His Day" as Pluto realizes that his secrets may not remain hidden for long now that Fred is starting to have his suspicions. And with only Blob and Whitelighter being the remaining Misfits not protected by magic, the Organization is now thoroughly gunning for the two as Xaldin makes his siege into the Pit, but with the added complications of the Starr brothers as well as General Whithalf visiting the Pit, can any of the Misfits truly remain safe? Check back next Friday, and until then, read and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Constructive criticism welcome!**


	11. Every Blob Has His Day

**CHAPTER 11: Every Blob Has His Day**

"Ugh, every muscle in my body is aching," groaned Justin as he, Fred, and Lina limped back into the living room of the Misfit Manor the next night, dirty and a bit smelly as well, along with Roadblock and Blind Master, from their KP duty of cleaning and scrubbing all the restrooms in the Pit. Cover Girl was still recovering in the infirmary (and for once was glad that she was bedridden).

Needless to say, it wasn't pleasant. The remaining Misfits and Joe handlers were in the living room along with General Hawk as the group wearily trudged in; it was clear that they had been waiting for them to finish up so that the Joe leader could talk with the group over the latest developments.

Pietro couldn't help but rub it in as he waved the air in front of his face, saying, "Pee-yew, you guys stink! Normally, I'd suggest a good bath, but you guys could give Toad a run in wilting body odor!"

The teenagers and adults on KP duty did their best to wither the albino speedster with a unified and tired glare, but Roadblock easily diffused the situation despite the annoyed reactions.

"Calm down and keep it shut without fuss. I assume, General Hawk, that you're here because you wanted to talk to us?" the African American soldier rhymed.

"Pretty much," agreed the Epsilon Joe wearily as he turned to the Joes and Misfits, "I'm starting to get pressure from the powers higher up, and apparently, they're not readily pleased at how I've…failed to inform them of your recent power-ups, so they're going to resolve to keep a closer eye on you Misfits as well as see if you couldn't put your newfound abilities to…better uses."

"In other words, some of the more unsavory Jugglers want to see if the Keyblades and magic can work to their own advantages, and not all of them are presumably for the sake of the general populace and the safeties of all people on this planet," Xi guessed with a touch of malice, already starting to piece together the reasons behind the general's displeased and wary demeanor.

"And let's not forget that Eddington's probably trying to stop us since he's with the other meanies of the Hellfire Club and the Inner Circle," Daria commented, making a face of disgust.

"To be fair, it's my fault on that issue," Hawk exhaled wearily, "I knew that keeping this from the Jugglers instead of failing to inform them immediately like the League or the X-Men would come back to bite me in the ass, and yet I still did it anyway."

"You had good reasons to, considering that information of the Keyblades and magic would be compromised, especially since Eddington and the Inner Circle would leak that information to many of our other enemies such as Stryker or Graydon Creed or Magneto and Cobra and Hydra," Blind Master pointed out.

"But on the upside, the Jugglers won't be willing to endanger you since they have learned that apparently you magic and the Keyblades are the only things truly effective against the Heartless. They may be interested and hoping to manipulate this to their benefit, but they at least won't try to experiment and take you away," Low Light said to the teens.

"Not yet, anyway yo," Todd grumbled.

"How are General Whithalf and General Flagg taking this?" Spirit asked at last, remembering that out of many of the military generals in the United States army, those two would be among those they could trust.

"Whithalf's going to go through some briefing with me tomorrow over the current Heartless situation along with the West Coast mutants, the Starr brothers. He wants to help prepare the situation so that if the West Coast Misfits and their handlers run into any of the Heartless on their premises, they could hopefully be better equipped to handle the situation before the Keybladers can step in. And Flagg is working with Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. in order to help prepare for the Gathering and rallying whatever trusted people we can find as well as helping us deal with the Organization should their efforts become global. And something tells me that with the Hellfire Club adding to this as well as a few other enemies we don't know about, that possibility will probably be very likely," Hawk answered.

"Frankly, I'm surprised Cobra and Magneto hasn't joined in on this in trying to create their own Heartless," Althea remarked dryly.

"Don't think I'm dismissing that one too, Wavedancer," sighed Hawk, "But we'll have to be ready in their possible involvement should it come up if things turn out that serious."

"Hey, that reminds me. Who won the betting pool for the number of days of relative sanity before the next Heartless attack, yo?" Todd piped up.

"It was a tie between Duke, Snake Eyes, and Gung-Ho," Althea provided, and in this, she couldn't help but smile, "Unfortunately, Duke and Snake Eyes then got into an one-sided argument on how the next day includes the midnight hour in the bet, and thus, it led to Scarlett getting in the act and told them both to knock it. Duke then said a few less-than-flattering words which resulted in him needing to go to the infirmary for a crossbow shaft in his butt and _another_ betting pool on how long it'll take before Duke tries to get into another brawl with Snake Eyes and how badly he'll get hurt _that _time."

"And before I leave," General Hawk said in a final and grave tone before he focused his ire with a direct glare at Lina, Fred, and Justin, "There is one last matter I would like to address personally, seeing as how you three seem to be particularly hard of hearing."

"To be fair, Hawk," Shipwreck began in the kids' defense, "Lina and the others were worried for Courtney's sake, and in the end, it turned out all right since Lina got her Keyblade and her ice magic to help out in the last minute."

"Regardless, it was incredibly foolish and you three are lucky I'm charitable enough as to not send you to a maximum security cell in S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters to ensure that you won't disobey my orders again. Private Dragonfly, considering that you are now capable of defending yourself and need to be on call for future Heartless attacks, you are excused from future detainment. **You** two, however, are a different story," Hawk rumbled, feeling his temper reach critical mass, as he addressed his last sentence to Blob and Whitelighter. The other Misfits and Joes fell silent.

The general continued, "Apparently, the threat of KP duty wasn't enough, and neither was nearly getting killed. I don't care how noble your intentions are for they are justifiably stupid and foolhardy as well, and in this war, it's the **_last_** thing I certainly want in this unit."

"They were just worried, Hawk. You can't blame them," Low Light then said at last.

"And besides, we saved them in the end," Quinn piped up, but a look from Hawk told her to keep quiet.

General Hawk then gave both Fred and Justin a bona fide look that would have done Batman proud as he said with a dangerous hint of warning, "And just so we're clear, from now on, unless you two have to escape imminent danger, you will not leave that bunker for absolutely no other reason. And even if I have to, Private Blob and Private Whitelighter, you both will stay in that cell even if I have to use mutation-suppressing collars and shackle you two to the floor personally. **Is that understood?**"

Both the male teens gulped before Fred answered, "Yes."

"Yes, what?" Hawk pressed, making sure that his message got through. Out of respect, both Fred and Justin snapped to attention before they addressed him a bit apprehensively.

"Yes sir, General Hawk, sir," they both chimed in unison.

"Good. At ease, Privates," Hawk nodded, satisfied.

"Maybe then it's a good thing that we don't know who is the person who keeps giving us this stuff to fight the Heartless. That way, the Jugglers and not even our enemies in Cobra or the Hellfire Club will be able to try to see if they can get to him or her first before we do," Lance mused.

"You have a point," agreed Wanda, "Can you imagine what would happen if the Inner Circle and the other enemies we've made in the past try to exploit the source of all our new gifts? And if anything, I'm surprised the Organization isn't trying to steal away our powers or our Keyblades."

Fred just turned to a playfully jubilant and laughing Pluto, who was being pestered by Claudius and Barney while being given a tummy-rub by the Delgado Triplets. Fred's eyes narrowed a bit in suspicion, but he didn't say anything, considering that he himself didn't have much proof and didn't want to look like a complete fool.

---

Later the next morning, after breakfast and training, Fred, Wanda, Pietro, Xi, Lance, and the Triplets were eagerly conversing in the kitchen of the Misfit Manor. And the summons, Simba (who was actually being polite to a civil imaginary Coyote), Bambi, and Mushu were with their respective partners alongside the dining table. Althea and Todd were in the living room, making more wedding plans. All of the others were eagerly discussing their future prospects of their newfound magic and the Keyblades, and despite being targets for the Heartless and Organization, like typical youths, they all couldn't help but marvel and be excited at their new gifts.

Or at least, most of them were.

Fred just miserably and glumly sipped from his glass of milk and forced himself to just be happy for his friends as he just sat there and half-heartedly listened to the chatter all around him, trying to keep his happy face on.

"So you can ride on Simba's back now, Lance! No fair! We wanna go piggy-back on Simba too!" whined Quinn with some jealousy.

Lance chuckled and shook his head (and Simba actually looked slightly horrified at Quinn's remark) as he replied, "Sorry, squirt, but Simba only lets me around him. Trust me on this. He won't even let Spirit get close, even though we both tried convincing him that Spirit's OK and that he's my dad. Still, it's sort of comforting, I guess, to see that he's a really loyal friend. And it's cool too! I'm starting to get used to riding him and using my Keyblade on his back! Sooner of later, Simba'll be able to carry me in battle situations, and I'll be able to use my Keyblade to do sneak attacks."

"Cool! Sort of like how a knight attacks while on his horse!" Quinn nodded.

"Trust me, Simba's way cooler than any dumb horse," Lance said eagerly, scratching the lion behind one ear. Simba purred contently.

"Maybe Al can ride on Dumbo then now that I think about it!" Brittany thought out loud, "I mean, Dumbo's strong enough to carry Blob when he was in danger, so carrying Sis isn't that much more difficult! Even though she _could_ lose some weight."

"I HEARD THAT, BRITTANY!" yelled Althea from the living room a bit irately, causing the Triplets to giggle together.

Fred just grumpily chewed on a snickerdoodle from the cookie tray in the center of the table.

"Lance has a point," Wanda mused as she chewed on a chocolate-chip cookie, "Teaming up with the summons is going to be a lot more effective when we fight the Heartless. Like how Mushu combined his dragon-fire with my brother's Keyblade for that spinning, fire attack."

"Aw, nothin' that can't be handled by the all-mighty Mushu, girl!" bragged the small dragon as he licked the frosting off one claw before reaching for another circus animal cracker from the serving plate, "But seriously, Wanda, you could be a little firecracker with your Keyblade too if ya' put your mind to it! You could be all famous as a ninja-samurai-witch girl!"

"I dunno…I'm not exactly proficient in sword-fighting like Xi or Althea. Self-defense and some martial skills, yeah, but fighting with the Keyblade might take some getting used to," Wanda said with caution.

Fred felt the bile in his throat.

"Hey, I'm sure me or Todd and Althea can teach you," Xi offered as Bambi continued nuzzling his head against the Misfit's thigh affectionately.

"Yeah, and just think of what we can do if our magic can get stronger over time, right Fred? And…oh," and Quinn stopped when she shamefully realized that she inadvertently brought Fred into their discussion when Fred was one of the Misfits who didn't gain a Keyblade or magical abilities yet. Quinn didn't mean to single Fred out like that; she just wasn't thinking amid the excitement over pondering her new gifts.

"Nice going, big-mouth," Daria snapped as she smacked Quinn at the back of her head.

"Hey! It's not my fault! I didn't meant to say it! So quit hitting me!" Quinn said defensively.

"Fine! Then **_I_** will!" snapped Brittany as she smacked Quinn again from the other side.

Fred looked extremely uncomfortable, but he did his best to smile despite the sad expression on his face and said, "Nah, it's all right, Quinn. I'm happy for all of you guys. Really, I am."

And that was true. Despite his jealousy and insecurity over not being special enough to fight the Heartless, Blob was truly happy that his friends could be safe. Still, it was uncomfortable enough to touch upon his issues of lacking self-confidence and loathing rejection. The others (even Mushu, Bambi, and Simba surprisingly) nodded wordlessly, relieved that Fred was taking this as well as could be expected.

Regrettably, Pietro then had to open his big mouth and make matters worse.

The silver-haired Misfit then patted the obese teenager on the shoulder with some sympathy, but mostly pity, as he said, "Hey, look on the bright side, Freddy-boy! You and chubby-cheeks will always have us to rescue you whenever you get in over your heads with the Heartless. So no matter how helpless you both will be, we'll always be there to save your butts at the last minute."

WHAM!

Everybody let out a unified and audible groan of discomfort, wincing, as Fred stormed out through the back door of the house, rather bad-naturedly and fuming, as Pietro was now lying face-down on the tiled floor of the kitchen from where Fred tossed him. And right now, Quicksilver could honestly say that he didn't feel much since he could hear birds twittering all around his dizzy head.

"Ow…" moaned Pietro in pain, his entire body aching, "What's I say?"

"Pietro, you just don't get it, do you?" Lance grumbled with a dark look, rubbing his forehead. Simba raised one eyebrow before he turned to the teenage geokinetic and the imaginary Coyote and asked telepathically, his voice ringing in Lance's head.

_Is Quicksilver always like this?_

The Coyote answered, chuckling, "Pretty much, but then again, he's got good points if he took his likeness after me, the all-perfect and all-superior, Coyote, the spirit guide of our resident earth-shaker!"

Simba just gave the Coyote a deadpanned look, clearly not believing that sentiment, as he intoned, _If I recall correctly, you were supposed to have been created and taken after Pietro._

"Details, details…" waved off the Coyote with one silver paw.

Outside, Fred just kept grumbling, scowling, and as he stomped over aimlessly, he realized that although Pietro didn't truly mean the remark as malicious, it still stung. In his rush out of the Misfit Manor, Fred didn't realize that he stumbled back onto the obstacle course of the training grounds until he literally stumbled upon the laid-out tires. Typical clumsiness. Fred bit back a curse and a moan as he picked himself up, kicking one rubber wheel from his leg. He sighed as he sulked and walked around with his hands in his pockets, thankful that the grounds were deserted so that he wouldn't need to talk to anyone, even though a part of him knew Roadblock would be willing to talk to him if Fred was ever down.

Still it probably wouldn't do much good. The poetic machine-gunner couldn't change his situation and give him a Keyblade. And not to mention that Fred realized then that Roadblock was out briefing to Whithalf and the Starr brothers around a tour of the Pit.

Fred then spotted Pluto quietly sunning himself in the daylight, lying on his back and contently smiling next to the log wall. Remembering his initial suspicions, Fred immediately got an idea and he walked over to Pluto, who opened his eyes and squatted to attention, thinking that Fred simply wished to keep him company.

"Pluto, please teach me magic!" Fred pleaded.

Pluto blinked before he cocked his head, making a noise of confusion.

"Please, let me use magic! I'll really work hard at it! Please, let me learn magic like the rest of my friends!" Fred begged again.

The golden-furred canine felt his soul freeze when he heard that. Oh by the King's name, he knew! If only Fred additionally knew that it didn't work in that way…

"Look, don't play dumb! I saw your eyes glow or something when Lina got her powers of ice magic, so I know you're behind the powers and Keyblades, so please, let me have one! **_Please!_**"

Pluto felt his defenses curl in shock, but managed to keep a game face as he made bewildered noises, shaking his head back and forth. Fred then got impatient, feeling his insecurity and the unfairness of the situation bubble before he lost his temper and grabbed a surprised Pluto by the collar while making a fist with his other hand. Pluto didn't even have time to react as he was subjected to a red-faced and uncontrollable Blob.

"Will you quit treating me like I'm stupid! **_Just give it to me!_**" he roared, but then Pluto, as much as he tried to remain calm, let out an agonized and heart-wrenching howl of fear, tears forming in his eyes and truly afraid that Fred was going to hurt him. Or worse.

Fred broke out of his rage when he heard the cry of terror from the animal in his hands, and for one horrific moment, Fred saw his reflection in the dog's shining eyes and didn't like what he was seeing. Instead of the army Misfit willing to stand by his friends and help in whatever way he could, he saw nothing but the angry, violent bully that he made himself to be during his days in Bayville High. And Pluto's expression of hurt and cowering demeanor of loathing and shock reminded of him when he kidnapped Jean Grey because he was so insecure with her leaving him. And not to mention Rogue's harsh words when she blasted him back to save Jean.

"_Nah, you're just garbage that wanted a date!_" Rogue's voice echoed in his head, taunting him and making him feel even more ashamed.

Now, Fred could concede that he certainly deserved it in the past for taking away Jean and that Rogue was simply defending a friend (he'd do the same if their roles had been switched). But what he was doing now to Pluto was nothing short of cruel, especially when Pluto was so friendly and trusting to him before.

Oh God, what was he doing?

Hands shaking, Fred gently let Pluto go, and the dog was stunned to see that Fred was inconsolable as he whimpered, "Oh God…Pluto, I'm sorry…I…I didn't mean to…"

Pluto's face fell, still a bit wary, but Fred then reached out and gently hugged the dog as much as he could, feeling that he just broke something that could never be fixed or repaired, begging for forgiveness.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" Fred kept whispering, quivering. Pluto, though he would have felt better if he wasn't being hugged by Fred's superhuman strength, whimpered and just nuzzled the teenager before he fondly licked Fred's cheek, letting him know he was forgiven.

It took about ten minutes before Fred managed to collect himself, and both he and Pluto just sat there next to the shade of the log wall, with Fred scratching Pluto softly on the head. Pluto did enjoy the petting, but he was still slightly fearful of the teenager besides the obvious reasoning.

"I…I didn't mean to do that, Pluto. Really," Fred lamely apologized, but then again, lucid speaking wasn't one of his strong points. Pluto just remained silent as Fred continued to pet him.

"I guess I was wrong. You don't have special powers…and I'm sorry I suspected you. I know I'm not smart like the others which is why I didn't tell them. I didn't want Pietro and the others to laugh at me," Fred said miserably. Now this, Pluto was shocked that Fred kept his suspicions to himself, and he raised one side of his brow. He wasn't sure if he was sorry or glad of Fred's insecurity to his opinions.

The Mohawk-toting Texan continued on, now not really afraid to open up as he mindlessly petted the dog.

"I…I never had what it takes ta' be a leader and all. I never really wanted it, but I liked being a follower, being a background person and helping them out that way. I couldn't think to save my life, so I always followed what people told me, thinking that they knew what was best. I mean, yeah, when we were in the Brotherhood, Lance and Pietro would always argue over what to do and how to best the X-Geeks, but they never cared or worried about who cooked or how we got food or how to keep everything together and make sure we stayed warm with blankets and stuff. Y'know, the boring stuff. I did that stuff because I wanted to help out in that way since I'm pretty much stupid as a leader, and I didn't want people to laugh at me and say that I was useless or that I couldn't help out."

Pluto gave a sympathetic expression, surprisingly acting human.

"And…I hate it when people laugh at me. It…it just hurts, especially since I'm fat and ugly and slow. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Ironic coming from someone who wants to be a psychologist, I know. But hey, even people trying to be psychologists have doubts too."

Pluto made a soft whimper as he just looked at Fred, his body still.

Fred looked depressed as he remarked, "I guess that's why I'm too scared to tell Lina that I like her. I mean, it really seems pointless, y'know? I'm insecure and I sure as heck aren't smart like some of the Misfits and X-Men are, and Lina might just see me as a friend even if I tell her that I like her. To tell you the truth, I don't blame Lina and the other girls like the Slayers for only wanting to be a friend and nothing more, and heck if Lina went for Bobby in the X-Geeks, I wouldn't blame her."

There was a pause before Fred admitted softly.

"She probably deserves better. Hey, she's all pure and strong of heart enough to get a Keyblade and magic, and though nobody says it, if anyone else would get chosen, it'll probably be Justin over me."

Pluto found himself tempted to agree, yet as a neutral answer, Pluto crawled over to Fred's lap and rested his head on the teenager's knee, not saying anything and just keeping Fred company.

Meanwhile, not too far away from Fred and Pluto's position…

"I see that there's a reason behind Hawk's migraines as of late," mused General Whithalf, his white hair combed and slicked back underneath his cap, and his white moustache was turned up one corner from the fact that his mouth was set in a grim line upon surveying the latest wreckage. It was rather disconcerting that the series of Heartless attacks and infections on various Joe soldiers have been non-stop.

And from what General Whithalf and the Starr brothers could survey as Roadblock led them through the various rubble and overturned vehicles and piles of charred rubble from Cover Girl's rampage, it was worrisome knowing that it wouldn't be long before the Heartless started attacking other places in the world other than the Pit. Which was why Whithalf wanted to bring the Starr brothers with him to the Pit; not only would they be briefed on how to prepare for future Heartless attacks, but it also would help the various allies they had if the West Coast Misfits could collaborate with future missions needed to be performed on the opposite side of the United States. And since they were under the radar and low-key, it was an ideal position for them and for the Joes.

Craig Starr grimly looked over the situation, silent but realizing that it could be very possible that the army base over at the West Coast could be targeted as well, his eyes narrowed. Paul Starr, on the other hand, was quite vocal with his concerns as he turned to Roadblock and General Whithalf.

"Dude, why can't we just storm through the Hellfire Club's associations and find out what we need to know that way? Since these are called Hellfire Heartless and stuff, we could just go to Shaw or Frost Industries and seize whatever information we can get based on a warrant, right? They could probably lead us to that bad-vibe Thirteenth Order!" Paul pointed out, but Marvin shot down that notion, shaking his head.

"Hate to tell you this, Paul," the Joe rhymed, "but the Hellfire Club's not going to set themselves up for a fall. Their business dealings are legally protected, on the fact that they're rich, influential, and well-connected. Even if we manage to prove that the Inner Circle is behind the Heartless, proving respected people like Luthor and Frost would be a bigger and different mess. And even though we appealed to the Jugglers to try to get them to see it our way, they aren't convinced enough to trust the words of aliens and Slayers any day."

"But why not, man? I mean, this is the end of the world we're talking about, Roadblock! No matter how underhanded the Jugglers can be, they can't possibly think that not doing something against the Heartless and taking any possible lead we can get is a bad thing!" protested Paul.

Whithalf sighed, uncharacteristically showing a serious and deep demeanor as he explained, "You need to look at it in their eyes, Starchild. The Jugglers are concerned about the Heartless and the Organization being a threat, but at the same time, they are also interested in seeing if whether this Gathering can work to their advantage. Not only can they face the possibility that the order will turn on the Inner Circle and destroy them without needing the Jugglers to even lift a finger, but there's also the allure that the Organization will additionally handle all the other threats to their position. I can tell you right now that the Jugglers do not like and trust the Heartless any more than we do, but considering that they are solely targeting the Justice League or the Slayers or even the Ghostbusters and Wolfram and Hart, they are tempted to see if they can…thin out our ranks since we are a potential threat to be too powerful for them to keep an eye on. Keep in mind, the Jugglers still have trust issues with the Justice League and the Slayers. Should the Heartless be a major threat, we'll step in and do our best to stop it, but if they take out a few people that can't be controlled such as Superman or Batman or the Watcher's Council…well, it's all the better in the Jugglers' point of view. And if **_we_** can't stop the end of the world, then the Jugglers know, as much as they would never admit it, that the planet was doomed from the start and thus, they'll probably be busy as to trying to find ways to escape it with little regard for everyone else."

"And not to mention that a few of the Jugglers are secretly siding with the Hellfire Club and the Inner Circle, wanting to stay out on top, though we don't have any proof. Thus, we're pretty much doing all this on our own with only the Jugglers and other people in power watching from the sidelines, and if things get too rough, they'll bail and leave us to deal with the mess," Marvin groaned, no longer speaking in verse.

"In other words, since there are so many beings here on Earth that may prove to be a bigger threat, why not let the Heartless take a few of us out and save them the trouble, _including_ the Inner Circle? And all the meanwhile, make back-up plans to cover their own asses and give up if it all goes downhill," grumbled Craig, crossing his arms.

"That stinks. I thought the Jugglers are supposed to be on **our** side," sighed Paul, still disbelieving that people of that authority would have little disregard for anyone other than themselves and their own interests.

"They are…_most of the time_," Whithalf sighed, "It's just that in their interests to keep the world safe and make sure that no one's authority supersedes their own, it sort of conflicts with their patriotic common sense and what's best for everyone rather than on a few select groups. And regardless of how many good deeds we do or people such as the Justice League and the Charmed Ones attempt, the Jugglers would feel much better if they were under their control or simply out of the way."

"Is that why you haven't been allowing us to go try spying on Wolfram and Hart branch in L.A? Even though it's pretty much a given that everything about that firm stinks?" Craig asked.

"Yes, and you know I feel about endangering you kids any further than necessary, especially since your training isn't complete yet, and I do not wish for the Inner Circle to learn that the Wildfire brothers are with us. You do realize what will happen when they discover that Jake and Kyle are under our protection, right? So no spying on the law firm until we say so, clear?" Whithalf asked sternly.

"Yes, sir," replied Craig and Paul respectfully.

"Let's just hope the Jugglers aren't foolish enough of using the Keyblades and taking it away from the Misfits," mused Roadblock, "Even though they probably can't, I just hope that the Jugglers won't try to manipulate us and the other friends we've made during this whole mess and - "

Suddenly, Roadblock broke off his musings and fell to his knees, convulsing and choking, as the Heartless pod entered directly into his back before the Starr brothers and Whithalf could do anything about it. Darkstar and Whithalf's eyes widened in anger and shock as he and the two teenage mutants saw the black robed Organization member flying above.

"Oh shit…" cursed Craig as Roadblock transformed, screaming.

---

"What the hell!" Dusty exclaimed as an explosion rang throughout the army base.

"Aw crap, another Hellfire Heartless!" the Joe Frostbite yelped as he and the other Joes rushed out to attack the monster of darkness that was currently chasing General Whithalf, Darkstar, and Starchild.

"AAAAUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!" yelled the Starr twins as they ran, dragging a rather oblivious General Whithalf by the hands (and nearly jerking the man's arms out of his sockets), running for their lives from the Hellfire Heartless behind them as the other Joes around the Pit began to fire upon the black-skinned ogre and buying the three time to escape safely. And since the twins didn't have magic, they couldn't effectively fight the Heartless and opted to run and get their general out of danger.

"Be careful! Hold it off until the Misfits can cure whoever it is this time!" ordered Mainframe on the Joes' communicator frequency.

"Make a note: B.A., Mutt and Leatherneck win the pool this time," Duke groaned as he, Ace, and Footloose began firing from their semi-automatic weapons upon the creature. Meanwhile, despite his life being in peril, Whithalf didn't seem to be the least bit perturbed.

"My, what a brisk run! I daresay that I haven't had a good sprint like this since the time in Washington when we had to fight the Dreadnoks alongside Serpentor the Second! I think this may be the fastest I have ever sprinted before in my entire life," marveled the old man rather absent-mindedly.

"**_We don't care how fast you're sprinting as long as you're sprinting faster than the fat-assed Heartless right behind us!_**" yelled Craig and Paul in unison as they dashed as fast as they could, literally dragging the oblivious general behind them, madly avoiding the numerous energy pellets flying all around them.

Roadblock snarled as he felt the various pieces of shrapnel and laser fire strike his skin along with the occasional blast from a thrown grenade or launched missile. Still, his mind and consciousness was completely gone, replaced by only the mindless abomination now causing unnecessary destruction all around and targeting everything it could. The Heartless was a portly, round figure, almost like a bowling ball, with only glowing yellow eyes and no nose or mouth, and stubby little legs and arms. However, it was humorously donning a white chef's hat and a white apron, each of the articles of clothing bearing the sign of the crossed-out heart branded on it. And additionally, as weapons, it was carrying two frying pans that were spewing in flame, and juggling back and forth in multiple streams of fire.

"Wow," blinked back the Joe Big Lob as he glanced back at B.A, "I think we've just met your long-lost twin."

"Hardy har har. That's funny, you NBA-benchwarmer reject," shot back the chef rather maliciously and sarcastically as he fired from his bazooka. However, this was no time for joking as the Joes quickly learned that the chef-Heartless was very, very deadly and anything but clownish. With a gurgling roar, the enemy started flinging its two frying pans wildly, its short arms moving so fast that they were practically a blur. And to all the soldiers' collective shock, the entire Pit was being rained down upon by miniature fireballs hammering down like hail, each one as deadly as a machine-gun bullet.

"Yeow, duck and cover!" yelled Mutt as he, his dog Junkyard, and Cross Country scurried away, trying to avoid being incinerated.

The Joe Quick Kick had to lead several injured Joes and use the cover of a nearby tank before yelling, "Easier said than done! This fire's everywhere! We can't run anywhere without risking getting hit!"

Thankfully, before many more of the army soldiers could fall victim to the Hellfire Heartless' attacks, Quicksilver intervened as he invoked his magic.

"Aeroga Guardian Hurricane!" he yelled, flinging out a hand, and instantly, to everyone's surprise, the entire battlefield was covered with a swirling and turbulent shield of silver, the air currents whistling and ripping through the atmosphere and literally causing many of the miniscule bombardments to go flying back directly at the Heartless, singing it and causing it to focus its ire on the Misfits and their Joe handlers from the sidelines. Fred and Justin were back in the bunker with the babies, Claudius and Beak.

"By the Great Spirit! Pietro, I think your magic's growing! You're able to cover the entire a whole field with your attack!" Spirit marveled, realizing how much it helped that now the Joes were safe from the massive fire-blitz.

"Wait a minute," ordered Shipwreck as he started counting the heads of the Joes all around the Misfits, keeping mind that Courtney was still in the medical area, resting.

"Shipwreck, just what are you doing!" demanded a very impatient Low Light, extremely pissed at the delay, but then the Joe sailor noticed that out of all the Misfit handlers, one of their own was missing, and Shipwreck gave a grim expression as he turned his attention back to the others.

"Roadblock's missing. That Heartless over there's Roadblock," the bearded soldier said, as if it was fact and not just speculation.

"Wow, Dad's right…for once in his life," Daria said with shock as she finished scanning the Heartless in several seconds to reveal an unconscious and infected Marvin inside the translucent form of the experiment of the Organization.

Despite the situation, Shipwreck couldn't help but glare at his daughter and drawl with sarcasm, "Ha ha, funny…"

"No!" wailed Toad, his hands tightening on the grip of his Amphibionian Keyblade, distraught at seeing his adoptive dad being infected. Scarlet Witch then had enough as she powered up.

"Then let's weaken him so we can bring him back to normal!" she cried out, her hands each holding a ball of flame, "**_Fire Crimson Whirlwind!_**"

"Wait a minute, Scarlet Witch!" Brittany cried out as she was reading her scanner, but it was too late as the colossal wave of fire emerged from the girl's hands and swirled around in a snake-like manner, a typhoon of heat, before it doused Roadblock fully. Sadly, the instant the attack hit the opponent, the Organization's drone began to glow before it then launched another fire attack from its fire-wielding frying pans, except now instead of small flaming capsules, it was a gigantic surge of fire, ten times more powerful than Roadblock's first attack.

"Oh…shit," cursed Shipwreck, white in the face, as the conflagration was about to incinerate all of them, but Genie popped out of Toad's Keyblade, once again coming to his friends' rescue.

"**Have no fear! Fireman-Genie's here!**" the summon declared rather pompously, magically dressed in a red fireman's helmet and a yellow waterproof slicker before he took out a gigantic fire-extinguisher and shot out a wide and thick plume of white foam, enhanced to counteract against the Hellfire Heartless' attack.

_Hhiiiiiiiiissssssssssssssssssss!_

"All right! Good going, Genie!" yelled Low Light, upon seeing that Toad's summon was able to fully snuff out the fires before letting loose with his sniper rifle. Though he didn't want to hurt Roadblock, Cooper knew that the machine-gunner himself would want his teammates to stop him by any means necessary.

"But…but what happened!" Wanda asked, "Why didn't my magic work on Roadblock!"

Toad then guessed it, recalling his run-in with Larxene, as he exclaimed, "Duh, magic won't work that way, yo! Roadblock uses fire, so any fire magic will only make him stronger! Sort of like how when I fought that Organization chick from before, yo! Because she used thunder magic too! Like doesn't hurt like! You can't hurt a Heartless with fire magic if _it_ uses fire attacks, yo!"

"He's right! Roadblock's now even stronger by absorbing the magic from Wanda's attack, so it'll be a lot tougher to take him down! His energy readings are through the roof! I can't even measure accurately how powerful those fire attacks can get!" whimpered Brittany, typing in a few keys to see if there were any mistakes in the readings her pink scanner.

"Nice going, Wanda," Quicksilver couldn't help but drawl.

"Quickie, shut it before I burn your mouth off!" snapped Mushu as he popped his head out from Wanda's collar of her uniform. At the same time, Wanda was among the Misfits helping Paul, Craig, and General Whithalf as Paul hurriedly explained.

"We tried shooting our eye-beams at the Heartless, but it wouldn't go down, man! This is totally not stellar! When we tried to fight it, it just got bigger and stronger!" Starchild said urgently.

"Craig, what part of 'do not use your mutant powers on Hellfire Heartless' did you not understand?" Scarlet Witch couldn't help but gripe, and Craig did his best to incinerate the girl with a glare (though one could tell that they were both blushing).

"I think when running for your life from something that wants to kill you, you tend to forget details when you're desperately doing your best to protect your friends by any means necessary," Craig shot back sardonically.

"I swear, when I get my hands on the jerk that did this to Roadblock, I'm gonna beat him within an inch of his life before ramming a butt-load of shurikens up his or her wahzoo, yo!" snarled Toad poisonously

"Oh really? Well, feel free to try it now if you can, little tadpole," drawled a cold voice that sounded somewhat like a snake hissing across a slick and slimy surface, oozing with contempt and disdain. Whithalf, the Misfits handlers, and the mutant teenagers turned to see the mysterious warrior who was actually floating above the ground, his boots dangling several inches off the dirt. The servant of the Thirteenth Order was literally riding the wind as if he weighed nothing. And with his hood lowered, they could see that he was a grim-faced man with incredibly long black hair that was tied in a pony-tail and braided into a plethora of dreadlocks. And in addition to his oversized, black sideburns and eyebrows, the man's eyes were cold and a deep blue.

"Whoa…bad vibe," Paul blinked. Whithalf's eyes narrowed.

"**He's** the bugger who infected Roadblock, I daresay," the white-haired man growled.

Xaldin smiled, showing his teeth, as he goaded, "Well, come on then, Toad. I'm waiting…"

"You ain't gonna be waiting long, bastard!" roared Toad as he was about to charge with his Keyblade up and ready, but then Xaldin spread out both of his arms and out of nowhere, six miniature cyclones of silvery air transcended down upon the ground from the skies above, and the airstreams materialized to form six beautiful yet treacherous lances. Each was remarkably crafted in silver and lavender-colored metal, with the head of each lance formed in the shaped of a dragon's head, complete with a jagged mouth. Along with a silver rod and yellow handles of gold to allow a grip in the center of the weapon, the bottom portion of each was a three-pointed star, each pike long and extremely lethal looking.

Like a ninja, Xaldin expertly grabbed three of the lances, two in one hand and one in the other, skillfully twirling them within his fingers before readying himself in a battle stance. Xi grabbed Toad before he could foolishly get himself killed.

"Toad, be careful!" the lizard warned, "He's good! Those spears of his aren't normal if they can ride on the air currents, and it will be easy for you to get in over your head considering he has six lances and you only have one Keyblade!"

"I'm not scared!" Toad growled.

"And we still need to hold off Roadblock and cure him!" Spirit pointed out. Xaldin then sneered as he turned his back on the heroes, knowing that the Hellfire Heartless would be enough to distract them.

"Hey, you're not running away! Not until I make you pay for what you did to Roadblock, yo!" Toad snarled as he charged, and before he could yelp, Xaldin sent three of his lances directly at the frog-mutant, faster than the eye could blink. And it was only Toad's ninja-training and gymnastic abilities that allowed him to escape stabbing.

"Who said I was running away, you little fools?" Xaldin sneered, "While you and the Joes deal with your new-improved friend, I'll go to that little protected bunker of yours and pay Pluto and his remaining friends a little visit."

"Like hell you will, asshole!" yelled the Misfit leader as she charged, and Xaldin managed to quickly glide away, smoothly riding on air, at the last second as Wavedancer brushed past by him by a matter of inches, doing a heel-kick right where his head was a fraction of a second ago. But before Wavedancer could try kicking the black-robed man again, Xaldin sent a particularly lethal spear to stab the girl in her chest, and instincts rising, Wavedancer, out of desperation, used her staff and effectively held it horizontally with both hands, blocking the spear point quickly. Now irritated, Xaldin summoned an additional pair of lances to jab at her from both sides, but adroitly, the girl managed to use her staff to parry and effectively block the spears again.

Althea was amazed as Xaldin stopped his physical barrage. Even though it appeared fragile, her staff was as strong as Japanese steel and it was effective as a makeshift weapon to complement her ninja-skills.

Wavedancer then pointed her scepter at Xaldin and cried out, "Destiny Kingdom - !"

But before Wavedancer could finish her incantation, with a vindictive and evil smile, Xaldin waved his hand and summoned a furious typhoon with his magic that picked Wavedancer off her feet and sent her flying upwards in speeds rivaling that of a speeding car. The leader of the Misfits barely had enough time to yell as she was thrown violently into the air, over a hundred feet.

"Althea!" gasped the others below, but then Wavedancer's quick thinking enabled her to act as she summoned Dumbo.

"Give me strength!" she yelled, and within seconds, she felt her fall being cut off violently as she crashed onto Dumbo's back, the elephant in the clown-apparel squealing happily through his trunk. Althea barely even took up half of the space on Dumbo's back as the baby elephant flapped his ears and swooped downwards, carrying his partner and saving her life from a very precarious drop. Unfortunately, the others, in the commotion, looked to see that Xaldin had vanished.

"Crap! He's going for Fred and Justin!" swore Xi before he used his magic on Roadblock, crying out, "Woodra Leafblight Revolution!"

The chef-Heartless howled as the barrage of green leaves tore at its skin, invoking numerous cuts and gashes.

"Not if we get there first! Half of us go after the Organization guy, and the other half stay here to help the Joes fight the Heartless!" Althea yelled over her communicator before she and Dumbo flew towards the bunker as straight as the crow flies.

Xaldin smirked as he finally approached the underground cell where the two male teenagers and the dog where foolishly residing in, making them convenient targets for him to eliminate. And in all one easy strike. The man smiled quite disturbingly as he then brought his hands together before lifting them upward, invoking his magic and power of such intensity, it could have put a tornado to shame.

At the same time, Fred, Justin, Claudius, Beak, and Pluto were in the reinforced bunker, watching the grim battle with the Heartless on the monitor. Fred was especially distraught when he saw on the screen that Trinity's scans revealed the monster to be none other than Roadblock, and he so desperately wanted to be there.

"It bad…" whimpered Claudius as he and Fred saw Dragonfly and the Joe, Airtight, vainly try to take down Roadblock with a combination of ice magic and a series of laser discharges.

To their growing consternation and bewilderment, the very metal walls all around the bunker began to shake and rumble, as if the entire steel box was giving in to stress, creaking and groaning. A very disconcerting omen to say the least.

"I hope this isn't a bad sign…" gulped Fred.

Justin hugged Beak closer to his body as he tried to offer, "Well, General Hawk said that the whole bunker's lined with adamantium, right? We're probably safe then because wind can't break off that kind of metal, right?"

Whitelighter should have remembered the phrase "famous last words" for at that moment, the entire ceiling of their cell was ripped open and flung into the atmosphere, as if a gigantic hand ripped it off. And Blob, Whitelighter, Beak, Claudius and Pluto yelled as the winds engulfed them before they found themselves flying into the air, pushed like weightless feathers, as they plummeted from the sky.

Xaldin grinned with satisfaction; no room would ever hold him from his prey.

"Fred, hang on!" yelled Justin as he grabbed on to Beak with one arm while laying a hand on Fred's (who was now holding on tightly to Claudius) before he managed to orb the both of them safely to the ground before they could hit it and break every bone in their bodies. Thankfully, the teenager's orbing was enough to break the momentum of free-fall. Fred looked around wildly and with worry as he cradled a now wailing Claudius, the seal-humanoid sobbing for his father.

"I don't wanna play no more!" cried Beak.

"Pluto! Pluto! **_Justin, where's Pluto!_**" Fred bellowed, but before his companion could shake his head and say he had no idea, all of a sudden, the two Misfits yelped as they were suddenly surrounded by an orb of harsh winds, and dancing all around them were six, lethal-looking lances, each baring a metal, razor-sharp spear-head and an equally dangerous pike at the bottom. Fred tried to punch through, but he yelped the minute his fist came in contact with the wind and blades, and drawing back his hand, he could see that it was deeply serrated and cut all over, bleeding. These were no mere lances…

They were trapped. And Fred's breath caught in his throat when Xaldin teleported in a black haze, smirking at his four victims. This was indeed a pleasant surprise…and he wasn't above killing toddlers if it could cause the Misfits more grief.

"Justin, orb out! I'll cover you!" Blob roared, immediately depositing Claudius in a stunned Justin's arms before shielding all three of them with his body, getting in front and cutting them off from Xaldin's view, "Damn it, what the hell's wrong with you! **_Scram!_**"

"I won't! Not without you!" snapped Justin as he touched Fred's back and proceeded to orb all of them, but to their horror, Justin couldn't teleport himself and his friends out. The winds kept them fully rooted in the same place.

"I…I can't orb!" gasped Justin, now scared beyond his wits.

"Of course not, you young idiot," Xaldin sneered as he ambled up to his prisoners, ready to command his spears to stab all four of them where they stood, "My magic is far more powerful than your Whitelighter-heritage could ever enable you with."

But before he could murder them, a voice rang out, full of fury and rage.

"THUNDAGA BLITZCLAP PRESSURE!" snarled Toad with a fury he seldom reached, red in the face, before Xaldin immediately invoked two of his spears to block the electric attack before it could hit him in the back fully (unfortunately, it wasn't fully effective and some of the thunder magic still managed to graze him). Xaldin narrowed his eyes but never lost his smile as Wavedancer, Toad, Scarlet Witch, Avalanche, Genie, Mushu, Simba, and Dumbo caught up with them.

"Genie, get 'em out of there, yo!" Toad yelled, but to Genie's horror, his multicolored blasts of magic just bounced off the wind-shields of the Organization member. There was no doubt about it; this opponent was powerful. Wavedancer and Scarlet Witch were both now furious as they were about to attack with their magic.

"You better beat it, jerkface, if you know what's good for you!" snapped Mushu, riding on top of Wanda's head and his mouth smoking, ready to launch a spew of dragon-flame. Xaldin's smirk grew wider, and Althea had a horrified thought about how these clichéd standoffs with villains usually ended. And her fears were confirmed as Fred, Justin Claudius, and Beak were all forcibly separated from each other with a wave of the antagonist's hand, with Fred and Justin in one wind-bubble and Claudius and Beak in another, both group separated by three spears revolving violently and dangerously around and preventing any sort of escape.

"Oh I'll leave, little lizard," sneered Xaldin (and this infuriated Mushu to no end), "but I'd rather finish what I've started. And before you attack me…"

He issued this as a last warning as the four Misfits and their allies were about to move to blitz him before Xaldin then finished his threat, "You have a choice to answer me this one question: which of these two shall I spare? I can either kill the two babes and leave you pitiful friends, Whitelighter and Blob, unscathed, or I can kill your two teammates and leave the children be. Attack me, and I kill all four of them before you can even utter one word of your spells. And if I recall correctly, only Avalanche and Wavedancer haven't used their magical reserves as of yet. So make your choice, Wavedancer. Who lives and who dies…"

"You goddamned son of a bitch," hissed Althea, torn and aghast. She couldn't play by his rules, she wouldn't let herself. And yet, she couldn't think of any other way out of this. And the others looked just as lost as their leader.

_Lance_, Simba said telepathically to the geokinetic riding on his back, _We have to chance it! I can try to kill him before he can blink!_

"No, Simba…" hissed Lance, fearful that Xaldin would see that third option coming. Blob then yelled at his four teammates.

"Just save Claudius and Beak! He'll kill all of us anyway! At least me and Justin would've been of some help! Just let him kill us!"

"Althea, please! Don't let Claudius and Beak die! We'll be fine!" Justin shakily said, being in agreement, though he was quivering visibly.

"Like hell you will!" Scarlet Witch snapped angrily. Mushu then had enough as he let loose the biggest flare of fire he could even manage to do and shot it in a blink of an eye directly at the black-haired enemy, aiming for the face. Sneering and summoning two lances to block the stream, the dragon's fire attack was completely neutralized.

"Uh-oh…" gulped the diminutive summon.

"Mushu!" snapped Althea, Todd, Lance, and Wanda, outraged and now panicking.

Xaldin chuckled mercilessly.

"I warned you…" he reminded them as he was about to wave his hands to have his spears impale all four of the youths.

"**_NO!_**" Althea, Lance, Todd, and Wanda all screamed as they charged, but they knew it would be nigh impossible to get there in time. Thankfully, another being did. And in a heroic act of bravado, Pluto rushed up and snarled before chomping directly on the distracted Xaldin, sinking his teeth into the warrior's butt and holding fast.

"Yeeeeoooowww!" roared Xaldin in rage and embarrassed insult, yelping. He then fiercely whirled around to see Pluto making faces and grimacing as he attempted to wipe the aftertaste off his tongue with his paw. Xaldin felt his forehead throb with anger. Being hit by a magical attack or a weapon was one thing, but **this** was absolutely intolerable to his pride.

And thanks to the distraction, the spears all around both the babies and the two trapped Misfits…stopped for one precious second. And that one second was all Wavedancer and her friends needed.

"I got 'em!" Genie yelled as he and Dumbo snatched Fred, Justin, Claudius and Barney from danger, sending Xaldin to new levels of rage at losing his prey.

"You have made a most regrettable mistake, you disgusting pile of fur and fleas!" Xaldin snarled as he readied his spears, each and every one of them pointed at the furry canine in front of him. Humorously, instead of quivering, Pluto shot the Organization warrior a look that said somewhere on the lines that he agreed with him; after all, Pluto chomping down on the butt of an enemy wasn't exactly going to be a cherished memory. And Pluto wished he could additionally disinfect his mouth while he was at it.

"Leave him alone!" yelled Althea as she and Lance teamed up their magical attacks, "Aquara Water Dragon!"

"Gaia Earthquake Force Rush!" Avalanche snarled, laying his palms flat on the ground. Xaldin then decided that it would be better if he assisted the Heartless rather than endanger himself any further than necessary, and with that, before the wave of earth and water magic could besiege him, he teleported out of the way. Fred turned to Pluto before he smiled as Genie released him back on the ground.

"Pluto…thank you," he said with gratitude. Pluto just barked.

"Think General Hawk's going to be mad that we left the bunker again?" Justin gulped. Althea looked at the remains of the reinforced safety cell, now ripped in half thanks to Xaldin.

"Frankly, he'll let this one slide…" Wavedancer drawled with a straight face.

Wanda then said, "We need to get back to the Heartless battle! We're out of magical energy, and Xi can refuel us with Bambi! And we can't let the Joes get infected or let the Pit get torn up! And we still need to save Roadblock before things get worse!"

"Well what are we waiting for? An invitation! Let's vamoose, people! _Arriba, Arriba, Arriba! Ándale, Ándale!_" cheered Genie and with a snap of his fingers, all of the Misfits, including Justin, Fred, Barney, and Claudius, were teleported back into the battlefield with the chef-Heartless while the rest of the Joes were busy doing their best to stop them.

"He's still not weakened yet!" Quinn exclaimed, looking over her scanner, "We haven't found anything that could weaken him fully! Anything we throw at him, he deflects back to us with his frying pans!"

The Heartless once Roadblock clearly illustrated this by sending back one of Genie's magical attacks, hitting it with a backhanded-serve like a tennis racket and unfortunately, it struck then men's restrooms on the Pit instead. And to make matters worse, Xaldin joined in, injuring many Joes and adding to the chaos with multiple bursts of wind attacks and his spears.

Fred, out of desperation, as the other Misfits became fully immersed in battle, then turned to Pluto who was nearby and watching this with worry. The hound was at first startled and a bit apprehensive, but then to the dog's surprise, Fred got down on his knees and begged with his hands clasped in front of him.

Pluto was stunned; not a single being he could think of has ever humbled themselves before Pluto like this. And though Fred was desperately grasping at straws, he clearly wanted to help his friends and save his adoptive guardian.

Fred then begged, "Pluto, please! I know I'm not special, I know I don't have a pure heart, and I know I'm not worthy to have a Keyblade or anything! I don't care about feeling left out! Please, just give me magic to save Roadblock, even if it's just once! Even if it's just one time, just let me learn magic so that I can help my friends so that I don't have to have them suffer because of me and my uselessness!"

Pluto just looked into Fred's pleading eyes, the mutant truly desperate, before he took to Fred's words to heart and smiled. With that, to Fred's amazement, Pluto's eyes began to glow a rich color of purple, twinkling. A beam of light shot from the hound's pupils and directly into the middle of the speechless Fred's forehead before it took shape into a crest of magic.

Fred's eyes went blank, glazing, as he felt something warm and comforting envelop him, feeling at peace even though he was in the middle of a battlefield as one of the remaining insignias from Althea's scepter formed on his skin. It was a filled purple circle, and it was depicted with surrounding marks all around it that gave it the impression of a falling star. On the left side of the orb at the seven o'clock was a triangular spearhead and on the right side of the orb, at the one o'clock position were three, parallel slashes, like a tail of fire. In short, Fred's symbol looked like a shooting comet.

And the instant he could feel the pool of warmth spreading into his mind and calming him down, Blob then felt a presence speak to him.

_Blob, I hear you…_

"Huh? What the - !" the mutant gasped, feeling the friendly and yet elusive voice echo all around him.

_Blob, you have magic know, from the gravity kingdom. You can use magic to help your friends._

It took several seconds before the words registered in the youth's head, and so overcome with emotion, Fred kept blabbering over and over, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you - !"

The voice said gently, still friendly but getting his point across, _You can thank me later, but right now, you hafta save Roadblock. Use your magic, Blob._

"Oh geez, I hope I do this right!" Fred moaned to himself, knowing that he only had one chance to free Roadblock and help him. The voice then instructed him one final time, leaving Fred alone.

_Gosh, Fred, listen to your heart and you can't do anything wrong. Use your magic. Say "Gravira Orbs of Force Crusher" and the rest will take care of itself._

"Uh…what was that again?" Blob admitted after a second of pondering. He wasn't sure if he heard it right. Had Blob been face to face with the speaker, he would have seen the being give an amused smile before repeating the words slowly and clearly.

_Gravira. Orbs of Force. Crusher._

With that, Blob clapped his gigantic hands together smartly, making a loud noise, as he concentrated all of his mental willpower on repeating to himself in his head, "Listen to my heart, listen to my heart, listen to my heart…I just wanna save Roadblock and help my friends!"

To everyone's surprise, they could feel the very air around them ripple and move about, as if something heavy was approaching before Fred extended two fingers with one hand and positioned it vertically between his eyes (a martial pose of increasing one's concentration) before flinging out his other hand and extending his palm out to the Heartless.

"GRAVIRA…ORBS OF FORCE CRUSHER!"

With a howl, the Heartless felt itself being pressed flat against the ground, unable to move and feeling an immense pressure crushing it unbearably as several huge and growing purple-colored spheres of insubstantial yet powerful energy blossomed out of thin air and subjected the experiment to G-forces that rivaled those of a miniature black hole. And since the orbs were growing so immensely that the attack was spread out, the chef-abomination couldn't find any way to deflect nor avoid Blob's magic. And unlike the others' magical attacks, one cannot avoid and resist the natural forces of gravity. And thus, as each and every sphere engulfed the monster, the creature of darkness could only howl and screech with horrendous and agonizing pain, its cries piercing as each and every bone in its body shattered as it flattened against the ground and its frying pans shattered into miniscule, useless pieces.

"**That** one did it! Althea, use the staff!" Daria cried out, and with a fling, Althea twirled the head of her scepter and pointed it at the weakened Roadblock while Simba, Avalanche, Genie, Dumbo, and Xi did their best to incapacitate Xaldin and prevent him from interrupting.

"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!" Wavedancer yelled, and with a flash of the ten sigils and the column of light…

KAWHOOM!

"Whoa…what a light show! Totally radical, Al!" cheered Paul as Roadblock tumbled out, back to normal, as the spore in his chest disintegrated and his heart popped out a few feet away from him. And to everyone's shock, they saw another purple light emerge in front of Fred.

"Whoa…" was all Blob could utter, his jowls and mouth left hanging open, dropping in shock and amazement before replacing his bewilderment with pure pride and happiness as the purple illumination subsided, revealing his metallic Keyblade. It was gigantic (taller than Blob) and a deep, dark shade of purple throughout, looking almost impossible for any average human to carry it in one hand, but for Fred, it literally felt like he was holding nothing as he gripped the handle. The blade portion consisted of a thick rod with two thin yet sharpened sheets of metal bordering on opposite sides of the cylinder, like an actual edge of a sword, followed with the head and mouth consisting of a giant, old-fashioned, European key. The crossguard was heart-shaped and structured from a thick, purple-colored, iron chain, looping around the grip of Blob's weapon, and humorously enough, on the metal surface of the guard were colorful decorations in the shape of various foods, ranging from ice cream, hot dogs, hamburgers, fried chicken, French fries, and pizza. Like ornaments strung on a Christmas tree. The rainguard was an oval-shaped carved stone of amethyst crystal as well as the pommelstone, and hanging from the bottom on a small purple chain was an ornament of a four-wheel truck, the type of vehicle driven in monster-truck rallies.

"Amazing, my boy! It appears you now have a Keyblade of your own!" marveled Whithalf.

"Not for much longer!" roared Xaldin from above as he then brought all six of his lances together, forming a tumultuous spiral of wind to crash down upon all of them, causing many of them to scatter. Then Craig and Paul saw Falco and Octavia running towards Roadblock, taking advantage of the distraction Xaldin was causing.

Craig Starr turned to a fatigued Scarlet Witch and asked, "I take it they're bad guys too?"

Wanda nodded before she added, "And unlike the Heartless, they're **not** resistant to mutant powers!"

"Good enough for me! You guys handle that Organization dude! We'll get Roadblock's heart!" Paul Starr yelled, and before any of the Misfits could stop them, Whithalf and the twin mutants dashed off with incredible speed. Falco immediately turned around and set himself upon Craig and Whithalf, buying Octavia some time to get to the heart herself, and thankfully, Paul managed to leap up and gymnastically avoid Falco's foot before he sailed past over the avian's head and continued in his race to beat the Tigershark to the punch.

Falco went for his laser gun, but then a flying nightstick knocked the weapon out of his wing before he could even fire, and Falco suddenly was worrying more about his own situation as he found himself on the receiving end of several punches and kicks from Darkstar and Whithalf. Even despite his age, the general was a grade-A brawler. And with Craig wildly trying to bash in Falco's head with his nightstick, it was getting a bit too close for comfort.

"You've got to be kidding me!" snapped Falco as he narrowly leaned back to avoid a burst of laser energy from Darkchild's eye, "You expect me to be scared of an old man!"

"This 'old man' is still spry enough to kick your ass, my dear Chicken Little," Whithalf growled as he let loose a ferocious flurry of punches at the bird's chest, causing the bird to falter back before he managed to power up his fire-bird attack and dashed by the two, nearly incinerating them in its wake. Octavia then found herself getting cut off to Roadblock's heart as Starchild acrobatically landed in front of her before he tried to use his mutant powers of hypnosis and telepathy on the former Tigershark.

"You will leave us alone," Paul ordered gently, the star-covered eye glowing softly, "You will leave Roadblock's heart alone and stop fighting us. You will turn back and go back home peacefully…"

Octavia guessed what the mutant teen was trying to do and she smiled, one hand on her hip before she stated a bit knowingly, "Little fish…I'm immune to those sorts of mind games. Those hypnosis powers don't work on me."

She then slammed her hands on the ground and cried out, invoking an uprising of water to slam Starchild out of her path and knock him senseless, "Aquara Tigershark Tsunami!"

"Yeow! Oh man, I didn't see **that** one coming!" yelped Paul as he managed to narrowly roll and flip out of the way as the water tried to wipe him out, thanking that all his acrobatic training with Recondo and Lady Jaye was paying off. Octavia then grabbed Roadblock's heart and probed it before she sighed with disappointment. It was no Talisman.

"Falco, we can go! The Joe's heart was no Talisman!" she cried out as she tossed the pink heart crystal to a stunned Paul Starr and upon hearing those words, as Whithalf tried to ram his shoulder into the blue falcon's chest, Falco swiveled around before grabbing the general by the collar and throwing the startled elder into Craig, stunning the both of them, in a wince-worthy wrestling move.

"Next time, stick to mentoring and training your new recruits harder instead of hand-to-hand, old geezer!" Falco scoffed at General Whithalf as he took off.

"I'm **_really_** starting to hate him," muttered Craig as he and Paul helped Whithalf up, his eye growing hotly with thoughts of revenge as he caught the fleeting images of Octavia and Falco jumping and vanishing out of his sight.

"We have bigger problems to worry about, young one! Look! That Organization butthead isn't letting up! He's still attacking everything in sight!" Whithalf yelled as he pointed at the brawl behind him. Indeed, what the General said was true. No matter how many times the Misfits kept trying to blast him, the Whirlwind Lancer of the Thirteenth Order would merely teleport and avoid the magical spells or used his six spears to either stab at unsuspecting opponents or summon fierce gusts of winds to blow everyone off their feet.

Bambi and Blind Master were most unfortunate as both the ninja and the deer fawn were unluckily stabbed in the leg and ankle by two swift spears, leaving the two of them to collapse on the grassy dirt and bleeding, crippled.

"Bambi!" yelled Xi as he rushed forward with his Rainforest Scale Keyblade at Xaldin who merely blocked it with another lance. The deer wailed, nearly screaming in pain. Quicksilver then tried as he and Mushu teamed up like before.

"Strike Raid!" the speedster yelled, flinging his Zephyr Keyblade.

"I'm on fire!" yelled the dragon in response as he let loose another blast of dragon-flame that bathed the entire silver weapon of Pietro's before it became a flaming projectile, cutting through the air like a deadly boomerang and directly at Xaldin's blind spot, but unafraid, the deadlocked-toting man simply deflected it with another lance.

"Geez, we can't even get close to this guy!" yelled Althea as she and Dumbo tried to douse with a wave of cold water from the summon's trunk. Fred then heard the voice speak to him, giving a final instruction.

_Fred, you have an attack with your Keyblade, one that can be mastered and be effective against this guy. Use your Keyblade and charge directly at him, and the Keyblade will know what to do…_

"Huh? So…so what do I say?" Blob stammered nervously, so afraid he'd screw up, but the voice chuckled.

_Gosh, Fred, just trust the Keyblade. It trusts you. Just trust the Keyblade and it'll do exactly what you need to do. Just trust it…_

With that the voice faded, and Blob decided to just follow the instructions and madly charged, roaring and moving so swiftly, his entire body was picking up momentum of unstoppable speeds.

"Keyblade…I trust you! Just help me out here!" Fred yelled as he stampeded towards Xaldin who got his spears ready, and before Xaldin could kill the Texan, the mutant felt a deep well of conscious clarity and a warm pleasant feeling rush into his entire body, as if the Keyblade in his hands itself was powering him with untold bouts of energy.

"ARS ARCANUM!" roared Blob, now charging madly as he brandished his Keyblade, and to Xaldin's surprise, the Mohawk-toting, obese mutant was now encased with a shimmering purple aura, the same color of the sigil on his forehead that was still burning brightly among his skin. Xaldin gasped, sensing the sudden spike of magical forces as he surrounded himself with his lances as a protective barrier.

Unfortunately, Blob even managed to surprise himself as he reached a speed and fury he never knew even existed within himself, and to everyone's surprise, Blob was charging and slashing with his illuminating Keyblade, the weapons moving back and forth in a plethora of wild, uncontrollable and unpredictable strikes that Xaldin could scarcely see the youth's hands. And with so many swipes and in addition to Blob's strength, the outbreak of attacks was so extreme and severe that his lances were turning hot from the constant barrage and wallops.

The others seeing this were stunned.

"Holy!" Toad gasped, his eyes wide.

"Whoa, Blob's not giving him an inch! He's moving as fast as you do, Quicksilver!" The Joe Sparks commented as he turned to Pietro who was next to him.

"Hey! **No one** moves as fast as me!" retorted Quicksilver, though he could admit to himself that he was impressed by Blob's sudden knack of swordsplay. And with a finishing downward slash, Blob hit the lances of Xaldin's so hard that the Organization member went flying backwards by a considerable distance, thrown off balance by Fred's final move. He gritted his teeth and was about to attack the Joes and the Misfits when Xaldin came to horrifying realization.

"**_My weapons!_**" he roared, now seeing his beautiful and meticulously polished spears nothing more that dented and tarnished rods of metal, with each and every one of the edges chipped and broken. Even the pikes at the bottom were unceremoniously bent and twisted from the constant hammering of Blob's Keyblade. One staff was even missing its head, cleanly cut. Feeling that there was no need to endanger himself further, Xaldin gave Blob a final death glare before he vanished and uttered a sentence full of loathing and malice.

"There will be a reckoning…"

The battle was over. And as Paul handed the heart crystal back to Roadblock's unconscious body, a keyhole manifested before Trinity's three Trichrona Keyblades began to glow.

"Cool!" Daria murmured as she and her other two sisters held their Keyblades at the fallen machine-gunner and with a flash of pink light and an audible clicking noise, the keyhole shimmered away and locked itself, sealing Roadblock's heart.

"All right, way to go Fred! You beat back the meanie-head from the Thirteenth Order!" cheered the Delgado Triplets, jumping up and down excitedly all around their fat friend.

"So what are you gonna name your new Keyblade, Blob?" Brittany asked, blinking.

"Heavyweight," Blob answered automatically, smiling.

"Huh?" blinked Craig Starr, thinking he heard wrong.

"The Heavyweight Keyblade," Fred clarified, feeling happier than he had been for the past several weeks, "It's just…well, when I was day-dreamin' on what it would be like to have a Keyblade and magic, I thought that it would be cool if I could name my Keyblade 'Heavyweight' since I'm the unmovable Blob and all and it'll be a testament to my days being in the circus and in the monster truck rally stuff."

Quicksilver looked incredibly smarmy as he gave an impish grin and was about to comment on Blob's choice of a name, but Genie, having a good enough idea of the Misfit's personality and heart and having enough foresight, instantly pointed a blue finger at the sliver-haired teen. With a faint whisper of pink and red sparks, Genie cast a spell on Pietro's voice, and, to everyone's sudden amusement and Pietro's sudden horror, he was rendered completely mute.

Pietro's eyes grew wide as saucers when he opened and closed his mouth, but his voice didn't register the least bit, and even resorting to screaming at the top of his lungs and jumping up and down furiously in a tantrum, Pietro could not even utter the faintest whisper.

Everyone couldn't help but burst out laughing, nearly hysterical, as a red-faced Quicksilver gave Genie the fiercest death-glare he could, with the djinn doing his best to look innocent and completely without remorse. And after such a long and gruelingly arduous battle, some laughter was well needed.

"Yo, good one, Genie!" hooted Toad, laughing so hard he was crying, tears of mirth running down his face as he held his stomach.

"Any way you can do this to Pietro on a more permanent basis?" Wanda asked between chuckles.

Genie just smiled widely as he laughed and said, "Nah, I'll only do it whenever our little over-caffeinated speedster here is about to say something stupid."

"In other words, pretty much on a permanent basis," Althea added comically, gaining some self-control and feeling her laughter die down.

"So that was a Hellfire Heartless? And that guy with the lances was from the Organization Thirteen?" Craig asked, his face red and sweaty from exertion, panting and damned if he wasn't going to be bruised.

"And those two miscreants who tried to take Roadblock's heart must have been the infamous duo, Falco and Octavia, I take it?" Whithalf asked, brushing the dirt off his cap.

"Heavy…" marveled Paul, a bit exuberant from their little victory despite the fact they nearly lost that fight.

Fred then remembered his promise to the one who made it all possible, and realizing that he needed to keep his word, to everyone's confusion, Blob respectfully walked over to Pluto before he went down on his knees and laid out the Heavyweight Keyblade flat against his palms as he offered it to the dog.

"Thanks," Fred said with gratitude, "And…and I'll keep my promise. Here's the Keyblade and magic back. I only wanted it so that I could help save Roadblock, and now that he's OK, I'll keep my promise. You can take the magic and Keyblade back from, Pluto, just like I said. I only needed it once."

Pluto was genuinely touched. Even though this wasn't the way the Keyblades and the King's magic worked, the dog was happy to see this sort of response from Fred, and the hound shook his head softly, letting Blob know that he wouldn't take back the magic.

Fred was stunned, feeling his heart race with excitement, but thinking he was mistaken, Blob tried again.

"No really Pluto! I don't want it! I told you that if you gave it to me, I'd only use it to save Roadblock! A promise's a promise. C'mon Pluto, you can find someone better than me to use this gravity magic."

Pluto then actually managed to raise a paw and placed it on the rod of the Keyblade before he shook his head again, getting message clear. Pluto wanted Fred to keep the weapon and his newfound magic.

The others watching were stunned and confused to say the least.

"My boy," exclaimed Whithalf, "Care to explain why you are addressing Pluto this way?"

"Because it's Pluto that's behind this magic!" Fred said at last, knowing he couldn't keep it secret any longer and that it needed to be told, "You guys, **Pluto** was the one who's been teaching us magic! I kid you not! When Lina got her magic, I saw his eyes glow! And the only reason I got my Keyblade and my Gravira magic kingdom was because when I begged Pluto to let me have it so that I can save Roadblock, he gave it to me! His eyes glowed purple for a second, and then I could do magic to fight the Heartless! Don't you guys see! I was right! All our magic came from Pluto! **_He's the reason the Keyblades and magic have been given to us in the first place!_**"

Upon hearing this, all the Joes and Misfits turned to the dog, the rush of battle and their anger forgotten, staring with incredulous disbelief and growing realization, even awe. Pluto winced, but he knew deep down that it had to be done in order to save Fred and Roadblock's life, and he had no regrets in exposing himself like that. Still, it wasn't going to make his stay here at the Pit any easier…

"Whoa! No way…" Paul remarked, blinking.

Hawk looked stern as he crossed his arms over his broad chest and growled, not in the mood for any more games as he addressed Pluto with suspicion, "Well, Pluto? Care to explain yourself?"

Pluto just grimaced, giving a dog-equivalent of a groan.

---

"Experiment 245 was defeated, my Liege. Those damned kids are starting to get quite annoying," Xaldin grumbled, his face and blue eyes a storm-cloud of dark thoughts and fuming urges of vengeance. The other members of the Organization turned at the dreadlocked man with sideburns.

"As regrettable as it is," the Superior conceded, "You were actually closer to complete the mission by far than any of the others."

Then Demyx couldn't help but open his big mouth as he mocked with mirth, "Yeah, but you still failed, Xaldin…and not to mention it was pretty funny when Pluto bit your rear! Bwah hah hah - !"

And then the mullet-toting member of the Thirteenth Order had his voice suddenly fail him as he found himself staring directly into the pointed end of a lance, its serrated edge and tip positioned right between Demyx's eyes, a sure kill. And Xaldin's cold glare of sub-zero pools of water could have tossed his comrade's remains to piranha-infested tributaries for good measure when done.

"I suggest you watch that mouth of your, Demyx," growled Xaldin in his scratchy voice, "Your time will certainly come soon enough with the Misfits and that blasted dog, and I shall certainly enjoy to see how badly to fail at your rendezvous with the mutant children. But until then, I highly advise you to keep your opinions and merriment to yourself unless you wish to see my lances used in unorthodox ways on **_your_** rear end!"

"Okay, okay, geez, don't get your robes all in a bunch," backpedaled Demyx really pathetically (though quite humorously as well). Xaldin just furrowed his glare as another shaft edged closer to the offender's neck, threatening to sever his jugular vein, and Demyx just weakly chuckled, holding up his hands in submission. Xaldin relented as he waved away his spears and caused them to disappear with a wave of his hand, vanishing into the void. As much as he wished to pound Demyx, the Superior was giving Xaldin a warning look saying that he would tolerate no violence amongst his order. Besides, revenge was a dish best served cold…and Xaldin would simply wait along with Luxord.

"My Superior, perhaps we should send Demyx to take care of the final, unblessed Misfit and finally prove his worth," the neat and suave Luxord chimed in with his silky voice, and Demyx did his best to not grit his teeth and glower at the white-haired man for offering the suggestion.

"Hey, hey, hey!" protested Demyx, "I'm all for gaining control of Kingdom Hearts and being complete beings, but you'd definitely be sending the wrong guy to carry that mission out!"

"Now look who's a complete joke?" drawled Larxene, her eyes narrowed along with a smug and pleased smile. Demyx just gave his female companion a look to shut up. Then the Superior answered forlornly.

"No Larxene and Xaldin," the number one member of Organization Thirteen explained, "If this is the last child of the Misfits who may be blessed by that infernal mutt, then I will not leave such a final task that could make or break our cause against the mutants and assistance to the Hellfire Club to someone as incompetent as Demyx."

"Exact – hey!" whined Demyx. Then Vexen strode forward with respectful tact and bowed slightly to his Lord, his long, pale chestnut hair (almost blond) falling over his pale face and pointed chin.

"Perhaps we could use a different tactic, my Liege. Each and every time, the particular person we had chosen to infect with the Hellfire Heartless spores, no matter how powerful the darkness festered, was never quite strong enough to withstand the blasted light given off my the power of Wavedancer's scepter. Perhaps, if we managed to create a Heartless that was too powerful, even _with_ the staff of the Misfits so that the Misfits could _never_ cure it…"

"And how do we do _that_, Vexen?" snorted Zexion.

"I had created an experimental Hellfire Heartless pod, my Lord, one that is quite unstable and perhaps even chaotically unpredictable, but it can infect two hearts and bring them to the powers of darkness. In other words, instead of creating a Hellfire Heartless that is born from one person's heart, why not create a stronger Heartless made from the darkness of two beings' hearts?" Vexen stated emotionlessly.

"And you couldn't try bequeathing us this little development before why?" Saïx droned.

"I had just finished the experiment a few days ago, Saïx," Vexen stated a bit irritably, "And as I have said, this particular pod had taken me up until now to create, for it is the first success I have managed in the laboratory that did not wither and die. There is a high success rate in it being able to work, but I have not chosen to utilize it unless I have your full permission, Superior."

The leader paused, thinking.

"What a suck-up," grumbled Marluxia.

"Why, jealous because he took your place?" Axel couldn't help but sneer, and the scythe-wielding man shot the red-haired member a death-glare of pure venom. After careful deliberation, the Superior nodded his consent.

"Do not fail me, Vexen," the Superior said, and understanding the importance and quite pleased that he had an opportunity to try out his latest pride and joy, Vexen teleported in a portal to Earth.

**Author's Notes: Next Friday, Pluto is taking some serious heat from all sides as the allies try to determine the secrets their new friend has been hiding all this time. Unfortunately, things get a little tense as the Dinosaucers make a visit to the Pit and Allo demands that Justin returns home and leaves the Misfits. Even with his family, Justin himself is torn between choosing to fight or return back to his family, and things between Blind Master and Allo come to blows…literally. Check back next Friday for the chapter, "Two Fathers, One Son" and until then, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Constructive criticism welcome!**


	12. Two Fathers, One Son

**CHAPTER 12: Two Fathers, One Son**

"I cannot frickin' believe this," muttered a wide-eyed and incredulous Faith Lehane as she stared at a very sheepish and awkwardly apprehensive Pluto, but then again, any sentient being would be uncomfortable if subjected to a wide array of stares and glares of amazement and suspicion from a wide group of people.

"It makes sense though," Hank said slowly, silently kicking himself for not realizing it sooner, "That Heartless chased Pluto when we first saw him, the gifts of the Keyblades and magic appeared only a few days after Pluto was allowed to live here in the Pit…the Organization considered the canine a threat because he is a threat to them! He wields weapons and can bequeath them to people of his choosing that were made specifically to fight against the forces of the Thirteenth Order! Stars and garters, Pluto may very well be the answers to our prayers!"

"Here's the question though: **why**?" Piper Halliwell pointed out.

It was early night at the Pit, and after Cover Girl had been released from the infirmary and an unconscious yet stable Roadblock was resting and monitored by Lifeline and Bree, Cover Girl was brought up to speed about the events with Xaldin and Fred by Dragonfly while Hawk, realizing the breakthrough of developments, contacted all the necessary allies. Professor Xavier, Logan, Storm, and Hank from the X-Men, the senior members of the Justice League, the Charmed Ones, Jenny Calendar and Quentin Blud of the Ghostbusters, Robin and Bumblebee from the Titans, and Giles, Faith and Willow from the Scoobies. General Whithalf and the Starr brothers went back to the West Coast army base after Hawk made them understand to swear secrecy, especially since the more people who learned about Pluto, the more likely the secret would reach the wrong set of ears, especially anyone connected to the Hellfire Club or the Joes' various enemies. Allo for some reason, though Hawk contacted him, did not answer back, so the Joe leader was forced to start the meeting without him.

After Hawk and the Misfits retold the specific happenings of Roadblock's infection with the Hellfire Heartless pods, their allies then all were amazed and astounded to say the least when they learned that Pluto was the main reason behind the gifts given to the Misfits. Even the usually stony and emotionless Quentin and Batman had to raise an eyebrow. Apparently, the hound's appearance was _very_ deceiving.

Unfortunately, it managed to raise more questions than answers at any rate.

"The problem is that it still doesn't explain how is it possible that this mere canine had powers and abilities beyond any earthly realm," Superman said wearily, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "Nor does it explain where Pluto came from and who on Earth had bequeathed him these powers and the Keyblade in the first place."

"But it does explain why **only** the Misfits have been given the stuff and help in the first place," Logan said gruffly, his arms crossed over his broad chest, "It's because the mutt's been staying around the Misfits and was available to hand out those newfangled powers to them."

Though he didn't show and though he was glad that the Misfits had been able to rescue their parents and help protect innocent lives, the Professor of the X-Men couldn't help but feel a small stab of jealousy. His X-Men were mutant warriors too, perhaps even more efficient and, on the whole, a more coordinated and powerful team that was just as dedicated and experienced to fighting the Heartless. If only Pluto would have been inclined to stay with the X-Men…

Charles Xavier shook his head, mentally chastising himself for thinking such thoughts. He was grateful that their side had now powerful tools and allies in the fight to save the world from the Gathering, and as such, he should be happy for the Misfits and Joes. It just simply wasn't meant to be, and the mentor and leader of the X-Men should have been fully happy for General Hawk that he had not lost a single one of his men and women to the Heartless. Martian Manhunter then turned, fixing his solemn yet worried eyes on the Professor, feeling some turbulent emotions within the human's thoughts (though it was unintentional on J'onn's part).

J'onn asked with concern and empathy, "Are you all right, Charles?"

The Professor gave a small and sheepish smile, realizing his was projecting out his emotions, and said, "Yes, I am fine. I just…needed to remind myself of a few things about this affair. Thank you for your concern, my friend."

J'onn nodded, relieved but still a bit cautious. Meanwhile, Quentin, the Charmed Ones, Jenny Calendar, and Willow were scrutinizing the canine with several magical spells. Willow stared at Pluto while invoking several magical probes all around the body of the dog, feeling with her senses if she could detect anything malicious or any aura relating to the distinct and otherworldly auras of the Heartless and the Thirteenth Order. Pluto, deep down, could have fought against the magical spells being woven around him, but he knew that the allies and those that fought against the side of the Heartless were being careful and that he shouldn't hold it against them. The golden-furred animal fidgeted a bit in discomfort before Willow stopped her investigation and sighed, her white hair now changing back to its normal red shade.

The witch of the Scoobies shook her head as she announced, "Nothing. I can't detect anything about the dog, which happens to be confusing in itself. I mean, Pluto is not only no mere dog, but he's magically shielded, so that not a whole lot of witches and warlocks can detect him. Which doesn't include that he's been giving out these Keyblades and magical powers that can actually hurt Heartless more so than any other sort of magic that has ever been on Earth since the magical world existed. It could be that Pluto is really some sort of God disguised in the form of an animal, like how Glory was disguised in the form of a girl and Ben. Or it could be that Pluto is really a force of the cosmos that can alter the effects of reality like the Avatars the Charmed Ones tangled with. Or maybe Pluto is a conduit from another dimension who is merely giving gifts while being ordered from a higher power. Or perhaps - "

"Is he evil, Willow?" sighed Giles, the Watcher now rubbing his head from the unconscious babbling and interrupting the Scooby's tirade gently. Willow blushed, embarrassed, before she shook her head.

"No, Pluto isn't evil, Giles. Of course, it could be the possibility that **he is** and that he's too powerful for me to tap into and investigate thoroughly. That has happened before," the witch confessed. That was true; there were certainly wicked forces in this dimension and universe that Willow could never match up against. The Halliwells finished chanting several of the most powerful spells they could think of, including the "_The Power of Three will set us free…_" incantation before they too stopped and looked back at the allies.

"Our powers cannot detect anything malicious either," Paige sighed, "And before coming over here, we've been looking into the Elder's citadel archives along with Sandra and Leo as well as our Book of Shadows to see if perhaps Pluto is one of the mythological and powerful dogs in the magical history. Though there are a few such as the hunting hounds of Artemis or the Cerberus of the Underworld, I think it's safe to say that Pluto doesn't fit any of those descriptions."

"Not to mention I have recently talked to the Gods about this," Wonder Woman said, "They have no idea about the Heartless or the Organization Thirteen, so if they in their history have never experienced those threats before, it would be highly unlikely that Pluto would have been sent by them. They wouldn't have created those Keyblades in the first place…or sent Disney characters to mortals."

"And the Powers That Be are worried as well," Jenny Calendar added, "Pluto's magical signature is not part of any realm they are aware about, so in a way, the dog is like the Heartless in that he is a foreign invader of some sort. He may not be evil like Ms. Rosenberg has verified, but he is dangerous enough to be a possible threat."

"If he was a threat, he wouldn't be helping us to begin with, Ms. Calendar," protested Wanda heatedly.

"But we still don't know if Pluto is on our side or not," Green Lantern then said at last, narrowing his eyes on Pluto, "Let's face it: this easily smells like a dog-version of the Trojan Horse and the fact that the mutt is shielded in his body and mind should be red flags right there. Yes, he gives the Misfits weapons and helps them save the Joes, but is he doing it because it's for **his** benefit or for the **world's**?"

He had a point.

Batman just carefully and coolly studied Pluto, his eyes scrutinizing, as Pluto glared back at the dhampir, wondering and his mind making careful connections and distinctions based on the facts he had. Could it be possible that Pluto's was in connection to the King that the Organization eluded to mysteriously, the same King that Leomon serves? It made sense, given that the symbols of a crown on Trinity's scanners and Althea's staff were given by Pluto, and a crown was synonymous with royalty. And Pluto appearing so soon after Leomon's arrival practically cinched it. But were the other Disney characters part of the connection too? And could they possibly mean that they came from the same force that was bequeathing Pluto and the Keyblades? In that case, could it be possible that the being, this 'King', that the Organization was fighting against was…?

Batman slightly shook his head, drawing the attention of General Hawk, Giles, and Bumblebee.

"Batman, you OK?" Karen asked, the Titan thoroughly concerned. After all, this was the most she ever saw Batman to discouraging himself.

"Just thinking of a possibility of who sent Pluto to us and dismissing the idea, Bumblebee. It is ridiculous, so don't bother," he said brusquely.

Hawk raised an eyebrow while Giles then offered in, "I daresay that, to quote Sherlock Holmes, '_when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth_'."

Batman just gave the British Watcher a dry look but didn't say anything in return.

"I refuse to think that, yo!" Todd said fervently, shaking his head, "After all, Pluto's done a lot more for us than Falco and Octavia done for us, even though they're against the Thirteenth Order too! Hell, Pluto's even a better friend than Leomon!"

Lance gave the frog-teen a dirty look, one corner of his mouth turned downwards, but still didn't say anything.

"Other than that, there's probably still some magic left in Pluto that he needs to give," Althea said wearily, turning her white and clear staff in her hands over and over.

"What makes you say that?" Robin asked, piqued.

"Because of the rainbow-colored ring that encircles the main symbol of the heart with the lock inside the head of my scepter," Wavedancer explained, "The other Misfits and me looked at it, and we all agreed that so far, for some reason, it depicts what sort of magic there is to learn to help take down the Heartless. Like clockwork, each time a Misfit got his or her magic from Pluto, it derives a symbol on our foreheads before that weirdo voice speaks to us and tells us what to do."

"All the more reason why this smells like we're being set-up," the Slayer Faith commented suspiciously, "I mean, whoever this dude is, why ain't he showing up here and now and fighting the baddies, y'know? Why hide and give us practically jack from nowhere and let us do the dirty work?"

No one had an answer to that.

"All right, then let's go through what sigils and symbols have been used," Xavier stated, ticking them off his fingers and thinking thoroughly in his brain, recalling all past facts from recent meetings with the Joes, "Althea, I believe you and Todd harness the blue and orange symbols, meaning that they represent your magic of water and thunder, correct?"

"Yeah, that's right, yo," nodded Toad.

"And the pink one that's next in the list?" Hawkgirl asked, leaning over and taking note of the multi-colored ring.

"That's us!" chimed in the Delgado Triplets eagerly with pride, "That symbol represents time magic. And our favorite color too!"

"Gee, we would have never guessed," drawled Althea sardonically and condescendingly at her sisters, earning three faces as Daria, Quinn, and Brittany stuck their tongues out and razzed Wavedancer.

"The brown one is mine, representing the earth magic, or 'Gaia' as the voice called it," Avalanche jumped in.

"_Gaia?_ Like what Leomon calls whenever he uses his attack? That 'Fist of the Beast King'?" Robin asked, his eyes narrowing behind his mask. Another puzzle piece that hinted exactly where the lion swordsman came from and what possible intentions he had regarding them and the Organization. Lance nodded.

"And the green one? Xi, I presume, that's your Woodra magic?" Green Lantern asked, looking at the lizard Misfit who nodded eagerly.

"And the silver and red crests, rationally, must stand for wind and fire, which happens to be the magic kingdoms given to Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch," Ororo said, remembering what she been briefed.

"And that leaves the light-blue symbol which stands for the ice magic, Blizzaga, when Lina used it to free me from my infection with the Heartless," Cover Girl stated, shuddering slightly at the horrific memory.

"You know, I have to wonder why ice is considered different magic and a different element from water," mused Daria, "I mean, isn't ice pretty much frozen water?"

"No, I think it counts as a new element itself since ice represents the cold, but water is generally different in that it represents the liquid form but it doesn't represent the cold necessarily," Quinn mused.

"So if we use ice magic on a water Heartless, does that make the Heartless immune or will it be effective?" Brittany joined in.

Superman fought the urge to groan at how easily the Triplets got sidetracked in this serious discussion as he said loudly, "Getting back to what is _important_…Blob, I believe that leaves the purple symbol to be yours?"

"Yep, Gravira Kingdom!" chimed in Fred happily, "The magic of gravity!"

"**Not one word, Pietro…**" growled Lina, Xi, Lance, and Cover Girl as the four of them saw their resident speedster about to open his mouth (the spell Genie cast on him had worn off an hour ago). Quicksilver decided it was better to not tempt fate.

"That leaves one left then," Wonder Woman said, tapping the crystal clear orb of glass on the head of Althea's staff, "This small yellow symbol, the very last sigil in the ring…"

After a few seconds of silent thought, everyone turned and looked at Justin who was the last and only Misfit on the mutant team to not have gained any magical powers. Whitelighter blinked innocently before he gulped, wanting to make sure the reasons why everyone was scrutinizing him.

"Uh…" he stammered, nervous.

"What's the matter chubby-cheeks?" joked Pietro, "Don't you wanna fight?"

Justin gave a shamefaced and conflicted look as he averted his gaze from the group, his unspoken answer pretty much obvious. Quicksilver then felt his humor fade only to be replaced with surprise.

"You're…serious?" the albino Misfit realized, taken aback for once.

"I'm not sure," confessed Whitelighter, "I…someone else can take the magic if they want. It's just that fighting in this war is scary, and I'm not exactly eager to go leap into an endless war with the Heartless because I'm scared of fighting. Going into the battle with Apokolips and Trigon and the Turok-Han was terrifying enough, but now that I actually have time and a chance to see what's coming, I'm not sure if I want to. I…I joined because I wanted to control my powers, but fighting in a war is really nerve-wracking. But at the same time, I don't want to leave you guys either."

As truthful as this answer was, most of the crowd couldn't help but feel a little disappointed in Justin's answer (General Hawk and Pluto being the most let down). Lina however managed to smile and show her understanding like a true friend.

"Hey, don't feel guilty about it, Whitelighter," the female medic-in-training encouraged softly, "I mean, what sort of normal person says they want to be in the front-line of a war when first asked that? Everyone gets scared at some point, and unlike some people, fighting isn't something you're born to do. Really, don't feel bad about how you're hesitant."

Justin smiled back gratefully, glad his friends weren't offended and angry, as Blind Master enveloped an arm around the Misfit's shoulders for comfort. Hawkgirl then raised a good point.

"Actually, it's not such a bad idea," she mused, "We could ask Pluto to give more of the people in different groups magic to help fight the Heartless and balance out the distribution, especially since it would be a great help considering that only the Misfits have the tools needed to fight in the war. It's too risky to just solely depend on a single group to fight the Organization like this. It would be an easy weakness to exploit."

"That I have no qualms with considering that it would be difficult for the Misfits to be everywhere at once and that needing to all stay together as one group to fight against the Heartless menaces would be extremely difficult," Hawk conceded. The Misfits didn't appear too pleased at these remarks, and sensing this, Spirit explained gracefully.

"We are not downplaying your importance nor showing that we don't trust you, young ones," the Native American Joe said strongly, trying to lessen the tension, "But keep in mind that you are all relatively young and far less capable of protecting the planet by yourselves than if we were able to distribute the powers Pluto has in order to lessen the burden and give all of us a greater chance of surviving the Gathering of Twilight."

The mutant teenagers had to grumpily admit that one, and Shipwreck then turned to the golden furred dog, asking strongly, "Hey, Pluto, I know this may seem rude and all, but can you? C'mon, boy! It'll help all of us if you can give magic and Keyblades to the League and Titans and X-Men and Ghostbusters too. And you know they're good people just like us, so why not? C'mon, boy, do it for the others too."

There was an anxious silence as everyone looked at Pluto for a second before the dog frowned and shook his head, actually displaying a very human-like expression of disagreement as he gave a negative and furious bark. Everyone's eyes lit up in surprise and offense.

The Flash then started to show some impatient ire as he actually zoomed up in front of the Disney character and demanded in an angry tone, obviously not in the mood for games, "OK, you little flea-toting, Disney copyright infringement, we're pretty much sick and tired of all this Heartless crap that Organization Thirteen has been pestering us for the past several months! So quit playing dumb and help us! If you're not against us, then you better give us some additional help if you know what's - !"

Flash was then cut off by an angry growl as Pluto bared his teeth, his playful eyes no longer innocent but narrowed and defensively furious, his fur bristling like a porcupine's back, as he hunched against the wall and snarled at the Justice League member. It was pretty obvious that the canine wasn't going to let the speedster touch him, and the Misfits were a bit shocked considering that this was the first time they had ever witnessed the friendly and affectionate animal to show anger.

Logan then decided to establish his point as he casually brought out his adamantium claws in one hand with a _shikt_, saying coolly, "I'd advise you to watch and remember where you are, runt. Listen up good: since we have no idea why you're doing this or exactly who sent ya' and where you came from, it's a safe bet that I say not all of us are willing to trust ya', a mangy mutt who happens to look like something from a Disney cartoon. Keep in mind, you're here on good terms 'cause we're letting ya, but it'll be wise for you to not piss us off considering we can make a fur rug outta ya' in three seconds flat."

Pluto growled before, to everyone's surprise, he bolted from his position and hid behind the Misfits, giving a dark look to Wolverine. Fred blinked before he said in the dog's defense, "Hey, Wolverine, maybe we should let Pluto alone. I mean, Pluto's done nothing to help us, and he doesn't deserve being treated like that."

"Fred is right," mused Low Light, "It'll be like killing the goose that lays the golden egg."

Logan gave the dog a final glare before he sheathed his claws back into his hand.

"Now say you're sorry to Pluto…" chimed in Daria, Quinn, and Brittany. The grizzled X-Man shot a glare at the three girls before looking as he would rather walk barefoot in Hell than apologize to a dog.

"_Don't push it, Trinity_," he growled, feeling his face turn red slightly from the various people in the crowd stifling their laughter at the thought.

"I just wish we knew the reason why Althea has a scepter instead of a Keyblade," mused Storm as she looked at Wavedancer's unorthodox weapon, "Could it be possible that this is indeed one of the Talismans that Falco and Octavia have been searching for?"

"I'd doubt that," Quentin shot down roughly, "Then they would have made a grab for it every time Wavedancer used the damned thing. Whatever the Talismans are, that stick _isn't_ one of them. But it _is_ powerful if it can exorcise Heartless and free those that were infected."

"Just wish what exactly Pluto did to give this to me and why I'm the one being singled out," Althea said as she looked at the hound who gave her no response whatsoever.

"Maybe the incantation you used is a clue of what the staff's true powers is," Bumblebee remarked, scratching her head, "Think about it: '_Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform_'. That's what you call out each time in order to activate the staff and free the Joes from those weird Hellfire Heartless pods, correct? Well, maybe it could provide a clue of some sort."

"Hmph, it's not much if you think about it," Spirit mused, "The words 'heartlock' and 'reform' I can understand since the staff and the Keyblades both can lock one's heart to prevent it from being taken by the Heartless in order to grant them the desired immunity, if you will. And the 'reform' part could refer to the fact that the Heartless is completely obliterated while it leaves the being infected unscathed."

Martian Manhunter then frowned as he asked, "But there is one thing I am still unclear on. Althea…why did you choose those particular words and know that they would achieve the desired effect?"

"And why specifically the Destiny Kingdom?" asked Robin, tongue in cheek thoughtfully, "Last time I checked, destiny isn't a substantial element such as thunder or fire or water."

The blue-and-black haired Misfit blinked, lost for a bit, before she then managed to give the only answer that sounded right as she said hesitantly, "I…I'm not sure. It just came to me, like as if the staff was a part of me and my soul and it just came to my mind naturally. The funny thing is the voice that instructed all of us to use the magic and Keyblades didn't instruct me anything to use my weapon. He or she told me I had Dumbo as a guardian, but the voice didn't even mention anything about my scepter. It could be possible that my scepter didn't come from Pluto."

"That is weird," Willow remarked, "And since none of our magical archives in the Watcher's Council or in the Ghostbusters headquarters have no reference to your staff or any of the elemental magic spells that you Misfits have learned, it just doesn't add up. If the Keyblades and the magic came from Pluto, there where did your scepter come from?"

General Hawk (and a few of the Joe handlers as well) felt their face freeze and a cold sensation sink into their stomachs when they all had an inkling of why Althea was not given a Keyblade. And though Logan, Batman, and J'onn didn't any anything, they could sense the discomfort.

Later that night, after the meeting, Justin was moping around with the other Misfits in the living room, a bit pensive and deep in thought when General Hawk's voice rang out on the Misfits and Joes' communicators.

"Misfits, can you come to the main auditorium on the Pit grounds? The first one close to my office? We have…a situation," Hawk's voice rang, and a few such as Spirit and Althea could tell that the leader's voice and demeanor showed some reluctance, as if he knew this situation wasn't going to be well received.

Bracing themselves, the Joes and their mutant charges used the Mass Device and teleported directly into the building only to find, to their surprise, General Hawk was waiting for them with a grim expression. And behind him were the Dinosaucers, each and every one of them in their metallic space-suits, with Allo standing in front of the line, his arms crossed over his chest and a dark look of resentment on his features. All of the extraterrestrial dinosaurs were there, from the peaceful and rational Dimetro and Teryx to the diminutive Compy (who was furiously quarreling and tussling with Raptor in the background and showing no indication that he noticed the Misfits and Joes coming in). Whitelighter's eyes lit up in glee which actually bothered Gabriel a bit.

"Dad!" he yelled exuberantly as he rushed over and hugged the large, brown allosaurus fiercely. Though Allo stooped down and allowed his adoptive son to wrap his arms around his neck, enjoying the moment of having Whitelighter close to touch, he was still frowning heavily.

Pietro, unfortunately, before he could move, suddenly found himself in a crushing hug and then remembered why he didn't particularly care about visiting the Dinosaucers that much. Or at least, one specifically.

"Hiya, cutie!" squealed the youngest Dinosaucer, Montacera, "Didja miss me?"

"Believe it or not, **no**…" rasped the Misfit speedster in a deadpanned voice as he did his best to squirm out of the female's death grip around his body, the dinosaur alien's strength causing his to gasp for air.

"Montacera, please control yourself," groaned Tricero as he gently grabbed his niece by the collar of her uniform and managed to delicately extract the mutant speedster from her overly affectionate hug.

"What's going on?" Low Light asked, placing a hand on Gabriel's shoulder in order to prevent the ninja from saying something he would regret (or at the very most the others would regret). The Dinosaucers looked a bit uncomfortable and guilty, awkwardly scratching their heads and shifting their feet.

Allo then delivered his ultimatum, saying with unyielding steel, "I want Justin to come back home. I want him to leave the Misfits. He is coming back to the desert with us tonight."

---

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!" roared Blind Master, angrily on his feet while most of the other human soldiers and mutants were seated on various chairs in the auditorium. Most of the Dinosaucers themselves were standing as well, though Stego and Bonehead and Struthio were seated, Indian-style, on the tiled floor.

Bronto-Thunder then decided to lessen the tension and explain for the umpteenth time in order to placate the ninja, but regardless of how many times the explanation had been given, Blind Master was still adamantly outraged. The brontosaurus sighed before stating, "Blind Master, you know that we only sent Justin to join the Misfits to help control his powers, not to fight in a war that would otherwise endanger his life. And you can't blame us for wanting Justin to back out since he's not blessed with any magic and thus, isn't tied to the duty to fighting the Heartless like the rest of the Misfits."

"But his training isn't finished yet! And he still needs to be here to help out his teammates!" Blind Master yelled stubbornly, his brow furrowed. Before he could continue, however, Cover Girl then broke in strongly with her calm voice of adamantium.

"Gabriel, that's not a fair statement," the ex-model said, frowning, "You have to take the Dinosaucers' feelings into perspective too, and to be from a neutral standpoint, they're worried since Justin hasn't been to visit since his grounding here at the Pit and that he may dig himself into further danger and trouble that he may not be able to handle. To say that Whitelighter needs to be here can't be said as the truth in your point of view."

Blind Master shot Courtney a look of loathing and betrayal at not being on his side, wishing she kept out of it and kept quiet (but he wasn't foolish enough to do so without risking offending her or Cooper).

"I'm doing this because I want Whitelighter safe, Cover Girl!" he snapped.

"Like the tar pits you do, Moore!" Allo fumed, now unable to keep it to himself, the anger and accusations screaming to be let out of its pressurized cell inside his stomach, "If you were so concerned for his safety, you would realize that I don't want Justin to be targeted any more by the Thirteenth Order! And the fact that I had to learn from Hawk about Justin's close brushes with death when Roadblock was infected and how that maniac with the spears nearly killed him in that hostage situation certainly convinces me that my son isn't safe as long as he remains here!"

Blind Master whirled on General Hawk, conveniently forgetting that Hawk was his superior officer as he yelled with outrage, "**_You told him?_**"

Hawk looked irritated at the ninja master's tone of voice, but he sighed, showing his fatigue, as he explained, "Gabriel, I _had_ to. Allo had the right to be informed if Justin was in any dangerous situations, and it would have made matters worse had I hidden from him and the other Dinosaucers about how that Organization wind-rider nearly killed Whitelighter."

It was probably a good thing that General Hawk wasn't telepathic for Blind Master was darkly letting loose a plethora of curses and angry thoughts at the Joe leader inside his mind for opening his big mouth. If Hawk just kept quiet, he and Whitelighter wouldn't have even been in this situation in the first place!

"Hiding this from us doesn't really help your case of being an adequate guardian and giving us peace of mind that Justin would be safe here at the Pit," Tricero grumbled bad-naturedly, earning a few glares from the Joes all around.

"To be fair, Tricero, it just would have given Allo more of a reason to take Justin away," Struthio said strongly, as if he understood the ninja master's reasons why he didn't exactly come forward, "And Blind Master and the Misfits would want Justin close by them since they could protect him better than we ever could. After all, we don't have Keyblades or magic as powerful and effective as theirs."

Allo threw the struthiominus a look to shut up or else.

Bonehead then chimed in, "And…well…it's enough to make us worry about it and come all the way over here from Montana, Hawk. That's why Allo didn't come to the meeting earlier, because he wanted to encourage us to come along so that we could…uh…"

He trailed off, but Althea and Lance then understood.

"In other words, if necessary, all your Dinosaucers are here to take Justin back by force if we can't come to an agreement," the hydrokinetic said, her eyes going hard and her muscles tense. Bonehead's guilty and surprised expression was all the answer she needed. If Justin wouldn't be allowed to go home tonight, Allo and the other Dinosaucers would simply take him back without the Joes' consent, come what may and whatever violence would arise.

"We don't want to resort to that, though," Tricero said gruffly, holding out his claws in a submissive manner, "Look, you Misfits and Joes are our allies, and we sincerely do appreciate everything you have done in the past to help us. Really, we are. But the fact that Justin nearly got killed when Cover Girl was turned into a Heartless from nearly having his life energy drained out of him and when he got magically transformed into that playing dice by that gambler Organization member…we feel better if Justin comes back home now before it gets worse."

General Hawk's eyes narrowed a bit, partly in disbelief and partly because of the pounding migraine that he was getting as he stated, "Now _that_ I don't distinctly remember telling you, Allo."

The Dinosaucer leader replied curtly, "You didn't, and frankly, I knew you wouldn't. So I had Dimetro hack into the Joes' surveillance footage archives stored in Mainframe's databases. That was how I found out about the various endangerments Blind Master had subjected my son to."

"And before you ask, no, I did not hack into anything else other than that," Dimetro said with much sincere apologetics, wincing under the glare he was receiving from the general, "Hawk, I had to follow orders, and I'm concerned about Justin's safety too, but I additionally respect your privacy and secrets of the Joes, so I did not hack into anything else other than the surveillance footage of the Pit during the Heartless attacks."

"If it makes you feel better, we'll still help out at the Gathering and in any way we can with the Heartless problems," Stego added, "But it's just…we want Justin back, that's all. We're worried."

"But you won't be able to fully protect him from the Heartless at the Lavadome," Lance said, "I know Allo is a powerful dino-wizard and something, but he can't fight the Heartless as well as we can."

"Yeah, easy for you Misfit chumps to say!" scoffed Compy, caustic and bitter, "You're the ones with the all-mighty and powerful gifts to help you fight the Heartless and the Thirteenth Order jackasses while Justin and the rest of your friends get jack-squat."

"By the moons of Reptilion," Raptor growled, annoyed, "Is that all you can think about? How to connive and calculate a way to gain from all this instead of Justin's safety, you striped, whiny rodent? Why the child even loves you and chooses to ignore your greedy incompetence and selfishness never ceases to amaze me!"

This, not to the Dinosaucers' collective surprise, led to another bickering match between the black velociraptor and the red compsognathus.

"Go slag yourself, jerk!" Compy sniped harshly.

"Sniff around garbage like the mouse you are, vermin!" Raptor snarled.

"Jerk."

"Swamp rat." Obviously, Raptor and Rogue channeled each other's mind for insults at some point during their e-mail correspondences.

"Jerk!"

"Sewage-residing parasite!"

"_Jerk!_"

"Conniving, fungus-infested pipsqueak!"

"**_Jerk!_**"

"My, especially eloquent today, aren't we, my short, diminutive, weak – **yeow!**" Raptor yelped and ended his sarcastic sneering when Compy, fuming at the temporary lack of thinking of clever comebacks and incensed at the ex-Tyrannos playing on his short stature and relative lack of strength, lunged and bit Raptor hard on the leg. The black Dinosaucer hopped around on his uninjured leg while cradling the slightly bleeding other appendage in his hands. Raptor then immediately became livid, his red eyes burning, before he tried to lunge at Compy, ready to wring the antagonist's neck.

"Die, you little - !" roared Raptor right before Tricero and Stego managed to grab hold of his arms and stopped him short from committing homicide, all the meanwhile, Compy was making faces at his victim and laughing (which made Raptor all the madder).

"_Nyah Nyah Nyah Nyah Nyah Nyah! Neener Neener Neener!_" Compy drawled as Raptor kept furiously trying to break out of Tricero and Stego's hold.

Despite this, Justin couldn't help but laugh softly, trying to hide his smile behind one hand.

"What's so funny?" snapped Compy and Raptor, whirling on Whitelighter, as Dragonfly then spat some of her healing silk on Raptor's bleeding bite-wound in order to tend to it.

"I didn't realize how much I missed seeing you two fight like that," Justin admitted sheepishly, drawing an irritated _hmph_-noise from the both of them.

Itchy then voiced out his dissent.

"Look, and it's not just the issues with the close brushes with death that concern us. Justin's obviously in full control of his orbing and healing powers, and that was the main reason he had to come to the Pit, so that your training could teach him ways to harness his powers that we couldn't do, especially since we've never dealt with mutations before. But now…there's really no need for him to stay here. And you all said that if Justin wanted to return home, he could."

"**Is** that what Justin wants?" Quinn asked.

"But they do have a point," Brittany voiced in thoughtfully, "The Dinosaucers are Justin's rightful family, so they get to have the final say in where Whitelighter goes to. I mean, Allo is Justin's - "

"Brittany, for God's sake, **be quiet**!" snapped Gabriel.

"Oh brother, this is going to get ugly…" Cooper groaned to his girlfriend, rubbing his forehead.

"Justin would rather stay here and be a Misfit, right, Justin?" yelled Blind Master as he whirled his gaze upon Whitelighter, expecting an answer.

"No, Justin would rather go back home at the Lavadome and be with his family, right, son?" Allo then immediately demanded, turning his gaze furiously on Justin as if expecting him to agree.

Whitelighter looked like he wanted the earth to swallow him up whole from being put on the spot like that. And he also looked like he was going to break down and cry right there at the fact that he was anticipated to answer in front of everybody.

Cover Girl sighed as she rubbed her eyes, wincing and knowing this was going to be bad, as she groaned back to Low Light, "Correction: now it _is_ ugly…"

"By the gods of Reptilion…" cursed Montacera as she cradled her head in her claws.

"Why?" blinked Xi innocently, "What's wrong with this situation?"

Blob exhaled as he explained in a hushed tone, "Xi, one of the worst things you could do to a kid is making it choose between his or her parents."

At the same time, to everyone's growing indignation and shock, Blind Master and Allo both remained completely oblivious to the severity of how this was upsetting Whitelighter as they both impatiently and furiously kept trying to upstage each other while demanding an answer.

"Whitelighter, tell Allo you're happy here and that you'd rather stay with the Misfits!" Gabriel insisted.

"His name is _Justin_, Moore! Not 'Whitelighter'!" roared Allo, nearly causing the auditorium to shake, "And he'll rightfully tell you that despite your delusions, he'd rather stay the hell away from you lunatics and go back with his real family!"

"**Well? TELL HIM!**" they both commanded wrathfully at the same time. There was an overwrought stillness, on edge as everyone, even General Hawk, was glaring with exasperation and righteous anger at the two adults' actions. Justin couldn't take it anymore as his eyes brimmed, and he bit his lip.

Whitelighter then chose a third and less hurtful option. He orbed out and left the building.

"Justin!" exclaimed Blind Master and Allo in unison before they turned on each other and accused harshly, "**This is all your fault! MY fault? _You've got some nerve, you ass!_**"

"I am simply curious…" grimaced Plateo, pressing a clawed finger against his temple and gritting his teeth in restrained anger, in danger of fully losing his temper, "But is anyone else praying right now for a gigantic hand of some sort to come down, and, if I may be crude, smack the both of them upside their respective heads? **_Hard and repeatedly?_**"

"Yes," answered back a deadpanned Shipwreck, Spirit, Raptor, Compy, Itchy, and Teryx.

"Good news though," Daria said at last, trying to make herself be heard over Allo and Blind Master's fighting, "I got the homing signal from Justin's teleporter watch that he has on him with my scanner. He's safe! He's back at the Misfit Manor in his room! Hiding, no doubt."

"I'll go get him," Allo said irately as he did an about face and strode briskly and heatedly out of the auditorium.

"Like hell you will, you Barney-reject!" snapped Gabriel as he chased after the Dinosaucer. There was a general silence left behind in their wake.

"Um…maybe we should go after them? Just to make sure that they don't go overboard," Dragonfly suggested, but Pietro gave Lina a look of disbelief.

"You really want to get in the middle of Allo and Blind Master when they're about to rip each other's heads off?" the Misfit Adonis asked in a sarcastic voice, drawling. Lina winced.

"On second thought, maybe we should just wait for them to cool off," she hurriedly retracted.

"Smart move," Bonehead commented, rolling his eyes in commiseration at Lina.

Back at the Misfit Manor…

Justin was moping on his bed, in the bedroom he shared with Lance back at the Misfit Manor, feeling distressed and torn. There was a noise next to him, and the red-eyed and glum youth looked up to see a whining and concerned Pluto jumping up on his bed and nuzzling him, thoroughly sincere in his efforts to cheer the mutant up a bit. It was pretty obvious that Pluto didn't want anyone to feel depressed while he was around. Realizing what this appeared like and recalling the other testimonies of his teammates, Justin wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and gave a rueful smile, trying to dissuade Pluto from giving him a gift.

"You don't need to worry about not giving me magic, Pluto," Justin tried to chuckle (though it sounded strained and forced), "It looks like I won't be staying here long anyway."

Pluto whined, obviously disappointed as he laid his head on Justin's lap, his thin, black tail thumping up and down on the teenager's blankets softly.

"I feel so sad about all of this. I feel like I'm being torn apart and that I'm stuck in the middle. And it…it's frustrating," Justin confessed softly.

Pluto continued just silently observing the teenager, watching with some sorrow at how much Justin kept trying to suppress and contain his feelings.

"I wish they knew how much I hate it when they argue like that, when Allo and Blind Master tear into each other for my sake. I just want them to get along, but it seems like all they do is just think of reasons why the other isn't suitable to be with me. I hate that. I already have enough guilt as it is," Justin muttered thickly, grimacing.

Pluto raised one eyebrow, as if to say, "Why don't you just tell them, then?"

Justin caught the look and, though he had no reason why, he explained wearily, "I guess I can't tell them, though, because I'm afraid to hurt them both. I can't tell Allo that I like being with the Misfits and Blind Master even though it's only been a couple of months because…because it'll hurt Allo and make it look like I forgot that he and the other Dinosaucers raised me since I was found in the desert. And I didn't want to tell Blind Master and the other Misfits that I miss the Lavadome and that I didn't want to fight in this war because I don't want to seem ungrateful after everything they've done for me. And I don't…I actually feel…happier here at the Pit. Oh, by the mother planet, I can't say that to Allo! I can't hurt him like that!"

Pluto actually looked sympathetic; it was hard to not have feelings for different people conflict with each other. And it was surprising that the dog behaved as if he understood.

"I just wish both of them could understand that I don't want to choose between the two of them. If anything…wow, it's so hard to find the words. But…I guess that to me, love isn't fought over, it's shared."

There was a moment of silence (save Pluto's panting) as Justin exhaled and smiled sheepishly as he asked Pluto, "I guess I'm a little overly maudlin and emotional like Pietro says, huh, Pluto?"

Pluto just barked encouragingly, as if he understood Justin's feelings, before he went up and licked Justin's cheek, causing Whitelighter to chuckle softly.

---

Meanwhile, things were going well into the toilet as Blind Master did his best to go get Justin and keep him company, despite Allo trying to overtake him.

"What are you doing here, Moore?" snarled Allo, "In case you haven't noticed, this is a family affair, and you are certainly not invited!"

"You can't keep me from trying to help Justin and fixing up the damage you caused in the first place!" Gabriel shot back, but now incensed and riled to the point of blowing up, the Dinosaucer leader grabbed the man by the back of his leather trench-coat and made him halt against the Joe's will. And before the African American man could use his teleporter watch to break free, with a deft squeeze with his thumb and forefinger, Allo snapped it off the Joe's wrist and crumbled it into a pile of useless metal.

They were going to settle this as of this moment, one way or another.

"Damn you to Reptilion and back!" seethed Allo, quivering with anger and his teeth grinding against each other so hard, his entire mouth with tingling with throbbing pain, "If you keep trying to steal Justin away from me, I'll break both of your legs right here and now, you blind son of a bitch!"

"You're accusing me of stealing Justin away from you?" shot back the ninja, ripping himself free from the dinosaur's claws, "**HA!** That's a laugh! If anything, you're so insecure that you just want to keep everyone who could truly help Whitelighter away so that it doesn't lessen your deluded importance of being the number one figure in Justin's life, you selfish asshole!"

"**You're** the selfish one! He's not your son!" Allo couldn't help but shout, starting to lose his temper.

"He's as good as!" Blind Master shot back, "You know damn well I care about Justin as if he were one of my own!"

"And you appear to be forgetting, **I'm** his father," growled Allo.

"Funny, I don't recall your name being _Elder Gideon_," the ninja shot back coolly, emphasizing those last two words. Allo's eyes went wide, his pupils dilating in anger before the spittle shone on his now bared teeth.

"At least I'm more of a father to him than you ever could, Moore. ** I** raised him, **I **was there for him when he was recovering in the infirmary that first night, **I** held him when he had nightmares, and **I** instructed him as best as I could through every difficult period. So it shows **I'm** the only one around here who can make the claim to be Justin's true parent. Unlike _you_…al1 you did was step in and try training him when it was easy for you and you didn't have to go through the trials of raising him from childhood, so it doesn't make you an automatic father-figure," rumbled the Dinosaucer.

"We're in the same boat, and you damn well know it, you Barney-reject," Gabriel seethed, "Just because you're in the front end and I'm in the rear doesn't mean you're better than me!"

"No, the fact that I'm not a blind drunkard who drags Justin off to foolhardy missions and exposes him to the various enemies of G.I. Joe by involving him in battles that aren't of any consequence of his makes me better than you! And it's also because of you that Clawson from the X-Men is galvanizing with my son in the first place!" Allo roared, the trees around him quivering from the volume of his voice.

"Oh, sure pass the buck!" snapped the African American warrior, "You know damn well I didn't do anything to cause Razor to kiss Whitelighter, and it wasn't my fault to begin with! You're just using me as a scapegoat whenever something goes wrong with his upbringing, but when Whitelighter does something good, you take all the credit!"

"I've had enough of this drabble!" shouted Allo, stomping towards the path to the Misfit Manor, "Ever since you came into my son's life, you've done nothing but cause him trouble and bring him into further danger. The minute he's out of the Pit, I'll be able to take solace that he'll finally be safe and protected! He was never safe around you and the Misfits to begin with, you blind drunkard!"

Blind Master then snarled, his brow furrowed, as he then said the one thing that stung the most to the humanoid allosaur, "He's not safe around **me**? Cut the crap and face it, Allo! Justin's a lot happier because he's with his own kind, made new friends, and is learning how to use his mutant powers to make a difference to help people! Something _you_ could never do for Whitelighter no matter how much you could have tried with the other Dinosaucers and the Secret Scouts! He's happy here, and you know it since Justin never once complained about living at the Pit! **If anything, I made his life better than you _ever_ could for him!**"

That did it. Allo snapped, the temper was now completely uncontrollable, and before he could even stop himself, the Dinosaucer grabbed Blind Master by the front of his shirt so quickly, even with his ninja training, Gabriel couldn't have avoided the lunge. And the African American man was only stunned and taken by surprise as the Dinosaucer then threw him into a nearby tree, roaring. Instincts arising, Blind Master tried to hit the wooden trunk with his feet, landing on his heels to break the force of his fall. Thankfully, he succeeded, but due to the alien dinosaur's strength, there was a sharp pain in his ankle and Blind Master yelped as he fell to the ground, hissing at his twisted foot.

Even being a ninja master couldn't break the force from being hurled at a wall by a mammoth extraterrestrial.

The apology was out of Allo's lips before he could even think it. He didn't mean to do throw the Joe; Allo just lost his temper. And if he killed Blind Master, despite his resentment and anger at the man stealing away his son, he would never forgive himself. And Justin wouldn't forgive him either, for that matter.

"I'm sorry," Allo said, truly meaning it as he stooped down to help the man up, "I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I can take you over to Lifeline at his infirmary if - "

But whatever sympathy and regret Allo had immediately vanished as he was now almost within eye-level of the ninja, and letting out a snarl of poisonous ire and need for retaliation, Blind Master let loose a swift and powerful punch at Allo's snout, his hand undetectable. Allo cursed as he felt his front teeth crack, breaking off, and despite the blood running down his mouth, the alien couldn't help but be surprised that the soldier had the strength to actually knock out some of his teeth. This didn't last long and it was soon replaced with an unfathomable, lethal, killing rage as his vision actually turned red.

"You're dead meat, Moore!" roared Allo as he tried to grab Blind Master, but it was easier said than done as the ninja was now darting back and forth, avoiding the punches and moving so swiftly, Allo couldn't even see him. And Gabriel wasn't letting up, even with a twisted foot, as he kept delivering painful punches and kicks, and even hard pokes wi5th his cane, all throughout the Dinosaucer's body with the lizard-humanoid trying to vainly catch him like how a human tries to catch a butterfly flying back and forth in the air.

After several long minutes, Allo managed to grab Gabriel with his tail and panting, the Dinosaucer pinned the man to the ground as the ninja did his best to break loose, squirming and uttering very wince-worthy curses. However, no matter how many times he tried, Blind Master couldn't land any punches or kicks effective enough to cause the Dinosaucer to let him go. Allo was now incredibly annoyed and bruised as he growled, "You know…if you wanted to fight so much, all you had to do was ask."

"Oh like you haven't been asking for that punch since we've met, you butthead!" Gabriel fumed as Allo held him, unwilling to let him loose, "**_Goddammit, let me up, you overgrown bastard!_**"

Allo's next words then surprised him, having no idea where they were coming from, as the alien growled, "I'll let you up when you agree to stand aside and let Justin come back home to the Lavadome and that you agree that I'm the only one who has a right to be his father!"

"I'd rather die…" spat the Joe. Oh, it would be so easy to kill him right then and there…

Allo growled, feral, "Don't tempt me…Dinosaucers don't kill."

"Oh, like how you showed mercy with the Tyrannos leaders, Genghis Rex?" drawled the ninja, now stabbing into a very deep and private wound of the Dinosaucer, "At least I never tried hiding the fact that I had to kill to protect my teammates and family! Instead of trying to act all shameful and remorseful about it and continue with that annoying _holier-than-thou_ attitude, you hypocritical - !"

Blind Master then stopped and stared in horror before he yelled helplessly, "Allo, behind you!"

Allo snorted derisively, growling without amusement, "Like I'm going to fall for the oldest trick in the book, Moore…"

"Excellent. All the more easier then," Vexen said from behind, causing Allo's spine to shiver.

That was the last sentence Allo remembered hearing…

---

"Hey…what the- ?" Justin gasped as he felt the earth tremble beneath the house's foundation as an explosion rang out in the distance close to the auditorium where the Dinosaucers and the Misfits had reconvened earlier. Pluto whimpered next to the adolescent as Justin had a horrible fear of suspicion and dread grip his stomach.

"Oh by the mother planet, please…no," Whitelighter whined to himself as he orbed himself and Pluto to the auditorium where he could see that the building inside was completely deserted and in disarray, as if his teammates and family left in a hurry. And it wasn't hard to see why as he could see outside, a large number of soldiers from G.I. Joe were fighting alongside the Misfits and the Dinosaucers against something huge, fluidly agile, and menacing and formidable enough to appear like Godzilla from a Japanese horror movie.

"Oh holy shit!" Struthio cursed as he dinovolved.

"By the mother planet…" Low Light could help but blurt dumbly, and a few couldn't help but notice that the trademark curses of surprise had switched and were coming from the wrong mouths. There, in front of everyone, was a gigantic Heartless that was literally as tall as a Sentinel, looming over all the neighboring buildings and people as it towered over the multitude of Joes and even the Dinosaucers, easily brushing away at the missile discharges and hailstorms of armor-piercing bullets as if they were nothing. It was tall and humanoid, upright and powerfully muscled underneath its black, leathery skin. The monster of darkness had large, reptilian feet and a tail, similar to Godzilla, but its upper torso was broad (bearing the Heartless symbol), like a human's, and had five-fingered arms, each wielding a gigantic Japanese katana sword. And what was most disturbing about the Heartless was that it had two heads; the one of the left was a black lizard's, bearing fangs, and on the right was a round, human-like head with yellow beady eyes and a closed, jagged mouth.

It only took several moments before everyone could guess who composed of this creature of the Organization. Still, Trinity verified it on their scanners nonetheless.

"It's Allo and Blind Master!" Daria gasped, her scanner magically using its special ability to have the Heartless in front of them turn absolutely transparent, only to show an unconscious and limp pair of the two aforementioned warriors, suspended limply and in between them was a single pulsating pod, weaving tentacles of black smoke into their bodies and hearts, leeching off their energies.

"Well, then let's team up and take him down then!" roared Shipwreck, firing with his dual Eagle pistols, the bullets striking the Heartless' torso, "Misfits and Dinosaucers, move out and weaken him! Wavedancer'll finish him off and bring them back to normal!"

"This should slow them down!" Teryx yelled, taking flight and soaring into the air alongside Dragonfly before the pink and white feathered archaeopteryx aimed with one claw and fired a gigantic and widespread net of blue plasma-energy, large enough to blanket and entire field. The female Dinosaucer at first cheered when the net struck the monster. However, with a sudden outward brush of its arms, the swords in the Heartless hands effortlessly rent the net into three useless pieces, freeing itself instantly.

Those were no mere swords.

"**_Augh!_**" Plateo and Itchy both screamed as the swords managed to neatly cut the two of them on their ribs, causing a horrific gash that actually exposed the white bones on their ribs. They collapsed to the ground, bleeding and in absolute agony.

"Leave them alone! Allo, wake up! Damn it, wake up! It's us, the Dinosaucers and the Misfits, your friends!" Bronto-Thunder yelled as he tried to hammer away at the Heartless with a gigantic I-beam he ripped from a nearby building while Quick Kick was standing on top of the Dinosaucer's head and throwing a plethora of ninja stars and explosive bombs.

"Blizzaga Artic Requiem!" Dragonfly called out, summoning her violin, and instantly, the Heartless was besieged by currents of frigid air and cold, sub-zero energy. However, the enemy was too colossal for Lina to freeze completely like the Misfit had done before with Cover Girl.

"Aw, geez, this one's good! He's got Blind Master's ninja skills!" Beach Head cursed as he was riding on a dinovolved Bonehead's back, firing with his bazooka while Bonehead in his primitive form did his best to knock the experiment off balance with ramming charges to the Heartless' legs with his head.

"Give me strength!" Wavedancer, Toad, Avalanche, Scarlet Witch and Xi yelled in unison, bringing out their Summons with a flourish, but now snarling like a demented animal, the dinosaur head of the ogre rumbled, screeching like a demonic monster. Twirling the katana sword in its left hand, to everyone's horror, each and everyone of the summons were suddenly encased in a paranormal brown shield of force, unbreakable and impenetrable. Simba, Genie, Dumbo, Mushu, and Bambi were all trapped in an orb of magic created from the Heartless. And no matter how hard they tried to claws and hammer their way through, they couldn't even make a scratch.

"Uh…kids?" Genie weakly chuckled despite his fear as he magically created a jackhammer out of thin air with his magic, trying to desperately break out, "We have a little problem here…"

"Damn it!" Avalanche cursed as he tried to use his Steel Quartz Keyblade to slice the barrier open to free his lion friend, only to find that it was ineffective, "They're trapped!"

"Of course! That's it!" Cover Girl said as she and Low Light rode on a dinovolved Tricero (who was doing his best to charge and trample the Heartless' tail like a tank) while shooting with laser rifles, "If Allo knows magic, then it makes sense that a Heartless made from him would know magic too!"

"And now we're at a disadvantage!" yelled Scarlet Witch before she gasped as the Heartless now began slicing at the air with his swords, "**_You guys, scatter!_**"

They couldn't move fast enough as the humanoid head of the fiend was gleefully and lethally trying to quarter and eviscerate the Misfits, charging towards them as graceful and silent as any ninja, literally sliding across the ground before attempting to skewer the mutants. Though many of them managed to narrowly dodge and duck the blades before it could touch them, Wanda actually tripped and was about to be horribly cut in half until Raptor rushed by and grabbed the teenager in the nick of time.

"I do not think so!" Raptor growled, protectively holding Scarlet Witch close to his body.

"And I really don't think so, chump! Raptor, give me a boost!" Compy yelled as the black-skinned dinosaur set Scarlet Witch down. Instantly, Raptor knelt down and cupped his claws together low, allowing a foothold as Compy used it as a stepping position to allow himself to be boosted up high into the air before the neon-red scavenger then took out a small capsule from his armor compartment before flinging it at the Heartless.

There was a messy discharge once the pellet made contact.

Ker-splat!

"Here's tar in your eye!" crowed Compy as the Heartless was now completely blinded as both of its heads were covered with slick, sticky tar, unable to see as it literally stopped and faltered, rubbing its eyes uselessly as it vainly tried to wipe the hardening material off its skin.

"All right! Good one, Compy! **_Yee-haw!_** Ride 'em, cowboy!" Wild Bill whooped and hollered, firing with his twin pistols as he rode of a extremely swift Struthio (now dinovolved) and having a grand time incapacitating the fiend with his bullets, as the struthiominus ran as swift as the wind and as agile as a cheetah. Raptor and Compy just awkwardly looked at each other as Wanda joined in the battle with her fire magic, realizing that they actually did an act of cooperation.

"Your aim was off, vermin," muttered Raptor, not bothering to glance at Compy.

"And you didn't throw me up in the air high enough, Tyrannos scumball," grumbled Compy before they just shot each other a resigned look and dashed off in battle. However, despite these successful attacks, it still didn't have much of a desired effect.

"They're still too strong!" gasped Quinn, reading the energy levels on her scanner as Pietro used his Strike Raid technique with his Zephyr Keyblade while a dinovolved Stego managed to painfully whack the Heartless hard in the kneecaps with his spiked tail, "Allo and Blind Master are still both too strong! We can't drop them down fast enough!"

"But that's impossible! How can this one be so difficult? **_Aquara Water Dragon!_**" Wavedancer yelled, summoning the powerful and surging current of water to strike the Heartless full into the chest, but still unable to catch it off its feet.

"Because it's made from _two_ hearts this time!" Brittany groaned over her communicator as she read the input from her scanner, "That makes this Hellfire Heartless more powerful than the others we've fought before! Stopra…**_Time freeze!_**"

With a click and a flash, the Heartless was frozen, engulfed in a glowing aura of time energy, immobile and completely vulnerable, allowing the Misfits to strike as much as they could.

"Gaia Earthquake Force Rush!" Lance yelled, slapping the palms of his hands down on the fresh dirt.

"Gravira Orbs of Force…Crusher!" Blob yelled, flinging out a hand.

"Thundaga Blitzclap Pressure!" Toad yelled before pitching back his arm and throwing a gigantic ball of lightning.

"UUURRRRRRAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" howled the Heartless to the heaven, both of its heads arching back and screaming from its bowels as the attacks of earth, gravity and thunder all wonderfully complemented each other before swirling around the monster and engulfed it. Apparently, all three elemental attacks together were quite effective as one.

"That hurt him!" Daria exclaimed as the Joes continued fighting, "But he's still not weak enough!"

Pluto then realized that they needed additional help, and despite Justin's hesitation, Pluto didn't want to deprive the boy of the two most important people in Whitelighter's life. And from what he could tell, nothing said strength of heart than a loving demeanor.

Pluto then gave Justin a smile before his eyes glowed the last remaining color of the rainbow sigil around Althea's staff, his pupils now like two hot suns as they radiated the most pure and softest tone of yellow, intense but not the least bit harsh.

And with that, the last and final symbol from Althea's scepter appeared in the middle of Justin's forehead. It was a yellow orb of color, but the sigil was remarkably similar to the shape of the sun. At the north, east, south, and west positions around the sphere were four isosceles diamonds while between each diamond, spaced equally, was a separate equilateral triangle, pointing outwards and making a total of four triangles. In other words, Justin's symbol of magic looked like a shining star.

The voice then gently and softly rang in Whitelighter's head.

_You can't afford to stay in the middle forever, Justin. Sooner or later you have to make a choice…_

Justin's eyes widened a bit before looked around fearfully, feeling scared until the voice, light-hearted and a bit whimsical, spoke again, calming the Misfit's terror.

_Justin, I won't hurt you. I haven't hurt your friends and I won't hurt you either._

The teen then realized who he was talking to, and his breath quaked.

"Make a choice?"

_Yep._

"I'm not choosing between Dad and Blind Master!" he retorted hotly, his cheeks starting to blush in anger. The voice sighed before clarifying.

_I meant, like your teammate Lina, you need to make a choice between staying out of this war or fighting alongside your friends. If anything, I agree with you a lot that love isn't fought over, but that it's shared._

Justin blinked twice before feeling ashamed, murmuring, "I'm sorry. I tend to jump to conclusions and not listen."

_And is this the only reason why you want the magic? Because you want to save your two Dads and that's it? If I recall correctly, you said you were scared of war and fighting…I don't want to drag you into something against you're will or if you don't understand the risks._

"No…that would be selfish of me," Justin protested, the words coming from his heart and memories of the several months he spent with the Misfits before he even realized it, "And I love them too! All the people I've met! The Dinosaucers, the X-Men, the Joes, the League, the Titans, the Slayers and Charmed Ones, and…and Jake. My heart's connected to them too and not just to the Misfits and the handlers. I'll fight, please! If anything, I'll fight because…because they're a part of my life now, and if I turn back and ignore them, I'll never forgive myself! That's even scarier than fighting! Please, let me have the magic!"

There was a pause before the voice then said softly with praise.

_At last you finally understand what love for your friends means…_

Justin then realized something.

"Hey…you were testing me, weren't you?" Whitelighter asked with a touch of amused annoyance, despite the gravity of the situation. The voice chuckled.

_Pretty much…and I can see why Pluto sees that you have a strong heart, Whitelighter. Go free your dads for you now have the magic over the kingdom of light, one of the purest forces against darkness itself. Go, with the blessings of the Lumiga Kingdom._

"Aw, geez, yo! It's still not enough!" Toad yelped as he used up the last of his energy to besiege the Heartless with powerful thunder attacks.

"He's getting there, but we used up all our magic! And Bambi can't help us!" Xi exclaimed, realizing the predicament.

Justin turned to the hulking, two-headed ogre, finally breaking free of the Triplet's time-freeze spell.

"Dad, Blind Master…" whispered Whitelighter, quivering and scared out of his wits, but determined nonetheless.

"I love you both."

With that, Whitelighter balled one hand into a fist and held it over his heart.

"LUMIGA…" he cried out. The other Misfits stopped and stared alongside the Dinosaucers and Joes, stunned for a moment before it dawned on them what was happening.

"Shit! Move it everyone! **Move, move, move!**" yelled Beach Head as everyone scattered as far as they could from Allo and Blind master.

Instantly, Justin could feel his aura, a warm and flowing force surging out of his body and into his hand, and despite his fingers being closed, out of the cracks came a beautiful radiance of sunlight. Amazed, Justin opened his hand and there, clustered together, was a gathering of blinking golden sparks, each wavering in size and intensity and radiance, cycling endlessly. Not sure what to do next, Whitelighter winged it, improvising, as he flung out his hand at the gigantic Heartless. Immediately, the sparks all flashed once before they formed a ring of shining yellow emblems, each in the shape of a shining sun, all around Justin.

"MARK OF THE SUN!"

With that, each and every one of the symbols radiating around Justin flickered before they converged and united as one…before, to everyone's shock, the yellow sigil of Lumiga appeared again on Allo and Blind Master's chest, searing into the black hide and shining brighter by the second until it was too painful to even look at.

The colossal, two-headed Heartless shrieked, arching back its heads and howling in pain as spider-webs of light snaked throughout the entire body…

_Flash!_

"Whoa! That did it!" Quicksilver gasped as the Heartless finally sank to its knees, dropping its swords before shriveling under the intensity of Justin's element. Althea didn't hesitate any longer as she used her staff.

"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!"

**_Kawhoom!_**

"Thank the gods," Bronto-Thunder exhaled with relief as the unconscious forms of Blind Master and Allo stumbled out before the Hellfire Heartless pod disintegrated. And next to the two forms were the pink crystals of the warriors' hearts.

But before anyone could move to retrieve the hearts…

"Aquara Tigershark Tsunami!" yelled Octavia, and the Dinosaucers, all weakened from the strain of battle, couldn't help but cry out as the tidal wave swept them all away and knocked them into the Misfits and various buildings, leaving them struggling to remain afloat as the female's magic kept them trapped in pillars of water. Though some such as Todd, Itchy and Althea could naturally breathe and navigate through their prison, it was clear that the others couldn't. If Octavia didn't release them, they would drown.

"Aeroga Shadow Phantasm!" Falco cried out as he zoomed forward, knocking over many of the Joes and sending them reeling to the floor, seriously wounded and bleeding from being subjected to the harsh and painful silver winds before the falcon strode over to the hearts and picked them up.

"No, please! Don't take them!" Whitelighter cried, managing to avoid being struck down. Falco sighed as he finished looking into Blind Master and Allo's hearts; they weren't Talismans. Still, it was clear that the minute Octavia would release the other deluded heroes, they would be killing mad. And enormous dinosaurs of alien origin with advanced technology and more than enough physical strength to take out even Leomon wasn't the least bit desirable. Unless…

"How about a bargain then?" Falco said emotionlessly at Pluto and Justin and calmly tossing both of the hearts to himself in the air with one wing. He had to play on the boy's emotions just right…

"Anything! Please, I just want Dad and Blind Master safe!" begged Justin.

"The minute we let your friends go, they'll be after us," the blue avian said coldly, "If I return your fathers' hearts to you, you make sure that we get safe passage out of the Pit and call off your Dinosaucer friends from hunting us down in the future. The last thing we want is psychopathic alien dinosaurs to make our lives a living hell. And they'll listen to you since you're a Secret Scout and their most cherished friend. We already have enough of that from you mutants and the Joes. So how about it Whitelighter? Tell the Dinosaucers to back off, and you get the hearts back. Refuse, and I crush the crystals, right here and right now and you can watch Allo and Blind Master die."

Though Falco really wouldn't destroy a being's heart (nor couldn't for that matter), he hoped the twit wouldn't call his bluff. And the Misfit nodded whimpering, giving in, much to Falco's relief.

"I'll do it! I promise! You have my word! Please! Just let them go and give me back the hearts! **I promise! _Please, just don't kill my Dads and my friends!_**"

"Just remember, Whitelighter…" warned Falco before Octavia released her hold on the Misfits and Dinosaucers with a wave of her hands, sending them spiraling to the soggy ground.

"You son of a feathered bitch!" Low Light cursed, vomiting water, "You nearly drowned us!"

"Nearly…but we didn't," Falco commented offhandedly as he tossed back the heart crystals to a grateful Whitelighter, nearly sobbing with relief. The Dinosaucers, all waterlogged (and Plateo and Itchy were losing massive amounts of blood) made moves to kill Falco and Octavia, with the Cornerian pilot and the Tigershark walking calmly away. Thankfully, Justin stopped them.

"**No!**" Whitelighter warned, his voice cracking and going high-pitched from his nervousness, "Let them go. I promised them that I would if they gave me back Blind Master and Allo's heart back!"

"You may have promised, but we didn't," growled Tricero, coughing uncontrollably.

"Then do it _for me_," Justin emphasized, frowning and putting some additional insistence at those last two words. Strangely enough, Tricero couldn't find the strength to argue that. And though a few of the Dinosaucers and Joes wanted to argue, Althea held up a hand, realizing that they should respect the boy's wishes. Not to mention that she could see that throughout the field were many injured Joes who were severely bleeding from Falco and Octavia's attacks and from the Heartless' swords.

"He promised them. Let them go," the ninja girl ordered. Justin then turned to the retreating figures of Falco and Octavia and managed to yell out before they disappeared.

"Thank you!" he cried, truly grateful that they gave back Blind Master and Allo's hearts. The Cornerian pilot and the Tigershark made no indication that they heard as they vanished in the night.

With a glow, the heart crystals began to levitate out of Justin's hands before they glided softly to the unconscious Dinosaucer and ninja. A keyhole formed on Allo's chest, causing Lance's Keyblade to glow.

"I got Allo's heart," sighed Avalanche with a big sigh of relief as he locked the keyhole on the dinosaur's chest.

"Amazing…" marveled Dimetro.

"But what about Blind Master's?" Bonehead asked, worried, "There's no…Keyhole?"

The pachycephalosaurus' voice then died in his throat as, by sheer coincidence, an actual keyhole then formed in the center of the unconscious Joe's chest as a yellow star began to sparkle and glow brightly in front of a bewildered and wide-eyed Justin before it took shape.

"Whoa! Cool, Justin! You have a Keyblade!" Montacera gasped as the light faded. Whitelighter's Keyblade was silver and yellow, the blade portion of the weapon consisting of two parallel bars of silver, running up and down and actually blending in with the color yellow, forming a spectrum of white and gold of various tones and shades. And at the tip, the two bars of metal intertwined and crossed over each other to form a small niche that bore a hemisphere of jagged, yellow, diamond points, like half of the crest that was glowing on Whitelighter's forehead. And the crossguard around the yellow grip of the blade was a pair of silver wings, forming a square-shaped ring around the handle, and hanging from the pommel of blue moonstone was a silver chain depicting a (to Justin's stunned amusement) a blind allosaurus, even depicted to be wearing dark glasses and wielding a slim cane for the sensory-impaired. And with a flash of yellow light, the keyhole in Blind Master's heart was sealed.

The voice said softly, _I will give you a final gift…summon your partner with your Healing Mercy Keyblade, Whitelighter. She will heal your friends._

Healing Mercy. Justin had to admit he did like the ring to it.

"Thank you. And please, give me strength," Whitelighter said softly as he held his Keyblade with both hands, pointing upwards before he gave it a slight twist clockwise. Out came a figure only three inches tall, immersed with sparkling auras of yellow and gold, and upon closer look, it was a small pixie of blond hair, blue eyes, and wearing a small green dress and sandals. And it looked a lot like the Disney character…

"**_TINKERBELL?_**" chorused everyone is disbelief, their jaws dropping. Out of all possible summons, the fairy was certainly the last one to be considered an impressive partner. But ignoring the looks of disbelief with a snooty toss of her head, Tinkerbell smiled, making chiming noises like a bell, before she touched Whitelighter's nose with one hand and then flew all over the field, bathing the entire Pit with pixie dust.

"What the hell?" Shipwreck exclaimed, seeing his bleeding gashes closing by themselves and disappearing under the warmth and soothing dust.

"Hey, it's because of Tinkerbell! I think…wow, she's healing us! She's healing all of us!" Montacera gasped seeing he bruises disappear.

"And it's not just us! All the Joes are being healed too!" the soldier named Sci-Fi happily laughed as many of the Joes were now able to stand up and look around at the falling and twinkling mass of yellow magic. Each and every one of them had been fully revived and mended, feeling better than they ever had been before.

"My wound! They're gone!" Plateo gasped, seeing his ribs knit themselves back into position and his flesh seal itself without even so much as a scar. Teryx hugged Itchy joyfully, seeing that he was going to be all right. With that, Tinkerbell saluted Justin before vanishing, seeing that everyone was accounted for and all right.

"Thank you…" whispered Whitelighter, smiling.

"Wow!" Daria marveled, "How cool is that? We have a magical healer on our side now! Tinkerbell can heal all of us, much more than Justin and Lifeline can do before! The Organization better watch out now!"

"You know…I could make a comment about the choice of chubby-cheek's Disney summon and his sexual orientation," cackled Pietro softly, only to find that he was immediately subjected to a crowd of glares from the other summons and the Dinosaucers. They didn't find that joke the least bit humorous, and Genie was wiggling a glowing finger back and forth suggestively.

"You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?'" Genie warned, doing a very accurate and serious Clint Eastwood impression, "**_Well, do ya' punk?_**"

"On second thought, I'll just keep quiet for now," the silver-haired speedster weakly chuckled.

"Smart move," growled Raptor, still giving Quicksilver a death glare.

---

Allo groaned, opening his eyes and feeling the mother of all headaches pounding his skull, as he regained consciousness to see that he was in the Joes' infirmary, resting on a gigantic bed that miraculously managed to support his body. He was bare-chested, devoid of his armor, but modestly covered with a large blanket, and upon turning to his right, he saw a recovering Blind Master waking up in a hospital gown in a bed next to him. And next to Blind Master's cot was a crowd consisting of relieved yet concerned Dinosaucers, the Misfits, their Joe parents, and General Hawk.

Gabriel held a hand to his head, no longer wearing his glasses and showing lifeless, glazed brown eyes, asking groggily, "Uhhh…what…how…"

"You're all right now, both of you," Shipwreck said, "You and Allo here were both infected and turned into a Hellfire Heartless. We were able to cure you just in time thanks to Al here. And Lifeline and Teryx and Dimetro says that you both are going to be fine, expected to make a full recovery and everything."

"You were pretty out of it, however," Itchy piped up, "You two slept and didn't regain consciousness until now, which is technically the next morning. It's the next day, Allo, after the night we came to the Pit to see Justin."

"The Organization…" Allo sighed in frustration, remembering how he and Blind Master were tussling with each other and allowed themselves to be distracted for that strange being in the black cloak to move in.

After some afterthought, Allo managed to swallow through his dry throat and ask, "How's Justin? Did he get hurt?"

"Actually, he managed to save ya', Big Guy!" whooped Compy, grinning ear to ear and obviously proud of his nephew, "He wasted the Heartless thing that was inside you and Blind Master!"

There was a pause as this clicked into the ninja and the alien's minds collectively. Allo was about to ask how, but then he felt a chill in his heart when it suddenly became obvious, especially since most if not all of the Dinosaucers' faces were a bit strained with guilt, as if they knew something Allo wasn't particularly going to be pleased with. Blind Master then voiced Allo's worst fear.

"Whitelighter knows magic now…doesn't he?" he asked quietly. The crowd nodded at various intervals.

"And a Keyblade called Healing Mercy," supplicated Raptor gruffly, "He asked the dog, Pluto, to give it to him in order to save you two from being doomed as the Organization's mindless drone."

That still didn't make Allo feel better as he felt his world crumble a bit further, realizing that Whitelighter had now been invariably placed even further into the war with the Heartless and with protecting the world, going into a position of further endangerment in which there was probably no turning back. As this crashed down into Allo's mind, hoarsely, the allosaur then immediately lashed out on his typical target.

"This is all your fault, Moore!" Allo snapped.

"My fault? You're blaming me?" Gabriel immediately attacked back, defensive, which immediately began to cause many in the crowd next to him to huff, groan, or roll their eyes in growing annoyance.

"If you hadn't put up a fight and just let my son come back to the Lavadome with us, we would have never been infected by the Heartless spores, and Justin would have never been placed in this position!" Allo griped.

"Oh screw you, you stubborn ass of a lizard!" the ninja shouted, "As long as he's out of your hands and away from your overbearing and overprotective nagging, I'm not sorry at all! He's a hell of a lot better off!"

"You're an idiot, Moore!" Allo snapped.

"No, _you're_ the idiot, Allo!" Blind Master snapped.

It was then that the Misfits, Dinosaucers, and Joes really couldn't tolerate this any longer.

"**_YOU'RE BOTH IDIOTS!_**" roared the crowd in unison, temporarily stunning the two bickering adults, especially considering that the outburst was loud enough to measure in the decibel levels and that each and every one of the Misfits, Dinosaucers, and the Joes (including General Hawk) voiced that one statement. And from the looks on all their faces, from the usually stoic Tricero to the young faces of Daria, Quinn, and Brittany, they seemed thoroughly annoyed.

Blind Master then finally managed to grumble, finding his voice and wondering why the hell everyone was so antsy around him and Allo when it was clearly the Dinosaucer's fault (in his point of view), "Where's Whitelighter?"

As one, everyone irately pointed at the far side of the infirmary room, and there, lying on the couch and sleeping on his side with Pluto cuddling against him, was an exhausted and dozing Justin, huddled underneath a blanket. Even despite the arguing and yelling, the Misfit was still managing to stay asleep (he stayed awake all through the night next to the two of them).

Teryx then decided to take the role of pointing out the obvious as she practically screamed at the two in ire and protective fury, snapping, "By the mother planet, do either of you even understand? Get this into your thick skulls! **_Justin doesn't want to choose between either of you! _**He loves you both! And if you both weren't so stubborn and trying to accuse each other of being his rightful father, you would have seen that in the first place!"

Plateo then said firmly, "Allo, Gabriel…I think I speak for all of us when I say that this has gone far enough."

"Can't you see that it's hurting Justin? The way you two keeping brining him into the middle like this? It isn't right," Blob said softly.

General Hawk then said with steel, his eyes narrowed and his voice final, as if daring the two to even try to object, "Let me say this quite clearly, so you two better shut up and listen: **either you both settle this now or we will**. You don't have to be friends, and you don't even have to like each other, but when this fighting and arguing becomes counter-productive, there's no way we are going to allow this continue, especially when we have enough enemies and worries as it is. Decide on a truce, here and now. **_Or else._** And I trust you'll both act like adults for once in this matter and not kill each other?"

Blind Master and Allo's faces both turned red as they stared at the floor, humiliated and shamefaced, but still stubbornly adamant at hating each other. The general took their silence as resentful agreement, and with a nod of his head, the Dinosaucers and the Joes and mutants left, leaving them alone in the infirmary with the dozing Pluto and Whitelighter.

There was a general silence before Allo then grumbled, "Just for the record, despite everything, this doesn't change how I feel. I still resent you, you drunkard."

"The feeling is more than mutual, butthead," Gabriel sniped back, his teeth grit. And yet after the two finished glaring at each other, they averted their gazes a bit awkwardly before they both stared at the sleeping form of Justin and Pluto for a good minute or two in silence.

Then Allo broke the ice, murmuring so softly in his deep voice that Gabriel at first couldn't quite hear him.

"I want Justin to be safe, Moore…"

Blind Master didn't know how to feel about that, but he could at least see that he agreed with that sentiment at least. He then said in a hard voice, "I do too. You know that."

"But you can't promise me that," Allo said, his voiced dripping with bitter umbrage, "Gabriel, if you wanted Justin safe, you wouldn't go galloping out in fights and drag my son along with you. You can't promise me that he'll be safe."

"No, but neither can you," Gabriel said, and his hands were tightly balled into fists as he clenched the sheets of his bed, his voice now growing jaded, "Allo…please…I love him too. I wish to God that I could just give him up and not care about him anymore, but I can't. I wish to God that I could just say that it'll be better off for him if he never sees a battle, never learns how to fight and defend himself, never goes out with the other Misfits and experiences the things that makes all of us want to continue fighting. But I can't to that to Justin. I want him to grow for the better, not to endanger him. I've grown closer to him much more than I have been with Althea and the Triplets. You know I didn't want to take Justin away from you; I never would have meant that intentionally. And if I was in your place, I'd fight to get back my child too. But I never meant to cause you grief and steal Whitelighter's affections. I just wanted to help him control his powers as a way to thank him for saving my life and defending me in the desert."

"Whether you meant it or not, the fact is that the damage is already done," Allo said with cheated grief, his voice hoarse, "And now he's involved now with that Keyblade of his. And what hurts the most…is that you're winning. You know by Reptilion that it will be impossible for me to take him away now, not after all this. And I hate you for that…oh by Reptilion, now I know how Ryan felt when he resented Justin for coming into my life and having me adopting him."

Allo leaned back on the bed, so very tired and a gamut of emotions driving around his head. He was such a hypocrite at times.

There was a pause as Gabriel took this in. As insulted and offended as he was, he could understand Allo's unhappiness. Had their roles been reverse, Gabriel would have been just as miserable.

Then Blind Master wearily pressed his forehead against his palms and cradled his head. He realized now why he and Allo always loathed talking like this when it came to Justin. It was too painful. The Joe ninja then chose his next words carefully.

"He's now a part of the war with the Heartless, and I have a duty to help train him and be there for him in this as much as I can. And you know that Justin wouldn't want to let his friends and the world suffer if he has a chance to help it survive. You'd do the same thing if you could have saved your home planet."

Allo just sulkily looked at the floor, frowning. Damn that cripple for having a good point…

"But if anything…if it makes you feel any better…I would never take your place. Justin pretty much only calls you 'Dad' around here while I'm just his guardian and sensei. But that doesn't stop me from feeling that he's like a son to me. Allo, can you really say it's a bad thing for Justin if he just has more people who care about him?"

Allo's nostrils widened as he inhaled and exhaled, his mouth and jaw set grimly, and though he kept looking at the human next to him, Allo found that he couldn't say anything. The words were frozen in his throat.

He had never been this taken aback from the Joe ninja than he ever had been before since he met him so long ago in the desert. Blind Master had to swallow his pride at last before he said as calmly as he could (though he felt like choking).

"I would never hurt him, Allo, and I know you would rather die than do so as well. But if anything, I don't want to keep this up if it does hurt Whitelighter. Ask Justin what he wants when he wakes up, and if he wants to go back home to the Lavadome, I'll back off and give him my blessings. But…will you be willing to do the same for me then?" the ninja asked at last.

Allo just stared at Gabriel, lost, conflicted…and acquiescent.

---

The next morning, Allo and the Dinosaucers, despite Lifeline's insistence that he and Gabriel need to rest for a few days, left the Pit and went back to the Lavadome on their spaceships, with the Misfits and the Joes sending them off and saying good-bye.

And Justin did not go with them, watching Allo leave the army base as Blind Master held him close to his body with one arm, speaking volumes.

**Author's Notes: Before anyone asks, this actually happened in the first "Kingdom Hearts" game. Tinkerbell was the most popular summon, primarily because as long as you called her, she will stay out on the field and heal everyone in your party, and should you die, she will bring you back to life before leaving. Thus, she is a great partner to have around if you're in danger of losing health! And unfortunately, things will now go downhill from here. Unwilling to let this continue any longer, Blackheart comes to the Pit with a small army, and the cost of losing the war with the Heartless soon becomes real as everything comes crashing down on the Misfits. But that is nowhere in comparison to when Leomon shows up for the Misfits are about to discover a very unpleasant secret about their lion-friend? What will this mean? Check back next Friday in the chapter, "Reality Sets In", and until then, read and enjoy!**


	13. Reality Sets In

**CHAPTER 13: Reality Sets In**

Meanwhile, over at the headquarters of the Hellfire Club in London, in the lower levels of the Black Friar's Club building, the prestigious members of the Inner Circle and Organization Thirteen were calmly discussing the various turn of events, though it was clear that they were all greatly annoyed if not simmering in restrained anger.

"Gee, nice work, Vexen," drawled a snide and arrogantly smug Axel, crossing his arms over his lithe chest and bearing a wide smirk, "Now it turns out that all the Misfits have Keyblades and have been chosen to wield to magic from several of the Elementa Kingdoms. The only thing that definitely could have made this worse is having you join in on the fight when you infected the Dinosaucer and that Joe, so really, don't feel too bad about vamoosing when you had the chance. Not all of us can be effective fighters and can go through five minutes without getting our butts kicked."

The long-haired academic just coolly drew out his spiked shield of the deepest blue, saying in a clipped tone, "At least my experiments have gotten farther than any of the previous Hellfire Heartless, Axel. It was by far the strongest experiment we have sent yet against the Misfits and G.I. Joe, far more than the one you created with that sailor. And as for being an effective fighter, you seem to be forgetting, my misguided loud friend, that unlike you, my strengths come from my intelligence and scientific values. Of course, as your elder Organization member in both rank and importance, I daresay I am hardly scared of you."

"As much as I would enjoy seeing a fire versus ice battle…" drawled Selene, the Black Queen of the Inner Circle, in a sarcastic and annoyed tone at the flagrant testosterone, "We still have some problems considering that the dumb dog has now given each and every one of the Misfits powers, and now there are eleven Keyblades, if we can count each of those Delgado spawns separately, and a scepter that obviously was never foretold by the Oracle's Prophecy."

"And we're up to now two-hundred and forty-six failed experiments," grumbled Pierce as he sulked in his chair, "And let's face it, so far, those miserable little twerps and their insane army flat-liners have been able to succeed and get a lousy one-up over every single Heartless we've sent there to date."

"To be fair, at least, we now can see why exactly these mutant children are so troubling," grumbled the white-haired and beard-toting Luxord, shuffling his cards (now shrunk into a hand-held size) back and forth between his gloved fingers.

"But we should be grateful that the X-Men do not have Keyblades," chuckled Slade, his eye twinkling with eagerness at seeing how their hard plans would bear fruit, "And should our carefully laid out operations with Xavier and his precious kin take into effect, they never will to begin with."

"Good," nodded Saïx emotionlessly, his face pure, cold rock and his cat-like yellow eyes just remaining glazed orbs of emptiness, "The last thing we need are possible potential candidates who have stronger hearts. If anything, we should it consider a blessing that the Keyblades have gone to people of lesser importance and status for they are far easier targets to wipe out."

"Not yet, Saïx," shot down General Silver sternly, "Keep in mind of the real power of the Keyblade. The Misfits will still be useful to us for the Gathering to come during the Harvest."

Lord Imperial then spoke, growling a bit, as he stood and directed all eyes on his person as he stated, "It would be wise to not underestimate the forces that consist of the Keyblades. Though that canine does channel them and the magic of…him, the hound has no control on who the weapons go to. There is a reason why the Keyblades have chosen the Misfits over everyone else, of this, I am sure. However, we have excellent news from our spy in Cobra and from Cadmus: we may have perfected the Hellfire Heartless at last."

"Really?" the leader of the Thirteenth Order said with growing interest, "Then the time to test the true extent of the Misfits' limitations may come sooner than I have anticipated. I am thankful. And how go our plans for the Ghostbusters and the Justice League? And Cobra as well?"

Luthor's pose was self-assured and extremely and pompously confident, but no less dangerous.

"The pawns are in place, and Waller can easily do the dirty work for us, especially since she believes that no one else has any idea that she has recruited Zartan for help in having Cobra aid Hamilton in developing special Heartless for '_Project: Ultimen'_. Trust me, regardless of how many new recruits the Justice League will obtain, none of them will stand to this project. And Cadmus was able to provide Wolfram and Hart a very well-coordinated group to weaken Quentin Blud and his new recruits thanks to the information Mr. Peck has provided for us on each and every paranormal dunce who has chosen to side with those amateur annoyances. And of course…my influence as a potential candidate for future Presidency will gain us several advantages," Luthor chuckled.

"Do as you wish," the Superior said, "I have made it clear that you can use Cadmus for whatever gains necessary and to your heart's content. Just be careful; Cadmus may indeed turn on you and the Inner Circle should the wrong people find out."

"They won't," Eddington chuckled, "The few Jugglers on our side will make sure of this."

"Excellent," the Superior said, pleased as he rubbed his chin underneath the shade of his hood before he turned to Blackheart, the demon servant of the Organization and recently crowned Black Knight of the Hellfire Club, ordering, "Blackheart, now is the time for you to truly put your powers to their fullest extent. We have already prepared you for this, so you know what to do…"

"**_How long I have waited to hear that, my Liege…_**" Blackheart said, his eyes now happily glowing with the purest tone of crimson, like freshly spilled blood.

---

It was late morning when General Hawk and Sergeant Slaughter walked over to the Misfit Manor, a bit irritated as they both strode. Normally, Sergeant Slaughter rarely visited the Pit unless for special reasons, and unfortunately, with the Heartless and the Organization crisis getting worse and worse, Hawk felt that Slaughter would be able to work best in helping to plan fortifying the defenses of the Pit. Thus, that was why the drill sergeant along with his Renegades, Mercer, Red Dog, and Taurus, were here instead of being at the clandestine Slaughterhouse base in their secret canyon. Sergeant Slaughter and Hawk initially thought that they along with the Misfits and their handlers to strategize ways to help manage the Heartless threat should they become worldwide (which would certainly be an eventuality). Since all the Keybladers would need to be in a group to handle any victim whose heart was infected by the Hellfire Heartless, the Epsilon Juggler thought it would be beneficial for everyone if they could brief and try to anticipate how the Organization Thirteen would use future attacks to weaken them and their allies.

It would be a valuable briefing for all of them.

Unfortunately, that was what he thought. The Joes in charge of the Misfits showed up for the meeting, but none of the Misfits, not even Althea, came. And from what General Hawk learned from the handlers, the Misfits were beginning to grow lax in their studies and training as well, growing a little more casual and overconfident than they all liked for comfort.

This was enough to make General Hawk extremely worried if not incredibly angry and offended at being dismissed and brushed off. Blows to his pride (some of the time), he could tolerate, but dismissing off obligations and duties of the army was another thing altogether.

Which was exactly why both he and Sergeant Slaughter were stomping their way to the mutants' home, furiously intent on getting their answer and setting the mutants straight.

"Damn, stubborn, obnoxious kids," muttered Slaughter, his moustache twitching with annoyance underneath the shade of his ranger's hat, "Give them a few gifts and a few successful missions, and they think that they're God's gift to the world and the special solution to every problem out there. Just wait 'til I get my hands on 'em…"

"I should have expected this," Hawk said with simmering disappointment, "Despite them being army Misfits, they're still teenagers. And at that stage, they're all eager to find ways to have fun and think that they know everything better than their elders. What bothers me is that if the Misfits do this, then they risk endangering themselves and others in the process, especially since the Hellfire Club and the Organization would definitely try to exploit this as a weakness."

Hawk paused for several moments before then sighing, "They're good kids and the best we could ever hope for. It's just that they can make mistakes."

"The problem is that we can't afford to make any mistakes in this war, especially since this could affect all of us in a blink of an eye," growled Slaughter.

They entered the suburban manor to see Althea and Todd going over plans for their wedding, the entire room strewn with papers and notes and registration order forms and invoices for various businesses and people for the entertainment, band, catering, flowers, and other necessities.

"Hi General, hey Sergeant Slaughter," Althea said, looking up in surprise.

Sergeant Slaughter wasn't the least bit cordial as he practically roared, "Just why the hell aren't you and the other Misfits with us? You're supposed to be attending a meeting with the other Joes to figure out how to prepare for the Heartless!"

"But we've had meetings for the past week, yo," protested Todd, blinking, as he looked up from tuxedo designs, "And all four of them took the whole day where we're still trying to figure out what's new and stuff. We thought we could use a break, especially since the Heartless haven't been attackin' us."

"And we're having one today, so what's your point, Private?" General Hawk growled coldly and unsympathetically before he barked, "And where are the other Misfits? They should have come at least!"

"Actually, I gave them the day off from training. I told them that it would be all right if we had one day off to ourselves…and frankly, we all agreed that we could use it," Althea said nonchalantly, which actually made Hawk and Slaughter even more annoyed.

"**WHAT?**" they both chorused in a hard and irritated pair of voices. Althea sighed as she set down the order forms for more chairs and white canopies for the wedding ceremony before she turned to the two of them, explaining herself.

"General Hawk, Sergeant Slaughter…please, we don't mean any disrespect. But we all felt that we could use a break, especially since this past week, the pressure's been getting to all of us, and we're still grounded at the Pit. We just want to blow off some steam, and we're just tired for some fun and rest, that's all. It's just one meeting, and as leader of the Misfits, I felt it would be best for the group if we could all…just have a day to not worry about the Heartless."

"We're not being insubcoordinate…uh, insub-…insab-…uh - " Todd tried to articulate, but kept stumbling on the word, and Hawk provided it with a stern glower and a feral growl.

"Insubordinate?"

"Yeah, yo," Todd nodded, "We're not being that, but we just felt it wouldn't hurt if we all took a break, especially since we know have Keyblades and magic and can pretty much handle everything the Hellfire club throws at us. I mean, look at how we managed to defeat each and every Heartless, yo! We smoked 'em! The Organization Thirteen guys can't think they'd be able to hurt us now that we all have Keyblades and Al's staff, yo!"

"That's no excuse! It's disrespectful to us and the other Joes who are fighting on the front lines with you! And where the hell are your other teammates?" barked Slaughter.

"Pietro took off with the Mass Device to go relax in Paris with Wanda keeping him company to make sure that he doesn't get in over his head," Althea said, ticking each Misfit off her fingers as a way to keep track, "The Triplets were up in their laboratory playing mad scientist before they got bored and decided to visit Jamie at the X-Mansion for some pranking and 'kissy-time'. Fred and Lina are actually over at the cafeteria trying to cook an experimental recipe in the kitchen as well as some time alone. Xi went to go visit Storm Shadow over at his dojo in Japan, and Lance and Justin are playing a _Halo_ marathon in the Pit's rec room."

"Well, I'm glad to see where your priorities lie, _Private Wavedancer_," rumbled Hawk, his temper threatening to get the better of him, putting extra emphasis on the last two words, "And need I remind you that when it comes to matters with the Heartless, **_I_** ultimately decide what can go in the Misfits and the Joes. And don't even get me started at how this sudden recent turn of victories is causing you to not take your training seriously enough!"

Althea then showed the fatigue on his face as she placed a hand on her temple. She hated arguing especially with General Hawk, but this was starting to become unbearable and even their parents have lectured them time and time again that it was never good to train twenty-four hours, seven days a week. What was simply wrong having a day for life? Or taking it a bit easy since the Organization obviously couldn't match up to them?

Todd then voiced his words, trying to placate the two superior officers as he slightly complained, "General Hawk, Sergeant Slaughter, we ain't trying to slack off or nothin'! We just want to take a break, and we can handle anything the Organization's gonna throw at us! It's pretty much the same. A Joe gets infected, we weaken it with magic, Al heals the dude with her staff thingy, and the poor sap from the Organization is sent packing!"

"Situations like this are never definite, Toad, so shut it!" Sergeant Slaughter barked, making Toad flinch a bit. Hawk was just growing more and more disappointed. It was as if the Keyblades and magic didn't even make the fight worth it if this kind of casual overconfidence is what resulted of having them.

Althea then voiced her growing and disenchanted dissent, saying, "General Hawk, it's just one meeting for today, and it's not any different from the other meetings we've gone over day in and day out. And even if we won't be able to handle it, we can always depend on our allies from the League and the Slayers and the Titans to help us out too, like they did once in Jump City. We can handle this, General, and we simply felt that it wouldn't be good to be excessive considering we're all suffering a bit from cabin fever."

It was then that the explosions rang from the Pit followed by the unmistakable sounds of gunfire, discharged rocket launchers, and black lightning that is one of the few trademark attacks of a specific breed of Hellfire Heartless.

"You were saying?" growled Slaughter as he, Hawk, Althea, and Toad rushed out, contacting as many of they could through their communicators, hoping that Pietro and Wanda and Xi could hear them as teleport back to the Pit as speedily as they could. But then again, even though this was a case of the worse possible timing, they could surely handle it.

Back at the Pit, Blackheart was biding his time until the Misfits showed up as he struck with his magic at the number of Joes trying to drive him away with their firearms.

"**_Judgment Day!_**" Blackheart commanded, and all at once, thousands upon thousands of miniature pink and green creeplings, all of them with demonic faces and beady eyes, swarmed throughout the army base, overwhelming each and every one of the Joes as they struck back with their weapons and their fists and martial skills. Though surrounded, the warriors of G.I. Joe could not be easily defeated.

"Drive them back! Drive them back!" roared Beach Head as he let loose with his twin Uzis, managing to hack a small gaggle of demons before they could incapacitate him. Roaring as one, the army soldiers clashed with the miniature hellspawn. Snake Eyes and Jinx, the Joe ninjas, had enough as they leapt at Blackheart with swords ready, but Blackheart became intrigued as he batted Jinx away with a mere brush of his hand. Snake Eyes didn't make a sound (not that he could) as Blackheart managed to hold him in place, suspended in the air, with his magic as the Black Knight then materialized a Heartless spore out of thin air with his other hand.

Blackheart pressed the small seed into the ninja's chest as he said, "**_You shall do quite nicely…_**"

"No!" Jinx yelled as Althea and her group arrived with Fred, Lina, Lance, and Justin coming in from another part of the field, and all of them witnessed Snake Eyes barely making a sound of hurt as he then transformed into a Heartless before their very eyes. He actually transformed into a giant, green snake, growing to the height of a two-story house, bearing its trademark black goggles and displaying a wicked fanged mouth full of teeth. And yet, it was clearly not an ordinary giant snake for like an octopus, it bore ten human-like yet scaled arms, powerfully muscled, and each carrying a wicked Japanese katana with the hilt displaying the Heartless symbol on each handle artistically. With that, the snake-swordsman then slithered towards the Joes, intent on kill them all.

"**_His Heartless should be able to keep the rest of G.I. Joe busy while you Misfits are fated to face me_**," Blackheart chuckled.

"But you can't match up against all of us, Blackheart!" snarled Xi as he, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Mushu, and Bambi charged in, managing to arrive to Toad and Wavedancer's side in the nick of time. But Blackheart just triumphantly narrowed his eyes gleefully, as if gloating as he snapped his fingered claws.

"**_You young fools_**," he chuckled, "**_Did you honestly think I came here alone?_**"

With that, thirty Hellfire Heartless, the exact same ones that attacked San Francisco, reappeared on the army base with a flash of black smoke and haze before they all roared and set themselves on anything they could, building and human alike.

"Shoot!" cursed Althea as she yelled over her communicators to the other Misfits, "Spread out! Take out as many of the Hellfire Heartless as you can! Don't let them get close to the Joes, and remember: no mutant powers! **_Move, move, move!_**"

"Stopra Time Freeze!" yelled the Delgado Triplets as one, and though a blanket of pink-colored aura, generated from the ancient Sands of Time, managed to blanket a good portion of the enemy wave, it still left a little over twenty Heartless free to charge. Apparently, Daria, Quinn, and Brittany were not _that_ powerful yet, and they had already used up most of their allotted energy levels.

As one, all the Misfits obeyed while Toad, Xi, and Wavedancer charged as a trio after the Heartless that was once Snake Eyes.

"Thundaga Blitzclap Pressure!" yelled Toad, summoning a huge force of lightning.

"Woodra Leafblight Revolution!" yelled Xi, summoning the crown of leaves to appear on his head, and Snake Eyes roared as he was besieged by a plethora of crackling, glowing leaves, managing to take out a good portion of his arms, leaving many charred and bleeding stumps.

"Trinity, is he weak yet?" Xi gasped on his communicator.

Daria weakly gulped as she then admitted, "Uh…heh, heh…we don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know, yo?" yelled Toad in outrage, "What the heck do your scanners say?"

"Uh…well, that's the funny thing. You see, earlier in the week, we kinda…took apart our scanners to see what exact changes did the Weird-Voice-From-Nowhere did to them, and…we didn't get around to putting them back together."

To say Xi, Toad, and Wavedancer were outraged was insufficient to say the least.

"YOU TOOK APART YOUR SCANNERS?" they all roared in disbelief.

"Hey, we were bored! We didn't know we'd need them this fast!" protested Quinn in defense.

"I'll have to chance it!" yelled Althea as she pointed her staff at Snake Eyes, "Destiny - AGH!"

The mutant female ninja-in-training gasped as a shaft of black lightning struck her hand, leaving it chaffed and bleeding, as her weapon flew out of her fingers and landed on the floor while Blackheart smirked in the distance, pleased. Wavedancer made a rush for the rod, but with a wave of his hand, the scepter was covered with a hemisphere of black, painful and noxious energy, swirling all around it and blocking Wavedancer's hand.

Althea cursed; she was now weaponless and it was the only thing that could help Snake Eyes.

"**_Did you honestly think I would make it that simple for you, little girl?_**" Blackheart sneered, advancing towards the three Misfits, not giving them a whole lot of time for Toad or Xi to try to unlock the barrier and free Althea's scepter.

"Give me strength! Genie, yo, let him have it!" Toad yelled as his Keyblade shook madly before the blue-skinned, black goateed spirit immediately emerged with a flourish of blue and pink smoke before he then zapped a rather stoic Blackheart with everything he had.

"Yaah! Hah! Wow! And a _ring-ding-a-ling_! Watch out, cause this one's gonna leave a mark!" Genie cried out as a multitude of painful and energetic streams of sparkling energy and various elements struck out at the black demon from all directions, peppering him with a multitude of havoc-inducing spells that burned, hissed, and rammed madly into the servant with the same strength as if one were struck with full force by a runaway semi truck.

Yet to Genie's horror, as the smoke subsided, Toad and Wavedancer and the others saw that the monstrosity before them remained unharmed and even still standing, not even budging an inch from his initial position. Genie blinked as he then opened his mouth, dropping his jaw.

"Uh-oh…" the Summon muttered, and that was indeed a gross understatement as Blackheart returned the act.

"**_Inferno!_**" commanded Blackheart as he raised a claw at the blue djinn in front of him.

KAAAA-SSSHHOOOOOOMMM! Toad, Wavedancer, and Xi all ducked as Genie went flying over their heads and sailing past the horizon only to crash, back-first, into the first mountain that managed to cease his momentum.

WHAM!

"Ow…good serve…" Genie remarked despite every fiber of his body being in complete agony as he slid back limply against the charred rack wall, his entire body magically showing red barn marks from where the ice magic touched him.

"You creep!" yelled Lance as he charged on Simba's back, the lion and the geokinetic rushing forward like a knight on his steed as the Disney Summon pounced, aiming directly at Blackheart's chest while Lance swung his Steel Quartz Keyblade as hard as he could. By all rights, it should have connected with the demon's skull, but Blackheart simply used his magic to narrowly evade and antagonize the pitiful pair.

"**_You missed, earth-shaker…_**" he intoned, as if bored, and Simba immediately did an impressive turnabout before he and Lance tried blitzing and charging the enemy over four times, swinging wildly with claws and Keyblade alike. Granted, no ordinary foe would have been able to escape such strikes, and even swift-pressed warriors such as Wolverine and Flash would have seen a little worry.

Blackheart however was not proving to be an ordinary foe who would just stand still and allow himself to be an easy target as he, despite his gargantuan size, managed to avoid being decapitated and quartered by the brown Keyblade of the Misfits by phasing his body into an unstable state and causing himself to be ghostly, as the weapon miraculously passed through his form like trying to cut through smoke.

"**_Just because you children have Keyblades and magic does not mean that you all know how to use them_**," Blackheart sneered as he then pushed out with his hands at his two weakling opponents. Simba and Avalanche went hurtling backwards, screaming, as Blackheart sent them both flying with his dark thunder attack before they crashed against the sides of a wooden shed, splintering it upon their combined impact.

And indeed, Blackheart spoke the truth. All throughout the Pit, the Misfits and the Joes were truly in a bind as they clearly displayed that the pressure of trying to fight Blackheart, protect each other from the various attacks from the other Hellfire Heartless and Blackheart's goblin demons, and trying to weaken Snake Eyes back to normal was indeed too much to handle.

And the Misfits hadn't trained long and dutifully enough with their magic and the Keyblades in order to effectively handle this situation, making the problems grow worse and worse with each passing second.

"There's too many!" yelled Dusty as he, Law, Gung Ho, and Quick Kick did their best to keep the endless armies of Blackheart's miniature demonic servants and imps from overwhelming them all with a combination of martial punches and various weapons. Then, to their bad luck, one stray Hellfire Heartless lunged and grabbed Quick Kick within its claws, and the Japanese martial artist howled in pain as he was engulfed with a strange crimson illumination all throughout his body, wisps of dark electricity crackling and streaming over his skin.

"Let him go, bastard!" roared Gung Ho as he and Law let loose with their laser rifles while Dusty went full out with his heavy-duty machine gun, taking care to not hit their comrade, but the Heartless then let out a triumphant growl of gleeful euphoria as Quick Kick's body began to disintegrate, fading away.

"**_NO!_**" yelled Law and Dusty as Gung Ho's face went white, blanching and stricken with loss. Quick Kick just gurgled and gave his three friends a look of remorse that he couldn't stay with them as he vanished, no trace of his body left, and all that remained was a pink heart-shaped crystal, glowing and levitating softly on its own will before it rose to the air.

"Come back! No, get back here, soldier!" Gung Ho roared, unable to do anything else, and with that, Quick Kick's heart vanished with a small noise and flash, the energy heading to unknown destinations not of this world and snuffed out completely.

And they weren't the only ones. Fred was busy trying to fight three Hellfire Heartless at once, using his Ars Arcanum specialty move when a fourth monster tried to ensnare him from behind, stretching its arms like rubber or silly putty. Blob managed to narrowly avoid it, but to his horror, the hands of the fiend went past him and struck an unsuspecting Ace in the back.

"No!" roared Blob as he brought his Heavyweight Keyblade hard on the experiment's limbs, severing them, but with a final yell, the brave Joe just went limp as his body disappeared and his heart flew upwards.

"I got it!" Dragonfly cried as she tried to make a snatch for it, only to get knocked down by Falco who grabbed the heart himself and glided softly to a small stop on top of a building, leaving the female medic-in-training to plummet down from the sky until Quicksilver managed to zoom underneath and grab his teammate.

"Damn it!" cursed Falco as he finished scanning the heart, seeing that it wasn't a Talisman.

"Give it back you creep!" the Delgado Triplets yelled as they blitzed him with their Keyblades, conveniently forgetting that they main attention should have been destroying the other Hellfire Heartless before they could hurt the other Joes. Falco just didn't bother fighting as he tossed the heart back at Trinity, and at first, the sisters were relieved. But then to their horror, the heart vanished from their hands before they could do anything. Now Ace was lost. Apparently, the hearts that came out when Althea used her scepter were not the same as the hearts that were taken directly from actual Heartless. There never had been a time limit before on the crystals before they perished. And it was that distraction that cost a few more Joes their hearts.

"Watch out, you lamebrain!" Wet Suit yelled as he then did a noble act and pushed Leatherneck out of the way of a path of dark lightning, but unfortunately, having it strike him instead, and he collapsed to the ground, twitching, his body starting to fade.

Leatherneck was horrified as he cursed, shaking, "You idiot! Get up! I thought SEALS could take a hit or two! You can beat this! C'mon, I'll take you to the infirmary!"

Wet Suit just smiled as his body faded and his heart left him, chuckling despite the pain, "Damn. It figures the **one** time you admit us SEALS are better than the Marines…"

Leatherneck was then left holding nothing but empty air, his fingers twitching and his body shaking, as his friend vanished, his heart disappearing out of his body.

"_Fire Crimson Whirlwind!_"

Scarlet Witch already incinerated a few of the monsters before she saw one in the distance rushing towards Bree and Lifeline as they tended to a wounded Snow Job. And unluckily, she already used up all strength with her last magical attack.

"Watch out!" gasped Scarlet Witch at Lifeline and Bree, and realizing what was about to happen and that there was no way to get the injured Snow Job out of the way in time, Lifeline did his last honorable act.

Lifeline threw himself in the path of the Heartless' claws, having it strike him rather than Bree and Snow Job.

"NO!" Scarlet Witch, Lifeline, and Snow Job all cried out in dread. The gentle Edwin just gave Bree a loving look of no regret as he smiled, despite the pain, before his body disintegrated and the crystallized orb of his heart flew upwards to the heavens before vanishing in thin air with a faint gleam.

Meanwhile, on another part of the field, Whitelighter was trying his best to slice into a Hellfire Heartless with his Keyblade, but to his horror, he wasn't proficient enough to aim correctly, and instead of connecting with the Heartless' flesh, it fell short by a few inches, and roaring, the Heartless made a lunge at him.

"Yikes!" Whitelighter yelped as he orbed out of its path, but to his horror, it struck the Joe Taurus instead. Whitelighter just wailed quietly to himself as Sergeant Slaughter, Mercer, and Red Dog watched their fellow Renegade die in front of their very eyes.

"Oh by Reptilion, I didn't mean to, I didn't mean to, I didn't mean to…" blubbered Justin over and over as a recovered Lance managed to save them all with his earth magic while Simba did his best to destroy two other Heartless with his Proud Roar attack.

"AAAA!" Lady Jaye screamed as she fell, caught fully in the abdomen as a Hellfire Heartless seized hold of her and started to drain her, sapping away everything it could and killing her slowly and excruciatingly.

"NO!" yelled Flint as he rushed with his machine gun, only to get pinned down by another two Heartless, but thankfully (or not), Whitelighter heard the yell and used his magic to destroy the monsters before they could kill Flint. Unfortunately, it was too late for Lady Jaye as she shot Flint a final look and managed to gasp out, despite her agony.

"Dash…" she whispered before her heart was taken away, and the Joe soldier fell to his knees, clutching his temples tightly in unbearable loss, weeping, as his wife died and left him.

"Bambi, help them out!" Xi roared, and at once, the little deer fawn ran as speedily as he could, dropping mana balls in his wake for the other Misfits to replenish their energy in order to continuously cast spells. Alas, that one second Xi took allowed the mindless zombie once Snake Eyes to continue its rampage.

The ninja-snake Heartless then managed to cease its attack as it then rushed for a prime target, which unfortunately happened to be General Hawk himself, and despite firing with his Berretta pistol, the bullets didn't slow down the ogre in the slightest before Blackheart's Hellfire Heartless pinned down the General forcefully against the ground with one of its remaining claws. With another arm, the creature of darkness raised another one of its swords, ready to stab and kill Hawk where he was pinned down, and Scarlett and Duke, no matter how many bullets they used, knew they were both powerless to stop it.

"NO!" screamed Todd and Xi as they did the only thing they could as they took a flying leap towards the back of the creature, and because Snake Eyes no longer had most of its arms and was too intent on trying to obtain General Hawk's heart, it didn't see the two Misfits coming until it was too late.

Toad and Xi both brought the Amphibionian and the Rainforest Scale as hard as they could across Snake Eyes head and back, cleaving through the monster's back like wet paper.

THWACK!

The indomitable grip around Hawk went lax, allowing Duke to carefully drag the bruised and aching Joe leader from the limp hand as the Heartless snake then limply arched its back, tossed its head to the sky, and shuddered a dying breath. Its skull split in two and a great, lethal diagonal gash across its back, hacked crudely down to its spine, was bleeding profusely. And the creature once the Joe ninja had its heart crystal leave out of its body before…it started to disintegrate and fade away.

"No! Bring Snake Eyes back!" roared Duke, horrified.

Xi was whimpering as he shook his head, not knowing what to do, as he confessed, "We…we don't know how! We thought the Keyblades would free Snake Eyes from the Heartless pods like Wavedancer's staff! He's disappearing!"

And with that, the monster died, vanishing into the void, leaving nothing more that Snake Eyes' spiritualized manifestation of his heart, glowing serenely in the air without a body to return back to. Snake Eyes was gone along with the other Joes. Toad and Xi made a grave mistake; the Keyblades didn't work the same way as Althea's scepter. The Keyblades just killed the Heartless rather than reverting them.

Xi just stood there, frozen and trembling, while Toad just sank to his knees and cried openly, burying his face in his hands and horrified at when he did. General Hawk was just plain at a loss of words from slight grief as Duke helped his leader up from his sprawled position on the floor. Thankfully, Scarlett then knelt next to Todd and hugged him, though she was crying as well.

"Shhh, shhh…" Scarlett tried to say, "It's all right, Todd, it's all right. Snake Eyes wouldn't have wanted to kill General Hawk. He would have wanted you to stop him. It's all right, it's all right. You did what you had to do. He would have forgiven you, Todd. It's all right."

Meanwhile, Wavedancer was doing her best to escape Blackheart's attempts to snare her as she kept using her ninja-training tactics and a plethora of flying blades and ninja-stars to distract Blackheart as he kept trying to personally seize her. And without her staff, she was pretty much defenseless.

Althea then managed to get a good distance in between her and her opponent as she then cried out, pointing a glowing finger at the demon of the Organization, "Aquara - !"

But to her surprise, Blackheart came out of nowhere (he really was faster than he let on, almost as evasive and swift as Quicksilver) and cruelly grabbed the girl around her neck, his fingers tightening around her throat and choking her. Althea left her incantation and summoning of her element unfinished as she struggled and kicked, her vision already starting to blur as she could scarcely breathe.

"**_It seems you are not as proficient as using the magic of the Elementa Kingdoms as much as you first thought, little one_**," Blackheart sneered as he lifted Wavedancer in their air, her feet dangling and threatening to snap her head off her shoulders, "**_And yet you would make a strong Heartless for the Order…_**"

"GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!" roared Shipwreck as he rushed in, Desert Eagles blazing, and Blackheart just aimed one finger at the Joe sailor, bringing the bearded man to his knees as he was engulfed in a red light.

"No…" Althea managed to gasp as she vainly tried to break loose out of Blackheart's grip, but Blackheart was then stunned as several seconds passed, and yet Shipwreck's heart did not leave his body. No matter how long and hard the demon tried, Shipwreck's heart was undetectable, even unobtainable.

He couldn't get that particular Joe's heart.

"**_Impossible…_**" Blackheart muttered right before Genie managed to snatch Shipwreck away before the Black Knight could kill him, with Genie knowing that although he wouldn't be a match against Blackheart magic-wise, at least he could keep Toad's friends and family safe. Blackheart then turned his attention to his slowly weakening prey, having her life strangled out of her.

"**_I highly doubt your heart is immune to my whims like your beggar father, wench_**," he droned as his eyes began to gleam.

But before Blackheart could deliver the final blow, a familiar voice rang out throughout the entire Pit as multiple streams of ember-yellow colored _ki_ energy rained down, each and every one of them in the shape of a roaring lion's head as they struck the numerous Hellfire Heartless and headed towards Blackheart.

"**_GAIA HUNDRED KING FIST!_**"

With a collective unison of agonized howls, each and every one of the Hellfire Heartless were ripped asunder by the numerous streams of earth elemental magic before they could further assault and harm the Joes. And Blackheart's miniature ogres died under the extreme energy as well.

"_Whoa! _What the hell?" blurted out Slipstream, the soldier still nervously holding his machine gun and still shaken from being literally inches away from certain death.

Cross Country held his bleeding and burned right side as he said with extreme relief, "I reckon we just got saved by a familiar puddy-tat…"

"It's Leomon!" cheered Lance, weary but now incredibly heartened and encouraged.

Blackheart didn't seem the least bit scared as he failed to even release his hold around Wavedancer's neck as he used his free arm to summon a blue-energy rune of dark magic and had it materialize in front of him at the last second.

"**_Heart of Darkness!_**" Blackheart commanded, and instantly, a pillar of light erupted in front, shielding both he and Wavedancer as the multitude of flying Beast King attacks struck his position with full intensity, invoking a backlash of opposing forces and pressure all around them. Blackheart's eyes narrowed a bit in worry; even with the gifts blessed to him by the Organization, this was a difficult foe. The black-skinned demon even faltered backwards a bit by several inches, distracted as he held off Leomon's attack. Which served its purpose as Leomon rushed in with his sword from Blackheart's blind spot at those vital seconds, deciding his priority was saving Althea…

**_Slash!_**

Blackheart didn't scream, didn't even twitch in pain as Leomon skidded to a safe distance away from the Organization's Black Knight, cradling a bruised and sore Wavedancer in the crook of one arm while holding out his bronze, hilt-less sword in the other defensively. Blackheart just looked at the severed stump of where his arm used to be, now cleaved from the elbow down and the decapitated appendage lying in a growing puddle of black blood on the ground. Blackheart just inwardly smiled as the Heartless insignia began to glow on his chest, and miraculously, the arm on the ground vanished in a plume of black aura before his severed arm completely healed and grew back, as good as new and with no indication that the lion had wounded him previously.

Leomon didn't bother looking at the other Joes as he hurriedly set down a shaken Wavedancer to the ground as held his sword aloft, ready to use it but one could tell that Leomon was panting heavily, his eyes weary and his posture ridden with fatigue. Althea then guessed that the last attack drained Leomon a good deal in order for him to execute it. Blackheart chuckled.

"**_You used most of your energy and strength for that one gamble to delay the inevitable_**," the demon droned, "**_How foolish…_**"

"But we didn't!" Octavia yelled in Leomon's defense as they both struck, "Aquara Tigershark Tsunami!"

"Aeroga Shadow Phantasm!" yelled Falco as he rushed forward, a silvery blur of unadulterated and harsh, cutting winds of clear air, literally causing a miniature sonic boom as he sped towards the demon. Thinking quickly, Blackheart vanished before the water and wind magic of the Aquara and Aeroga Kingdoms could strike him. Blackheart reappeared in the air before he issued his last words.

"**_Another time…_**" he muttered as he vanished, knowing that at least for know, the Inner Circle had managed to deliver a particularly nasty blow on the Joes, one that they may never recover from.

Wavedancer then turned to the spot where Blackheart had cast the spell to shield and isolate her from her staff; the black orb of darkness was still encasing her weapon in an unbreakable prison. Leomon then turned to the hydrokinetic.

"Will for it," he growled softly.

"What?" Althea repeated, still shaken at what had just happened. The Digimon looked at Wavedancer with pity and a bit of sympathy before he ruefully explained again, despite his annoyance.

"Will for your staff to appear to you," the lion swordsman explained, "If it listens to your heart, then like all enchantments, if you wish for it to come to you, it will. You need to learn this now should you ever find your staff forcibly separated from your possession in the future, kid."

Wavedancer gave Leomon a lost look before she then numbly held out a hand and prayed with all her might, repeating over and over for the staff to come, to listen and come back to her. To her surprise, with a flash a white, the scepter disappeared out of the sphere and reappeared back into her palm, sending a surge of warmth into her body. Althea was ashamed; she didn't know why she hadn't thought of that sooner.

The Cornerian pilot and the Tigershark then spotted a few heart crystals, including Snake Eyes, still left all over the field.

"The hearts!" Octavia gasped as she and Falco made a beeline for them, but to their surprise, Leomon blocked their path, drawing out his sword with a guarded yet remorseful look on his furrowed face, a conflicting array of anger and sadness. But he had to do this.

Falco and Octavia were bewildered and stunned to say the least. What was going on?

"Leomon?" the female Tigershark gasped, confused and not knowing what to make of this.

Falco then chuckled uneasily, thinking that Leomon was joking, his face for once displaying a softened side of ease, not like his usual assy-demeanor. At first Althea was confused, but little did she realize that Falco held Leomon to a closer standard of trust that he normally did with most people.

And that was going to make it all the more difficult.

"C'mon, Leomon, this isn't funny," Falco tried to say in a casual manner. Leomon didn't budge, so Falco tried again.

"Leomon, you injured your head or something? It's the Misfits and the Joes you're supposed to be attacking, not us. We need to check those hearts if they're Talismans, so help us out here."

"They're not Talismans," Leomon said stonily, trying his best to keep the emotion out of his stern growl, "And I don't care if one of them is. You're not taking any of the Joes' hearts. Falco, Octavia…this has gone far enough. You won't hurt them anymore. I'm sorry."

The ground crumpled beneath Falco and Octavia as Leomon's true meaning just hit them, the shock literally causing their eyes to glaze and their faces to freeze. Behind them, Snake Eyes' heart faded, vanishing into thin air, no longer finding its original soul and body to return to. The Misfits and the Joes watching this were confused.

"Do any of your guys understand what's going on?" blinked Xi.

"No…" Scarlet Witch breathed, shaking her head.

Low Light narrowed his eyes as he then said his suspicion, "Something tells me that Leomon knows these two jokers."

Octavia then managed to find her voice as her breath shook with small sobs, unwilling to believe it, as she asked for clarification, her eyes wide and her body trembling.

"You're…siding with them? You're choosing the Misfits? Over us? Leomon…no…"

Leomon had a hint of grief on his face as he repeated, "Octavia, Falco, I'm sorry. But I can't let you hurt them."

Falco just stared long and hard, his eyes wide and horrified, his lower beak left open, his wings twitching.

"But…but what about us?" Octavia asked, eyes purple eyes now starting to well up and dribble, "Leomon, we've fought alongside each other! It means nothing? We've lost our families, our friends! The Talismans are the only way to help them, help him! Leomon, please, think straight!"

Leomon couldn't tell them. He couldn't let them know, especially with the Misfits and the soldiers of G.I. Joe awkwardly yet intently listening on. Falco then let out the closest thing he could ever come to close to begging.

"Leomon…please…don't do this to us, to **him**…" the avian stammered, starting to lose his cockiness and only to replace it with hurt.

"Falco, Octavia…I've made my choice. I can't do this to the Misfits and the other heroes of this world. We can still fight the Heartless without sacrificing anyone. I don't want to do this…but my heart tells me that we can't hurt them like this. I can't kill anyone…" the lion said.

"No…" Falco said.

"How can you do this to us?" cried Octavia, her eyes streaming as she screamed at the lion, "**_How can you do this to us?_** After everything we swore we would do to repay him back? After he's been so good to us? How can you just turn away and forget how everything was destroyed by the Heartless, that all our friends and families died by the Organization?"

"I'm sorry," Leomon said, his claws gripping the sword handle tightly and wishing he could just tell them, his arm shaking, "I am your friend, but I can't do this. I can't let this go on, even if it means you two. Please…just trust me, this isn't right! He wouldn't have asked you to do this!"

"You…traitor," hissed Falco at last, so furious that his eyes were shining with rage, glazed even, as spittle shot out of his mouth, "You traitor!"

"Friends?" gasped Quinn.

"Leomon is friends with them? With Falco and Octavia?" Brittany blurted out, her mouth dropping open.

"Leomon, you **_know_** them?" Avalanche queried, "Why didn't you tell us?"

Falco, in his grief and his want to just lash out at Leomon, then had a very evil idea of retaliation come into his head as he recalled that the Joes and the Misfits had no idea of Leomon's true purpose on Earth. And though vindictive, Falco knew it would be the best way to stick it to his now former ally and comrade.

"What's the matter, you furry bastard?" drawled Falco snidely, "Oh yeah, that's right. Your precious, _newer_ friends have no idea of the real reason why you're here and why you're involved with the Heartless and with the heroes, do they? You never told them."

Leomon realized, to his growing horror, what was coming, and his eyes widened slightly as he inhaled sharply, but he knew that it was inevitable. Still, he couldn't brace himself for it, his dread rising. The other Joes and Misfits looked back from Falco and Octavia to Leomon, confused and now suspicious. Even Lance looked wary.

"Leomon, what's going on? What does Falco mean?" Cover Girl asked calmly. Octavia angrily wiped the tears from her face as she turned to the soldiers and the mutants after giving Leomon a cold look, her purple eyes like ice chips.

"Leomon isn't your ally," she intoned in a flat voice, dropping the bombshell, "He never was to begin with. Leomon is really one of us. He works with Falco and I. He was helping us in our mission to find the Talismans."

There was a stunned silence, everyone blanching and their eyes turning glassy with shock.

"What?" whispered Avalanche, his mouth agape and a cold feeling of betrayal and hurt settling in his gut. No, it couldn't be true. It couldn't!

Quicksilver took a different approach as he automatically rounded on Lance, as if this comment had been on his mind as he bellowed at the top of his lungs angrily.

"WE TOLD YOU SO! WE TOLD YOU! WE TOLD YOU, WE TOLD YOU, **WE TOLD YOU! **BUT _NOOOOO_, MR. 'NUMBER ONE MEMBER OF THE LEOMON FAN-CLUB', YOU COULDN'T SEE REASON EVEN IF IT WAS AN INCH OF YOUR FACE! GOD, I'M ACTUALLY GLAD SUMMERS WAS RIGHT IN THIS, AND YOU **_KNOW_** THAT'S NOT SOMETHING I'LL ADMIT FREELY! WE TOLD YOU SO! **_WE TOLD YOU, TOLD YOU, TOLD YOU!_**"

The surprising thing was that everyone was so taken aback and starting to get incredibly mad at Falco's revelation that no one, not even Wanda, was in the mood to tell Pietro to be quiet. Falco was now wholeheartedly enjoying the hole Leomon dug himself into, and the looks of betrayed, unpleasant astonishment on the Joes and mutants' faces was nothing short of priceless.

Falco let loose a bitter laugh as he announced, "Don't you idiots get it? The real reason Leomon didn't come to help you was because he's as interested in finding the Talismans as we are. He's actively searching for the hearts that contain them so that he can find the Sovereign and Champion of Twilight. He was sticking close to you chumps so that he could have a better idea of which of the three people he's met so far has a strong and pure enough heart to be able to bear a Talisman of Twilight. And once he found the victim, he would sacrifice it to get the Talisman to find the Sovereign and Champion. He was using you from the start! He wasn't worried about you sorry lackeys! He wanted to find the Sovereign and the Champion! He couldn't have cared less if even Superman or General Hawk's heart was taken away as long as he did what he was commanded to do should he fail killing the Teen Titan, Raven."

"Leomon…is this true?" growled a now fuming Beach Head, his eyes narrowed behind the eyeholes of his ski mask. Leomon's head lowered a bit before he let out a shuddering breath.

"Yes. I…I was also ordered to search the Talismans should I have failed killing Raven in time to prevent the Gathering. I'm sorry."

"You backstabber!" Xi snarled, his eyes narrowing and his claws ready to use his Rainforest Scale.

"So that was it?" yelled Scarlet Witch, her voice going more shrill with anger and disbelief, "**_THAT_** was why you fought with us in the past? _Why you helped us?_ **_Because you were using us? Because you wanted to figure out which three of us you needed to kill and steal hearts from? Like the Joes did right now?_**"

"No!" protested Leomon helplessly, but he knew he was losing the argument, "It wasn't like that! Not now at least!"

"**_'NOT NOW'?_**" exploded the Joe, Flint, now thoroughly devastated at losing his wife, "So you were really using us to find the Talismans! **_You furry, underhanded, son of a lion-bitch!_** My wife died because of you! Alison's dead now because you were manipulating us from the beginning!"

Bree was now sobbing uncontrollably, flashing back to when Lifeline died.

"People died because of this!" sobbed Lina, "Why? We trusted you! We thought you wanted to help us fight the Heartless, even after what you did to Raven and the Titans!"

"I do," persisted Leomon, but it was clear that no one, neither mutant, Joe, nor Falco and Octavia believed him in the slightest.

There was a tense and nerve-wracking silence as Falco and Octavia shot daggers at the Digimon behemoth.

"You're nothing but a traitor, Leomon," Falco spat, as if he swallowed something unpleasant.

"The King would be ashamed of you if he were here," Octavia added, her voice hitched as if still grieving from the hurt of Leomon turning on his two comrades and their majesty.

Leomon's eyes stung a bit. That accusation, though painful, _did_ have a ring of truth. He failed the King so many times already. The blue, feathered avian then let out his harshest threat ever to compensate for the aching sting he was still feeling deep inside.

"We know where we stand with you now, you coward," spat Falco with loss and acid, "If you ever get in our way, we'll kill you outright and not show any mercy. You're no longer one of us. Enjoy your exile, you backstabbing asshole, for if anything, it's the least you deserve. And far as we're concerned, we were never friends."

It was apparent that Falco and Octavia took Leomon's siding with the Misfits over them quite hard.

With that, Falco and Octavia left, not even glancing backwards over their shoulders, jumping with incredible height and gymnastic ability before vanishing to the distant horizons, never to be seen again. There was no point; after all, no more Heartless would be able to attack the Pit.

Leomon hung his head a bit as he exhaled, lowering his sword. He then turned to the Joes and Misfit only to find himself under a sea of shocked and hurt looks and livid, betrayed glares. But the warrior knew this was coming, and though he did just abandon everything he stood for and believed in just to help them, he couldn't hold it against them for being angry and ungrateful. Hawk braced himself as he turned to Mainframe, honing on in the communicators as he asked, his voice slightly hitching.

"Mainframe, status. How many casualties?"

The Joe and computer-wizard bit back a curse as he stated in a monotone and restrained voice, "Snake Eyes is gone. And so are…and so are Lifeline, Taurus, Alpine, Wet Suit, Ace, Quick Kick, and…and Lady Jaye."

"_Yurushite kudasai…_" wept Jinx, the ninja saying "forgive me" in Japanese, begging that in the afterlife, Snake Eyes could forgive her for not doing more.

"You idiot," muttered Leatherneck to himself, feeling incredibly guilty at how Wet Suit got taken and how he couldn't do a thing to stop it, seeing his rival and friend perish right in front of his eyes.

"I can help - " began Leomon again, but he was rudely and harshly cut down by Spirit.

"We do not want your help!" the Native American soldier growled, his teeth grit, "Get out!"

"They're not dead," Leomon said quietly, and surprisingly enough, everyone managed to hear that one sentence.

Xi and Toad's jaws collectively dropped as Toad then managed to blurt out, "What did you say, yo?"

"They're not dead. There is a chance you can get their hearts back, even though the Organization took them. There still is a chance that you can save them and bring them back."

"We don't believe you, asshat," growled Beach Head, "If you lied to us before, you're probably lying to us now!"

The Joe named Heavy Metal then decided to break in to the fuming Ranger as he hesitantly pointed out, "Uh…Beach Head? Technically, he didn't _lie_ to us outright. He just hid the truth from us, which is sort of different from actually lying when you think about…"

The Mauler driver then trailed off when the ski-masked superior officer seared him with an intense glare to shut the hell up. A few of the Joes such as Flint and Bree were staring at Leomon with restrained yet glimmers of hope, as if hardly daring to believe it. The others and the Misfits were not so inclined to just take Leomon's word as the furry humanoid then emphasized clearly enough.

"They can only be regained if you defeat the Organization at the Gathering of Twilight. Should you help the Sovereign and the Champion reclaim the power of Kingdom Hearts, your friends will come back, unharmed and to normal again."

"I knew it!" roared Gung Ho, "You're **still** using us! It's hardly a coincidence that the only way to get our friends back is to fight the Gathering and help you find the idiots who can help you win this war for whatever selfish reasons you have! You're trying to manipulate us into fighting your battle, you goddamned furry hood!"

"Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice, and shame on us. And really, what we'll do to you won't be pretty, fur-face," muttered Scarlett as she then loaded his crossbow with an explosive shaft.

"I am telling you the truth, Joe!" snapped Leomon, starting to get frustrated.

"Then tell us what the hell is going on! If you want to help us, tell us who the hell are the Sovereign and Champion! Tell us who this King that sent you is! Tell us the real reasons why you're here on Earth! Tell us what's so damned important about the Talismans! **_Tell us anything!_**" Quinn was screaming, hysterical at seeing so many Joes gone.

Leomon looked truly sad, his face showing remorse, as he turned his gaze to the side and said quietly, "I can't do that, kid."

"You **can't** or you **won't**? There's always a choice, Leomon," growled General Hawk. Leomon didn't answer, and that was all the confirmation the Epsilon Juggler needed.

"I'm sorry, but I have higher loyalties. I cannot break them," Leomon said with a regretful face, and this only made the audience even less likely to trust the lion.

"Get out," Scarlet Witch growled, a fireball now forming in her hands.

"I didn't - " Leomon tried to say, but he was cut down harshly from all sides.

"What part of '**_get out_**' did you not understand, you asshole?" the Joe Deep Six threatened as he readied himself to throw a grenade.

"By the Great Beast, I'm trying to explain!" roared Leomon.

Lance then frowned to himself as he turned to the side, averting his gaze from Leomon, as he said quietly and indifferently, "Leomon…just leave us alone."

The Digimon, though his face didn't betray it, inwardly flinched. That hurt. _A lot._

Leatherneck then growled, cocking his rifle, "Get out, you furry bastard. Or so help me, we'll shoot you here and now. And no thanks to you, the Hellfire Club now has new ways of making sure that the Pit is nothing more than a smoking crater."

"No," Leomon said strongly, and before any of them could tell him to leave, he emphasized clearly, "The Heartless and Organization will leave you alone now. They can't attack the Pit ever again because of the seal I just placed all over the base to magically shield you."

Despite the multitude of bad feelings throughout all the soldiers for the Digimon, Mainframe managed to blink before asking for clarification on the communicators' speakers, wanting to make sure he heard this correctly, "Wait…we're…we're safe? Leomon, your shield thing will protect the Pit from all Heartless attacks from now on? Even from _the Organization_?"

"Yes," he replied gravely, "The magic I cast around the army base will see to it that you can't be bothered by the Organization any more in the future."

"And why couldn't you have done this before when the Heartless first attacked and chased Pluto here? **_You knew it was happening!_** It sure as hell would have saved a lot of trouble from future attacks and getting infected!" demanded Cover Girl angrily with suspicion. Leomon sighed in his deep voice as he then reluctantly told them the truth.

"I thought it would be the only way to see whom out of your group would be the one chosen to wield the Keyblade along with finding out if the Talismans were in the hearts of people who resided here at the Pit."

"So you **_let_** them attack us? So that you could find which of our hearts had the Talismans like Falco said? That's why you let so many Joes die right now?" Airtight demanded furiously, his hands tightening on his firearm while the Joe Barbeque next to him was starting to have his face turn as red as his flamethrowers.

"Yes," Leomon said with regret before he tried to explain himself, turning around with an almost-indiscernible, helpless expression, "But I wouldn't have - "

A unanimous sound of guns and missile launchers being loaded and aimed at the lion swordsman cut him off abruptly, the furry humanoid now being targeted by every Joe on the now wrecked battlefield. Even the Misfits themselves drew out their summons and their Keyblades with a defensive and outraged flourish. Bambi, Genie, Mushu, Tinkerbell, and Dumbo were all glaring at Leomon with malicious threat, wordlessly promising that they would kill him if the Misfits ordered them too. Though a few such as Pluto, Whitelighter, Spirit, and Dragonfly looked at Leomon with conflicting pity, the rest of the crowd was glaring at him with hate and betrayal.

All except Lance. He and Simba were both staring at their former ally with hurt and loss. Avalanche didn't even summon his Steel Quartz Keyblade to attack. Despite what he just heard, he couldn't bring himself to attack him, remembering that he did at least help them in the past. Heck, Spirit wouldn't even have been alive if Leomon didn't come to Jump City.

"This is your final warning, furball. Get off our base," growled Barbeque, pointing the nozzle of his flamethrowers at the giant, "Or else we'll see how well a kitty-kat can go up in flames after being loaded with bullets."

"I suggest you follow their advice, Leomon," General Hawk said sternly as he then commanded, "Troops and Privates…**_shoot to kill if he resists._**"

Leomon just narrowed his eyes as he looked long and hard at the crowd before he could tell that there was no point in staying and that they wouldn't listen to anything else he had to say. To tell the truth, he himself wasn't even ready to say it. Silently, Leomon just summoned a dimensional rift in the fabric of time and space for him to leave through.

Roadblock's voice was cold as he rumbled with steel, "Leomon, just so that you can understand and see: **from now on, you're regarded as our enemy**. If you ever dare show your face around here again, a lot of gunshot wounds and injuries you'll obtain. You may have helped us in the past, but now that gratitude has been surpassed. So as of now, we won't hesitate to attack you, and any trust we had is now through. You better hope that our paths do not cross, but for now, scram and get lost."

The tawny and muscular lion humanoid nodded once, showing that he understood.

"You brought this on yourself, Leomon," Wavedancer spat, having absolutely no pity for the lion swordsman. As Leomon stepped into the rift, though he remained silent, he was tempted to agree.

---

Later that night, it was a solemn and morose mood all throughout the army base of G.I. Joe. Even though Trinity's scanners did verify Leomon's assurance of the magical force-field and that despite the fact it would allow their allies and friends to come visit, it was clearly radiating the same magical energy signature as Simba and Lance's elemental kingdom. The lion was telling the truth; the shield was powerful enough to ward of future Heartless. Hell, the magical barrier's energy levels were nothing like the levels of barriers erected by the Organization in the past; Leomon's handiwork made the villains of the Thirteenth Order seem like novice hackneyed beginners. However, the news did little to lessen the feelings of helplessness and depression settling among all the men and women of Hawk's army group. They lost so many of their friends and fellow fighters to Blackheart.

Snake Eyes, Lady Jaye, Lifeline, Wet Suit, Ace, Alpine, Taurus, Quick Kick…

They were all dead. Or at least as good as…

Bree shut herself in the infirmary, crying her eyes out and sobbing uncontrollably, and though Doc watched over her, she didn't move from her fetal position on the infirmary beds as she wept over the loss of her husband. Leatherneck was taking the loss of Wet Suit especially hard, which hardly came of a surprise to everyone else. Regardless of their fights, arguments, and violent clashes of temper, they were actually the best of friends, more than they would ever care to admit. And the Marine enthusiast was just glumly holed up on the hood of his Jeep, staring at the sky and mentally promising that he'd get back Wet Suit (otherwise, who else would he argue with?). General Whithalf and Flint reported to the West Coast Misfits about Lady Jaye, and Flint couldn't take the pressure with accepting his wife's fate and spent several hours on the firing range, blowing up anything he could in his aggravation. Lila Cheney and Jenni Starr both broke down to tears at the news, and Kyle and Jake Wildfire took it especially hard, but the Starr brothers and the West Coast Misfits made it clear that they didn't blame the Misfits for Lady Jaye having her heart taken away by the Organization. Scarlett just sat in the cafeteria, fingering a cup of cold coffee in her hands, her eyes glazed, as she pondered today's events with a cold clench of ice in her stomach. The redheaded female soldier then could admit that she was slightly feeling better when Duke approached her carefully as comforted her as a friend and ally with a few simple words.

"Even if the odds were a million to one, we'll still fight those odds, Scarlett. G.I. Joe's seen its share of miracles before, so don't think this can't be done either. And he wouldn't want you to brood like this, not now if the Gathering's to come."

Scarlett had to sniff as she smiled gratefully at Duke. Even though he had a small and hidden rivalry with Snake Eyes due to his jealousy, Conrad knew what was more important when the chips were down. And it helped. A little.

However, one bright hope was that Leomon said that they could be gotten back should they win the Gathering of Twilight.

Even if it were a lie or a clever manipulation on the swordsman's part, the Joes wouldn't pass that chance up. They've faced and endured over worse odds, and if possible, Hawk knew that the Joes would walk barefoot to Hell if this could bring back their friends.

Though it was especially glum and somber in the living room of the Misfit Manor where all the teenagers and their guardians were currently seated. The kids and the adults were all silent, and though Shipwreck, Roadblock, Spirit, Low Light, Cover Girl, and Blind Master were looking at the kids with mixtures of grief, worry, and disappointment, they didn't say anything. Whatever reprimand or scolding they could give would pale in comparison to how much the kids were blaming themselves for their overconfidence.

Well, not that a few weren't trying…

"We told you Leomon was trouble!" Pietro snapped angrily at a forlorn Lance on the couch, the geokinetic cradling his head wearily in his hands, as Quicksilver, Xi, and the Triplets were giving it to their teammate good for his previous Leomon-adoration, "We told you he wasn't with us! But, _noooooooo_, **you** said! Geez Lance, this just proves you're the King of Stupidity if you still think Leomon's our friend after all this, after what he just admitted!"

"He works with Falco and Octavia!" Xi added furiously, indignant.

"He let our Joes have their hearts taken by Blackheart so that he could see if they had Talismans!" Quinn snapped, furious.

Brittany added in, rubbing extra salt, "He was working and plotting with Falco and Octavia! He even turned on them, his own friends who have been with him a lot longer than he has with us! Shows exactly how he treats all his allies!"

"You guys, stop. I feel bad enough and stupid enough as it is," Lance muttered wearily, not even having the energy to argue and snap back at his friends, especially since he really couldn't argue against them.

"Trust me, we can make you feel a lot worse!" Daria retorted.

"You all should feel bad after today, Misfits," growled a voice, and everyone turned around to see General Hawk standing in the doorway. He looked at the Joe handlers and issued a cold growl of a command.

"Leave. I need to say a few things." Though some were wary, the adults dutifully left (except Pluto), throwing worried glances.

General Hawk then regarded all of the mutant teenagers with cold fury, and it was unnerving that the way he managed to give them a look made them all feel new levels of shame (even the Triplets and Pietro), before he growled, "This is a war for all life as we know it, Privates, and you all made a huge mistake in not taking this seriously enough. This can't be tolerated, not when my men and women have to die out there for your foolishness! And at least you don't have to live with the consequences of what happened here! I have to endure telling all the families of those who died what happened and have to deal with facing them as well as explain to the Jugglers and convince them to not find other methods of improving you, and trust me, I am so tempted to not cover all your asses right now!"

"We didn't ask for this!" whined Daria, "It's not fair to rest the whole world on us!"

"Life isn't fair, Private," growled Hawk, "And unlike the others who died and who will die if the Heartless do overtake the planet, you at least have the ability to defend yourselves! And if I recall correctly, you all didn't seem to mind much about the costs of bearing such gifts and magic since you were all so amazed how what you could do in the first place! Guess the reality is getting a little ugly, isn't it? Well you get no sympathy from me after this screw up, Privates! Facing reality is a hell of a lot better than dying and not being able to do a damn thing about it! Or at least seeing the people who _could_ do something and actually not doing a damn thing about it!"

That shut them all up.

"So you Misfits better realize this here and now! Because if I have to expect more of this from you, then we might as well all give up and die since you kids are the last things we can count on."

With that, the G.I. Joe leader stormed out, fuming and leaving a dead, ringing silence in the living room. None of the Misfits knew what to do or think, the shock of Hawk's words and the fact that several Joes' hearts had been stolen from them in front of their very eyes was disturbing and earth shattering to say the least.

There was a small sound of movement, and all the kids turned to the doorway to see Pluto leaving, his head drooping and his tail in between his legs as he slowly ambled out of the room, fatigued and as if he was suffering from arthritis.

"Pluto?" Wanda asked thickly, and the golden-furred hound gave Scarlet Witch and her teammates a sad look of pity, which made them feel even worse. It was clear that the canine was disappointed. With that, Pluto left.

There was a tragic and miserable silence before Fred then glumly sank wearily into a chair, surprising everyone with his admission.

"General Hawk's right," he moaned, "It **is** our fault. I thought I could handle anything the Thirteenth Order would throw at us."

"I thought we could just take a day off and not have to worry," Xi moaned, digging his claws into his scalp.

"And we should have trained harder," sniffed Justin, teeth clenched, "If we practiced more with fighting with the Keyblades, we could have anticipated going against an army of Heartless better. But I just didn't want to do it."

"We all didn't want to do it, Whitelighter," sniffed Daria.

"I guess we really don't deserve this, if we just let our friends and the Joes get taken like that," Lance exhaled heavily, "Maybe we should just give the Keyblades back to Pluto and tell him to find other people who could use them more than we can."

"No," choked Althea, her eyes red and her voice hoarse, but she still admirably managed to stand up, her head held high and her pupils burning with a fire she never had felt before since this entire mess started with the Thirteenth Order. She looked at each and every one of the grieving and guilty faces of the Misfits before she steeled herself and voiced what her heart wanted her to say.

"We made a mistake," she said, her hands clenched tightly into fists, "We screwed up, and we got caught with our pants down and suffered a kick to the teeth. We lost some good Joes, the strongest and bravest of people who we could ever want to help us fight for peace and protect this world. We screwed up, and they paid the price. But that's the thing. We got knocked down, but I intend on getting right back up and continue fighting. There is no way in hell that I'm going to give Organization Thirteen and the Hellfire Club the satisfaction and a chance to gloat at how they broke us."

The Misfits looked at her, shocked, but each and every one of them could feel the fury of the truth in her words, could picture the shame of how the dead Joes would react if they saw them now, crying and thinking of giving up and letting their deaths become meaningless. Althea's voice struck a chord as she then brought out her scepter, the slim rod appearing in her hands with a gleam of pure snow, blank, spotless, and cold.

"'Cause they didn't break us. They just made it so that we're not giving up until we make them pay for what they've done to us, to our friends, and everyone they've stepped on and used all for this entire Gathering of Twilight crap. And I for one have had it," Althea said, her nostrils white and her mouth set.

They remembered, all the trial they have gone through, the friends they've made and how the Hellfire Club just ruthlessly used the various people in their quest for power, the lives they've attempted to manipulate, the lives they crushed and mowed down like pawns during their obstacles they had faced in Apokolips, Jump City, San Francisco, and now, here at the Pit.

Althea then had a look of grief as she shuddered and stated, "Remember them, all of them. Remember Lifeline, Snake Eyes, Lady Jaye, Wet Suit, Ace, Alpine, Taurus, and Quick Kick. Remember Jubilee's parents and the number of civilians that died when the Turok-Han and Zankou's men attacked. Remember the H.I.V.E. students and Selinda Flinders. Remember the people in H.A.T.E. who were experimented on by Kanto and how we all nearly died to the Phoenix Force if Batgirl and Supergirl didn't save us. If we give up now, it won't be right. To us or to all of them."

Wavedancer was right; enough was enough.

Althea then held out her scepter and pointed it in the middle of the room, the crystal head now in front of her and displaying the rainbow ring of sigils surrounding the white heart with the keyhole inside. She then growled out her promise, swearing her dedication.

"I still don't trust Leomon's word, but if there's a way to get back the Joes who lost their hearts today, then I won't stop until it happens. If winning the Gathering does what it takes to save them and everyone here on this planet, then I'm not backing down. **Not ever.** I don't care how many Hellfire Heartless I'll have to face, I don't care how many dirty tricks the Inner Circle plays on us, and I don't care anymore about being special enough to wield a Keyblade or this staff because right now…I can't say that I feel very special if I let the Joes get taken by Blackheart like this. Pluto trusted us with these because he thought we could handle and actually fight back the bad guys. I'm not going to give him a reason to regret it."

Althea took a deep breath to calm herself before she then said her final statement, her eyes hard.

"They fucked with us long enough. And I'm going to fight them to get the Joes back. But I can't do it alone. Are you guys in with me? I can't do this by myself, but I won't drag you all in if you want to back out now that the stakes are rising."

There was a small silence as the Misfits looked at their hydrokinetic leader and then at each other, realizing that she had a point, and despite what they had witnessed, what they all endured, their emotions were turbulent and running an extreme spectrum of feelings. Todd then immediately stood up, knowing that there was no reason to really ponder about it and his eyes showing that he had nothing but optimistic hope and faith that they would win.

"You ain't going alone, Al," Toad said strongly as he then summoned his Amphibionian Keyblade, the orange and green weapon materializing with a small clap of thunder and orange-colored electricity, "We pinky-swore, yo, and the Toad never breaks off a pinky-swear! And we've faced worse odds than this, and the Joes still don't give up! So I won't either, yo! I'm going with ya' wherever and whatever it takes to get them back! Besides, we can hold off the wedding and all. Snake Eyes and the others wouldn't want to miss it, and we still have to give them their invitations."

And with that, Toad crossed the blade portion of his Keyblade with Althea's staff, making a soft _clang_. Wavedancer managed a small smile at last; at least her fiancé would be with her and that was enough to calm the fears she had in her stomach. There was a hesitant lull afterward before Daria, Quinn, and Brittany stood up, still red-eyed and guilt-ridden, but resolute nonetheless.

"Hey, why should you two have all the fun?" Daria demanded, hands on her hips.

Quinn said with a very impish grin as she said, "You honestly think we'd pass up a chance to really make those Organization creeps suffer after all this?"

"If you think you'll be able to make the Inner Circle pay, imagine just how much more damage you can do with us helping you, Sis!" Brittany said strongly.

The Delgado Triplets then summoned out their pink Trichrona Keyblades before joining it with Toad and Wavedancer's weapons, saying in unison, "So we're going with you too! Hey, even if you asked us not to, we'd do it behind your back anyway!"

Pietro couldn't help but comment as he rolled his eyes, "Gee, could this be any more saccharine and cheesy?"

"Shut it, Pietro," Wanda, Xi, and Lance drawled, but they really didn't mean it as they smiled, knowing that it was actually a comforting routine in this group. Xi then stood up before he summoned his Rainforest Scale Keyblade with a flurry of green pollen dust and flashes. Althea smiled. It was no surprise that the lizard assassin from Cobra would be willing to join them immediately; he was the most loyal person she ever knew.

"I shall fight too," he said simply as his weapon gently touched the apex of the joined circle of powers, "Storm Shadow himself would tell me that I must fight to regain the honor of those who have fallen. This qualifies."

Justin then nervously stood up, and quivering, he fidgeted and jumbled his fingers against each other before he shakily said, "I…I'll join too. I'm scared, and yeah, I really don't want to die. But I don't want my friends to die either, and the voice made me promise that if he or she gave me the magic to save my Dad, then I have to fight."

With a gleam of yellow, Whitelighter willed his Healing Mercy weapon to come into his clammy hands before he placed it along with the other. He was still shaking a bit, and Toad smiled, understanding, as he placed a hand on his teammates shoulder.

"Hey, it's all right to be scared, yo! It's better to admit it than hide it, like Psyche-Out says! But we're all gonna stay together for this!" the lanky and frog-like teenager chirped up enthusiastically.

"Hey, don't forget about the Blob!" Fred broke in strongly as he smoothly muscled in between Xi and Justin, and though it was a tight squeeze, everyone managed to shift their position to allow the heavyset mutant to place his metallic purple Heavyweight Keyblade along with the other. In fact, Fred used a little too much enthusiasm and the force of his weapon sent a few painful vibrations in the grips of everyone else's blades.

Pietro gave Fred a dry look of derisive disbelief, as if he wanted to tell Fred that he was being an absolute moron, as he almost shouted with shock, "Fred! Not you too!"

Fred's next words touched Althea as he said simply, smiling at the albino Adonis, "Hey, Althea's always known what she's doin', and I sure don't try to pretend I know better. I trust her, and if she thinks it's a good idea, then I'm gonna do it. Hey, always said I wasn't much of a leader, but I sure am a follower, so why not? She's always right, you know?"

"Fred…" sniffed Althea, impressed, "You big lug."

Pietro rolled his eyes as he pouted, saying, "Am I the only one with brains here or something? Did fighting Blackheart totally render whatever common sense was in your heads obsolete? Even _with_ the Keyblades and this new magic, there's no guarantee we'll win! We can't just charge in, do everything we can, and hope that everything turns out all right like in TV!"

"So call us idiots," Lance said offhandedly, giving a wry grin, as he stood up, "After all, I can't be any more of a moron after today and everything with Kitty in the past. What's a little more of a blow to my pride between friends?"

"Do you even **have** any pride left to begin with?" Daria teased.

Lance made a half-amused attempt to sarcastically laugh as he summoned his Steel Quartz, the brown crystal now out and crossed along with the other joined weapons, making a soft noise as it touched. He then added, a bit embarrassed, "Hey, after everything the Joes have done for us, we still have to repay them back. Getting back their hearts at the Gathering's the best way to do it. If doing this makes me an idiot, then I'm an idiot."

"Can we keep calling you an idiot for the next year or so for being such a Leomon fan?" Xi chuckled.

"One reason at a time, Xi," groaned Avalanche with a grimace.

Wanda then sniffed and wiped her eyes, smearing her make-up and mascara before she then silently stood up and, though she wasn't sure how to exactly and was practically winging it, held out her hands and willed her Keyblade to appear. Her face was actually serene, as if she knew and accepted Althea's idea as the best possible course of action, without fear. When the red luminescence faded, she placed her Keyblade on top of Toad and Trinity's.

Pietro was floored as his jaw dropped, blurting in disbelief, "Wanda? You're actually willing to die like an idiot?"

Scarlet Witch then shot her brother a look of sadness as she reminded him, "And rather we let Bree suffer at the fact that she lost her husband? And what about Lifeline?"

Pietro turned beet red with shame as he stared at the floor. He hadn't forgotten Lifeline and Bree's kindness, and yet now, when the awe and excitement of being a Keyblader fading fast in the light of the reality that they and their friends could die, it was a little too much to just jump up and say you'll charge head on and fight until everyone's back, regardless of how much it will cost you. But still…the look of devastation on Bree's face was haunting him.

Dragonfly silently rose off the couch, dried tearstains on her cheeks, but before she summoned out her Icewing Keyblade with one hand, she delicately and softly touched Pietro's cheek with one hand, showing her gently empathy, as if she understood his hesitations.

"The person who gave us these Keyblades says that being a wielder is a big commitment," she said gently, her voice like rose petals falling on grass, "If anything, it's better to be honest that to back out when it's too late, Quicksilver. But I did promise anything so that I would fight so that I wouldn't have to watch more people die. And like Cover Girl says, nothing's worse than breaking your promise. I just hope you realize that when you see that the rest of us will do whatever it takes to protect our friends, and whether or not you're with us isn't going to change that."

With that, the insect-mutant quietly ambled to the group before she crossed her Keyblade with the rest of her teammates. Then all the remaining Misfits glanced back at Pietro, who was doing his best to not meet their eyes but was weakening already. With a sigh, Quicksilver stood up and scratched his head.

"Just to let you guys know, if I get horribly scarred or disfigured, and I lose my good looks and perfect physique after this whole stupid war, I'm never speaking to any of you again!" the speedster griped.

The other Misfits raised a collective eyebrow in amusement.

"And that's supposed to be a punishment **how** exactly?" Wanda sneered wickedly but in good faith.

"You know what I mean," retorted the speedster, but he gave a dramatic sigh, rolling his eyes to the heavens and muttering, "I guess there's really no choice in this."

With that, the albino teen summoned his Zephyr Keyblade and joined it with the other crisscrossing weapons of heart, commenting in a half-heartedly pompous way, "Meh, you guys would be lost without me to save your sorry butts, anyway."

"Well, we do need all we can get," admitted Quinn, "With the whole planet in danger of the Heartless and the Thirteenth Order, we need to fight for everyone. The Titans, the Justice League, the Slayers, the Ghostbusters, and the X-Men. We need to fight and help all of them."

"**_Help the X-Geeks?_**" echoed Quicksilver, clearly disapproving as he snorted, only to find himself under a tide of exasperated and scolding looks before he heatedly gave in, "All right! All right! Fine! You win! But don't think I'm not gonna be rubbing the fact that we're Keybladers in the X-Geeks faces, especially Princess-Perfect Jean, for all it's worth!"

"I guess we can learn to deal with that," Brittany giggled, accepting that as the lesser evil behavior.

"But let's not forget…" Wavedancer announced with regret, "We owe a lot of apologies to a lot of the Joes, if not all of them. And we better start with our parents and General Hawk first and foremost. They may forgive us, but there's no way in hell we're going to make them regret having us."

It was a precious and life-changing moment, that one instant when they all made that promise, their hearts bruised but not broken or defeated, that feeling of peaceful acceptance that whatever would happen would happen and that they would deal with it to the best of their ability and strength to come.

With a flash, Althea's staff and the Misfit's Keyblades disappeared in a plethora of auras and colored essence. Althea then smiled as she demanded with tireless dedication, "OK, so who's up for some training? The dojo's still open and we've got to get practicing to do since we need to really brush up on our sword-plays."

A few such as Todd and Xi and Lance looked interested enough, but the sentence actually drew out a few blank looks of surprise from the others.

"Now?" gulped Justin. He still absolutely _loathed_ physical training.

"At night?" scoffed Pietro as he glanced at outside through the bay window, "Hey, I've got to exfoliate and trim by toenails, and besides, I've got better things to do than - "

Thankfully, a light punch in the shoulder, courtesy of Wanda, shut the silver-haired speedster up as Fred grabbed both Quicksilver and Whitelighter by the scruffs of their necks gently and helped escort them along with the other mutants to the front door.

"C'mon, you guys. Up and at 'em," he drawled without much sympathy as he and the others cheerfully left for the dojo, eager to practice and train some more. Little did they know that that entire sequence was being observed on by several Joes via their miniature spy-cams…

"That's our kids," Shipwreck murmured, grinning to himself as he and the other Misfit handlers along with General Hawk and Pluto watched on the private hand-held monitor. That same sentiment of relief and slight pride was echoing deeply in all the others as they finished watching the scene of the teenagers swearing the heartfelt oath.

Low Light turned to the G.I. Joe leader and asked with amused suspicion, "You went off on them like that in order to give them that well needed kick-in-the-butt on purpose, didn't you?"

Hawk made a noncommittal grunt as his mouth went into a rueful line before saying, "I wasn't acting if that's what you were thinking, Cooper. I really was pissed that the kids were starting to slack off, and I simply felt a little tough love and a painful evaluation of themselves was what we needed to help them realize what it means if we lose the Gathering. But I will admit it: this is a good thing, for us and for the Misfits."

"They won't let any of us down after what happened," Blind Master said with faith, "They're good kids, and if the Keyblades were given to them for a reason, then they'll all live up to that reason."

"But is Leomon telling the truth?" Cover Girl asked, rubbing her bruised arms from the brawl over the Pit, "Can we get Snake Eyes and the other Joes' hearts back? At the Gathering if we find this Sovereign and Champion of Twilight?"

Spirit's eyes were troubled, but he touched the female Joe's shoulder before saying strongly, "Whether or not it is true, we will get to the bottom of this and stop the Organization and the Hellfire Club. Snake Eyes, Lady Jaye, and the others would have wanted that at least, and if there's a way to get them back, we'll find it."

Roadblock then looked down at a panting yet pleased Pluto and chuckled warmly, scratching the canine in between the ears, "Guess your faith in the Misfits might have been shaken, so I don't blame you if you're not quick in abandoning hope that your trust was forsaken. But Pluto, if anything I can say would be true, the Misfits and us Joes will see this battle all the way through. For you, for us, and for all our allies plus."

Pluto just barked happily, giving a smile as he panted. Little did the Joes know that he still didn't have any reasons to doubt choosing the Misfits as the wielders of the Keyblades. Though the mutant teens made a mistake in underestimating the Organization, they were learning. And that was more important than any magic the dog had ever seen in his lifetime.

---

"Experiments 247 through 277 have all been destroyed, my Superior," the hooded and enigmatic thirteenth member of the Organization reported as he teleported in from Cadmus' headquarters and his briefing with Luthor, Eiling, and a reluctant Professor Hamilton.

"Still, it is a gain on our side," Harry Leland said with great satisfaction, "We now have perfected the Hellfire Heartless to their full potential after the trials and errors we were able to gain from the past excursions in San Francisco and the research we did on the H.I.V.E students before Trigon's arrival. Resistant to much Wicca magic thanks to the powers of the Nexus, the ability to steal hearts from all unsuspecting victims, and they will each release a heart on their own should a Keyblade destroy them fully. Ah, these are far better than the rejects we've attempted to use on the heroes before."

"**_There is a problem, however, my Superior_**," Blackheart said, "**_Some of the Joes are still immune to having their hearts stolen, and we have no idea how such a feat is possible as well as why the child named Wavedancer had that infernal scepter or where the hearts containing the Talismans reside._**"

"Then we will have to get rid of Wavedancer as she is the one Misfit in that sorry group who has the most potential to be uncontrollable and unpredictable. I suggest we use one of our…most powerful warriors of the Heartless in our next attack when we lure the Misfits our of the Pit."

"Leomon's shield and magic is that strong, huh?" Xigbar asked, deadpanned.

"We are unable to break it. That infernal lion has interfered yet again," Lexaeus muttered, his fingers tightening around his tomahawk.

"Is this warrior of yours any good?" Leland asked, still cautious. Larxene's eyes twinkled impishly, as if this was all a wonderful game, as she coyly brushed back her bangs on her forehead.

"He's not called one of the greatest children of Jenova for nothing, Leland," she giggled sadistically, "And the power of turning him into a Heartless and having him fight at the last Gathering proved to be pretty fruitful on our parts."

"There is the problem with discovering that your assistant, Sage, has escaped your grasp, Shaw," Eddington remarked as he turned to the Black King, "Will she head over to Xavier now?"

"It is handled," Shaw smiled, "Trust me…"

The Superior then turned to Marluxia and Slade, the White Knight of the Hellfire Club.

"Are you up for the task of testing your abilities and skills on a Slayer girl, Slade?" the leader asked with a cat-like and vindictively malignant smile. Slade's eye narrowed with interest.

"Of course," he intoned, cold yet amused. Marluxia then grinned as he hefted his pink flower scythe.

"Good, because it'll be a fine frolic when we escort Rayne's Initiative to London," the Organization member chuckled, satisfied and seeing that he and the assassin would do well in a partnership. The black-robed Superior nodded, pleased, as Shaw then commanded the two of them to go and do as much damage and grief to the heroes as possible.

"Then take the Organization's most powerful Heartless and secret soldier and head for the Slayer Academy. The less Slayers around, the better. Members of the Organization Thirteen and the Inner Circle, the Harvest has now truly begun…"

---

It was in the dead of night and in the wee hours of the morning, perhaps two or three o'clock, when the figure managed to clandestinely sneak out of the cargo ship without being seen, weaving in and out of the gigantic rectangular canisters, her black cloak not allowing her to be seen. Though this was the city that never slept, Tessa was thankful that the docks had a sparse amount of workers that were too far spread out, making it easy to dart in between without being seen.

And she couldn't take any risks; the Hellfire Club had its spies everywhere.

Tessa carefully managed to climb down acrobatically with amazing dexterity down the gigantic, iron chain that connected to the anchor, her feet noiseless, before she managed to get close enough to the wooden platforms in order to take a flying leap and land gracefully with her knapsack before darting to the shadows. Though she tried not to show it, she was quite fearful and nail-bitingly apprehensive, her heart pounding in her ribcage, as she darted in and out between buildings and alleys.

There was no mistake about it. Tessa knew that nothing else mattered than getting back to Professor Xavier. And before it would be too late and the Heartless and Organization would try to hinder her from delivering the rare equipment in her backpack that could help out her former mentor…

**Author's Notes: Wow, this was a painful chapter! And should you have any question on how many people will die in this fic, well…I made a post in the Misfit-verse forum that will contain a list of the dead, and it is not going to be good as this story progresses. And how! Next week, the Misfits, renewed on their promise to fight and protect all their friends, learn of a raid in London as the Initiative and the Organization attack Slayer Academy, and Althea will be in the fight of her life as she faces the most deadly foe in the "Kingdom Hearts" games. The one also known as "The One Winged Angel"! Will she survive? Can the Misfits prevail? And what of the Slayers and Giles when they come head to head with Slade, Marluxia, and Ethan Rayne? Find out next week in the chapter, "Slayed", and until then, read and enjoy!**


	14. Slayed

**Author's Notes: First, I wanted to thank all my reviewers who have been faithfully reading and enjoying this fanfic! Thank you all! You have no idea how much I love reviews! Now with that said, I additionally hold a special thank you for asha-man72, a longtime friend and e-mail buddy, for the inspiration and thoughtful discussions throughout the past year. And yes, this is it folks! Sephiroth is not owned by me, but by Tetsuya Nomura along with the ideas of Materia and Meteor. If any Final Fantasy has any issues with this chapter or feel I have not done Sephiroth justice, constructive criticism is welcome but please no flames or demands for my head on a stake. That said, enjoy!**

**CHAPTER 14: Slayed**

"How are the Misfits doing in their training with their magic and their Keyblades so far?" General Hawk asked wearily as he met up with the adults in the dining room of Misfit Manor two days later after the infamous and tragic attack Blackheart committed at the Pit. He had to endure a strenuous and tiresome meeting with the Omega Jugglers at Washington D.C., and Hawk, Flagg, and Whithalf all had to argue and sweat through four hours of straight talk of how the Misfits may become too inefficient or dangerous to stay with the Joes or to be relied on to combat the Heartless threat. And it didn't help that Eddington coolly suggested that if G.I. Joe do not show noticeable improvement soon, it would be best to merely disband G.I. Joe and see that the Misfits and their various associates would fare better under much more "competent" leadership.

Whithalf and Flagg both had to discreetly grab Hawk's wrists before he could pummel that smug son of a bitch's face in for the cheap shots right in the middle of the Juggler meeting. As much as it would risk suspension, it would have been incredibly satisfying.

And what made it more worrisome is that a few of the Omegas were beginning to be tempted to agree, if not just outright think that Eddington had a valid point, especially from Generals Silver, Red, and Black for some odd reason. However, Hawk wasn't going to beat himself over why exactly as much as making sure that the Joes and the Misfits together would give the Omegas little reason to split them apart.

"It's going pretty well," Roadblock said, sipping from a mug of coffee and feeling his body protest against the sleepless nights and long periods of migraines and worry that could only come with being a parent of a mutant teenager, "And if anything, the past events are motivating these kids to excel. Storm Shadow and Jinx have been teaching the Misfits how to fight with sword techniques, and Althea tells me that things are looking less and less bleak. Each of the kids really wants to prepare themselves for the fight, and though they still have a lot to learn, things are looking a bit bright."

"Not only that, but it seems that even their magic is improving," mused Cover Girl, "When I was watching and supervising Lina and Wanda during their training, as part of target practice, they wanted to try combining their Fira and Blizzaga attacks on the target range. At first, I was expecting their fire and ice magic to cancel each other out, but they made my jaw drop when I saw them team up. You should have seen it. The best way I can describe it is that the ice spiraled around the fire wave, and Lina froze her targets right before Wanda broke all of them into miniature fragments of ice cubes before the pieces spontaneously combusted."

"Hmph, they are getting better," Hawk murmured, "Apparently, the kids practicing their newfound magic that Pluto has given them is paying itself off quite well. Still, I'm a little pissed that they didn't think of this sooner or it would have saved us a lot of trouble…and losing some of the Joes."

"How are things going with the others here?" Low Light asked, drumming his fingers on the dining table, and Hawk's eyes grew grim and a bit pained at the reminder. The day after the attack from Blackheart, though it really wasn't warranted, the general gathered all the Joes in the auditorium where all the Misfits made a public apology, promising them that they would take their roles seriously from now on and that they would fight the Organization and get the Joes back or die trying. Though a few select Joes just rudely grumbled about the kids screwing up and how they had to pick up the slack such as Beach Head and Sergeant Slaughter, Althea and Hawk knew that they couldn't blame them for their thoughts. However, all the Joes wholeheartedly accepted the apology and said that they trusted the kids regardless and would show their full support at the Gathering of Twilight.

Hawk got numerous condolences from the X-Men adults, the West Coast Misfits, Justice League (bar Batman since those sorts of words weren't part of his demeanor), Titans, the Charmed Ones, the Dinosaucers, the many Slayers who haven't forgotten how nice G.I. Joe was in opening the Pit for their training, and Jenny Calendar from the Ghostbusters. Yet it did little to quell his sadness; if anything, the attempts made him feel worse.

Still, telling the families of the deceased was a different matter altogether. Some were thankfully accepting and tolerantly hopeful, especially since Hawk knew he had to tell them the truth about the Heartless and how they could be gotten back at the Gathering (but not too much since giving away that much information was potentially dangerous). Others were not. Quick Kick's family grieved heavily upon the news that MacArthur perished and just coldly showed Hawk the door. Revered Steen, Lifeline's father, said he couldn't care less about his prodigal son when Hawk delivered the news with Bree. And this led to a livid Bree actually managing to bitch-slap the hypocritical reverend twice before Hawk managed to pry her off Lifeline's father (needless to say, Hawk didn't leave the Steen household on good terms due to the threats of lawsuits and callings of Bree being "a succubus from Jehovah").

Bree then did the next best thing. She bribed Trinity one hundred dollars each to go vandalize Reverend Steen's house without bodily harm. Hawk decided to not involve himself and pretended to be ignorant about suspicious reports of how Lifeline's father's house mysteriously was in the color of purple and pink, smelled like rotten eggs, and was somehow miraculously rebuilt upside down.

Whithalf told Hawk that Flint was still suffering from severe depression at the grief of losing Lady Jaye, and as such, his daughter, Marissa, was excused from boarding school to spend time with her father on the army base on the West Coast. However, she too was reported to feel much anger and loss over her mother's heart being taken, and as to whom she felt more outraged to, whether it was the Joes, the Misfits, or the Organization, Whithalf could not honestly say.

Hawk just turned his attention away from the scene, smirking at the sight he could see outside the window of Xi riding on Bambi's back and striking targets left and right with his Rainforest Scale. And from what he could see, the two of them were having fun practicing battle techniques.

Hawk then returned back to his current state of mind, and sighed to the Joe sniper, saying, "As well as can be expected. We're redoubling our efforts to full rebuild and fortify the Pit from now on, and I'm surprised at how ardent and fervent the other Joes have been working as well as going over plans of how the fight the Heartless in the future since ordinary bullets and laser-fire aren't cutting it. After Leomon left, I had Quentin Blud and Willow and the Charmed Ones test out and investigate this proposed barrier all over the Pit. Turns out the lion was telling the truth. Whatever he did, it's strong, practically as strong as those barriers that the Organization have been putting up to slow us down, if not more so. And from what Willow and the Halliwells could sense, it's composed of nothing dark, so Leomon was being truthful in that the barrier will protect the Pit for now."

"It still doesn't make up for what the furball did to us and used us for his mission, not to mention how he hid the truth of his past when he made his volition. The next time we run into that furry backstabber it'll be the last thing he sees, for he'll get no pity from my machine gun and me," Roadblock said darkly, and it was clear from the faces of several of the other Misfit handlers that that particular opinion was common.

Hawk then continued, "And yes, I already notified all our allies who can be trusted with the information about what we learned from Leomon and how he was secretly working with Falco and Octavia to search for these Talismans in people's hearts. Needless to say, many of them agree with you, save a select few who still think Leomon is invariably on our side. However, it did give us a few more clues."

"Oh? Such as?" asked Blind Master, quirking an eyebrow behind his shaded glasses as he turned away from watching Trinity loading a clay pigeon launcher and firing a volley of discs in the sky, only to have a good number of them being blasted apart to pieces by one strike from Toad.

"Thundaga Blitzclap Pressure, yo!" the frog-like teenager cheered.

_Kazap!_ Toad did a _yes-yes-yes_ dance when most of the projectiles succumbed to the thunderbolts of energy. And from what Daria, Quinn, and Brittany could analyze on their newly rebuilt scanners, Todd had taken out a good seventy-seven percent of the flock.

"First off, though we had our suspicions," Hawk said, frowning at himself while trying to recall as many details as he could, "it seems that the reason Falco and Octavia are after these Talismans so badly is because it relates to this Sovereign and Champion of Twilight along with this new power known as Kingdom Hearts."

"I remember," Spirit said, feeding his pet eagle, Freedom, a scrap of bacon, "Willow, Raven, Batgirl, and Phoebe all dreamed about the strange being calling itself Experiment 666 while bragging that it would destroy everything as we knew it by controlling the Heartless and the Nobody, whatever **that** is. And what made it troubling it that we knew that Kingdom Hearts is the target of the Experiment of the Beast that we've been warned about, but we have no idea what it is exactly or what it does."

"But odds are that these Talismans are linked to it somehow," General Hawk said, "And Wolverine and Fury from S.H.I.E.L.D. both reminded me that if Falco, Leomon, and Octavia are looking for the Talismans, then it's a safe bet that the Organization and the Hellfire Club - "

"…will be after them too, so we're pretty much on a race against time. Especially since the Thirteenth Order and the Inner Circle will probably want to harness the power of this Kingdom Hearts the same way Darkseid tried to harness the powers of the M'Kraan Crystal when he released the Phoenix Force," groaned Low Light, piecing it together and realizing that their battle had just become more and more complicated.

"But there's probably good news on that front as well," Blind Master said rationally, "Because if Falco and Octavia have no idea where the Talismans are, then neither should the Inner Circle and the Organization. Same applies to the identities of the Sovereign and the Champion, although Willow and the Charmed Ones warned me that the two may not necessarily be a person, but an object or an animal, such as how Dawn Summers was really the Key to open a demonic portal before Buffy saved her. Of course, in theory."

"Batman and Green Lantern thought so as well, but they also brought up the possibility that the Organization **does** know about where the Talismans are located and are just simply playing mind games with us to distract our attention from any other sinister side-plots they might have. And something tells us that Kingdom Hearts isn't the Organization's _only_ objective," Hawk groaned with fatigue, refilling his cup with B.A.'s blend for the third time (as addictive and wonderful as the chef's brew was, Hawk _still_ have trouble staying awake).

"What about the King that Octavia and that feathered bastard mentioned when they were fighting with Leomon?" Shipwreck asked as Jinx was trying to teach Justin and Pietro how to effectively thrust and guard with a sword for the umpteenth time, "Since those three used to be friends and partners, then it sorta makes sense that they're working for the same dead-beat, especially since we've known Leomon worked for some King since the battle at San Francisco."

"We thought of that," Hawk said, sipping the caustic liquid and welcoming the burning in his mouth, "If anything, Batman, Giles, and Hawkgirl believe that the same King that those three serve might be the same one who sent Pluto and gave the Misfits their Keyblades and powers. Of course, it's only a theory, mind you."

"What makes them say that?" blinked Shipwreck.

"Because of the small signs ever since the Heartless first appeared on this planet in the first place. Althea's scepter and Trinity's scanners have the symbol of a crown. Crown equals royalty, as if it was a King or a Queen. Second, the word 'Kingdom Hearts' or, as J'onn phrased it in another way, 'the King of all Hearts'. Another foreshadowing about some King; it's too freaky to be a mere coincidence. And third, these three are obviously fighting against the Organization and the Heartless, and from what we could piece together, Falco and Octavia have lost their friends and families to the Thirteenth Order and are loyal to this King. If they were sent to fight against the Heartless, then by logic, those orders must have come from their King, and as such, he's against the Organization as well. So if he's against the Organization, then weapons meant to fight against said organization and their Heartless associates must have also been sent by him via Pluto. Problem is, it doesn't tell us who this King is."

"And if the King is looking for the Sovereign and Champion to help them against the Thirteenth Order, then this Sovereign and Champion of Twilight must be enemies to the Organization and Heartless as well," Spirit guessed.

"Or it could be a neutral force that can be used for good or evil like the Phoenix Force," grimaced Low Light at the memory, "Think about it, the word 'twilight'. If the Sovereign and Champion are of that stuff, then it means it's not light, and it sure as hell isn't dark. If anything, it probably means it's in between a gray area if you can call it that."

"It does make sense," nodded Roadblock, "But this still keeps us pretty much in suspense. We have no proof and only mere speculation, and unless we find out more, we'll be arguing theories in frustration."

"There's a difference between the facts and a theory, General," Cover Girl added, "And the problem is, we don't have any more proof."

"There's also some additional hope, if we can call it that," the general added, "If you recall, when Blackheart tried to take Shipwreck's heart, he wasn't able to. Bumblebee and Robin from the Titans both figured that must because of how you were infected before with those strange pods and how the Misfits locked your hearts. Meaning that if your hearts and locked and that not even Blackheart is able to take them, then by the same token, neither should the Heartless."

"Which means we'll be able to strike those Hellfire Heartless rejects without fear," Shipwreck growled darkly, punching his fist into his palm.

"Don't be foolish or stupid, Hector…as hard as the concept is for you to grasp," Gabriel couldn't help but quip, "We're not invincible, and this doesn't mean that we should go charging blindly against any Heartless we face since the only things that can really hurt them are the Keyblades and magic from Pluto. It just means that we have a slight edge against the Heartless the Organization is sending against us."

"And Bree and Beach Head will be joining you as well," Hawk said with a painful grimace, "since the Misfits did lock their hearts during their time of infection, it should also mean that their immunity grants them a bit more of an advantage in battle."

Spirit gave the Joe superior a dry look as he commented, "I'm surprised you were willing to order them to join us in battle, especially since Bree is probably still grieving over the loss of Edwin."

"Actually…they **volunteered**, especially since I was discussing this with Beach Head, and Bree, to my displeasure, happened to be eavesdropping when dropping off the medical reports from Doc about the infirmary status with the other Joes who got injured at Blackheart's invasion. Long story short, Wayne wants to keep updated since he is higher rank than you handlers, and as such, he will be able to keep more detailed reports of what happens. Well that, and saying something about with him there, the kids will definitely not screw up. Bree…"

Hawk sighed before he continued, rubbing his head.

"Bree was a different matter. Beach Head and I both did our best to dissuade her from going out on the field, especially since she's a medic and would be more useful here at the Pit. Not to mention that Edwin would never forgive himself or us if we let Bree go out and risk her life like that, especially since the Heartless are more lethal than Cobra. Bree wouldn't have it, and she made it clear that it would be her choice, and right now, her way of helping her deal with her grief is to stop the Heartless in any way she could out on the field, perhaps more so since she's now immune. And she has made it clear that she's not helpless. As such, she argued she could go out in battle rather than endanger a Joe who wasn't immune. And she additionally threatened to go over my head and go the General Flagg if I tried to stop her by giving her an order."

Hawk felt his headache returning, remembering that he and Beach Head had to argue with a furious and adamant Bree for over two hours.

"So in other words, you went for the path of least resistance," Spirit added dryly with a smile, obviously not the least bit surprised. Hawk nodded.

"I know. That's why we haven't said anything much and are more focused on finding ways to effectively deal against the Organization and their soldiers permanently. If Blackheart was that powerful in stealing hearts, imagine what other weapons and beings they have just in store for us. And it's not a pleasant thought; I'm already starting to get a lot of pressure from the Jugglers about this," General Hawk groaned.

"One question still remains in this whole lot," Roadblock pointed out as he nodded his head at the golden-furred hound who was squatting on the floor with the adults, panting and watching them earnestly, "Should we trust the dog Pluto or not? The Heartless attacks are getting stronger and more ruthless each day, and we can't keep treating Pluto like an enemy per se. After all the help he's given us so far to keep us safe and sound, we may continue to need the dog around. And Pluto's been nothing but an ally and a friend to the kids at best, so it wouldn't be fair to treat him hostilely without respect."

Hawk pondered it for a moment before he then turned to Pluto with an unreadable look.

"I guess it will be safe to say that you're not our enemy and that you sincerely do want to help us against the Heartless and the Thirteenth Order. However, just because you're helping us doesn't mean that I fully trust you. I'll be keeping my eye on you, mutt, so don't forget that. But for now…you're _accepted_."

Pluto barked in an easy-going manner, all right with that decision. He was no fool in thinking that the Joe general needed to be cautious and that he still needed to earn his trust along with several of the other heroes who were still suspicious of him. But for now, Pluto could live with it.

"If only we had more information," sighed Low Light, "And who knows what the Organization and the Inner Circle will be plotting next now that they can't get to us? What if they go after the X-Men or the Justice League? With Lex Luthor in the Inner Circle, that last candidate is **definitely** a given."

"And not only that is a safe bet, but I'm beginning to get the feeling that there may be other enemies in this whole mess that we haven't accounted for yet," Roadblock frowned, rhyming unconsciously, "Cobra and the Hellions haven't been around, and neither has H.A.T.E. or the Friends of Humanity been coming down. And I wouldn't put past our enemies to screw around with fate, and cause us future trouble by using our other foes to manipulate."

"As much as I'd wish you'd cease with the verse, Marvin," Blind Master said with a tired look of exasperation, "they both have a point, General Hawk. This war isn't focused solely on us, and if these Heartless are now ordered to drain hearts, it would be a huge loss on our side if our friends in the League or the Titans or the X-Men got their hearts stolen. And we don't even know what the Hellfire Club would even do with hearts in the first place. In short, General, it would help us a lot for the future battles is - "

But the ninja's discussion was immediately cut short by Mainframe's urgent voice cutting in strongly through General Hawk, the Misfits, and the handlers' communicators.

"General Hawk, Misfits! Come in! We have a Heartless alert! **_Repeat: we have a Heartless alert!_**"

That got everyone's attention as the Misfits automatically dropped what they were doing during their training with Jinx and Strom Shadow while Hawk got hold of the situation and relayed back to their Joe computer-wizard.

"Where, Mainframe?"

"Over at the Slayer Academy in London!" Blaine reported back in an urgent tone, "I got the distress call from Andrew Wells and Giles and Wood from the communicator we gave them a while back! The whole school's surrounded by soldiers, and from what I can tell from the satellite surveillance, they aren't associated with the Joes or from Cobra! **And here's the kicker: Slade and Marluxia from the Thirteenth Order are leading the attack!** They're over at the county right now! It just started a minute ago!"

"No…all those girls and kids," Cover Girl murmured, turning white in the face. And she knew that if the Thirteenth Order made an appearance, then the appearance of Heartless would be highly likely, thus needing the Misfits and their Keyblades.

"I already alerted Quentin and Jenny Calendar at the Ghostbusters about this! Unfortunately, most of the Ghostbuster team was sent to stop a group of ghost bandits from opening a portal to hell with a stolen diamond, so the Misfits will be getting a little short-staffed in doing damage-control! They need you to teleport to New York so that the Misfits and the Joes can give them a ride on the Mass Device to London!"

"The Misfits are suiting up as we speak, Sir," Wavedancer said, storming in the room and smartly saluting to her superior, already dressed in her fighting attire, "and Bree and Beach Head have relayed to us that they're on their way to fight and tend to the wounded. We're still learning and frankly, General, we're nowhere near as skilled as we could be, but we are better than the attack on the Pit two days. We're ready, Sir."

Hawk had to admit that though it wasn't exactly the situation he preferred, it was slightly better than he could have hoped considering that it had only been tow days. But with three thousand plus Slayers' hearts and lives on the line, they couldn't risk another screw-up and Hawk hoped that this could be enough.

General Hawk then turned to Althea with a steady and strong glare, hoping that she and the other Misfits and the Joes could handle this.

"Better prepare yourselves, Misfits," Hawk said with a combination of worry, dread, and authority, "because the war is now beyond the Pit and in the real world! Like I said before, everyone's lives are counting on you! Wavedancer, Joes…take everyone to the Ghostbuster headquarters and move out!"

---

**_Kawhoom!_**

Apparently, one of the Initiative soldiers was quite proficient at the missile launcher he was carrying, and what remained of one of the library archives of the boarding school was a gaping, charred hole, smoking from the numerous flames consuming the priceless and irreplaceable documents Giles used for the Slayers' references.

And that particular male wasn't the only one causing trouble. As a multitude of young girls charged out of the front doors, hopping mad and ready for payback, a throng of over one-hundred strapping men, dressed in Kevlar vests and bullet-proof helmets and wielding guns, rifles, and other semi-automatic weapons , stormed into the grassy knolls of the English countryside, surprisingly making past the magical barriers Willow and the Charmed Ones without even a flinch of pain. Apparently, these soldiers were magically shielded on their own.

"Help!" Andrew yelled over and over on his communicator as he ducked behind the trunk of a tree, avoiding the bullets and gunfire from the Initiative soldiers as they all stormed through the grounds of the Slayer Academy, "Hello, is anyone hearing me? Superman, Batman, X-Men, anyone! Help, help, help!"

"Bloody hell," Giles muttered as he managed to use a low-level protection spell with his magical skills (he was nowhere the level of Willow and the Halliwells though), shielding the windows and doors from being shot at by the Initiative's snipers, "Each and every time I think Andrew shows genuine potential at being my apprentice and a future Watcher, he manages to prove to me the difficulty of instructing him."

"He has a reason, Giles!" Robin Wood managed to say before letting loose with his arrows from his handheld crossbow, "Damn it! These guys are everywhere! You even know who these jackasses are? I don't even recall seeing any of these soldiers before!"

"They aren't affiliated with Cobra, of this I am certain, Robin," Giles said calmly as a good number of Slayer girls from all sides clashed together with the armed militia men, weapons and blades fighting valiantly against the guns and tasers, "And I do not recognize any of these men from any distinct group we have tangled before in the past!"

"Oh really? It fails to ring any bells, Ripper?" a voice drawled, and the bespectacled man's face froze as he, Andrew, and Wood turned to see an unwelcome sight of Slade standing side by side with one of Giles' most unpleasant nemeses…

"Hello, dear Rupert," Ethan Rayne smiled, drawling and clearly enjoying the one moment of surprised disgust on the elder Watcher's face. Giles managed to compose himself back to his stoic demeanor as he replied back with a hint of bitterness.

"Slade!" Wood exclaimed.

"Ethan," Giles managed to coldly quip as he then aimed with his crossbow, loaded with a new shaft, "I daresay that it **isn't** a pleasure to see you again."

He fired, but with a wave of his hand, Ethan deflected the shaft with magic and sent it flying back to them, embedding to a nearby tree.

"What the bloody hell?" Giles gasped.

"It's a bit funny to see how well a little prison time and experimentation, laced with the burning desire of revenge I might add, can improve one's skills quite dramatically, Ripper," bragged Ethan before he then calmly spoke to no one in particular.

"It is time, Marluxia…"

And within moments, twenty hulking behemoths of Hellfire Heartless teleported on the grassy fields and grounds of the Slayer Academy, roaring with glee. The Slayers, already out in the open, had barely much of a chance. Some scattered out of reach, others fought back. Yet many screamed as their hearts were stolen, the skies now peppered with a noticeable amount of glowing heart crystals. No one, as they fought, noticed Falco and Octavia observing this clandestinely from a sheltered grove atop of a hill, making no movement to help or attack. They just waited and watched.

"Hellfire Heartless! Holy shit!" Wood exclaimed before he charged at Ethan, sword bared and now livid at how heartlessly Ethan was killing Slayers and sacrificing them to those experiments, "You traitor! You sided with the Heartless?"

"A man knows when to take the best opportunity for revenge and self-gain," Ethan drawled as he parried with his own sword, being more proficient than Wood realized, as Slade made his way towards Giles.

"Have no fear cause the cavalry's here!" Roadblock roared from the sidelines, and before the Initiative knew it, the Joes along with the Misfits, Quentin Blud, and the Slayers who joined the Ghostbusters (composed of Faith, Kennedy, Dana, Rona, Vi, Chao-Ahn, Shannon, and Caridad) charged through with a renewed vigor.

The Initiative fired back wholeheartedly, but thankfully, the Joes handled them along with Quentin while the Misfits and Slayers teamed up to stop the Hellfire Heartless from taking any more girls' hearts. Bree was busy as she rushed towards a fallen Slayer with a bullet to the stomach when she was violently tackled by five Initiative soldiers.

"Get off me, creeps!" the blond medic shouted as she punched one man in the face, splitting his lip, while kneeing another in the crotch before the leader of the group aimed his machine gun at Bree's heart while the other two pinned the Joe down to the dirt.

"Remember Rayne's orders! The Slayer freaks leave to the Heartless to get! But this Joe, we can certainly say she's expendable! Go join the rest of the freak lovers," the man growled as he was about to fire, but then Quentin leapt into the fray, delivering a few swift kicks and punches to the two men pinning Bree down before knocking the machine gun out of the antagonist's hands before he could fire. Bree freed herself from the unconscious solders' grips. The dhampir was fuming, livid; this Initiative soldier was no better than those criminals who raped innocent girls or murdered babies in front of their parents' eyes.

"Attacking an unarmed medic? And a human woman? How cowardly. You disgrace all the brave soldiers who died valiantly in wars to save a country of ungrateful punks like you from fighting _real_ battles," the Ghostbuster growled as he advanced towards the Initiative soldier who then pulled out a wicked Bowie knife from his belt.

"Die, vamp!" he snarled as he tried to stab Quentin, but that was the last straw as Quentin broke the youth's hand with a swift squeeze, knocking the knife to the ground, and then lifted the soldier by the front of his uniform, his eyes narrowed and his teeth bared. Quentin made his message clear before delivering a powerful palm strike to the opponent's chest.

He growled, "**Don't…call…me…a…vampire.**"

The poor sod went flying at least ten feet before he crashed to the ground, unconscious and probably with two ribs broken.

"Thank you, Quentin," Bree said as she tended to the injured Slayer on the ground. Quentin just grunted a response as he used his proton guns to snare a Heartless nearby, allowing Dragonfly to rend it in half with her Sonic Blade technique. Yet all the Misfits and the Slayers were noticing something off about these Heartless as Pietro and Kennedy took out one…

"Huh? A heart?" Kennedy gasped, her eyes wide, as the dying Heartless gurgled before it died, setting loose an unmistakable pink crystal into the air.

"What the heck?" Quicksilver blurted out in horror before he relayed to Daria, Quinn, and Brittany on his communicator while Kennedy let loose with several potions Phoebe created for her, causing several energy explosions as they shattered against the hides of two Hellfire Heartless painfully, "Trinity! What's going on? I thought you said none of these Hellfire Heartless were people that got infected!"

"They aren't!" the Triplets repeated back insistently.

"Then why the hell are they releasing hearts when I wasted one with my Keyblade?" demanded Pietro angrily, not letting this go and cursing himself if he really did kill an infected human, as he darted back and forth between multiple enemies with his super-speed, hitting and striking them with his Keyblade at every chance he got.

"Ars Arcanum!" yelled Blob as he darted back and forth with amazing speed and dexterity, encased in a faint yet apparent purple illumination, his Heavyweight Keyblade striking a lone Heartless left and right at a small group before it could attack another faction of Slayers that Chao-Ahn was assisting. To his surprise, the Hellfire Heartless shuddered and died easily at having its body hacked multiple times. Falling to its knees, the fiend evaporated in a cloud of black smoke and released an unmistakable large glowing crystal in the shape of a heart.

"Holy smokes! Quickie's right! They **_are_** releasing hearts!" Fred gulped, recalling this was exactly like when Toad and Xi accidentally killed Snake Eyes when Blackheart infected him.

"Trinity, there's no question! These Heartless **_must_** have been people who were infected by the spores!" yelled Xi as he rode on Bambi and guided the deer to appear and leap all throughout the school grounds, depositing his mana orbs for all his teammates to use in order to replenish their magic. The Delgado Triplets were still adamant.

"We're telling you, they're not!" they heatedly insisted before they leapt down in the middle of a group of three Hellfire Heartless and brought the apex of their Trichrona Keyblades together.

"All for one…!" began Daria.

"…and one for all!" finished Quinn and Brittany.

"TRINITY LIMIT!" they cried out, and like clockwork, the three experiments, howling, were consumed by an intense and blinding pink luminescence before the several flashes of time energy swirled around and blasted them all into dust and ashes, but by doing so, to everyone's further confusion, caused the black-skinned abominations to release three separate heart crystals.

Low Light managed to shoot a Heartless in the eye with his sniper gun while Cover Girl let loose with her rocket launcher, asking with dire urgency, "Trinity, any chance your scanners are wrong?"

"No, they aren't!" Quinn heatedly retorted as she leapt up and hacked off a Heartless' arm right before it could gain a chance to steal one girl's heart when it snared the Slayer with its claws, setting the fighter free, "We checked our scanners and recalibrated them three times after we rebuilt them! They're working! And the chances that all three of our scanners are haywire and on the fritz in the same way at the same time is a little bit impossible!"

"Says the little mad scientists-in-training who were stupid enough to take apart their scanners in the first place…" grumbled Althea, riding on Dumbo's back and the two of them delivering water attacks all throughout the countryside, "Aquara Water Dragon!"

A small group of Heartless roared with cheated fury as the shimmering, clear river of a roaring, horned serpent struck all of them and swept them away from the quaint yet damaged boarding school. Dumbo then added his contribution, hooting loudly like a foghorn through his nose before blowing down a cascade of freezing water from his trunk.

Meanwhile, Wood managed to effectively deliver a couple of good kicks before knocking the sword out of Ethan's hands, sending it far from the Initiative superior's hands. Quivering, Ethan dropped and fell to his knees, begging like a true coward with his hands clasped in front of him.

"I surrender!" he cried, sniveling, "Don't hurt me, just don't hurt me!"

Robin scoffed as he hefted his sword, growling, "Like I'm going to ignore the fact that you murdered all those Slayer girls, you asshole!"

It was then that Ethan Rayne's terrified and spineless begging ceased, the cockeyed Englishman dropping the shtick instantly.

"You're right," agreed Ethan smugly, and at first, Wood was taken aback at the answer until the treacherous Englishman swiftly took out a hidden nine millimeter gun that was tucked away safely behind his back and fired a shot, dead center in the man's chest. The move was so surprising, the Watcher didn't have time to react as the bullet entered into his heart, and Wood crumpled to the ground, gasping for air as Ethan rose from his kneeling position.

"One thing dear Rupert should have mentioned to you, Robin," Ethan droned as he aimed at the center of Wood's forehead, intending to make sure the Watcher would stay down, "I _never_ fight fair…"

"Gun!" yelled Whitelighter from the sidelines, and instantly, the firearm in the leader's hands dematerialized and vanished, leaving him with nothing to shoot and sparing Wood's life. Faith was absolutely and murderously livid as she rushed at Ethan faster than the eye could blink, stake and fists ready, her teeth shining with spit and growls of pure rage emitting from her throat. Justin orbed next to the dying Wood before he held out a hand, remembering what Dragonfly had taught him.

"Bullet," the Misfit whispered, and the Misfit telekinetically orbed the lethal metal projectile out of Wood's body before he laid a glowing hand on the Watcher, healing him with his powers and sighing with relief. Wood would be all right.

Of course, the same couldn't really be said for Ethan as Faith was now killing mad. Emphasis on "killing". But thankfully, with a powerful wave of his scythe, Marluxia blasted Faith and sent her flying, only to come crashing against a tree, bruised but all right.

Giles was doing his best to stop Slade with his axe before the assassin simply broke Giles' leg with a well-aimed kick. The Watcher toppled to the ground as Slade advanced to finish Giles off.

"Get away from him!" yelled Andrew as he tried to bring the butt of his staff smartly at the back of Slade's head, rushing from behind the White Knight of the Hellfire Club. Though such an attack should be all rights give a normal man a concussion, Slade was no mere man…and a deadly assassin. With barely any effort, Slade easily blocked the staff and caught it deftly in his hands before he wrenched it from the blond teen's hands, tossing it away.

"You pathetic nerd! Get away from him! He'll kill you!" Dana yelled as she rushed to the wounded Giles' side protectively.

"I'll give you a chance to run for your life," Slade said simply, standing still and idly clicking his heels together, his hands behind his back in a casual demeanor of amusement. Though it was very, very tempting for Andrew, though he had no idea why, refused as he wordlessly raised his glovatrix in the air, ready to fire an octopus missile. But before he could react, Slade was instantly by Andrew's side, so fast that the Watcher-in-training barely had time to register that the masked assassin was there before Slade cruelly grabbed Andrew around the throat with one powerful hand, lifting the boy from the ground and dangling his feet.

"I gave you a chance," Slade sighed dramatically, as if saying this wouldn't be his fault. And with one deft twist of his wrist, Andrew's neck snapped, and the boy fell to the ground, dying and with a thin trickle of blood dripping from one mouth. It was clear that from his injury, Andrew would die in about a minute as spinal fluid leaked into his mouth, his nerves to his brain severed gruesomely.

Giles was shaking with grief, while Dana was now boiling with undeniable, pure, uncontrollable rage. Not even her hate at Walter Kindell for murdering her parents could have measured at this level, and the brown-haired shrieked with lividness as she rushed forward, knife and stake ready.

"**_DAMN YOU!_**" the Slayer roared as she tried to embed her wooden weapon into Slade's heart, but the assassin nimbly evaded it with a simple side-twist of his torso, and Dana, no matter how much she utilized her training from past Danger Room sessions at the Slayer Academy and the X-Men's mansion, was unable to fully kill him. Granted, due to her Slayer powers, she actually managed to get a few punches in and actually succeeded in breaking two of Slade's fingers with a powerful roundhouse kick. She was even able to cause a slight tear in Slade's uniform where her knife narrowly whizzed by. Yet Slade was proficiently more agile and fluid as he skillfully evaded Dana's attempts to pummel him, not even bothering to retaliate back as he then decided to toy around with the Slayer a bit.

"Why, whatever is the matter, my dear?" Slade commented offhandedly, bored, as he simply turned his head to the side to avoid Dana's foot, "Are you merely upset that I killed your precious Watcher-in-training before you could?"

"Shut up!" Dana screamed as the Slayer tried to slash upwards with her blade while trying to trip the assassin with a sweep kick, hoping that one of the two attacks would connect. Unfortunately, Slade merely just jumped over Dana's leg before he karate-chopped the knife out of the girl's hands, breaking her arm in the process. Dana, despite her injury, then tried to ram her left, unbroken elbow into Slade's sternum, but missed as Slade jumped back.

"You blame yourself, don't you, Slayer?" Slade smirked, clearly having much fun in tormenting Dana, "Your past makes it easier to push him away and use as an excuse to treat him harshly and insult him, but you could never freely admit to yourself or to your Andrew that you actually have gratitude for him because he rescued you from a life in an asylum? And now you simply fear that you can never tell him that you do have more respect for Mr. Wells as a friend than he ever knew. Too bad he had to die never knowing - "

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Dana shrieked as she let loose a roundhouse kick at Slade's head in which the masked man easily avoided.

"Tink, help Andrew! Genie, stop Slade, yo!" Toad cried, and the fairy known as Tinkerbell touched Andrew's cold forehead gently, bathing his with yellow dust and saving him before he slipped off the knife's edge of life and death, his snapped spinal cord healing within moments.

"Ergh…" groaned Andrew, now fully healed as Giles helped Andrew up.

"I could hardly say I'm terrified," scoffed Slade as he flung several razor-sharp knives at both Toad, Dana and Genie, commenting to the Disney Summon, "If I recall, by your rules, a genie cannot kill."

Genie just gave Slade a dry look before he clicked his fingers, snapping them together, and Slade's eye slightly widened in surprise as the ground he was standing on turned to quicksand, ready to swallow him up whole and no amount of struggling would free him as he sank lower and lower. And since he was unable to move, it allowed Toad to rush forward with a giant toss of Thundaga magic.

"No, I can't. But that doesn't mean I can't make things difficult for you," Genie drawled before Marluxia then used his magic to block Toad's lightning before pulling his ally free from the ground.

Marluxia grinned as he turned to Slade who adroitly yet lazily leapt backwards towards him until he was side by side with the scythe-wielding black robed man. It was time.

"Shall I do the honors, Slade?" the man smiled maliciously as he idly flicked his long brown hair off his shoulders.

"By all means. I am curious to see how this shall turn out," Slade intoned in his stoic voice as Marluxia raised his flower scythe, the blade glowing with a faint pink shimmer. And before any of the mutants, humans, and Slayers could continue in their fight to protect the school, the clouds swirled and frothed overhead and darkened with the color gray and black like a whirlpool. A beam of light then flashed from the sky and cascaded downwards, striking the grassy soil in front of Althea and Dumbo. When the light faded, there, in the center of the upturned dirt and downtrodden flowers, was a man clad in black and on one knee, his back to the hydrokinetic, and the fighting almost came to a standstill as those nearby just stopped and stared at the stranger before them.

Wavedancer just remained numb as the tall figure then turned around, and the Misfits and their friends finally came face to face with the most dangerous opponent only a select few anywhere in all of existence could claim to have met in battle.

He was taller than an average human, certainly more than six feet tall, and was a beautiful human male, lean yet powerfully muscled with a face of an angel, heart-shaped with flawless skin and cold, green eyes. And what made him even odder in appearance was a set of black-feathered wings. He had a flowing mane of long hair that reached his waistline, flowing hypnotically like water. He was wearing a strange, long-sleeved tunic of pure black, velvety and shining like leather, with a blood-red trim, and the bottom portion of the tunic billowed out like a large skirt, held at his hips with small belt buckle. He additionally wore leather boots, laced with strips of metal and brown leather along with black leggings and gloves. In addition, polished, steel shoulder pads adored his uniform as part of his armor, and in his left hand was a long Japanese katana that was longer that the combined height of two average human adults. Wavedancer's eyes widened as she recognized the sword design, knowing they were only seen in legends of feudal Japan but no blacksmith had ever dared to carry on the work of the famous blacksmith, Goro Nyudo. The sword in the man's hands was a Masamune, a holy weapon of great virtue and destruction. The stranger's chest was slightly exposed partially in his upper torso, showing the perfect musculature until Wavedancer's breath stopped in her throat when she saw the emblem of the Heartless stamped on his body.

He was a Heartless. And from what she could sense with her ninja training and her senses screaming warnings of Defcon-5 levels, this was beyond anything mere like the Hellfire Heartless. If anything, this was practically a god.

"A Heartless!" gasped Vi as she readied her knife in front of her.

"Yow, bad vibe, yo," blinked Toad, "All we need to make this even more creepy is some orchestral music of doom in the background."

Quentin's eyes widened as he cursed under his breath. Being a dhampir meant that he had acute sense that were well beyond any human ability, and right now, all six of them were practically screaming to get as far away from the One-Winged Angel. **NOW.**

"SHIT!" the Ghostbuster elder roared before he yelled urgently at Wavedancer, "KID, GET AWAY FROM HIM! THAT'S NOT A NORMAL HEARTLESS!"

But it was too late. There was a spark of jest in the angel's cold green eyes as he raised a hand, and Dumbo screamed as he was sent hurtling backwards, away from his ally and charge, a dark energy ball striking the elephant head-on before any of them could react. As the flying elephant crashed against the wall of the Slayer Academy, leaving a cracked impression in the rock and sliding down, bleeding and wailing, the man turned his eyes to Wavedancer alone.

"Show me your strength," he said in a voice that was quite refined, deep, almost sophisticated, and cold as steel, as if the very words of his voice were laced with omnipotent and infinite might. And for some unknown reason, the voice seemed to resonate within her very soul, turning it to ice. And before Wavedancer could make a move, a wall of shimmering and pulsating black aura surrounded both herself and the strange angel, swirling around them in a ring.

"No! Stay the hell away from her! Al, get outta there!" yelled Shipwreck as he and Giles managed to halt a stray Heartless from attacking another faction of girls from behind as the Slayers stood at a safe distance and fired with fire arrows with various weapons. But like clockwork, the mass completely covered the two in a swirling orb of powerful energy, almost demonic, with the center of the sphere a fireworks of unholy colors of orange, red, and white, a powerful epicenter that caused the prison to rise quickly up in the air before it hovered in the sky, out of reach beyond anyone's grasp.

"Wavedancer's in there! She's trapped with that guy!" Rona cried as she looked up from stabbing one Heartless in the head with her wooden stake.

"Genie, get her outta there, yo! Please!" Toad begged, but as Genie rushed upwards towards the field of black and plunged into the dark matter, he was astounded to feel himself go through and come out of the other side as if nothing was there in front of him. Confused but determined, the blue wish-master then snapped his fingers and magically changed himself to be wearing a yellow diver's suit and scuba-diving equipment, complete with flippers and an oxygen tank, before he dived into the black sphere again, intending to stay there as long as necessary until he got back Althea. But to his confusion, after several tense seconds, the bearded spirit was flung violently out of the energy whirlpool and crashed to the ground, breaking his goggles and bending the canister lashed on his back upon impact.

"Owwww…" Genie groaned before he managed to weakly raise his head out of the dirt and reported, "Can't find her or that angel-guy, Todd. Whatever that thing is, I can't reach her and not even my magic can penetrate it. Owwww…but man, does that eddy pack a wallop!"

"That's because it's a vortex of energy!" Quinn groaned as she scanned it, "And the energy readings are…wow, that's the first time I see a screen reading displaying the infinity symbol as a measurement. Yeeesh, this isn't good! Althea's in big trouble!"

In the interim, Wavedancer was wildly looking for a way out, feeling herself being pressed around by all sides and wading through a dim, shadowy and endless room of no walls. It was like being trapped in a chasm of absolute emptiness, as if no matter which direction you ran to, it would always feel as if you hadn't moved anywhere and were hopelessly lost in a maze of madness. Wavedancer focused on finding her _chi_ and forced herself to remain calm, remembering her training. There had to be a way out, there just had to!

Sephiroth watched her from the shadows, a frown creasing his perfect face as he hovered above, watching the Misfit leader desperately seeking refuge or an exit like a cornered mouse. This was hardly pleasing to him as he telepathically sent a message back to the leader of the Thirteenth Order, as dissatisfied with this task at hand like a spoiled child would be at asking to give up a moment of playtime to do a disgusting chore.

_You expect me to waste my time on killing this weakling? Even my past foes have given me a more fitting challenge than she ever could, and she is inferior, nothing like the Light that had plagued me for so long in the past. There would hardly be any point in breaking my blade against her flesh and blood._

The Superior's voice then rang back immediately, this time as a cold order, as if he would not take any foolish and that this assignment would be done without question and to his full expectations.

_She is more dangerous than you think, Sephiroth, and you do best to remember that you take your orders from us since you were blessed with the powers of darkness that dwarf the powers given to you by your Mother. Had it not been for us, you would have never regained your life to take vengeance on those who destroyed you the first time, so do what we have sent you achieve, without question. Remember our deal in the past, Sephiroth: your servitude in return for your resurrection in the darkness and helping you reclaim the legacy of Jenova. Once she and the other heroes are out of the way and once the Gathering has been completed, you are free to use this planet as your vessel to become a God and a new testament to your Mother's glory. To make it easy, you are free to do whatever you like to Wavedancer, but kill her. **Now.**_

The silver haired man's frown slightly intensified. He absolutely hated being reminded of that and following orders and being in debt to the Thirteenth Order left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth, but still, to help create a new utopia, one that would proudly declare him king of his Mother's blessings and her progeny…

Wavedancer whirled around, grabbing the knife in her boot (though she knew it was less advantageous than a full katana blade) as the silver-mane and lone black wings appeared in her vision, surprisingly making the enemy Heartless in front of her fully visible despite the murkiness and lack of light all around.

The man smiled, his lips barely moving as he rested his hand on the handle of his Masamune sword, saying in a refined voice of reverberating, infinite power of worlds lost and conquered.

"Only death awaits you, little girl," he said simply, "Shall I give you despair?"

Knowing that if she gave in to her fear, it would mean losing this battle permanently, Althea still managed to surprise herself as he mouth thought quicker than her brain, snapping the ninja-in-training to attention.

"'_Little girl_' my ass, pretty boy," she drawled in a mocking manner as Sephiroth charged.

She then instantly regretting saying that as the One-Winged Angel casually brushed his sword across her back, teleporting in a blink of an eye and setting her whole body in extreme, convulsing forms of the purest versions of pain with one single swipe. As the blood poured down her rear and legs, Althea screamed, falling to her knees…

---

Meanwhile, in the distance, hiding from view of the others engaged in the battle with the Hellfire Heartless, one lone figure was witnessing the Triplets and Toad doing their best to find their way through the portal in the sky with something akin to a mixture of shock and furious helplessness.

"By the Great Beast…" cursed Leomon as his mind frantically rushed through the options he had. He could try going through the sealed area himself, but that had no guarantee and each second he hesitated would bring Althea in further danger. And even if he did manage to work his way through and get to Althea in time, he wouldn't have a chance against Sephiroth so as a result, both their lives would be forfeit. And as much as Leomon wanted to help, he couldn't sacrifice his life, not when he still needed to follow his orders to find and help the Sovereign and Champion. And if he grabbed the girl and helped her escape, Sephiroth would simply pursue after them or come after the Slayers and the other Misfits himself (if he didn't get attacked by said heroes on sight), obviously under orders by the Organization to kill as many of the heroes as possible. And since he was barring Wavedancer away from the others, his orders from the Superior must have to solely target the girl first and dispose of her quickly.

And judging by his strength and power, Wavedancer wouldn't stand a chance of any more than several seconds in direct combat with the One-Winged Angel.

Leomon then took the only probable risk he could take that could give Wavedancer even a glimmer of hope. The tawny, yellow-furred lion then knelt down on one knee, unsheathing his sword and embedding the tip of his bronze weapon into the dirt while grasping the hilt in his clasped hands in prayer, incanting all his magic and strength towards the black mass in the sky.

"_In the name of the Elementa Trinity…_" incanted Leomon softly, his deep voice growling and laced with fear and hope, "_In the name of the King, in the name of the Gaia Kingdom…I give my strength and my power to help balance the Darkness with the Light…_"

Instantly, Leomon was bathed with a brown, earthly tone of ember, the Digimon still praying indiscernible mutterings under his breath, eyes closed, and doing the best his could in his situation.

---

At the same moment, back at the Pit of G.I. Joe, in the living room of the Misfit Manor…

Pluto woke up with a startled jerk of pain, his eyes wide and his sides heaving, when he heard Althea's cry of pain, agonizing and long. Even in his state of dreaming and current location away from the fight, Pluto could feel Wavedancer's turmoil and soul. And he also knew instinctively why, shivering and whimpering.

That aura of darkness, of death and despair. The essence of Meteor and Black Materia.

The One-Winged Angel.

Piteously, Pluto whimpered and cried to himself, staring out the window until he then knew what he had to do, and despite the risk, the canine would rather take the chance, not only for Althea and the Misfits, but for all life on Earth in general. For one spectacular moment, Pluto's eyes began to shine a bright white luminescence, pure and as bright as a star before a similar translucent sphere of white aura began to form over his chest area, right where his heart would have been positioned. With a soft noise, a small, glowing white sphere emerged from his fur and flesh, phasing through, before it hovered before the dog, levitating softly and glowing in a cyclic rhythm of intensity. Slowly, Pluto's eyes dimmed back to their normal black pupils and the sphere dropped to the floor, clattering like a glass marble before rolling to a stop in front of Pluto's paws. Though solid and substantial, the sphere was obviously made of some sort of essence, swirling and deceptively appearing useless, about the size of a golf-ball.

Without hesitation, Pluto picked up the orb gently in his mouth, taking care to not break it, rolling the orb gently between the roof of his mouth and his tongue. Pluto nodded before he used his magical abilities and vanished in thin air, walking solemnly to where the battle was taking place.

---

_Pathetic_, Sephiroth murmured to himself as he watched the girl go down after his most easy-going and weakest flick of his sword. Had he simply used a bit more strength, he could have cleanly decapitated the ninja and sliced her in half, down to her very spine. But for now, she was merely close to passing out from a mere flesh wound that ran diagonally across her shoulder blades, lacerating through her uniform.

Already, this would bore him, but he decided to see for himself why exactly the Superior of Organization Thirteen found her to be a threat.

"On your knees, girl," sneered Sephiroth as he slowly and haughtily ambled towards her, clearly enjoying this cat-and-mouse game immensely, "I want you to beg for your life."

"Go…to…hell…" panted Wavedancer as she grimly picked herself off the cold ground with one good arm, the knife still in her hand. Remembering her training since childhood, the raven-haired ninja decided to buy herself some time as she dashed forward, away from Sephiroth and buying herself from breathing room and distance. If she needed any advantage to help survive through this, it would be now.

The One-Winged Angel simple teleported in a haze, not even needing an entire second to reappear in the fabric of space and time before he teleported at the girl's blind spot as she approached in front and dashed forward, his blade of cold metal invisible to the human eye as it cut through the air without a sound. Thankfully, Althea's ninja reflexes and training was enough to help her adroitly avoid the swipe as she ducked her body into a roll, despite causing the laceration in her back to open up even more, stinging enough to cause the Misfit to hiss. With the sword passing over her body, Wavedancer then pounded one palm flat against the ground and summoned a swirling and unstoppable force of water.

"Aquara Water Dragon!" she cried out, and with a deafening bellow of something angry and furious, the whirlwind of azure liquid converged into a single, powerful, unstoppable current in the shape of a snarling dragon before it thundered and boomed towards the Heartless. Hardly worried at best, the swordsman teleported out of the way and positioned himself at Wavedancer's back, intending to stab her, but to his slight surprise, as if sensing his soul, the water dragon simply coiled backwards and headed directly for him, as if having a homing ability. And being hit by a huge magical torrent of water would not be a pleasant experience. And unlike anything solid, his Masamune couldn't effectively cut through water.

The Heartless angel then teleported quite a few times over and over the field, with Althea, her matted hair drooping over her eyes, doing her best to will her magic to swirl around her protectively while trying to encase Sephiroth. In the end, the dragon then managed to cut off the man's path before it literally entombed the warrior within a pillar of water, taking all of Wavedancer's strength to maintain a hold around the enemy and trying to drown him.

"Gotcha…" muttered the mutant teen, but then to her surprise, Sephiroth actually smirked as he then raised a hand, still trapped within a pressurized cell of rippling liquid, not showing even the slightest bother. At first, Wavedancer was confused until she then noticed that the air around her was starting to feel humid with heated moisture and to her fear, the elements of Aquara she had summoned was starting to steam and hiss as if something powerful was building up…

**Run. _Now_**

That was the only two words that had time to flash in the hydrokinetic's mind before she immediately took heel and _sprinted_, her lungs immediately pounding against her ribcage and her knees jarring a bit from the impact as she desperately did her best to get away. Which was very, very fortunate as the world behind her exploded in a fiery nova of hurt and searing heat, actually managing to char the back of her uniform and singe her hair a bit.

Had she not the foresight to move, Wavedancer would have been incinerated. And she crashed face-first to the hard, cold floor as the water dragon holding Sephiroth prisoner wailed before evaporating underneath the four pillars of flame and fire that were in temperatures of the hundreds. Celsius. Apparently, Sephiroth was a true master at magical attacks, ones that made Wavedancer's gift from Pluto mere child's play.

Sephiroth calmly brushed aside the droplets of water from his dry uniform, the beads of liquid still annoyingly sticking to her shoulder guards. Still, he was beginning to find some slight amusement in all this; the look of horrified realization on the girl's face alone before she dashed for her life was priceless, almost making this charade worth it.

Almost.

"This planet shall be my vessel, little Wavedancer," Sephiroth intoned smugly, as if addressing someone beneath him, one corner of his mouth ever so slightly turned upwards, "And you have no place in the grace and presence of my Mother."

And with that, as the final blow, Sephiroth rushed forward and did a series of attacks with his sword as quick as a flash of lightning, his watered, slim blade delivering a multitude of lashes and invisible swipes in a matter of only a fraction of a second. The air around them turned still, as if still in the presence of Death. Althea couldn't even have time to turn from her position on the ground as the Heartless came bearing down…

_Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!_

Sephiroth didn't bother turning his head at the sound of the girl's body slumping to the floor. The outcome would be the same and he brought his sword to his side, confident that he didn't need it anymore. No one could survive an Omnislash attack with his Masamune. Which is why he was instantly surprised when he sensed Wavedancer spring towards him, her battle-_ki_ hidden from his sight (due to her ninja training), ready to embed her knife right between his shoulder blades. She waited until he sheathed his sword before she could make her move. And because his blade was so long and the mutant was in such close quarters along with being able to take him by surprise, he didn't have much time to draw out his blade again.

But he wasn't the least bit in danger. Wavedancer thrust the blade of her knife hard at his back, but at the last instant, Sephiroth simply turned his body ever so slightly and simply dodged the knife before he grabbed the adolescent's arm as it passed by with one gloved hand, his movements practiced, fluid, and certainly trained enough to even defeat Storm Shadow and Blind Master and Wolverine all at once in close combat. Sephiroth gave a deft twist, and Althea yelped as there was a soft snap, the pain in her entire appendage now on fire as her forearm had a compound fracture. In agony, Wavedancer dropped the knife and the man brutally kicked it away before attempting to deliver his knee into Althea's stomach. But the ninja-in-training then blocked Sephiroth's knee with hers, balancing on one leg, and despite the pain, managed to deliver a palm strike hard on the Heartless' wrist to force him to release his grip on her arm. Feeling a bit irritated, Sephiroth merely allowed himself to be amused as he let her go and effortlessly evaded the numerous punches and kicks the girl kept trying to deliver, her movements quick. Just not quick enough. And Sephiroth was starting to grow tired of this.

Althea snarled as she let loose a flying scissor-kick, trying to deliver a good downwards head-kick and instead, slid effortlessly on the floor, with Sephiroth merely levitating in a bored manner. Wavedancer then went for the steel shuriken in her belt before the One-Winged Angel then grabbed her by the throat with one hand and hefted the girl as if she was a feather-weight, squeezing slowly and trying to strangle her exactly like Blackheart. The mutant then summoned her scepter, attempting to blast him, but annoyed, Sephiroth swatted it out of her hands and tossed it aside, leaving it to clatter far away. Now the Misfit was weaponless and to make sure she wouldn't put much of a fight, Sephiroth decided to make her suffer instead of killing her outright and sucked punched her hand in the stomach, with all of his fingers outstretched. Althea screamed in pain at the fire in her abdomen and as the man buried his digits and dug under the skin before he ceased and withdrew from Wavedancer's stomach, his glove slightly bloody. Althea just bit back a whimper as a trickle of blood escaped out of the corner of her mouth. And from what Sephiroth could see now upon closer inspection, her entire body was covered with deep lacerations from his Masamune when he delivered and executed his masterful sword attack. But he was puzzled. Such a thing should have killed her. How in the name of Jenova did the girl survive?

It was then that he could see it, sense his fingers starting to smoke and burn from prolonged contact with the mutant's body. Althea was completely encased with a brown aura, a protective spell of powerful magic of the earth kingdom. It was what softened the damage done to Althea by Sephiroth's sword, so that the damage would be lessened enough, but not entirely, to help Wavedancer survive.

There was no question about it. Someone or something outside this prison was protecting the girl with magic. But of course…

"I see…" Sephiroth said emotionlessly, stonily, as he then grabbed Althea by the collar of her shirt and sneered, "Then perhaps I should just keep you alive for now…just long enough for me to destroy your pitiful friends and family outside at the Slayer Academy. Allow me the pleasure of taking away what you most cherish."

"No…" Althea protested weakly as she tried to struggle despite Sephiroth's grip, but the man just tightened his fingers around the mutant's throat before his entire body began to glow a black luster and he summoned a small window for her to watch the scene of the Slayer Academy and its defenders down below.

"Beyond this barrier lies the ultimate destructive magic…Meteor," Sephiroth chuckled, as if he knew there was no possible way for Althea to fight back and that she was doomed to helplessly watch the projectiles from space rain down and set of a series of explosions upon the entire country of England that could very well dwarf the intensity of a nuclear war…

---

On the battlefield, the other Misfits were rushing up to Toad and Trinity as the four youths were doing their best to find a way to break into the swirling mass of dark force, not that they could actually find a way with their scanners or magic.

"Thundaga Blitzclap Pressure!" Toad yelled, leaning back before hurling an underhanded lob of lightning and thunder energy directly at the impenetrable dimensional cell, only having it strike the mass with a deafening explosion before hissing and fading away, not even leaving any indication that Todd's attack inflicted any damage.

"We just finished destroying all of the Hellfire Heartless!" Scarlet Witch breathed heavily, "And the other Joes along with Quentin and the Slayers are helping tend to the injured girls from the school! Bree says it's a bit big since this group is over three thousand, but the Joes told us to focus here and leave the clean-up to them!"

"But there's bad news! Wood spoke with me before I got here! Some of the Slayers got their hearts stolen from them by the Heartless! A good number of girls have gone missing! They were taken just like the Joes were when Blackheart attacked!" Dragonfly choked, her heart pounding.

"We can't worry about that now, Lina!" Pietro snapped a bit thoughtlessly, "Trinity, can't we get in? Isn't there any way through you can find? Al's trapped in there with that angel-psycho and she can't face him alone!"

It was then that the sounds of thunder and something gigantic and destructive was ripping the very skies above in half, and Slade, Marluxia, and Ethan Rayne just simply smiled, exuberant at last, as Marluxia raised his hands and caused all the Initiative soldiers, even the ones unconscious or taken prisoner by the Slayers, to teleport in bouts of dark smoke and pink flower petals.

"Farewell…" the assassin of the Organization said simply as he disappeared along with his comrades.

"Damn it, they got away!" Beach Head cursed.

"We have another problem!" cried Shannon as she pointed at the sky, "Look! Meteor shower! And they're headed this way!"

Sure enough, the heaven and clouds above parted and thinned out, disappearing upon the extreme heat from above as actual meteors and asteroids of black rock, many, _many_ times larger than the ones Willow even could remotely summon, were converging towards the Slayer Academy. And it was an entire siege of them, so much which not only the entire countryside would be demolished and wiped out, but that the city of London and perhaps the country on a whole would be forced to suffer the effects.

"And they have the same energy signature as that Heartless angel-guy that Al's facing!" Daria exclaimed, her face white. Now this was a bind; they couldn't possibly think of a way to rescue Althea and deflect all the meteors at once. None of the Misfits were that powerful. Toad then grasped at straws as he took out his Amphibionian Keyblade, causing it to appear in a flurry of orange luminescence.

"We can try the Keyblades, yo!" Todd said, pointing it outwards, "Everybody, take 'em out!"

"Huh? Why?" Avalanche asked, blinking.

"Think about it, yo! They're the only things that were powerful enough to destroy Heartless and their attacks, right? Well, if we can focus and tap into it like before, we might be able to send the energy to ward them off, yo! C'mon, remember when we opened that barrier to save the others before Quickie and Wanda got their magic? Then maybe it'll work this time! Even Simba said that if there's a way, it's through the Keyblades!"

"Are you nuts? And yes, I'm still asking this even though I already know the answer!" snapped Quicksilver, "You have no guarantee that it'll work! Not even my wind magic is strong enough to protect a whole countryside, and you want us to just try a desperate and stupid idea of using the Keyblades and wishing it'll all turn out all right?"

"Well, he has a point! It's worked before when we were locked out of that barrier! Maybe we can create a new barrier or use our energy to deflect the meteors! And Simba seems to think it's worth a try! And he hasn't been wrong before!" Avalanche snapped back with samba, who was still beside his charge, nodding.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures!" the Triplets exclaimed as they brought out their Trichrona Keyblades with a flurry of pink.

"It's worth a try!" Blob insisted as he brought out his purple Heavyweight Keyblade, "Hey, it could be like those anime shows where all the good guys team up to perform some kind of miracle at the last second!"

"Blob, this is not TV! This is real life, as hard as it is for your brain to grasp that particular concept, **_this is insane_**! No, I take that back! It's more than insane! This is the cousin of insanity that crossbred in a threesome with stupidity and lack of foresight in the town of Nincompoops!" Pietro was practically shrieking and panicking, pulling his hair and nearly yanking it by the roots.

"Do _you_ have a **_better_** idea?" snapped Wanda as she summoned out her Vengeful Blaze Keyblade. That shut the Misfit speedster up as he realized that he didn't.

"OK, fine!" griped Quicksilver as he summoned out his Zephyr Keyblade, "but if we die, I'm never speaking to any of you again!"

No one decided it was worth mentioning the lack of logic in that statement.

With that, all of the Misfits out of desperation and despair drew out their Keyblades with a multitude of colorful luminescence, each one displaying the various powers and life forces of the Elementa Kingdoms. All of them stood in a circle, their blades pointing inwards, each of them with closed eyes and praying to whatever and whomever, hoping something, anything would jump start.

One word just loomed over all their minds, each and every one of the Misfits.

_Althea…_

---

"It's beautiful, isn't it, Wavedancer?" Sephiroth asked casually and rhetorically at the girl he still held around the neck in a death grip, dangling her feet above the floor, "To witness the events that will lead to my destiny to rule over every soul on this vessel…"

"Destiny…" choked Wavedancer, and the Heartless then at first was confused why she was even bothering to speak as he held her injured form.

"…Kingdom…"

Sephiroth then felt his blood stop and chill in his veins, cursing himself at not seeing it sooner as he turned his attention away from the window to the inevitable destruction below on the countryside only to come face to face with the head of Wavedancer's scepter pointing at his head. She had summoned it back in her possession somehow. Apparently, Leomon's advice was helpful in some regard.

"…HEARTLOCK REFORM!" she cried out, and there was a huge flash of light as Sephiroth let go of the girl inadvertently as Althea was sent flying back from the backlash of energy as the ten sigils and the three symbols of the crown, the Heartless, and the Nobody engulfed Sephiroth. Althea crashed hard on her back, cracking her head and seeing stars, but managing at least to hold on to her consciousness as the white pillar of light engulfed the swordsman.

**_KAWHOOOM!_**

Wavedancer gingerly picked herself back up, her vision clouded and hazy with pain, the sudden and unexpected coalition of illumination causing her to nearly go blind as she tried to readjust her eyesight back to the darkness, her head throbbing.

Did she win?

Sephiroth then answered back, now fully annoyed as he then waved a glowing hand, invoking a long yet devastating magical attack, his execution swift and majestically lethal. Only he could make an execution seem artistic.

"Descend…Heartless Angel," the man intoned coldly, a voice that was chillingly final, as if this was the finishing blow. And before the ninja-in-training could move, a halo of light appeared over her head before the mutant girl felt herself succumb to a short yet brutal sensation of pain and agony, as if her entire body was being ripped in half, from the tip of her head down to the tailbone of her rear end, her soul and life energy being sucked out. It was more painful than having ten Rogues from the X-Men touching her with her bare hands and absorbing her at once.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" screamed Wavedancer as she toppled to her side, the shield of Gaia around her cracking. Her hand shaking, she tried to reach for her scepter again, but Sephiroth, no longer in the mood for being made a fool of, stabbed her hand, the blade going right through her palm and grotesquely gouging it. Then Sephiroth brutally extracted out the katana before plunging it into Althea's shoulder, where her arm met her chest at the very junction and joint of cartilage.

Althea screamed again as Sephiroth violently flung her back with a brush of his hand, his front of his uniform slightly in tatters but hardly

"AAAH!" yelled Leomon, feeling himself being violently flung out of his trace and crashing on his back on the ground, panting and wracked with pain. He failed; that last attack completely severed the connection he managed to probe through the vortex and broke the protection aura of the Gaia Kingdom he cast on Wavedancer to give her a slim chance to survive.

Now she had absolutely no chance.

"No…help her…" Leomon gasped, coughing and nearly in slight spasms from being brutally thrown out of the battle.

Wavedancer gritted her teeth, her entire body bleeding and bruised and sore. This would be it. But then with a small flash, time literally stopped and Sephiroth was frozen for a precious minute or two before Althea then became aware of something next to her, calm and warm and radiating something peaceful.

Though she was delirious with pain and hopelessness, the teen almost could recognize the four legged animal next to her…

"Pluto…it hurts…" Wavedancer sobbed, her entire body feeling as if it was on fire. Pluto's eyes softened before he dropped his one gift the King had bequeathed him as one of the finals resorts he ever would have to make. The white orb dropped next to Althea's blood-strained body before he tenderly licked Althea's cheek as a final farewell and vanished into thin air. And like magic, the orb began to glow before it disappeared and released its soft caresses and healing protection upon Wavedancer's injured form. Althea just kept sobbing with pain as the magic seeped into her body and enveloped her in a cocoon of magic as the time freeze on Sephiroth began to wear off, the One-Winged Angel know making his way towards the killing blow, ready to stab her through the heart, Leomon's magic now gone.

"Perish…" growled Sephiroth as he raised his sword, the tip of his Masamune pointing downwards and ready to spear right through the army mutant's body.

_No…_

Wavedancer wept to herself as the memories of Snake Eyes and the other Joes dying from Blackheart's siege came to her current thought, the shame and the despair reminding her of why she couldn't stop, why she couldn't give up, and what it would mean for the Earth if she died.

_I can't give up…_

Images of the Misfits, the Joes, the X-Men, the Justice League, the Titans, the Slayers, and the Scoobies came rushing back to her heart like a dam that had burst, releasing all of its water like a torrential tsunami of emotion.

_I can't give up…_

They promised. They all promised.

_I **can't** give up!_

And as Sephiroth was ready to full impale Althea with his sword, second by second as the tip of his weapon was about to sink right between the teenager's shoulder blades, Althea managed to think what she imagined would be her dying epitaph.

**_Everyone, please! I can't do this alone!_**

---

"Althea!" cried out all the Misfits, their eyes still closed, feeling her cry and wishing everything that something, anything, could save her.

And then…the miracle happened as the gift in Althea's body, bequeathed by the dog, reacted and accepted the one prayer to help not only them but the entire planet, and it began to glow a pale green inside Althea's body as all eleven Keyblades began to glow their respective colors and each insignia of the Elementa Kingdoms began to shine on each respective Misfit's head…

"**_We're with you!_**"

---

With that, Wavedancer raised her scepter, her body moving at superhuman speed, right before the blade could impale her at her back.

_Clang!_

"What?" hissed Sephiroth as he was instantly amazed and outraged that his Masamune was blocked and now struggling to break through the staff in Althea's grip as the girl shakily stood up, despite how intently Sephiroth was trying to slice through the fragile staff in the Misfits' hands. The One-Winged Angel was beyond flummoxed; his blade was locked, and by all rights, that mere stick should have shattered if not been severed upon impact. But then he noticed that Wavedancer's glare of warrior's rage, her entire body glowing a white and pale-green aura, fluctuating between colors, that magical signature only related to…

"No…" he murmured to the closest thing to a gasp of awe and horror, as Sephiroth sensed the one protective magic known as Holy before Althea growled out the next sentence with surprising fury, summoning all the collective strengths of her friends within her.

"**_Get out of my face!_**" she yelled before she lined the staff horizontally across both of her palms and pushed back with all of her might, and with a startled yell of surprise, the silver-haired opponent felt himself being blasted back with the intensity of all ten elements blessed by the Misfits. Sephiroth was now stunned. He could sense it. Though he could not see it directly with his eyes, it was unmistakably there. There were now twelve presences in the chamber with him, all of them different and perhaps insignificant alone. But there were all gathered around the child, the girl named Althea, and each one was like a beacon of a specific power, a certain force of magic. And to his amazement, her forehead was now cycling along with the ten different sigils of the different kingdoms blessed to the Misfits. And her scepter was now glowing brighter than ever.

No. He will not let the mutant get the better of him.

Sephiroth began another incantation as he moved to his most powerful attack which would surely eliminate her, reciting, "Descend…"

But that was his worst and final mistake he could make, leaving himself exposed for a few precious seconds as Althea, despite her injuries and broken arm, charged, wielding and brandishing her staff like a blade, feeling as if everyone was gathered around her. And she could sense it, the astral projections, the souls, the hearts of all of them, charging alongside with their gifts from Pluto. Toad, Xi, Trinity, Avalanche, Scarlet Witch, Blob, Quicksilver, Dragonfly, and Whitelighter.

She wasn't alone. And all the Keyblades were with them.

"WE'LL DO THIS TOGETHER!" all the Misfits roared as one.

And before Sephiroth could finish his second word of the spell, Wavedancer rammed the head of her staff into his gut, and at once, before she fully brushed it across his gut in a fraction of a second, the power flowing into her channeled through the One-Winged Angel. Sephiroth's eyes widened.

By Jenova! It was like being hit with a group of different Keyblades at once!

And in reality, that was exactly what was happening as the other Misfits' astral projections leapt out of Althea's body and gruesomely and effectively drove their respective Keyblades and struck as hard as they could.

"Hiya!" the translucent form of Toad cried out as his Amphibionian Keyblade slashed across the Heartless' stomach.

"Hee-ya!" Xi yelled, rushing through and driving the head of his Rainforest Scale through his enemy.

"Leave…!" Daria began.

"Her…!" continued Quinn with the threat.

"Alone!" finished Brittany as all three of the ghostly forms of the Delgado Triplets brushed past, leaving their mark on the opponent, each one delivering a brutal and painful slice with their Trichorna.

"Take this!" Avalanche yelled as he drove his Steel Quartz home, whizzing by.

"Jerk!" Scarlet Witch snapped as she dashed by with her Vengeful Blaze.

"Ha ha! Loser!" laughed a rather annoying Quicksilver, the silver Zephyr dancing in his wake.

"Stop!" Dragonfly gasped as she zoomed by with her Icewing.

Blob, not one for words, merely grunted as he charged past, finishing it rather gracefully with the Heavyweight brought in front of him, like a true samurai, as he finished hitting Sephiroth.

"Go!" yelped Whitelighter as he came along the end of the group and struck before Wavedancer moved ahead, finishing her version of the Omnislash as the astral forms of the Misfits and their Keyblades faded.

Sephiroth remained still for several seconds before he then toppled to his knees, struck a fatal blow as there were now twelve separate slashes decorated across his chest and torso, cutting his to his very heart and soul, each laceration (except that three of them were pink) a different color representing the different elements of the Keyblades cutting deep into him. And this was much different than any attack he had ever endured before.

Althea's scepter? Not a problem.

One Keyblade? He could never be destroyed by something as mere as that.

Twelve different weapons, each representing the ten different elements of water, thunder, wood, fire, wind, earth, gravity, ice, time, and light, each one delivered in a simultaneous death blow?

Instant pawnage.

"No…" sputtered out the man in a death sigh. This planet, this world had fought back…and rejected him.

"It's over, Sephiroth," Althea shakily murmured, despite the fact that she was close to keeling over and passing out from the blood loss, "You've lost. You're nothing more than a memory now to this planet and to us."

"I will…" choked Sephiroth as he did his best to not show any signs of weakness in succumbing to the pain Wavedancer delivered on him, "…never be a memory."

"Famous last words…" growled Wavedancer as she then pointed her bloody, lacerated arm holding her staff at Sephiroth's back, then surprisingly incanting a modified version of the instrument's power with the Materia flowing in her body.

"Holy Kingdom Heartlock Reform!" she shouted, and the staff then flashed all ten sigils before, this time, Sephiroth was encased in a pure pillar of intense light, thoroughly consisting of Holy magic. The One-Winged Angel didn't cry, didn't even scream, not willing to give the mutant the satisfaction as he disintegrated and faded into nothingness. Althea just smiled before she lost consciousness and fainted, the barrier the Heartless trapped her in disappearing.

And outside the barrier…

"Look!" Caridad yelled as she pointed at the sky, the black meteors now fading as the entire atmosphere and heavens were glowing in a strange, pale-green color, "The meteors! They're disappearing and breaking apart!"

"Something's pushing them back!" Chao-Ahn cried in joy as the meteors faded, fully deflected and eliminated, erased from existence, as the Holy magic faded.

"Look!" gasped Spirit as everyone turned to see Wavedancer plummeting down from the sky, her body limp as Genie and Dumbo, now fully recovered, flew up and caught her before she could hit the ground, cushioning her fall and bringing her gently down for the other Misfits to care for her.

"Amazing…by the tail of the Tigershark…" Octavia murmured in a hushed whisper as she watched alongside Falco from a distance, thoroughly surprised and impressed. The blue-feathered avian just shrugged as he smoothed out the sleeve of his jacket, disappointed. None of the stolen hearts from the girls in today's battle were Talismans, at least from what they could observe from their sniper locations.

"Let's go. We're done here…" he muttered, and with that, they both left.

"By the Great Beast," cursed Leomon in awe and wonder as he watched from afar. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe it! Wavedancer killed Sephiroth. The girl killed the one opponent that only one lone warrior could have ever defeated and vanquished before in the past! There was absolutely no trace of the darkness and essence of the life force of the Organization's greatest, if not one of the greatest, Heartless warriors. Sephiroth was gone and completely cast out of this realm and the realms beyond, damned to a fate of nothingness, which in reality was actually worse than death and passing on.

Impossible.

But then again, she had help. Leomon was no fool in what assisted the ninja-leader of the Misfits as the energy and magical signature was unmistakable and too rare in all of the cosmos to ever be dismissed as pedestrian.

Holy Materia.

Someone, or something, gave the Misfits Holy Materia, the one weapon in all existence that could possibly stop Sephiroth and his Meteor attacks. Though the Misfits clearly accentuated the intensity by combining the powers of their eleven Keyblades (such a feat in itself should have been impossible since Materia has never been attempted to join with a Keyblade), it wouldn't have occurred if the one blessing of Materia never came to be in the first place.

But the question remained. Who gave them the Holy Materia in the first place?

Leomon, with hope, turned to the sky and sighed with extreme relief, knowing that the heroes would never have the foresight to know just how close they all came to complete annihilation here in London. The Digimon then whispered, "Your Majesty…thank you."

With that, Leomon summoned a dimensional rift and disappeared.

---

"Uuuuhhhhhhh…."

Wavedancer woke up to a world of pain, her body throbbing and feeling like she was used as a massive pincushion, her eyesight blurry with fatigue and not even an entire bottle of aspirin would relieve her from this headache she was feeling. Althea felt her words move through her dry throat as her vision cleared to reveal that she was in a very comfy yet unfamiliar infirmary, resting on a soft mattress with cool sheets. And gathered around her, with relieved and concerned expressions were her family and teammates, the Misfits.

"You're awake, yo!" Todd exclaimed happily at once while the Triplets and Xi squealed with delight and hugged Althea around the neck while she was doing her best to prop herself into a sitting position on the bed. Althea felt her airway being cut off from being inadvertently strangled as she then looked down on her body. No missing body parts so far, all limbs and fingers accounted for, thank goodness. But her shoulder and right hand of where Sephiroth stabbed her with his Masamune sword were bandaged (no bloodstains though) and she additionally had a bandage wrapped around her head.

"Ow…" she managed to groan as Daria, Brittany, and Quinn released their grips of iron on their eldest sister, as Xi just affectionately brushed back Althea's bangs from her forehead before he kissed it chastely, showing his emotion.

"How do you feel?" Lina asked hesitantly, biting her lip and bracing herself for the worst.

Althea gave the medic-in-training a dry and dirty look, despite the aching, and retorted, "You know those headaches that are so bad that you wish you were dead?"

The Misfits somewhat nodded.

"I'd rather I had one of those right now," the hydrokinetic quipped, grimacing as she held a hand to her temple, wincing from the sudden sting as she turned her head to her friends. Fred cheered as he then gave Althea a bone-crushing hug out of pure euphoria.

"Yay! She's making a joke! She'll be all right! She's fine!" Fred said, nearly crying with joy, and not taking notice that Althea's face was now starting to turn blue from being pressed from all sides due to Blob's strength. Lance provided an explanation hesitantly as he crossed his arms and leaned backwards in his chair, slouching.

"We're in the Ghostbusters' headquarters in New York. We teleported over her to their infirmary since you lost a lot of blood in that battle and were really badly injured when you were trapped in that black prison-thing with that silver-haired guy with the sword. Sandra that Elder healed all of your injuries, and Lorne and Lamont and Doc from the Joes have fully finished looking over you and said that you'll make a full recovery. You're needed to spend the rest of the night in bed though because they said you needed to regain your strength."

"So what happened up there?" Wanda asked with curiosity as Todd and Pietro made Fred relinquish his bear hug on their leader before her head would pop off from all the pressure.

Quicksilver then added, shooting off questions a mile a minute, dashing back and forth on either side of Althea's infirmary bed, "Didja beat him? What was that one-winged angel guy with the long sword? Is he gone for good? Did we win? What was the strange white light? Did you get the power we tried sending with the Keyblades? Did it work? And how did you defeat that angel-guy considering that you only have a staff and not a Keyblade? How'dja do it, huh, huh, huh?"

"I didn't think it was possible, but somehow, my headache is getting worse," groaned Althea, cradling her head in her hands before she then looked up and answered truthfully, "And to be honest…I don't know exactly what happened. All I remember is getting my ass kicked and having Sephiroth - "

"Sephiroth?" queried and lost and confused Daria, Brittany, and Quinn in unison. Althea bit back a sigh, before she explained, unconsciously bringing a hand to her left shoulder where the tip of the cold steel embedded into her bone and flesh, shivering at the memory.

"It's the name of the guy who tried to kill me," she said, "His name is Sephiroth. Anyway, to tell you guys the truth, my mind and memory is hazy. All I remember is lying down on the floor after Sephiroth wiped out my butt and just when he was about to kill me, something just…emerged in me. And…and I felt you guys in there, with me, and the next thing I can recollect, I was charging at Sephiroth and…and that's it. It's all a blank, I'm sorry."

Althea was now a bit apprehensive; she never had periods of her memory erased or undergo such trauma that they were completely blocked out of her conscious thought, and no matter how hard the raven-haired girl tried to recollect them, it was all a blank. The last thing she remembered was charging blindly, anticipating her death, swinging forth her staff right at Sephiroth's heart and feeling like she would go down fighting.

To tell the truth, she didn't even expect to even be here right now.

"You felt that we were there with you?" blinked Justin, confused.

"Yo, it could have been when we sent our powers of the Keyblade and were hoping that they went to you while you were trapped there!" Toad said excitedly, grateful and pleased that one of his less-than-rational ideas actually may have very well saved Althea's life.

Wanda placed her tongue in her cheek as she admitted, "Well, we did feel a slight buzz when we get in that circle and were trying to will our Keyblades to help you, though like I've said already, there was no proof that it would work. We did it because we were desperate, and it actually felt like we were really coming up to bat with a toothpick. To tell you the truth, Althea, since you don't remember what happened or what you did, we might not even know if we could do this ever again, if necessary."

"At least one good thing is that you survived," Fred slightly moaned, twiddling his fingers, "Cause lucky or not, I don't think the Thirteenth Order was planning on you to make it through that battle."

"You were extremely lucky to have even survived by the skin of your teeth," Xi added, wiping his eyes and thanking to whatever higher beneficial power above that they helped his friend and sister to live for another day.

Meanwhile, over at the main conference room at the Ghostbusters Headquarters in the lower echelon levels at sub-basement…

"I can't believe it!" Janine Melnitz gasped as she and the other senior Ghostbusters finished hearing the Joes, Quentin, Giles, Wood, Faith, and the other Potentials' testimonies at their headquarters in New York, "**_Ethan Rayne_** is in charge of the new Initiative?"

"And from what we can tell, that means all that previous jail time has toughened him up and made him even more dangerous, especially with a good number of brain-dead musclemen at his command," Winston said gravely, frowning and knowing that this was a bad turn of events.

"But here's one question I don't get," Eduardo said, frowning, "Why send the Hellfire Heartless on the Slayer Academy? I mean, I'm concerned and all, but from what we can tell, those Initiative creeps were only trying to wound the girls while the letting the Heartless pick up the slack. Why do something like that? If they wanted to wipe out the whole school, why not just wipe them all out without a chance to fighting and escaping with a bomb or something?"

"Maybe they just wanted to fight," Toby blinked, reaching out.

Cover Girl narrowed her eyes in thought, rubbing her chin with a thumb and forefinger, murmuring, "Actually, Eduardo has a point. This isn't the Hellfire Club's style, at least from what we've seen, and they're pretty capable of just wiping out a whole group if they're not going to play mind games with them. So they only reason they'd fool around with the Slayers if that they wanted - "

"Their hearts," Wood exhaled in a hard voice, biting back a curse, guessing it, "They didn't want to kill the girls directly but rather let the Hellfire Heartless collect their hearts from them. That's why they didn't want to wipe all of us out at once, because they wanted to obtain the girls' hearts."

"And they got a good amount in that massacre," Ray said bitterly with sorrow, "Over two hundred Slayer girls have been taken by Marluxia and Slade."

"Two hundred and fifty seven," Kylie said with a restrained voice, almost close to a sob, as she walked in with Lina, Fred, Willow, and the Joe Doc, "We just finished the count, and that's exactly how many of the girls from the Slayer Academy are missing. And Willow can't locate their hearts no matter how long she tried."

"How is Althea doing?" Peter Venkman asked worriedly to Fred and Lina, and to his relief, they smiled and nodded.

"She'll be all right. She just needs to rest for a day or two. And thanks to Ms. Sandra for healing her," Fred exhaled wearily but with a smile of extreme gratitude.

"But there's still one thing that needs to be settled," Quentin said as he turned to the Joes in the room, his eyes now blazing with a reserved yet dangerous fire before he growled, "Joes, Misfits…these men attacked untrained girls. They struck cowardly against out charges and those under our supervision and guidance. The Organization and the Initiative won't get away from this, but from now on, whether you like it or not, we'll fight alongside you. We're now more involved with this than anyone, but right now, I can't say I give a damn. Anything that comes up with the Heartless or the Initiative, we're coming to. No question, and before you spout all that bullshit of how the Keyblades and the magic Pluto gave can hurt them, we don't care. We'll fight and help you in any way we can, but don't expect the Ghostbusters to just stand by idly while you go out there. Wolfram and Hart will always be our main issue along with finding recruits for the Gathering, yes, but from now on, you let us know where the Heartless will be coming and I'll personally see to it that we increase your chances and numbers in any way we can. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," sighed Hawk ruefully with a semi-amused smirk, "And besides, I know better when to say no to paranormal and supernatural Ghostbusters who can kick my ass if I even try saying no."

Faith and the Slayers nodded, grinning.

Later that night, over at the ninja dojo at the Pit, Andrew was unsuccessfully trying to train with Toad and Xi…and falling down on his face for the umpteenth time, tripping on his very own wooden staff.

"I can't do it!" Andrew griped, hitting the ground in frustration with a fist, his face hot with humiliation.

"Yo, yes you can! You just gotta practice, that's all," Toad said, but Andrew felt like crying as he just laid there on his hands and knees, his face shrouded. The memories of so many Slayer girls getting their hearts taken away and nearly being killed by Slade threatened to send chills down to the marrow of Andrew's bones.

"No, I can't!" Andrew sniffed, not even bothering to hide the fact that he was distraught and scared, wiping his running nose and crying, "I'm scared! I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die! And I could help them! I just saw all those Slayers get their hearts stolen, and I tried everything I could! I screwed up, and I just don't wanna die!"

Xi and Toad both held out their hands to the fallen Watcher-in-training, a symbolic testament that they wanted to truly encourage Andrew to get back up. Andrew managed to lessen his sobbing and wailing as he looked up, wiping his nose and eyes.

"Yo, everyone gets scared, Andrew. And you didn't screw up. You actually did well considering you called for help, you tried to protect Giles from Slade, and you still want to train and improve. That says how far you've come, yo."

"And we don't want you to die either, Andrew. Don't be scared. You're not alone," Xi spoke, his yellow, cat-like eyes filled with compassion as he gave a small smile. There was just half a minute of pure silence as Andrew just felt his whole body feel fatigued and heavy from fear and the cold. And yet his friends were still here and willing to teach him and had so much faith that things would be all right…

Slowly, Andrew took both Todd and Xi's hands and the two Misfits pulled him back up from the dojo mat, helping him rise to his feet.

---

Meanwhile, hours ago in the headquarters of the Thirteenth Order, the various members in black hooded robes were staring at the replayed scenes of the One-Winged Angel's last moments on Earth again in the pools of the Oracle Fountain. To say that they were all rudely and furiously shocked would have been an understatement to say the least.

"I can't believe it," gaped Demyx, blinking, "Those walking genetic rejects of G.I. Joe actually managed to defeat Sephiroth. Wavedancer defeated Sephiroth! They actually managed to kill Sephiroth, our strongest Heartless warrior of darkness, if not one of the most powerful Heartless we have! Gee, who'd have thought it?"

"Whoa, the clever little sneaks actually got lucky with that power boost," Xigbar couldn't help but marvel despite himself, his good yellow eye narrowed at the sight of the Misfits gathered around their unconscious comrade as she fell out of the dark wormhole.

"And now all the Misfits are starting to show that they can be as unpredictable and potentially dangerous to the Gathering, especially since we have no way how on Earth that girl was able to summon Holy Materia, a substance of great defensive magic that has not existed nor been used since over a century ago," Vexen stated coldly, watching the scene of the super-powered Althea killing Sephiroth over and over again. However, unbeknownst to the Organization, the fountains of the Oracle were unable to show Pluto dropping his gift of the ultimate White Materia to Wavedancer, thus giving her the one thing that could stop Sephiroth.

Pluto's involvement was not shown to the order of the robed members, and thus, his contribution was for now safely unknown and in secret.

"Perhaps it's time we should try a different approach, my Superior," Zexion brought up with a thoughtful look, "If we can't send Heartless to physically confront these kids face to face, then maybe we should try another alternative that will leave the Misfits and the Chosen Ones as good as dead."

"Oh? Such as?" the leader of the Organization said, interested.

"Simple: we banish them to a point of no return, an unbreakable prison and world that would surely keep them contained and so far out of reach that there would be no hope of the mutants surviving for long even if we do succeed in trapping them," the Cloaked Schemer replied.

"A simple yet perhaps unorthodox proposition, one that could have no harm in trying," the Superior, now smiling to himself, "And I have the perfect solution in mind, thanks to the past research by Dr. Hamilton and his resources in Cadmus."

He then turned to Xigbar, the one-eyed man fingering his long, gray-streaked ponytail idly.

"Summon Emma Frost and escort her and her prized students to Steel City where the Titans East reside," the leader ordered cunningly, "Tell Miss Frost that I have a special mission for her Hellions and have an opportunity for them to rid themselves of the Misfits once and for all…"

**Author's Notes: Next Friday, in "Kingdom Mutant Hearts Attack!", the Misfits along with the Joes and Titans East face a little disturbance in Steel City as the Hellions make an unpleasant surprise along with Xigbar and the Organization's secret weapon in their attempt to do away with the Keyblade wilders once and for all. But Tessa is slowly beginning to make her way towards Bayville, and this surely won't end well as the Misfits endure and triumph with a new specialty attack! See you until then at next Friday, and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!**


	15. Kingdom Mutant Hearts Attack!

**CHAPTER 15: Kingdom Mutant Hearts Attack!**

"Well, how's the status so far?" Shipwreck asked as Wood, Giles, and Faith came in the dining room of the Misfit Manor, weary and tired. It was three days after the battle over at Slayer Academy and in early morning, and a recovered Althea was training alongside the rest of the Misfits and Andrew and the Slayers over at the obstacle courses outside on the Pit grounds. The three elder Scoobies had much to endure during these past several days on helping their new recruits for the Ghostbusters safely settle along with informing the families of the Slayer girls whose hearts were taken from the Hellfire Heartless.

And of course, Jenny Calendar and Quentin suggested that it would be more beneficial for the girls' collective state of mind and their well being if they trained at the Pit a bit more frequently. Not only would they be better prepared in their stamina and fighting techniques against the Heartless, but also being around the friendly soldiers of G.I. Joe and the Misfits made the Slayers feel more at ease.

It did wonders to the girls' attitude to be at the Pit and not be worried about future short-term Heartless attacks while the damaged portions of their school were being rebuilt (thanks to G.I. Joe).

"I'll tell you later after I get some caffeine dope," Faith grumbled, bags under her eyes from a lack of sleep, "Let me have some coffee in my system, and then I'll be five by five enough to give y'all a heads up."

"Just a word of warning, Faith, that's B.A.'s infamous coffee. And last time I checked, the G-Man here only drinks tea," Roadblock drawled with a small smile as Faith poured three separate mugs from the coffee pot.

"There's a first time for everything, Marvin. And we can use a bit of insanity to lessen the seriousness and depressive melancholy with a bit of hyperactive bedlam," the British and refined man commented as he took his mug gracefully.

Wood then stated as he sipped from the brew his girlfriend handed to him, "The girls are coping with the losses of their friends well enough, and General Hawk feels that the damage to the school is minor. Meaning that we can expect the Academy to be fully fixed and whole again in a couple of weeks. Until then, the girls are adapting well to being moved into the spare rooms and helping us salvage whatever equipment and references we can from the damaged chambers and archives."

The strapping African-American man gave a grimace from the memories before he continued.

"Informing the families and parents of the Slayers who were killed by the Hellfire Heartless is a different story. I won't go into specifics, but it's not easy informing fathers and mothers that their daughter had their hearts stolen and that there is a slim but non-definite chance of bringing them back should we win the now infamous Gathering of Twilight."

"They know about that?" blinked Shipwreck, and Low Light groaned before giving Shipwreck a noticeable punch in the shoulder.

"Honestly, I sure as hell don't know where your brain's been for the past year," the sniper retorted impatiently, "Remember when Lex Luthor released all that footage of us fighting the Heartless in San Francisco? And when the Charmed Ones were exposed and the Nexus was stolen? People have been aware of the Heartless and the end-of-the-world scenario ever since that entire media fiasco and how the Slayers revealed themselves to the public with the Halliwells!"

"Oh yeah…" Shipwreck could only murmur when it hit him. Giles then continued, managing to feel more like a human being thanks to the chef's concoction kicking in but still professionally morose nonetheless.

"Some of the families were certainly graceful and understanding enough, especially since they know the life of a Slayer isn't one the girls can simply ignore and that they will be forever targeted due to being Chosen by Fate. Others, however, were not so accepting. Many cursed and spat at me, and one father actually tried to shoot me with his rifle during his grief, although to be fair, this was a family in Alabama I was reporting to, and they don't take to, quote-unquote, 'goddamned English four-eyed stuffy pansy'. And not to mention that a considerable number of the families are filing a class-action lawsuit against myself and the Watcher's Council and the Ghostbusters for child-endangerment, recklessness, and negligence. And sadly enough, there are judges that will side with them in this country," the librarian said.

"You should have let me come with you to inform the families," General Hawk said with some sympathy and helplessness, "You didn't need to take that on by yourself, and a military general from G.I. Joe could have eased the tension if not helped."

Giles' voice was cordial and respectful, but had the slighted hint of barbed wire as he answered, "And I told you many times, Hawk, that it is my responsibility as Watcher and caretaker and teacher of those girls. I did not wish to involve you with more grief, especially after you had to do that with the Joes' families, and you and the others have done more than enough with putting up with the Slayers' additional training at the Pit and helping rebuild the school, not to mention feeding all three-thousand which is in itself a burden."

"They do eat like bottomless holes, don't they?" Wood smiled with some fondness, "Good thing that a lot of the girls have been hankering for Marvin, B.A., and Fred's cooking."

"But let's not forget the main surprise that kicked us all in the teeth," muttered Faith darkly as she refilled her cup, "That bastard, Ethan Rayne, runs the Initiative, and not only do we have to worry about him gunnin' for the girls and G over here, but we have no idea of why or how he's in charge of the Initiative and sidin' with those Thirteenth Order bastards. So far, we don't know nothin'."

"Actually, we may have a lead, Lehane," Quentin Blud remarked as he strode into the dining room, unannounced, with Beach Head and a familiar, blond-haired stranger. He was male, well built and athletic with a sweet, boy-next-door type of face, and oddly enough, he was in military apparel with a Kevlar vest and a few firearms strapped to his belt. Giles frowned, immediately recognizing the soldier at once, and Wood just blinked, lapsing, but Faith smiled for the first time in a day or two.

"Hey, Riley," she said.

The other Joes were a bit stunned when they realized it.

"_Riley?_" echoed Cover Girl as she recalled what the other Potentials and Scoobies told them when informing them of the Slayer mythos, "Riley Finn? The guy who was created as a test experiment in the Initiative by Dr. Walsh and was Buffy's boyfriend in the past?"

"Yes, and to be fair, I don't work with the Initiative anymore, at least not after what I've seen, and no, the old Initiative would have never attacked and killed all those Slayer girls. That would have disgusted even Professor Walsh, despite her reservations and initial attempts at having Buffy killed. And they would have _never_ sided with the Heartless or Organization Thirteen," Riley said, hands out in a submissive, easy-going manner.

Giles exhaled therapeutically through his nose as he said in an aloof voice, not entirely trusting, but respectful and willing to give some doubt at least, "And why are you here, Riley? The last time I checked, I was under the impression that Ethan would not be able to ever see the light of day ever again after he enchanted me."

"Jenny Calendar and the other Ghostbusters contacted Finn after Rayne's attack to see if he could provide some light on the subject, especially since he and his teams were responsible for holding Rayne in containment. He had no idea what was happening to the Slayers in London, and he's horrified as well. Turns out we found some interesting things," Quentin said, his voice tinged with a growl, indicating to Giles to not start anything. The other Joes were interested.

"Like what?" Blind Master asked.

"First off, we had to go through a lot of red tape and backtracking, and even then, a lot of the information was so classified, not even my security level or Beach Head's ties with G.I. Joe could gain the files readily. However, we were able to find two names that cleared the charges of Rayne's incarceration status and moved him to an undisclosed location without the general knowledge of my team," Riley said as Beach Head held up a manila folder with two pieces of signed documents.

"The first one is General Eddington and that's to be expected," Wayne said roughly, indicating some disgust, "but the real kicker is the second signature, Hawk. It's General William Kincaid, one of the lead supporters of the Mutant Registration Bill and the general you remember that has close ties with the G.R.S.O. and General Chasing in Canada"

"Kincaid?" Now Hawk's eyes narrowed. This **_was_** troubling…

"Uh…can someone explain to us what the heck are the GRO and stuff with this Kincaid?" Faith asked, giving a _what-the-hell_ expression and clearly lost. Spirit then explained with a disgruntled look.

"_G.R.S.O_ stands for the Genetic Research and Security Organization. It's a military unit that has been classified and extremely top-secret before in the past until the existence of mutants became a worldwide occurrence, and along with people like Trask and Henry Gyrich trying to start the Sentinel programs, Kincaid is a bigoted general who feels the mutant population and crises could be held under control if a special military task force was used to capture and contain mutants in the same way the Initiative was trying to police the paranormal threats."

"The only difference is that Kincaid is nothing like Walsh. His idea of containment was incarcerating and experimenting on mutants before exterminating all of them when they were no longer useful, and in massive amounts via concentration and extermination camps. And what makes it worse is that the Jugglers higher up know this, and yet they're willing to let the GRSO become the mutant enforcers over the world, only difference separating them and groups like the Friends of Humanity and Stryker is that they're approved by the government," Low Light grumbled, arms crossed over his chest.

"Dear Lord," Giles murmured. And if this Kincaid was backing up the Initiative as well…

"And people like the Jugglers would approve of them because should the X-Men, Misfits, or even mutant terrorists such as Magneto become too dangerous or uncontrollable, they could view the GRSO as the lesser of two evils and help them ensure that the mutant population doesn't endanger everyone they deem important," Wood remarked, piecing it together.

Quentin grunted, thinking this over. And if Rayne and the Initiative were indirectly siding with this GRSO, Sentinel programs, and Wolfram and Hart, then the Ghostbusters would make a lot more enemies they originally anticipated.

"But the main question remains: why can't we go after the Initiative and Ethan Rayne?" Roadblock asked.

"He's right. If they attacked Slayers and innocent girls, then why aren't the Ghostbusters going after them? I mean, they committed a crime and attacked without warning, so the Ghostbusters and the Powers That Be should have the right and the legal jurisdiction to get after Rayne and his men! And if not even for that, then definitely for siding with the Heartless!" Blind Master pointed out.

Quentin shook his head as he growled, "Not exactly, Moore. The Ghostbusters only have the jurisdiction and legal authority to chase supernatural beings that endanger innocents and beings of this realm and to bring them to justice under a neutral force. Playing by Wolfram and Hart's legal rules to bust vampires and malicious entities is one thing, but going after Rayne, Luthor, and the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club is something else. **_In other words, we have no jurisdiction to chase and prosecute humans and mutants, even if they do attack us or other innocent paranormals_**. We're not allowed, either by the Powers That Be or by the Senior Partners of Wolfram and Hart. Defending ourselves or others is one thing, but gunning after them and trying to bring them to justice and attack them in retribution for their crimes is another thing altogether. To do so will result in serious consequences for the Ghostbusters, legal justification to stop us, and those bastards in the Hellfire Club, Organization Thirteen, and Wolfram and Hart getting the last damn laugh."

"So you're being hindered by the very laws you're forced to abide by and support," Spirit said, seeing the complications immediately.

"Pretty much," Quentin, Faith, and Wood muttered in unison with a bit of bitterness.

"And what sucks is that even though we have to follow the rules, it ain't exactly stopping the firm since they can weasel their way out of damn near anything," the Slayer added.

"And now you can see why it was beneficial for all of us if the Ghostbusters contributed to helping us protect the world against the Heartless as well as helping each other out," Hawk said with some fatigue, processing these new findings with a minor headache, "Because we'll be able to stop Wolfram and Hart's ties and associations with the Inner Circle and the Organization, and since the Initiative's actions under Rayne falls under dishonorable military tactics and endangering civilians and the world, G.I. Joe will naturally do whatever it takes to stop them. And in a way where the Quentin and the others won't be held culpable, especially since this loophole protects Wolfram and Hart for their alliances with the Hellfire Club and the Organization."

"Hawk, you're forgetting one thing," pointed out Cover Girl, "Even if we catch Rayne, Eddington and Kincaid will see to it that those charges will never see the light of day, especially since the military and government do not exactly have concrete laws protecting those associated with the supernatural. No human judge in the world anywhere would want to convict Rayne for eliminating Slayer girls, judging by how rampant anti-supernatural and anti-magic sentiments are now!"

"Which is why we took Rayne away and incarcerated him secretly in the first place, considering how potentially dangerous he could be to society in general," Riley replied, troubled and worried especially since Eddington seemed to be very influential and powerful to spring Ethan Rayne out of prison, "But on the upside, if the Ghostbusters and the American government and laws can't do anything to stop Rayne, we can at least hinder him and his loyal followers from doing more damage. And that reminds me: someone should tell Buffy about this, especially since now, correspondence is vital more than ever before."

"We already did," Giles said, "She and the Immortal are rallying all the good and willing allies they can in Europe to help with the Gathering, and though she isn't exactly pleased with how we are playing with Wolfram and Hart's rules, Buffy is willing to keep as much of the Slayers in Europe under her protection along with Duncan's until the time is right. She is fully aware of the Gathering, and Jenny has promised to her that the Powers That Be will keep her fully informed. However, she made it clear that neither she nor Dawn is to be involved in any Ghostbusters' field work or missions, and as such, we had to respect that decision from Buffy."

"She has misgivings about policing ghosts before law instead of exterminating them, doesn't she? And it's safe to say she's not supportive over the entire '_ghosts-have-rights_' laws as well, correct?" Spirit asked.

Wood nodded, wincing, as he also revealed, "And we didn't reveal to her that Angel and Spike are still alive and here at Ghostbusters headquarters in New York, due to the fact that both of them literally begged us to not ruin her life and her relationship with the Immortal. If anything, the two wanted Buffy to move on without them and enjoy her current freedom, and they both felt that if she found out they were alive, she'd be less than happy to see them."

"That's gonna come back to bite them both in their collective vampire asses," quipped Shipwreck dryly. Suddenly, before any of them could continue, Todd rang in urgently through all the Joes and General Hawk's communicators, his voice urgent and rising in volume due to excitement and dread.

"Yo, General Hawk, Roadblock! We have a red alert, yo! Heartless have been spotted in Steel City! And the Hellions are with them! We're talking bad news with both the Hellions and the Heartless! The Titans East just sent a distress call to us a minute ago on our communicators! They're in trouble, and they can't hold 'em off for long, yo! **_We hafta get there!_**"

"Suit up, quickly then and be prepared to teleport out!" Hawk yelled back. Quentin and Riley looked troubled, but Quentin was more so in a stern and exasperated manner.

"You **_know_** this has to be a trap or a ruse. The Hellfire Club and the Organization aren't stupid," the dhampir said.

"And if we don't go and have all the Misfits come to fight with their Keyblades and stop the Hellfire Heartless, the Titans East will get wiped out and the whole city might be infected by these creatures of darkness. We know we need to play it out and fight smart, but us not going means more people losing their hearts," Roadblock versed before he left to go get his machine gun. He had a point.

"Either way, you're not going alone…" Quentin said automatically with an insistent growl.

---

"Yeow! They're coming in everywhere!" Speedy shouted as he let loose a combustive Semtex arrow at the chest of one Hellfire Heartless, his aim perfect as the fiend now had a gaping hole in its chest. Unfortunately, even with that noticeable chunk out of its torso, the experiment trudged on.

"And the Hellions aren't being pushovers either!" yelled Aqualad as he summoned another powerful current of water to stop the sudden incoming of fire Tarot used from one of her cards, "Damn it, of all the times for the main Titans to be off on a scouting trip to Russia to stop Control Freak! And the League is trying to stop Mad Hatter, Joker, and Riddler in Gotham!"

"Nice to hear you admit that you're not as good as a fighter you say you are, Garthie!" Speedy couldn't help but drawl as he shot an acid arrow into one Heartless' eye, blinding it.

"Oh, go kiss an electric eel, you Green Arrow copycat! It'll be the best one you'll ever get in your lifetime! **_And don't call me Garthie!_**" snapped Garth in response as he solidly thumped Jetstream with a good downward kick on the back.

"Garthie, Garthie, Garthie, Garthie!" Speedy bayed annoyingly as he dodged a shaft of black lightning.

As if anyone couldn't see _that_ one coming…

"Whale dung!" Aqualad shouted.

"Butthead!" returned Speedy.

"Rat Lips!"

"Baboon Face!"

"**_Prick!_**"

"**_Pimp!_**"

"**_WILL YOU TWO JUST SHUT UP AND FIGHT? AND NO, I DON'T MEAN WITH EACH OTHER!_**" Bumblebee managed to scream loudly enough, fighting the urge to kill the two of them right then and there for their annoying bickering, as she rammed her elbow into Bevatron's sternum.

Indeed, it would have been a great help if the main Titans team or the League were in the battle in Steel City right now, especially considering that there were both Hellfire Heartless and Emma Frost's Hellions to contend with, and the team of Titans East was stretched thin enough. It would be highly unlikely that they could continue and keep this up. The White Queen of the Inner Circle herself was watching her prized students fight and brawl with Aqualad and Bumblebee while Mas, Menos, and Speedy were doing their best to stall and incapacitate four Hellfire Heartless from storming throughout the lower downtown of their home and attacking innocent people. Unfortunately, it was impossible.

Bumblebee forced herself to not be distracted by the screams and yells of men and women and children wailing as the quartet of experiments from the Organization and Inner Circle set upon as many civilians of Steel City as they could. Whether they were safely cowering behind closed doors, high levels in skyscrapers, or running for their lives like the typical panicked mob, no one was truly exempt from the assault. The lumbering creatures struck out without discrimination, aiming for anything moving with their stretchable arms and claws or their black lightning, roaring and making sick, guttural, hungry noises while they ambled on. The Steel City police units and task forces, knowing that the Titans East were having trouble, immediately offered as much of a back-up as they could to the meta-human youths by setting up barricades, firing upon the monsters, and helping get people to safety.

Still the result was the same. The entire portion of downtown was peppered with the appearance of shining, miniature heart crystals, the air decorated with pink orbs of light and life like a Christmas tree.

So many were dying…

Karen snapped her command as she narrowly avoided a black bad-luck hex-disc from the Hellion Roulette, "Just keep at it! Stop the Heartless from advancing towards the city as much as you can!"

"We're on it!" Mas y Menos chimed in simultaneously while joining hands, the two speedsters literally tossing anything they could carry and delivering it with swift and painful throws at the four Heartless such as tables, chairs, good-sized boulders, a chunk of concrete, and of course, the occasional missiles from their glovatrixes that Razor from the X-Men had made for them.

Empath was trying to entice and hinder Aqualad with his emotion-manipulations, his hands to his temple as he chanted in a sing-song and mocking voice, playing with the Atlantean's brain while Garth sent another wave of water towards Monet and Jetstream.

"You're angry at your teammates…you want to kill them all…you want to drown each and every one of them…you're veeeeerrrry annnngggrrrrrry….." Empath chanted.

So imagine his surprise when Aqualad sent him flying with a good wave of salt-water, not even the least bit affected, causing Manuel to go crashing into a wall, water-logged and unconscious.

"I'm a teleeeeepaaaattthhhh," shot back the Titan with a grin, "It doesn't wooooorrrrkkk on meeeeee."

"You're dead fish-meat, Pretty Boy!" Beef roared as he charged, fists ready, but then two missiles shot directly at him from his blind spot.

"Bola missiles…away!" yelled the Slayers, Vi and Rona, and the strongman Hellion immediately found himself tied by several entrapments of long, unbreakable diamond wire, but thankfully, a hex from Roulette caused them to go slack and fall apart. Beef blinked at the red-headed and African-American girl, their glovatrixes and weapons out, realizing what this meant.

"Ah, crap," Beef muttered.

"Titans, we're here! Misfits, Slayers! **_Take 'em down!_**" Beach Head roared, his machine gun blazing and sending an assault of metal shrapnel into the back of one Organization fiend, causing it to arch back its head and howl.

"Slayers…" growled Emma Frost before she sent out a crippling telepathic blast towards the girls and recruits of the Ghostbusters, intending to have them fall to unconsciousness instantly before they hit the ground. To her surprise and rude awakening, none of the Slayers were even the least bit stunned as they continued charged and delivered an unwelcome and effective strike against her prized Hellions. The girls, Kennedy and Faith, seeing as how their other friends could help the Titans enough, went directly for the White Queen themselves, fists, short swords, and stakes ready.

Thankfully, Emma was a proficient martial artist herself and was able to narrowly evade and dodge the swift kicks and punches of the two elder Slayers while transforming into her diamond state for extra insurance. But still, how was it that the girls were all resistant to her mind probes? Unless…?

"Anti-telepathy blockers, I see," drawled Emma with some amused venom upon spotting the flesh-colored bandages on Faith and Kennedy's temples as he punched out with her left hand, fingers extended, having her diamond appendage being as lethal as any sharpened object.

"Courtesy of the Joes, White Bread. Oh, but don't worry! Even though you're the Queen of Sluts from Victoria's Secret, I promise I ain't gonna go easy on you," Faith drawled with mock regret as she managed to dodge the glittering hand, the sun's ray reflecting off the surface causing her to nearly go blind, before Faith simply did a one-armed hand-stand and solidly delivered a swift two-kick attack at Emma's chest and nose, both feet making direct and bone-cracking contact one after the other. The blond telepath stumbled backwards but was thankfully didn't have any broken bones. Still, it _did_ hurt…even with the diamond shell.

"Hmph, I'll take note not to underestimate you pieces of trailer trash," Emma drawled as she punched out towards the girl on the ground, and Faith narrowly dodge-rolled to avoid the hit, leaving the small portion of gravel and concrete for the mutant woman to punch, causing a small yet deep crater from her diamond fist.

"What, did you actually think us Slayers were stupid like your Hellfire lackeys, you bleach-job, nose-job, breast-job…hell, **_everything-job_** witch?" Kennedy shot back as she then leapt in with her twin short swords and managed to deliver a multitude of various and accurate swipes in a controlled yet nearly unavoidable frenzy. It was as if the brown-haired girl was going into full bezerker mode like Wolverine except she was using steel blades, the weapons twirling and whizzing through the air so fast, they practically whistled. Emma actually had several cracks appear in her diamond shell appear from the steel blades chipping them as she raised her forearms to block and parry the swords.

Meanwhile, the Slayer Rona gasped in shock, taken aback, as he spiked, wooden club she brought with her splintered and broke the instant she tried to bash Beef's ribs with it. The Hellion sneered as he advanced towards the teenage girl.

"_Pfft!_" he scoffed, "**That** was your best shot? Look, Slayer-twerp, I'm pretty much invulnerable to anything you throw at me!"

Rona then took the direct and quickest approach. With a vindictive smirk, she kicked out and effortlessly rammed her foot into Beef's crotch. With her Slayer strength. The Hellion strong-man turned completely white, almost as pale as a sheet, with bugged-out eyes before he weakly sank to the ground in a fetal position, cradling his nether-regions while whimpering in a falsetto tone.

"I see _those_ parts of your body weren't invulnerable," Rona quipped, obviously enjoying this for all it was worth.

Jetstream gave Beef an odd look before he propelled himself like a rocket at the dreadlock-toting girl at killing speeds, muttering, "Geez, first Starfire, and now a Slayer…you'd think he'd learn to wear a cup."

"OK, show of hands…who saw **_that_** one coming?" Bumblebee asked dryly, and the Slayers and Titans nearby all did so, deadpanned. Even Frost had to admit to herself that you didn't need to be a pre-cog mutant to predict it. At the same time, over with the Misfits as they chased after the four Hellfire Heartless with the Joes and Quentin…

"Gravira Orbs of Force Crusher!" Blob yelled, sending a plethora of crushing purple spheres of crushing energy to cripple one Heartless and send it to its knees before it could advance on a park full of children. But before the other Misfits could strike with their magic, a beam of intense energy came up from above and struck all of them from behind.

"AAAAAAAAAA!" screamed all the Misfits as they disintegrated and faded in thin air.

"Kids!" Spirit and Cover Girl cried out, horrified that the attack came out of nowhere so fast and unexpected, that not even Althea could have anticipated it.

"Damn it!" cursed Quentin as he looked upwards from where the blast originated from.

"Gotcha, ya' little brats!" sneered Xigbar as he then appeared above in a cloud of black aura, and in his hands was a slightly large (almost as big as the man's torso himself) strange contraption that looked remarkably similar to some type of transporter cannon…

Roadblock and Beach Head eyes' widened at the same moment of realization as the ski-mask clad Ranger then bellowed, "What the hell did you do to them, you one-eyed hippie?"

The Sharpshooter of the Organization just gave a short laugh as he then commanded the Hellfire Heartless to surround the Slayers, Quentin, Joes, and the Titans East with a simple snap of his fingers. And without Keyblades or the Elementa magic, it would be pretty slim for the heroes to be able to escape out of this one.

"We generally sent those meddling, annoying punks to a place where they won't be escaping from anytime soon," Xigbar sneered before he tossed up the strange inter-dimensional ray gun given to him by Dr. Hamilton high in the sky, and seeing his cue, Bevatron grinned evilly as he powered up, electric charges building up to dangerous levels in his fists.

"NO!" Bree, Dana, Chao-Ahn, and Blind Master yelled, automatically guessing what was going to happen, and Mas y Menos immediately tried to dash forward with their super-speed, hoping to snatch the device before it would be too late. Monet, however, easily anticipated this as she used her telekinesis to effortlessly lift up the two Hispanic meta-humans before throwing them hard against the ground, pushing them back into the group of heroes and enjoying the sound of their squeals of pain.

"Nice try, you little hyperactive Chihuahuas," the Hellion sneered, leaving a bruised and battered but thankfully alive pair. And it was then that Bevatron released a fantastic and wince-worthy surge of energy from his hands, and with a mild explosion, the contraption and dimensional gun of Cadmus shattered to pieces.

"You creep!" yelled Shannon in rage as she, Vi, Rona, and Chao-Ahn immediately let loose with their respective crossbow, glovatrixes, and several steel ninja-stars at the Hellions, but once again, Monet and now Tarot (using a Barrier Card) deflected the shafts, projectiles, and missiles harmlessly. Emma Frost then smiled in a smug manner as she reached down the now smoking and charred pile of rubble, the cannon now nothing more than burnt pieces of plastic and circuitry. Out of the mess, she managed to find and pick up a small crystal shard, the one component that was made out of a mineral not found anywhere on Earth and that was the heart of the machine. It was what enabled the transporter contraption to hone into the frequency of different dimensions.

"And of course…" the White Queen purred before she crushed to crystal shard into nothing but dust with a diamond fist, enjoying the look of horrified despair on all of the heroes' faces, "This is to make sure that they don't ever come back."

"You're gonna regret doin' that, White Bread," Faith promised, pointing at the Inner Circle member, but hardly disturbed, Xigbar just snapped his fingers and caused himself, the White Queen, and her Hellions to teleport out by the portals of darkness.

"Enjoy getting your hearts taken, losers!" drawled Roulette before she vanished while the Heartless, roaring, closed in and surrounded them. Quentin took out his proton guns, a bit worried but still stoically determined to fight.

"This isn't good. We can't fight them effectively like this…and none of us have Keyblades," Caridad remarked, concerned, as she raised her sword in a defensive manner.

"Us Joes have seen worse odds, Caridad," growled Low Light, obviously not going to let this get the better of him, as he raised his sniper rifle.

"I **_knew_** I should have just stayed in bed today," Mas groaned to himself.

"I don't," Menos sniped, glaring at his brother, "Not only do you snore and hog the covers, but I'm pretty sure you stole **_my_** pillow last night!"

Meanwhile, Falco and Octavia were carefully and closely scrutinizing this from the roof of a skyscraper, watching as the Slayers, Titans, and Joes began to fight for their lives and the protection of the city.

"You know they can't last long without the Keyblades. We should help," Octavia commented worriedly to her Cornerian companion, and the blue-feathered falcon just snorted through his beak irately.

"Look, I don't want them dead, and you know that!" he said with impatient ire, "Just…let's just wait until we can see if any of the heroes' hearts have Talismans, all right?"

"Falco…" Octavia sighed, rolling her eyes, but she bit back her tongue and just tensely waited, surveying the battle below…

---

"Whoa…where are we, yo?" Toad asked, his yellow eyes wide with shock as his brain tried to process the last few seconds into some sort of sense.

Indeed, it was strange. One moment, they were in a clean yet urban metropolis of skyscrapers and towers of metal, fighting giant black behemoths from the Organization. And the next, they were…here, wherever "here" was. And there wasn't any warning or indication, not to mention they were all too focused on stopping the Heartless to pay attention to their surroundings. Except Wavedancer and Xi, and even then, the…whatever it was, it came too fast for them to properly dodge and avoid.

Indeed, it was strange and terrifying to say the least. The best way to sum up their current surroundings was that it was empty. No trees, no buildings, not even a firm ground of any medium or sort to stand on. Instead, each and every one of the Misfits was just walking in a vast and endless area of space, and though whatever surface they were standing on was certainly solid, it was nothing but empty air to their eyes. The atmosphere and skies all around them were fluctuating between shades of dark gray and neon orange with bits and pieces of crackling yet unidentifiable energy constantly. Even the air around them was stale and heavy, making it a bit uncomfortable to breathe, almost as if even the oxygen around them was dead.

And it was cold, so cold…

"Where…where are we?" Lina asked, shivering as she rubbed her arms as a way to gain some warmth, and as Fred comfortingly laid a hand on his teammate's shoulder, Daria, Quinn, and Brittany immediately took out their pink scanners and started analyzing anything they could. Still, this was certainly a new one with their tools.

"We're not sure…" murmured Daria, frowning as she read the readings her scanner was doing and randomly trying to figure out how to use her scanner in this case by trial and error of button pressing.

"We've never used our scanners like this before. Give us time!" Quinn said hurriedly as she then issued a command to her console, hearing it beep in an encouraging manner.

"We may have to switch coordinates and change some of the settings for the variables in our scanners to fully look through this," Brittany said hesitantly, "but if we're reading this right, I think we're in another dimension."

All the other Misfits gave Brittany a deadpanned look before Pietro couldn't help but spout off rather caustically, "Oh gee, really? I didn't notice, not that the fact that this **_isn't Steel City wasn't a big effin' clue!_**"

"But what's strange is that this dimension seems really familiar," Daria said, frowning and ignoring Quicksilver's ranting, "We've never been here, that's for certain, but for some reason, the coordinates of this realm seem to coincide with some of the data that we've gotten from our adventures with the Titans, the Justice League, and the Slayers. Just give us a minute to figure it out…"

"What's there to figure out?" Scarlet Witch pointed out as she looked around worriedly, "We need to get back to Steel City because we didn't even get a chance to finish off all the Hellfire Heartless. If we remain here much longer, the Joes and the others will get hurt and probably have their hearts taken!"

"Can't we just teleport out of here with the Mass Device?" Xi asked worriedly.

Quinn shook her head while typing as she replied with growing apprehension, "No, we can't! The Mass Device signal won't reach to it from other dimensions! Other places and locations on Earth, yes, but not from other dimensions!"

"Hey, wait a minute," Whitelighter said suddenly, "Maybe I can orb us out!"

"Try it, yo!" Toad suggested, and Justin closed his eyes, but to his horror, nothing happened. Quicksilver, thinking his friend was stalling, tapped his foot impatiently.

"While we're still young, chubby-cheeks," he chimed in a sing-song yet annoying voice. Justin's eyes went wide with unpleasant and unwelcome surprise as he kept trying but still failed.

"I can't orb out!" he gulped. This wasn't good news…

"You're kidding!" gasped Dragonfly, and Quicksilver decided to prove his point as he got ready to run.

"_Pfft! _You're just being too jumpy and frightened to do anything effective, chubby-cheeks! Watch, I'm – **_huh?_**"

Pietro yelped this last word when he tried to dash off with his super-speed, and in reality, he was moving at completely normal speeds, like a human. It was as if his mutation had suddenly switched off. With a startled cry and look of surprise, Quicksilver tripped over his own two feet and crashed to the ground. Dazed and now outraged and starting to panic, the speedster tried several more times, but he failed. He didn't have his powers either.

"I can't run!" he wailed, now starting to freak out, "I can't run! I can't run! Oh God, oh God, oh God! I'm slow! **_I'M SLOW!_**"

It was sort of amusing to see Pietro throw a temper tantrum, crying and screaming like a newborn, while pouting and jumping up and down in frustration (you really had to see it in order to picture it).

"Well, we all knew _that_, but it's nice to hear you admit it, dear brother," drawled Wanda a bit snobbishly, obviously starting to have fun at this predicament. Quicksilver shot a glare at Scarlet Witch that would have disemboweled her. Avalanche then tried to touch the ground (or lack of one) with one palm and closed his eyes, concentrating on his seismokinesis and trying to send vibrations. To his bewilderment, he couldn't create even the tiniest tremor.

"My power's gone too! I can't use my mutant powers here!" Lance yelled, shocked and suddenly feeling very, very vulnerable.

"So our mutant powers don't work in this world then. That must be the reason why the Hellfire Club and the Organization caused those Heartless to attack us and sent us here. So that we wouldn't be able to find a way out," Wavedancer murmured, piecing it together.

Xi blinked as he looked at his clawed and scaled hands while Dragonfly tried to levitate off the ground with her wings a bit and discovered that she could. Apparently, Blob, Dragonfly, Toad, and Xi all didn't feel any different.

"Yo, that's weird," Toad said as he flicked out his extended tongue around to discover that it was the same as it had always been before, "My mutation's still working, yo!"

"And so's mine," Xi said before he looked at his friends and commented, "Maybe physical mutations aren't cancelled out like actual mutations are in this dimension. It would explain why none of us have been altered physically and yet mutations that result in some sort of energy or power display are nullified like Lance and Wanda."

"He's right," murmured Scarlet Witch, seeing that she couldn't even generate a crackle of chaos-energy, "I can't even make a hexbolt! So it must be different for the rest of us!"

Quicksilver then felt slightly elated at knowing his twin couldn't hurt him by her usual blasting as he remarked snidely, "Oh! Well in that case, this dimension isn't so bad after all! Too bad this dimension couldn't nullify your constant rage-issues and PMS!"

"I can still hurt you even without my hexbolts, Pietro!" Wanda growled as she summoned her Vengeful Blaze Keyblade with a flurry of red sparks and illumination.

"Crap," muttered Pietro, deadpanned, as he ran over and hid behind Justin, using his friend as a shield, but then Xi and Fred then realized something that somehow escaped their thoughts when they were sent to this strange place.

"Hey, we can still use our Keyblades!" Blob exclaimed with slight joy as he willed his purple metal weapon to appear in his hands, and on that remark, all the other Misfits did the same thing. Even Althea's scepter was able to appear in her hands with a flash of white and marine blue.

"Cool! Then it's not so bad, yo! We can still summon our friends to help us out! **Give me strength, yo!**" cried Toad, raising his orange and green Amphibionian over his head, but to his surprise, Genie didn't come out. Upon seeing this, Avalanche, Scarlet Witch, Whitelighter, Wavedancer, and Xi all tried as well, only to see that their Disney summons couldn't emerge from their weapons either.

"Something's wrong," Avalanche murmured with growing consternation, "Simba would come out to help me, I know he would. I don't think this dimension allows us to call on our partners for help! Either they're not able to come out or they're separated from us!"

"But maybe we can use our Keyblades to escape out of here, then," Xi hypothesized, "After all, these aren't normal weapons, and at least we still have these to call out. And if they worked before, they might work now."

"There's no harm in trying it! Everyone, take them out and concentrate! Try picturing opening some sort of door that'll lead us back home!" Wavedancer commanded as she pointed her staff out. Altogether, the Misfits formed an informal circle and drew out their Keyblades to the center and closed their eyes. One minute passed, then two, but nothing happened.

"We're still stuck here," Lina groaned, "It didn't work!"

"Argh! Stupid, dumb, worthless piece of crap!" Quicksilver said in his normal impatient childishness, hitting his Zephyr Keyblade to the ground over and over, ranting, "'_Weapons of great power_', huh? Great power, my butt! Here we are, stuck in the middle of nowhere, and these stupid things can't even send us back home!"

"Maybe they don't exactly work like that, yo," Toad remarked as he scratched his head.

"Quicksilver, stop," Whitelighter tried to calm gently as Pietro was now literally jumping up and down on his Keyblade in frustration, "The Keyblades can't do everything for us, and I don't think you're going to help things if you break yours."

Daria then exclaimed as she and her Triplet sisters' scanners started beeping approvingly as they found a suitable match from their databases, and when they spotted the one name on the screen, they all gasped and slapped their foreheads simultaneously, wondering why they didn't think about it before. They were so immersed in their findings and excitement that they didn't notice that the rest of their teammates fell silent as a large shadow loomed over them…

"Duh! Of course these coordinates have a familiar pattern in our scanners!" Quinn chimed in with excitement.

"You guys, we know where we are! We got a match from the information we stole - er, **_borrowed_** from the Watchtower and Batman's computer archives! And this explains why we can't use our powers here! We're in - !" Daria was about to reveal, but Althea's slightly hoarse voice finished it for her by interrupting.

"Lemme guess, we're in the _Phantom Zone_?"

Daria blinked in surprise as the Triplets looked up from their scanners and turned around.

Brittany was in the process of saying, "Yeah, Sis. How did…you…guess…?"

The black-haired adolescent then trailed off as she and the Delgado Triplets then realized why the other Misfits were so deathly silent. They were all literally staring face to face with wide-eyed and fearful expressions at a towering, hulking figure that looked like he could rival the Hulk. He was ape-like and certainly savage and fierce-looking, with a thick and nearly indestructible hide of gray skin, long-matted greasy hair of white, and various bones and bone-armor growing in erratic patterns all over his body. In fact, he looked remarkably similar to the former X-Man, Spyke, except larger, meaner, and more animalistic and ugly (not that Pietro would admit **that** one out loud). With pupil-less, white eyes and a mouth of oversized, jagged white teeth. Add the fact that he towered over all the Misfits, even Blob, by several feet and had hard, corded, overblown muscles of steel and oversized hands and feet that ended with wicked bony spikes and it would have been safe to say that none of them, not even Althea, felt comfortable about facing this creature as it leered at the twelve mutants like the way a starved cat gleams over twelve sumptuous mice.

And Wavedancer immediately recognized the towering behemoth from the Misfits' numerous information sessions with the League about Luthor and their various enemies.

"Doomsday…" she breathed in awe and dread. Gee, as if dealing and nearly losing her life to Sephiroth wasn't enough.

"Uh…who's Doomsday, yo?" gulped Toad, already conveniently forgetting, and Wanda had to fight the urge to grimace in annoyance as she hissed back to the frog-mutant.

"The enemy sent by the Justice Lords, the evil version of the Justice League from the alternate universe, remember? The sociopath-clone created from Superman's DNA? The unstoppable killing machine that was sent to the Phantom Zone?"

"Oh yeaaaahhhh…" Todd said, snapping his fingers upon the recognition rather blithely.

And logically speaking, if Doomsday was right here with them, then that meant that **all** trapped in that Phantom Zone with a killer that not even Superman and Batman could fully destroy or contain.

"Uh…by any chance, Mr. Homicidal and perhaps Mr. Overly-Psychotic Doomsday," the Triplets tried to chime in sweetly with nervous looks, "Were you planning on letting us go without trying to kill us?"

"No," uttered Doomsday with a feral and menacing growl, his teeth now savagely showing in demented smile.

"It was worth a shot…**_RUN!_**" Trinity said to their teammates before they and the other Misfits scattered, sprinting for their lives one of the toughest enemies of the Justice League chased after them. And considering that a good portion of the Misfits didn't have their mutant abilities on hand, this made the situation rather worse. Though Toad and Xi had their agility and Wavedancer still had her ninja training, others weren't as fortunate despite the effort they placed on their trainings at the Pit. It helped, but not by a lot.

Though Lina was able to swiftly evade most of Doomsday's swipes, one wild punch managed to clip on side of her wings and she toppled, crashing and rolling to the ground to lessen the impact of her fall, thankful that she knew how to take a tumble without breaking her neck. But dazed, she remained easy pickings as Doomsday ambled towards Dragonfly, ready to crush her with one blow.

"LINA!" exclaimed Scarlet Witch, Whitelighter, and Trinity in horror, and Blob immediately charged towards Doomsday, having no second thoughts or hesitation. Though by best it was an incredibly foolish and risky move, Blob hardly cared about anything else but Dragonfly's safety as he bellowed loudly without words while brandishing his Heavyweight Keyblade.

"Blob, stop! He'll kill you!" gasped Xi, but Fred didn't falter as he invoked his attack, his weapon in his hands now glowing purple.

"Ars Arcanum! Get away from Lina, ya' overgrown bullhorn!" roared the obese mutant as he began wildly swinging and attacking with his Keyblade in a flurry, and Doomsday was taken aback as the relatively diminutive teen was attacking and jumping all over in front of him.

"Fred, you moron! That's…not…going…to work?" Quicksilver was about to heatedly yell, but upon watching the scene unfolding in front of him, the silver-haired Misfit immediately trailed off, forgetting about commenting on how stupid was such a move. Doomsday was completely taken by surprise and roared in pain, a new sensation he didn't feel for the longest time, as Fred's Keyblade hacked into his hide and flesh, leaving gory and bleeding wounds.

Within less than a minute, Doomsday was sent flying backwards from the force and sudden assault of Blob, skidding to a stop after a short distance and breathing heavily. And to make it even worse, each of the teenagers and adolescents could see that all the wounds Blob had given him via his Keyblade were healing themselves, closing up and covering the scars with rough and unbreakable bone.

"Nice try, fatso," growled Doomsday as he charged again.

"Whoa! What's going on with him, yo? He just healed himself like Wolverine!" Toad yelped as he expertly back-flipped, and Avalanche realized one important fact about the nemesis of the Justice League.

Lance yelped as he narrowly strafed like a madman, trying to avoid being trampled to death, "Damn it, I forgot! Isn't that one of his powers? Each and every attack only works on Doomsday once, **_and only once!_** And after that, he's immune to that attack if it's tried on him again! And those bones are strong! They're resistant to even _Superman's_ heat-vision!"

"Wait a minute!" Quicksilver then pointed out, his mind whirring, "If our Keyblade-powers still can attack in this dimension, that that must mean - !"

"**_Our magic!_**" all the others finished in triumph as Wavedancer and Toad struck out together in a beautiful team-up attack with their water and thunder kingdoms.

"Aquara Water Dragon!" Althea yelled, raising an azure-glowing finger to the sky and summoning a gigantic and snaking current of clear water to spiral madly, roaring.

"Thundaga Blitzclap Pressure, yo!" Toad cried out, pitching back his fist and hurling a ball of crackling thunder and blue electricity. Like beautiful chords of musical harmony, the dragon and the thunder combined and complemented each other well, forming an unavoidable and rather painful and searing stream of water, churning and frothing in speeds of the hundreds, encased in electricity and lightning.

**_Kaaaa-shhhaaaaaaacccckkkkoooooooommmmm!_**

Doomsday roared as the combination of water and thunder magic struck him full in the chest, sending him flying and crashing a good hundred feet or so before crashing on his back, a noticeable charred crater in the center of his chest, with bits of bone cracked and charred flesh still smoking where the water and lightning seared into him. But Doomsday just merely recovered and healed himself before charging again.

"No way! He didn't die from that!" Althea murmured.

"But that's impossible! I thought powers don't work in the Phantom Zone!" Xi yelped as he did a series of gymnastic flips and jumps to avoid Doomsday from crushing him with one gargantuan hand.

"Gee, you want to tell **_him_** that?" snapped Lance as he panted from his sprint from a safe distance, "Because I'm pretty sure that Doomsday didn't read the manual on that one!"

"Begone, Doomsday! Those children's tools belong to us, now!" a voice called out before Quicksilver was knocked down was a heavy figure and the Zephyr Keyblade was snatched out of his hands. Whitelighter, Avalanche, and Xi rushed over to their stunned comrade, helping Pietro up, as Xi then looked up to see two familiar figures who were also trapped in the Phantom Zone due to their clashes with Superman and the Justice League…

"I remember those two! **_That's Jax-Ur and Mala!_**" Xi exclaimed, and the three other boys turned pale, as they glanced upon the man and woman extraterrestrials from Krypton, banished to this dimension due to their crimes against Superman's father and the Kryptonian race. Indeed, the lizard Misfit could recognize the silver-haired and brawny woman along with the black-haired, goateed former military director from his photographic memory of reading the Justice League's files. And they pretty much looked the same from their profiles in their black and green metallic armor. And what Xi bleakly recalled was that both of them were more powerful than Superman himself, having practically the same abilities of flight, super-speed, invulnerability, massive strength, and enough power to kill the entire Justice League twice over if they could. And Mala herself was holding Pietro's Keyblade in her strong hands.

"That's mine, you witch!" growled Pietro as she stood up with Justin helping him. Mala scoffed.

"Try and take it then, if you can, you pathetic Earthling," the female Kryptonian psychopath sneered, but then she obviously was setting herself up for a disappointment as Quicksilver grinned impishly and held out his hand, willing the weapon back consciously. To Mala's slight outrage, the weapon in her hands vanished only to reappear in the Misfit's hands.

"Ha ha!" mocked Pietro, making a face at Mala while giving her a good raspberry, actually managing to get under the female's skin and patience.

"You have to admit, she really was setting herself up for that," admitted Whitelighter despite his terror. Avalanche then brandished out his Steel Quartz Keyblade fearlessly along with Xi's Rainforest Scale as the lizard flanked side by side with the geokinetic.

"Why did you attack us? We don't wanna hurt you, so you two better back off if you don't want us to kick your asses!" snapped Lance, and the one-eyed Jax-Ur actually managed to laugh at the pitiful display of boldness.

"As if you could, you misguided boy," the alien said harshly, "And we could hear your conversation with the others with our hearing. If those Keyblades can get you back to the third planet of Earth where you came from, then it is apparent that they shall serve us well for our escape from this hellhole."

"You got exactly what you deserved for trying to take over Earth and attacking Superman!" Whitelighter shot back defensively, and immediately, the two Kryptionians' eyes narrowed in simmering fury at the alias of the being who had sent them here in the first place.

"You know Kal-El, then?" Mala snarled, cracking her knuckles.

"Good, it shall give us more of an incentive to kill all of you and see if those Keyblades will be willing to trade masters to those more worthy when you children die," Jax-Ur said coldly, his icy voice full of threat and evil intention of fulfilling his promise.

"Oops," gulped Justin, holding a hand to his mouth and realizing he just gave it away.

"Nice going, chubby-cheeks! And people say**_ I_** have a big mouth!" Quicksilver snapped sarcastically. Still, before Mala and Jax-Ur could even move in for the strike, Dragonfly took her chance as she zoomed into them before they could even make a single step.

"Sonic Blade!" she cried out, and both of the evil aliens screamed as the Icewing Keyblade of the girl's slashed past them as the insect-Misfit zoomed by, leaving a sub-zero and extremely painful gasp across their bodies, effectively hacking into their armor and flesh. Stumbling and injured, they fell to their knees, and despite not having their powers of speed or flight, for some reason, they were still pretty much invulnerable.

"You little wretch!" snarled Jax-Ur, but because he was distracted, Lance, Xi, and Justin all struck together at once, taking the opportunity while they still could.

"Gaia Earthquake Force Rush!" Lance yelled.

"Woodra Leafblight Revolution!" Xi yelled.

"Lumiga Mark of the Sun!" Justin yelled.

Jax-Ur and Mala were both sent flying, screaming in surprise and gall, as the magic attacks of earth, wood, and light struck them all at once. Undaunted and perhaps a bit singed and injured, the male and female exile of Krypton rushed towards them, charging with fists raised and ready to bash the teens' skulls in.

"Scatter, you guys!" Dragonfly cried out as they fled.

"Yeow!" cried Pietro as he tried to dash away with his super-speed, only to find that it was futile and that he was forced to dash at his normal pace, "So now we're fighting Jax-Ur and Mala AND Doomsday? It just never fails! Our lives just continue to suck! This can't get any worse!"

"GET THEM!" roared a voice all around, and indeed, to the Misfits' horrors, they saw that their current three opponents weren't the **_only_** residents in the Phantom Zone. They were now surrounded by an entire throng of hardened criminals banished to this prison dimension, now eager to take claim of the Misfits' weapons to escape their incarceration. In fact, there had to be at least a thousand.

"As you can see, weaklings," Jax-Ur drawled as the Misfits went back to back in a circle, cut off from any possible escape route, "There are many beings here that would be desperate enough to kill all of you in order to flee this unbearable Phantom Zone. And if those supposed Keyblades do indeed have the power to free us, then each and every one of your lives are meaningless."

"Back off, Zod!" growled Doomsday as he advanced, "Those Keyblades are mine!"

"You just **_had_** to say that, didn't you?" growled Blob at Quicksilver who just grimaced at how much that one little line always seemed to get them into trouble via Murphy's Law.

"We really need to tell Superman to be more selective on who he sends to this dimension," groaned Althea as the murderous crowd of exiles charged for the kill, and Trinity, as a last effort, raised a glowing hand of time energy, a beam of pink surrounding the entire field.

"Stopra…Time Freeze!" and with a click, all of the enemies, even Doomsday, were frozen and stuck in temporal stasis, each and every one of them encased with a pink radiance of time magic. The Triplets sank to their knees wearily, their energy spent and apparently, freezing over a thousand people wasn't easy.

"Good job, Trinity! You stopped them!" Blob sighed as he helped the girls up.

"But we still don't have a way to get out of here, yo! And that time-freeze of the triplets' ain't gonna last forever!" Toad gulped.

"He's right!" Scarlet Witch said, forcing herself to not panic, "And even if we could gain back and wait long enough to use our magic again, I don't think it'll work on Doomsday _twice_! He's immune to every attack used on him before, remember?"

"Maybe we can break out of here on our own, then!" Quinn managed to say as she looked at her scanner, "If we're reading this right, we may need a large enough energy source that can actually rip through the barriers of the Phantom Zone and allow us to weave through the rip before it closes! Our scanners say it's a long shot because of the unique frequency of the Phantom Zone, but it **is** possible!"

"But how? We don't have a lot of our mutant powers, and it's not like we can attack this dimension with our magic! You cannot rationally attack a dimension with energy pulses and hope to escape through!" Xi pointed out.

Wavedancer gasped a voice, this time a different one from the original and mysterious benefactor who had contacted them through their sessions with Pluto, spoke in the depths of her mind, and her mind alone. It was female and resoundingly haunting and powerful, but mysteriously…familiar. As if it was a part of her, originating from a portion of her soul and psyche that not even she was aware of.

And it scared her as the voice spoke to her…

_All in one, one in all…that is a key._

"All in one…one in all…that is a key?" Wavedancer gasped, and automatically, she reached for the best decision she could, startling her teammates.

"Everyone, join hands! There really might be a way out of here!" Wavedancer cried out.

"Huh? Why?" blinked Avalanche.

"Just do it! If we still have our magic, we might be able to break out if we can combine them together! Don't ask, just…trust me! I think this might work! Just join hands in a circle and concentrate! **_NOW!_**"

They did so, and out of nowhere, though she had no idea why, it just seemed right as the Misfit leader to say it as she then called out the incantation from her heart.

"Aquara Kingdom Power!" Wavedancer called out, getting the ball to roll.

"Thundaga Kingdom Power!" Toad yelled eagerly and automatically, joining in, and though it sounded incredibly stupid and silly, the others followed suit, recalling the names of their element.

"Gaia Kingdom Power!" Avalanche yelled.

"Woodra Kingdom Power!" Xi hollered.

"Aeroga Kingdom Power!" Quicksilver yelled hoarsely, rolling his eyes in the process and feeling incredibly stupid.

"Fira Kingdom Power!" Scarlet Witch called out.

"Blizzaga Kingdom Power!" Dragonfly cried.

"Stopra Kingdom Power!" Trinity altogether called out in perfect unison.

"Gravira Kingdom Power!" Blob hollered with all of his might.

"Lumiga Kingdom Power!" Whitelighter hollered.

They could feel it, like a wave of water coming up to meet them, as it swirled all around…and remained to a standstill. It was as if it was being blocked.

"Hey, nothing's happening!" Blob said worriedly.

"Maybe we did it wrong!" Lina whimpered.

"No, I feel it! We…did something! It's just not being released!" Xi argued vehemently.

"Well, we really didn't combine them to begin with," Daria mused, "I mean we did just call out our individual power and stuff into the mixing pot, but we didn't summon it together for an ultimate attack or something like it."

"Then come up with some sort of summon! Hurry! You guys should be good at this!" Todd yelped in fear as he could feel the crowd all around them starting to wear through the time spell the Triplet's cast.

"How about 'Mutant Unity Attack'?" Daria suggested.

"No way! That's the stupidest anime-copying attack I've ever heard! A good one would be 'Elementa Kingdom Unite'!" Quinn snapped back.

"You two are the stupid ones!" snapped Brittany heatedly, "A superior one would be 'Misfit Hearts Power'!"

"**_WILL YOU THREE JUST DECIDE?_**" screamed all the elder Misfits automatically and in frustrated desperation and panic when Trinity's time freeze finally wore off the field at last, the pink glow subsiding and releasing all three of the killer nemeses of Superman along with the hundreds of other criminals.

"**_Kill them all!_**" the crowd roared.

The Triplets looked at each other before coming to an instant agreement, saying simultaneously, "Kingdom Mutant Hearts Attack!"

"'Kingdom Mutant Hearts Attack'?" the other Misfits blinked in unison and disbelieving expressions, comically like a bad stand-up pun. And yet, it was enough as each and every one of the Misfits gasped simultaneously as the winds began to pick up all around the circle of teenagers, actually lifting them up and levitating them from the ground, the magic churning and flowing freely in each and every one of the Misfits' bodies, like an uncontrollable rush or tidal wave of power.

"Hey, something's happening, yo!" Toad exclaimed with excitement as his body began to glow in a bright orange radiance to match with the sigil of Thundaga appearing on his forehead. And he wasn't the only one. Wavedancer, Trinity, Xi, Avalanche, Blob, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Dragonfly and Whitelighter were all illuminating in the respective essences of dark blue, bright pink green, brown, purple, silver, red, light blue, and yellow along with the crests of power glowing on all their foreheads.

"No way!" Scarlet Witch exclaimed as a bright shaft of white light engulfed their family circle…

"NO!" roared Doomsday with cheated gall as there was an intense flash…

Back at Steel City…

"We can't hold 'em off much longer like this!" Vi shouted as she summoned a Telsa barrier from her glovatrix to block a shaft of lightning from striking her.

"Damn it! It figures the one time my life starts looking up, and I face the possibility of getting killed!" Dana griped as she drove her knife deep into the arm of one Heartless before it could snare her. But then to everyone's surprise…

"What the hell?" Beach Head muttered to himself as each and every one of the Heartless screamed as a brilliant display of white and pure radiance from above rained down upon the battlefield, eradicating the four Hellfire Heartless instantly and saving the Titans, Slayers, and the Joes. And with a bright flash, all the Misfits, each and every one of them, emerged from a slight rift in space, the tear outlined in white. With a collective yell, the Misfits crashed to the ground before the rift sealed itself, leaving the mutants bruised and dirty, but thankfully alive and back with their allies and friends.

"Uuuhhh…did it work?" groaned Quicksilver before he found himself in a fierce hug from Bree.

"Fred!" Chao-Ahn exclaimed as she hugged the obese mutant tightly around the neck, grateful he was all right, as Shannon helped Lance up.

"Whatever you guys did, you stopped all those Heartless!" the Slayer exclaimed, "You guys did it! But…where did you guys go?"

"Trust me, Shannon, you wouldn't believe us if we told you," groaned Avalanche at the memories as he chuckled, hugging Spirit tightly with relief and exuberant joy at being reunited.

---

"Experiments 299 to 303 have all been defeated and destroyed, Superior," Xigbar reported as he teleported into the Hellfire Club's Inner sanctum where the Organization along with the Inner Circle members were residing in, "And by our last count, it was a good hoard. About one hundred and fourteen hearts obtained from Steel City. Pity none of them were from the Titan twerps, though. The Hellions actually put up a good fight and all and actually managed to trap those Misfit army brats…but they still escaped."

"How is that even possible?" growled Lord Imperial, having a distinct knowledge about the various trials Hamilton had created to make things even difficult for Superman himself, "This is the Phantom Zone, a dimension where not even Kryptonians can escape from, much less mutant teenagers! And the last time the Organization checked, Keyblades cannot be used in that manner!"

"It appears that the Misfits' magic is growing stronger and stronger, my Lord," Selene commented worriedly, "Of course, it is perfectly rational considering that any magic-practitioner would increase in strength and ability as time passes, so we should have expected this."

"Not so, Selene," Xaldin pointed out, "We thought the Phantom Zone would be the perfect place to imprison the Misfits forever considering that it is a place where one will remain trapped in temporal stasis and be practically non-existent in this reality, a dimension where none can return of their own will. Not only would the Keyblades be unable to get them out of that realm since the weapons of heart do not work in _that_ manner, but the mutants would also be powerless in that world."

"It shouldn't be possible to escape even _with_ the Elementa magic and the Keyblades," Vexen said with cheated disapproval, "My scientific calculations and studies with the Phantom Zone along with the Superior and Hamilton should have remained sound. Magic goes only so far, and simply blasting the dimension wouldn't have caused the rift to appear and bring them back home."

"You're forgetting that we thought it was physically impossible for the Joes' hearts to be locked and become immune to the Heartless' efforts to steal them along with the leader being able to even defeat Sephiroth," Lexaeus said stonily, "Whatever and however the Misfits did to escape from the Phantom Zone, it was due to that blasted scepter of Wavedancer's. I'm sure of it."

"It must be," Larxene said with pursued lips, "Never in our history have we witnessed Elementa magic combining together like _that_! It defies all laws of magic! You can't rationally combine fire and ice essences in order to create something new and more powerful! And those Misfits aren't long-living wizards and mages! They're only new to this game, so it's practically impossible that they're able to be _this_ skilled at their magic!"

"Great, just perfect," drawled Pierce bad-naturedly, "If not even the Phantom Zone can hold those little army-brats, then we're pretty much up the creek! Even with the fact that the Keyblades work in our favor, I'd doubt any of us can stand up to twelve Keyblades and ten different types of magic from…**_him_**. Let's face it: no one in the Inner Circle could have had a chance against Sephiroth."

Lord Imperial shot Donald Pierce a glare, and the White Bishop hastily retracted and qualified his sentence.

"Except perhaps you, Lord Imperial," he added, earning a few sneers and glared of disdain for being such a butt-kisser. Sebastian Shaw then lazily swirled the brandy around the ice cubes in his small glass before he looked up and frowned from deep thought.

"Perhaps then it's time to start on our plans with Xavier and his precious X-Men," the Black King said at last, "We've toyed with discovering the limits and capabilities of the Misfits and the Joes long enough, and unlike the Pit, Charles' Institute of the Gifted hasn't been shielded yet. And keep in mind how our future plans revolve around them, especially since we haven't even begun to truly make Xavier and his delusional brood suffer."

The Superior gave a slight nod, wordlessly giving the indication that he was in full agreement. The Organization member called Demyx then scoffed as he idly placed a hand on one hip and gave Shaw a look of scornful disbelief.

"And what about your runaway assistant, Tessa? You know what's gonna happen if she manages to get to Xavier first since you lost control of her mind? She's already been spotted in the Fountains to be in New York."

Shaw just smiled in a sinister and knowing manner as the anonymous Lord Imperial stepped forward along with the unknown thirteenth member of the Organization (the very same youth who was Axel's friend and the lone hooded being who showed remorse and pity at the heroes at the battle for the Nexus in San Francisco).

"It is handled, Demyx," Lord Imperial said with restrained condescendence and venom before he turned to the thirteenth member, "You have your orders. Take the next pod from Hamilton and see to it that Tessa…encounters trouble. Should the X-Men get in your way, feel free to kill them. The more, the merrier."

"Just don't choke," drawled Demyx at the chosen Organization soldier, chortling and clearly teasing his comrade's first mission on the planet of Earth ever. He was going to say more, but one of the sharp tips of a fire chakram was immediately positioned at his throat, and everyone turned to see the red-haired Axel wielding his weapon at the musician's throat. Axel's green eyes were glittering as well as a savage growl emitting from behind his bared teeth.

"Keep going on, and we'll see who's gonna choke soon, Demyx," Axel said, and the Superior had to firmly and painfully grab his subordinate by the arm to prevent him from carrying out his threat. Axel ruefully made his weapons disappear as the Superior gave him an evil eye underneath his hood. Axel was certainly going to receive a severe tongue-lashing afterwards.

"A bit over-protective of your little friend, aren't you, Axel?" General Black could help but shoot out derisively, "And here I thought that you Nobodies have no hearts and emotions, so it's really degrading to watch you continually act out in a frenzy to defend his honor."

"Why? Jealous much?" growled Axel.

Shaw then turned to the hooded youth as he commanded, "Do not fail us. We have all worked too hard to let this plan go awry…"

"I won't," the thirteenth member said stoically before he bowed to the general audience and turned to leave, vanishing in the shadows.

**Author's Notes: Hope you all enjoyed this little chapter and a few DCAU cameos! And next week will be what a lot of people will be waiting for! The X-Men will finally get into the act in the chapter, "First Siege of the Institute" as Tessa finally makes her way to Bayville to ask for help, but with the mysterious thirteenth member of the Organization after her, will any of the X-Men truly be safe? And who will be infected this time by the Hellfire Heartless? Will anyone die? Find out next week, but until then, read and review! Constructive criticism welcome!**


	16. First Siege of the Institute

**CHAPTER 16: First Siege of the Institute**

"Are you sure?" Superman asked for the umpteenth time, blinking, as he and the rest of the Justice League finished hearing the Misfits' testimony along with the Joes and General Hawk in shock. Even Supergirl and Batgirl were there in the main conference room of the Watchtower headquarters.

Needless to say, it wasn't pleasant news for anyone once they learned that Xigbar, Frost, and the Hellions sent the Misfits to the Phantom Zone where they were all nearly killed by the infamous Doomsday project, Jax-Ur, Mala, and the other beings and bloodthirsty criminals trapped in the limbo dimension. The Misfits were extremely fortunate to even make it through alive, especially since escaping the dimension should have been impossible to begin with.

But that was hardly the main concern right now as the Misfits all collectively gave the Man of Steel a dry look.

"No, Supes," Pietro groused irritably (nearly losing one's life to a throng of homicidal maniacs would do that to a person), "We're just yanking your chain and saying we've run into three of your worst enemies because we just love screwing around with the truth and having our lives forfeit every day."

"You know, one of these days, your mouth is going to get you into big trouble, Maximoff, so I suggest you keep it shut and watch your manners," growled Kara, automatically defensive of her mentor and older sibling-figure.

Pietro just flashed a seductive smile as he drawled, eyes wiggling, "And I love you too, Supergirl. Y'know, you're really cute when you're mad."

Before Kara could find a way to ram her fist into Quicksilver's larynx, Superman easily diffused the tension by placing a hand on his protégée's shoulder.

"No, he's right to be sardonic especially after what he and the other Misfits have endured," he said wearily, rubbing his forehead, "I apologize for being so insistent, Quicksilver…but please understand that this piece of the puzzle isn't a pleasant one."

"Huh? Why? I don't get it," Fred asked, scratching his head and wincing in deep thought.

"I don't either, yo," Todd confessed as well, and Hawkgirl bit back a sigh as she then turned to the Misfits and explained the reasoning.

"Don't you kids see? The Phantom Zone has never been accessible before to any of you or the other allies the League's made because it's a clandestine and secret dimension that can only be accessed by Krypton's technology. It's a barren world that we only had to use as a last resort for Doomsday since there was no safe way to contain him, and even then, we had furious arguments over whether or not we even had the right to do such a thing in the first place when we did send Doomsday there. Not a lot of people, not even many of the top bigwigs in the government or the Wolfram and Hart firm, know of its existence. And yet the Organization and the Hellfire Club sent you there as a way to get rid of the Misfits and Keyblades forever. The only way they could even have that kind of technology to the Phantom Zone is that - "

"…is that one of the past nemeses from the Justice League or a person familiar with Kryptonian technology gave it to them in the first place. In other words, we're dealing with **_more_** enemies than just the Inner Circle, the Heartless, and the Thirteenth Order. Or to be exact, ones we don't know about," Hawk finished, grim and guessing it at once. Shayera nodded.

"Exactly."

There were several moments of contemplating silence as the Misfits and Joes processed this. It **_was_** bad news.

"More enemies? But…isn't it obvious? It's probably Lex Luthor, right? We already know that he's in the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle, and who else is one of the Justice League's dangerous and hard-core enemies? He's probably the one who gave the cannon-thing to that Organization guy so that the Hellions could trap us there when we went to go after the Heartless," Lance pointed out, but this was shot down with a shake of Green Lantern's head.

"No, it **can't** be Luthor, Avalanche," John Stewart commented gravely in his deep voice, "Luthor doesn't know anything about the Phantom Zone, or at least that's we think the last time we checked, especially since all our dealings with the dimension have never involved him in the first place. And even if he did, he doesn't have access to that technology. Not even Brainiac would have a transporter like we do. The only one we thought that was in existence was the transporter that Superman has here, and it's safely in the Watchtower's vaults. We just checked when you came up here to give us the report; it hasn't been used since we utilized it to send Doomsday there in the _first_ place."

"Could it be possible that the dimensional transporter was replicated by Luthor in the first place?" Wanda asked, crossing her legs, "I mean, he does own Lexcorp which is a leading business of technology that could put a lot of companies to shame, and it would make sense that he would try to make another one of these machines to use against us and you guys."

"That's also impossible," Batgirl said, "Not only is the technology too complex for Earth, but there is a rare crystal component in the inter-dimensional cannon that attunes to the specific frequency of different realms that makes the whole transporter work in the first place. It's the heart of the system. Without it, you just have an oversized piece of non-working junk, and that crystal is made from an element that cannot be synthesized nor found on this planet."

"Now I remember that!" Roadblock said, hitting his knee upon the realization, "Emma Frost crushed something similar after the kids were sent to hell and back! She must have known about that piece being the main function alone, and she broke it so that we couldn't find a way to bring the Misfits home!"

"All the more reason why this couldn't be Luthor in the first place because he doesn't know anything about the transporter and how its structured because we never told him or gave him a chance to studying up on this sort of mechanism," Martian Manhunter said calmly. Althea frowned before she spoke up.

"I think we're going about this the wrong way," the ninja-in-training announced, "All right, for now, we can eliminate Lex Luthor as the person who's involved with trying to send us to the Phantom Zone. But instead of asking about who couldn't know about the Phantom Zone, we should try asking **who could**. Who else could know about the transporter?"

"Besides us, the original founders of the Justice League, Kara, Lois Lane, and Batgirl, no one does," Wonder Woman said, "In fact, you Misfits and Joes are the only people outside the League that we have ever discussed to this extent of a detail."

There was a period of silence before then Batman said roughly with suspicion.

"Except Professor Hamilton," the Dark Knight pointed out, his logic quick to arrive to that conclusion. Superman blinked before he frowned.

"That's a pretty deep and serious accusation, Batman," the Kryptonian said.

"He is the only other one who could possibly have the scientific mindset to fully understand the capability of how such a device of that magnitude would work. And he was there to help you banish Jax-Ur and Mala to the Phantom Zone in the first place as well," the masked vigilante replied brusquely.

Trinity was thinking about this as they ran a background check with their scanners during this talk, and it wasn't until the bespectacled and mustached face of the renowned scientist appeared as an image from their files from S.H.I.E.L.D. and Interpol that Daria, Quinn, and Brittany all collectively gasped.

"Wait, is this by any chance the Dr. _Emil Hamilton_? The leading researcher and scientist of S.T.A.R. Labs in Metropolis?" Daria queried, her eyes wide. She and her sisters have heard about him, and though they had never formally met the scientist, he was worthy of being a close to a scientific and medical equal in their eyes.

"Yeah, that's him," the Flash nodded, "Why?"

"Because then it couldn't be Professor Hamilton who's working for the bad guys. There's no reason to betray Superman or side with the Heartless because he's Superman's friend. Right?" Quinn asked, her eyes uncharacteristically serious. Kal-El winced before he sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, knowing that this would be difficult to explain.

"Actually…he used to be. You see, years ago, when I was brainwashed into serving Darkseid by Granny Goodness, I…caused a lot of damage, endangered innocent lives, and destroyed many people's collective trust by leading the armies of Apokolips to attack Metropolis. Though a few such as Lois Lane stood by my side, many regarded me as a danger and grew fearful of me when it was all over, even when I tried to tell the truth."

"I remember that," Shipwreck noted sadly, "Even the Jugglers thought that having you around would have been too risky for even though ya' did help us out a lot, they were more worried on what would happen and how unstoppable you would be should you have turned against Earth."

"It wasn't your fault. You were brainwashed," Blob tried to comfort the extraterrestrial, but Superman shook his head again, loathing the fact that what he was about to say was actually the unbiased truth.

"Actually, it **_was_** partly my fault, Fred. In the battle of Metropolis, I nearly killed Supergirl when she tried to subdue me in my mindless rampage, and she was severely injured, almost to the point of death. In desperation, when I snapped out of it, I brought Kara over to S.T.A.R. Labs to have Hamilton treat her and save her life. When he saw me, he was thoroughly terrified because of my acts of war on the city and refused to treat Kara. In my anger and desperation to save her, I threatened Professor Hamilton to treat her, and by doing so, he was able to save her life before it was too late. But by threatening to hurt him and endanger his life…I sort of burned bridges between the two of us. In short, Professor Hamilton isn't my ally any longer and I haven't seen him since that day. Though I wish I did; I still want to apologize for my actions," Superman finished.

"Shame…" Daria, Quinn, and Brittany said unanimously, making the childish move of "naughty-naughty" with rubbing their two forefingers together at the Kryptonian. Everyone gave the Delgado Triplets a dry look but they didn't bother with a reprimand.

"So Hamilton is no longer a supporter of you…" Xi clarified, getting in instantly.

Superman nodded grimly before he showed remorse and said, "To be fair Xi, he has every reason to mistrust me and think that I'm a danger. I was wrong too, and the brainwashing won't excuse that."

"Everyone makes mistakes, though. It just shows that you're no different from us, and at least you owned up to it and tried to make amends," the lizard ex-assassin remained firm, loyally regarding Superman as his ally and friend. This certainly didn't change his view about the Justice League member.

"Yeah, yo," Toad chipped in, his eyes bright, "I mean, we used to be the Brotherhood and followed Magneto's orders and did a lot of rotten stuff when we were listenin' to the bum, so really, Supes! You ain't no more of a bad guy than we are or anyone else here!"

Hawkgirl flinched a bit underneath her mask when she heard this, but no one really noticed as Superman smiled gratefully at the nonjudgmental sentiment. Even though they were **_extremely_** annoying, the Misfits grew on you when you gave them a chance.

Martian Manhunter then turned to Batman before he said with solemn red eyes, "But Batman, we cannot accuse of Professor Hamilton of something this blatant without proof. I concede that it does make sense and fits the pattern of facts we have been witnessing regarding the Organization and the Heartless. However, we cannot terrorize him because of a mere hypothesis; we need more facts and evidence than this."

"And no, you are not going to ask him either," Wonder Woman added, already sensing what her teammate was about to do, "The last thing we need during this crisis is Hamilton to either drop dead of fright or file a harassment lawsuit against the League."

Batman coldly ignored the Amazon, but then Wanda, as she was processing what she had just learned, came to a sudden thought.

"Wait a minute," Wanda said slowly, frowning as the pieces were starting to link together, "Then maybe Batman _isn't_ wrong when he said that Professor Hamilton could have been the one to side with the Hellfire Club in giving them the teleporter cannon to the Phantom Zone."

"Why's that?" Lina blinked, one eyebrow raised.

"Remember when we fought Galatea in San Francisco during the battle of the Nexus? Galatea is Supergirl's genetic clone, right? Well, in order for a clone to be made - "

"They would have needed a way to get Supergirl's genetic material and process it in the first place! And Hamilton treated her, so he was in a rare position for him to obtain Supergirl's DNA!" Low Light exclaimed, coming to the conclusion instantly. Batman didn't say anything nor show any inclination that he was responding to the tidbit, but inwardly, he was impressed. Scarlet Witch was quite sharp; she actually managed to point out another speculation of reason and logic that had merits, one that he failed to see in the first place. Not many people could claim to have thought of a lead before the Batman did.

"And Professor Hamilton works in S.T.A.R. Labs, a place where it would be easy to get the resources to make a clone, as well as is a pioneer in genetic research. It makes sense!" the Flash said.

"I dunno…" Lina said, "All right, so even **_if_** Professor Hamilton doesn't trust Superman anymore, that wouldn't explain why he would side with the Heartless then or why he would create Galatea as an evil soldier. And keep in mind, I said '**_if_**' and it's a pretty big if at that."

"She has a point," conceded Roadblock, "Hamilton's nose isn't _that_ far out of joint. And he wouldn't be in his right mind to think that helping the Heartless and the Inner Circle isn't a crime! If he thinks that Superman and us are threats, Hamilton wouldn't try using the Heartless and create a bigger mess!"

"Yeah, yo, that's sort of like trying to light a whole forest on fire to get rid of one dry, crusty tree," Todd said, trying to make a metaphor and thankful enough that the comparison made some sort of sense.

"He'll be making the matter worse then if he's **_that_** determined to get rid of the Justice League," Cover Girl murmured, "And Dragonfly, it could be logical. Sometimes, in order to achieve their goals, people will usually do whatever it takes to reach that point, even if it means doing something you normally wouldn't. In times of war, people get desperate and tend to not think of the repercussions of their actions, or at least the long-termed ones."

"I dunno," Lance said, "No one could be **_that_** blind."

Quicksilver added, "Lance's right. I don't even think Magneto and his Acolytes or even Cobra Commander would be this stupid to join up with the Organization Thirteen, not if it could endanger the world before they themselves get a chance to rule it yet. And this Professor Hamilton doesn't sound like the type to take it upon himself to betray Earth if he hates Superman's guts."

"Regardless, I'd feel much safer if we had an idea of where Hamilton is," Spirit pointed out, "We may not be able to ask him, but I'm sure we can put tabs on him over at S.T.A.R Labs in Metropolis and just see whether or not there is any reason to be suspicious."

"Actually, it is a bit funny that you should mention that," Supergirl said, "He's not at S.T.A.R. Labs anymore. We can't find him. Several months after the siege, Professor Hamilton left and resigned from his position at the foundation, and though Superman and I tried to find his whereabouts so that we could thank him and apologize, but he's vanished. And eventually, we decided not to press it."

Hawk frowned; that was certainly suspicious, especially since it was hard to just take off and leave your profession behind just like that.

"Well, so much for that," Althea grimaced, feeling a bit frustrated, "Maybe G.I. Joe will be able to figure out where this Hamilton guy is, especially since we'd have an easier time accessing his files considering that S.T.A.R. Labs has a link to the United States military, so we'd have legitimate reasons and authority to look up this stuff. But here's the thing that troubles me: what if there are other enemies we're not aware about? Then that means that the Hellfire Club and Inner Circle might be teaming up with old enemies of the League, the Titans, and the Ghostbusters to help ensure that we're not in for an easy ride. And to make matters worse, if we have no idea about these other enemies, then it'll be easier for the baddies to take us all by surprise."

"That's true," Lance groaned, "No matter how much we train, it won't do us much good if the odds and number of people trying to make our lives a living hell keep stacking against us. We can't depend on dumb luck forever, and we're not always going to find a way to foil the Organization's Heartless attacks or invasions."

"And we're not going to let more people suffer like the Joes when Blackheart took away Lifeline and the others' hearts," Pietro added, pouting and now uncharacteristically glum, remembering that he and Wanda still had a promise to fulfill for Bree.

"We don't have an answer to that," Wonder Woman said, "All we can do is prepare and deal with this the best we can while trying to find ways to understand and investigate other ways to help stop the Inner Circle from getting any further than necessary. And that's the problem. We are not aware of everything that's going on in this war."

"And who knows where they're going to strike next?" Blind Master exhaled wearily.

---

Meanwhile, back at the Organization's headquarters, the anonymous and youngest member of the order was sitting with a mixture of idle worry and loathing in his room. He knew better than to question the Superior's orders outright, but still…

"Boy, talk about moping with a capital-M," Axel's voice rang out unexpectedly, and the thirteenth member didn't flinch as he just wearily looked up, still wearing his hood and shrouding his face in the shadows as the fire-chakram wielding Axel leaned against the doorway of his friend's bedroom.

"What do you want?" sighed the boy, tired and wishing he could get this over with.

"Just wanted to see how you're doing before you get sent for your first mission to help stick it to those losers on Earth," the red-haired member of the Thirteenth Order smirked with arrogant playfulness. The youth just coldly ignored him before he stiffly rose from his bed, now intent on teleporting to Hamilton's laboratory and waiting for the next Hellfire Heartless pod to come to full development for the next Infection. But before he could vanish, he felt Axel's grip of steel painfully squeeze around his upper arm, causing the unknown to look back at his best friend.

Axel's expression was deadly serious as he made his point.

"Just remember, you idiot," Axel tried to sound threatening, "Just keep listening to the Superior and don't even think about showing anything that passes off as regret or remorse. **_Don't turn on us or the Organization._** You get on his bad side, and he'll destroy you. **_Got it memorized?_**"

The youth's eyes went blank with stoniness as he then stiffly extracted his arm from Axel's grip before summoning a portal of darkness with one hand, the doorway fluctuating and wafting a pathway to the planet Earth.

"No one would miss me," the unknown member stated dismissively, as if it were the truth before he walked away and into the wormhole where he disappeared, the opening closing behind him. Axel's frown softened with hurt and concern, which actually should have been impossible given his current situation.

"That's not true…" he muttered, making a fist in one hand, "…I would."

---

One week later…

"How about this one, sir?" the aloof yet respectful salesclerk said as he opened the small box to show to Logan who was leaning on the glass counter and eyeing the latest prospect with a beady eye. The mustached and stuffily proper clerk bit back the insults with a slight grimace; he was no fool in not knowing that this was an infamous X-Man from the leeway Xavier's Institute for mutants that had been heralded in every tabloid and news media known to mankind. Still, despite having anti-mutant sentiments, money (and Logan's claws and threats of dismemberment) talked. And the owner of the store wouldn't care as long as they were paying customers. It probably also helped that this store was a good seven counties away from the dreaded Bayville and the town's daily explosions and chaos.

Still, considering that Logan was uncouth, crude, and certainly extremely difficult to please, it was enough to make the man wish he didn't agree to this in the first place. They had already gone through at least fifty samples, and each one apparently wasn't perfect enough for the grizzled mutant.

Mentally sighing, the salesclerk prepared himself for another rejection as Wolverine just stared at the item winking at him under the store lights. One minute passed, then two, but neither of the two men moved. The elder X-Man's mind was whirring as his ashen and stoically stern face continued studying the piece of jewelry. It was simple, non-elegant, certainly plain and non-flashy with its one tiny stone surrounded with three red petals of blood-red rubies, like a flower, and yet…

He could picture Jinx wearing it, liking it, having the bauble complementing her, neither taking away attention from her deadly and exotic appearance and at the same time giving her a more feminine touch.

Damn, it fits her. And Wolverine had good enough instincts and a base knowledge of Jinx's character and personality in order to finally decide that he was sold.

"I'll take it, bub," he said gruffly, and the salesclerk nodded, exhaling in relief, and though he was going to be glad to see the back of the mutant, he wasn't complaining. Especially since Logan was actually paying in cash.

Several minutes later, Logan was riding on the highway in his black motorcycle, the box containing the ring snugly in his inside pocket of the breast of his leather jacket. Jinx would not even see this coming.

As the various communities and towns sped by his vision, the wind rippling across his body, Wolverine kept thinking about Hawk and the Joes' current predicament with the Misfits, pondering deeply. It was always on his bike, irking free and letting loose on the road, that the haunted and mercurial man did his best musings. And due to the fact that one could hardly get a moment's peace at the Mansion with all the fighting, screaming, explosions, and God knows what else, it was hardly a wonder why. Still, it had been troubling him for the past week or so. Maybe it was better that the Misfits were the ones burdened with the gifts of the magic and Keyblades, especially since it made them more prominent targets to the Organization. And as beneficial as the gifts from Pluto were, Logan had to agree with the Professor that they would not take additional risks to expose the students to further danger. Yes, they could handle themselves, but the Professor and Storm were extremely grateful that none of the Hellfire Heartless took it upon themselves to attack the school.

Yet.

Scott, Jean, and Jake all agreed with the adults over the sentiments that the Organization and the Heartless would attack the Institute eventually, especially after hearing about how a good number of the Joes lost their hearts and lives when Blackheart invaded. Jean and Scott both mourned for Hawk and the Misfits, and Razor was extremely grateful that the Misfits were safe at least now thanks to their new powers and the shield Leomon placed on the Pit. But it did raise the issue that the other teenage X-Men and the New Mutants would be especially vulnerable considering that all Hellfire Heartless could gain strength and vitality by directly absorbing mutant energies by attacks or physical contact.

And thus, that was why they had Jake, Hank, and Forge secretly increase the security defenses outside and inside the X-Mansion, and in some cases, even creating new weapons and guns that could have made the Juggernaut wince and be wary of. However, as Scott pointed out, even with an arsenal, it still wouldn't effectively guarantee to offer complete protection. And of course, it did lead to some slight disagreements.

Both Jake and Jean wanted to at least inform the other students of what was happening, and they made it clear that it wouldn't do the X-Men any good to remain ignorant, especially since they didn't have any idea about the existence of the Keyblades, Pluto, or the Elementa magic that was blessed to all of the Misfits. And Jean pointed out how hurt they had all been when the Professor had hid the truth on how Mystique was disguised as their former principal at Bayville High. Ororo and Hank clearly disagreed with that sentiment, especially since it would be more difficult to keep this from the wrong people such as Magneto, Mesmero, or even Apocalypse and a good portion of the kids would thoughtlessly blurt out the gifts' existence. And it didn't take a genius to realize what would happen if the news of the Keyblades and Pluto got to the wrong set of ears…and how they could be possibly exploited. Plus, knowing some of the kids, they would take it upon themselves to fight the Heartless since their friends were doing so, and reasons to encourage such foolish bravado wouldn't have been welcome. Professor Xavier heard both sides before he conceded that there were valid points each, and that should the time be sufficient or necessary, he would break it to the kids without question. Until then, it would be better to concentrate on fortifying the school and gaining information from the meetings without needing the kids' involvement, especially since they could ask the Misfits and Joes to help protect them. Scott didn't say much, but Jean could sense his feelings over slight resentment of the Misfits being more helpful in fighting the Heartless than they could.

As Logan passed by the garage to ride his motorcycle, he was able to catch drifting bits of a private conversation between Xavier and Scott near the convertible before he left. The mentor was trying to tell Scott that though he understood and could relate to his jealousy, he also reminded Cyclops that this wasn't a contest when innocent lives and hearts were at stake. And Logan had to agree, though he remained quite neutral over the discussions as of late.

Suddenly, as he reached the outskirts of Bayville, a frantic figure rushed out in the middle of the road, wearing a dark cloak, carrying a small, weathered knapsack. And judging by his speeds, Logan barely had enough time to stop as he hit the brakes and swerved suddenly.

"Shit!" he cursed under his breath as he screeched to a stop, scratching paint and wearing down his tires instantly, the burnt odor of burning rubber permeating the air. Wolverine was now hopping mad as he came within inches of the fatigued girl in front, on her knees and panting underneath her hood and tattered cloak. He was about ready to rip a new one with a multitude of curses and threats when his nose caught whiff of blood and a familiar scent…

Dear Lord, it couldn't be.

"Tessa?" Wolverine blurted out, shocked, as she rushed to the girl before swiftly removing her hood, only to reveal the face of the young woman named Tessa, Charles Xavier's first student, long before Jean Grey and Scott Summers. Tessa's face was streaked with tears, smudged with grime and dirt, and her skin, though ashen, was marred with cuts. Her hair was flowing over his shoulders, and surprisingly enough, it had red-highlights, making her a bit of a gothic, punk look. And she was wearing cybernetic, red-tinted sunglasses. Still, she was exhausted and wearily scared beyond her wits, of this, the X-Men was certain; he could smell the pheromones of fear radiating and mixed with Tessa's body scent. And underneath her dark cloak was a leather uniform consisting of a leather coat, black pants, and leather boots.

Tessa's eyes went wide before she held a hand to her mouth, gasping, as if she could barely believe her good fortune before she started panting with relief, her lungs burning from her sprint and constant terror.

"Logan? Oh God…" Tessa gasped, and Logan felt his heart beat faster in worry as he noticed her left side of her coat and pants were stained heavily with blood. Apparently, she had sustained some serious wounds from whatever trek she had just endured. The grizzled man immediately reached out and tried to pick her up, knowing she couldn't last much longer on her own tow feet.

"I'll take ya' to the school and Chuck," he growled protectively, but Tessa vainly tried to push him away.

"No!" she shrieked, her voice filled with terror (and Logan was astounded considering that in all the time he had been with Tessa, he had never seen her give any expression of fear), "Go without me! Hurry, the Organization will kill you if you stay with me! Go warn the Professor and leave me behind! I'm not worth it! The Inner Circle is targeting the rest of the X-Men! Don't worry about me, but go warn Xavier! **_Please!_**"

"Like hell I will!" Logan snapped as he tried to hug the young adult close to him, trying to comfort Sage.

"How touching," a voice spoke emotionlessly from behind him, and both Tessa and Logan looked up to see a familiar figure wearing the infamous black hood and robes of the Organization Thirteen, his silver zippers and drawstrings of his uniform glinting under the sunlight. And since there was no one else around for miles and that Wolverine stumbled onto Tessa around a tree-infested grove, they were pretty much alone with the warrior enemy.

Wolverine immediately went into full rage mode, his eyes turning his vision red as he drew out his claws, barking to Tessa, "Tessa, go! I'll teach this punk some lessons! Go warn Chuck with your telepathy! **_Hurry!_**"

Sage looked at a loss as she shook her head, saying, "I can't! That's why I had to run in the first place! Even though I escaped, Frost and Shaw placed a block on me that prevents my telepathy from functioning! Though I escaped their brainwashing, I can't use my mind-link to contact Charles! Logan, be careful! I couldn't even stand up to him, even with my guns! That's why I was running! He'll kill you!"

"Like I'd be done in by some little punk!" scoffed Wolverine, but inside his gut, he knew this wouldn't be easy.

"Kill him? I think not, Sage. Though _you're_ now expendable, he'll do quite well. On second thought, it was probably better I didn't kill you instantly. At least you led me right to the old badger - "

That was about as far as the young boy got as Logan rushed at him, snarling, and his claws aimed directly at the Organization member's chest, a sure kill from being stabbed directly in the heart. But to Logan's shock, the hooded male clearly yet narrowly sidestepped, almost dancing on air as if weightless, moving with swiftness that could rival the Flash and Quicksilver. And what made it even more aggravating was that the opponent had absolutely no scent, so it hindered Wolverine from calculating just how close in proximity he was to his enemy's quarters.

"You missed, animal," the thirteenth member of the order stated coldly, and with a snarl, Logan did an impressive swivel before he pounced upon the stranger, claws slashing outwards towards the hooded boy's head. Instead of decapitating him, the adamantium blades just narrowly whizzed by the boy's face as he leapt backward. The anonymous stranger had to admit; the mutant was good.

But he was better as he drew out his black Oblivion and white Oathkeeper with a flash, and Tessa gasped as she screamed, "**_Logan, RUN!_**"

But the elder X-Man was too stunned at what he was witnessing right at that moment, the two familiar weapons in the gloved hands, shocked and astonished to say the least.

"What the hell?" Logan blurted out, his eyes wide and his jaw dropping open, "You've got - !"

But that was far as he could utter before the black-robed boy flew at him, his two blades moving swiftly in an eerie dance, and Wolverine had no choice but to parry and thrust, trying to defend himself while at the same time, attempting to kill the attacker. But it was a futile struggle. If Logan kicked out with his feet, the boy simply blocked them with the handles of his weapons. If the boy struck out, the blows rang painfully against Logan's claws, sending powerful vibrations throughout his skeleton and marrow, being quite excruciating.

Logan then tried one last tactic as he literally leapt up high in the air, and the boy flew upwards to the sky to meet him. There, Wolverine lost himself in all consciousness and gave in to his primal fury of animalistic rage and instinct. With a snarl and abandoning his sentient thought entirely, Wolverine went into full bezerker mode, his six claws flying everywhere rapidly, the air whistling from the metal cutting through, the X-Man's hands being nothing more than mere blurs. Not even Tessa could process them with her eyes.

But the thirteenth member of the Organization immediately parried back the bezerker rage of the feral mutant with his weapons, and to Sage's horror, he nimbly avoided the razor-sharp pieces of metal as his Oblivion and Oathkeeper created a series of sparks, raining down and clashing with the adamantium claws. With a grunt, the boy expertly flipped over before ramming the butt of his two blades into the lumbar region of Logan's spine.

There was a small crack.

"Wolverine!" Tessa gasped as Logan snapped out of his rage mode, his spine sending pillars of fire in his nerves, fractured and temporarily crippled. Though his healing factor was automatically kicking in, he was gravely injured and in crippling pain, unable to feel his legs past his waist. And what made it worse was that Logan, in his final moments, felt the new sensation of the Hellfire Heartless spore burrowing through his back and into his body and soul.

"All I needed was one moment of close contact," the youth said stoically as Logan moaned in agony, sweat stinging his eyes, before he managed to throw a helpless look to Tessa who was watching this akin to horror and disgust, rasping, "Kid, run! Go…get…the Professor!"

Tessa did so, darting in between the trees and sprinting like an Olympic runner as Logan underwent the transformation. The Organization member wasn't worried; if she was heading to the Institute, all the better then. Meanwhile, Falco and Octavia were watching this with troubled expressions.

"Is it - ?" began Octavia, but Falco shushed her.

"Yes. We better head over to the mansion of the X-Men. That's where the Heartless will be headed," Falco replied with narrowed eyes.

"And if Leomon shows up?" Octavia said in a resigned yet grieving sort of voice, "You know he will try to prevent us from taking Wolverine's heart if it is a Talisman."

Falco's eyes turned cold as he muttered with bitterness, "Leave him to me…I meant what I said when I told him I'd kill him the next time he gets in our way."

"He…Falco, can you honestly blame Leomon for sympathizing with the mutants in their plight? Now that I've had time to digest this, he did say he still will remain our friend and ally," Octavia asked over Logan's screams of pain as his entire skin turned a sick, unnatural black. The blue-feathered avian turned fiercely to his Tigershark companion.

"He's no friend of mine," Falco swore as he got up and left, causing the female alien to follow him and ignore the plight of Logan as he was unwilling transformed into a mindless drone of the Thirteenth Order…

---

"Oh come now, you young scamps!" laughed Hank as he and Jake were madly trying to avoid the multitude of rubber balls being thrown from opposite sides, "And I thought youths were supposed to be more competent at athletic abilities than us stuffy, old dodgers!"

"Hey, no fair, Beast!" laughed Kurt as he expertly shot a fastball at the blue-furry form, only to find his target easily dodged the projectile, "If you stood still or didn't move as fast, then we'd have tagged you not too long ago!"

"Well that defeats the whole point of Mutant Dodgeball, then," Beast replied impishly as he easily did a one-hand handstand and narrowly evaded three balls thrown by Jubilee, Ray, and Sam at once.

"You'll have to try harder than that, kitten! Remember, I used to be a SWAT Kat!" Jake teased as he then did an impressive split to the ground, avoiding two balls as they narrowly zoomed by his head and torso.

"Don't tempt me, hairball," Rina snarled, already losing herself to the desire to pummel the furry and odor-violating kat with anything she could get her hands on, "Your vile body scent is enough to make me use my claws on you!"

Jean, Scott, Ororo, and Professor Xavier watched on with amusement. It was a beautiful warm day, sunny and with a cool breeze from the nearby ocean, making this perfect weather for an outdoors romp and training session. Of course, after so many complaints from all the students and seeing as how they needed some fun after endless and tiring sessions in the Danger Room, Hank and Jake took it upon themselves to organize a little Mutant Dodgeball for everyone to participate it.

After a few fun-filled rounds between the main team and the New Mutants, complete with laughing and the occasional misuse of powers that caused some burns, bruises, and one tree to catch on fire, both Beast and Razor then decided to up the stakes a bit. They put out the offer of all the kids versus the two of them in a "ball-only" battle. Any use of mutant powers or glovatrixes would be an automatic forfeit for the students, but if they managed to tag out both of the instructors within twenty minutes, they would be dismissed from all Danger Room sessions for two days and be allowed to do whatever they wished with their free time.

Needless to say, this eagerly set the students, both the main team and the new recruits, into a frenzy at the prospect, and for the past fifteen minutes, the entire horde of kids kept flinging whatever rubber handballs they could reach (over fifty by Storm's last count) and becoming increasingly desperate as time ran out. The kids easily forgot that both Beast and Razor were quite agile and physically acrobatic and the forbidden use of mutant powers added more of a challenge, especially since none of the kids could secretly cheat and escape detection from the Professor's telepathy.

Still, they were all having fun and a rare, carefree time, one that they could all use to blow off some stress and tension, and Xavier and his staff couldn't have been more satisfied and content. A little fun and relaxation would do a world of good, and most of the staff agreed.

Most of them…

"I still think we should have gone through another round of the '_Epsilon: Total-Warfare_' simulation exercise with the combined main team and the New Mutants again instead of wasting time like this," muttered Scott crossly, watching over the ruckus and leaning heavily against a tree. Jean gave Scott a look of exasperation mixed with commiseration, but she still smiled, understanding that Scott was mostly just concerned about the welfare of his teammates.

"Scott," she said with gentle empathy as she rested her head against her boyfriend's shoulder, "We could all use a break, and look at how much fun everyone's having! It's not healthy to be so dedicated to training each waking moment…and we could all use some pick-me-ups."

"Still, considering that it looks as if the children won't be able to achieve their goals of tagging Razor and Beast out, it may seem as if Scott will get his wish to doing more with the Danger Room sessions," Ororo smiled as Beast childishly and in good fun made funny faces and gave the kids a raspberry as he nimbly avoided the balls hurled by Piotr and Rogue. Jean then had a very naughty grin on her face as she closed her eyes.

"I wouldn't bet on it, Storm," she murmured, and both Jake and Hank suddenly found their feet firmly rooted to the ground, unable to move swiftly and actually forced to remain still for several seconds, and no amount of pulling could free their appendages from Jean's telekinetic grip. And those several seconds was all it took as Jake and Hank found themselves being slammed by a unanimous horde of rubber spheres. All at once.

WHAM!

"Ow…that looked like it hurt," murmured Roberto, wincing at the two adults as they lay stunned from the impact on the grassy dirt.

"Did perhaps one of you get the name of the truck that ran us over, my dear Livingstone?" warbled Hank in a funny voice, looking up at the sky. Apparently, he was hit harder than one thought.

"Like yes! We won, we won, we won! **_We so totally won!_**" cheered Shadowcat, jumping up and down excitedly in her X-Man uniform before Colossus wrapped her arms around her waist as a celebratory hug.

"And good-bye to Danger Room sessions for the next two days!" whooped Ray, pumping his fist in the air and certainly exuberant and relieved that they could escape Logan's brutal exercises. Rina, after a vindictive thought, picked up a spare ball and threw it at Jake who was lying woozily on the ground with a stunned Hank. The kat yowled as the rubber orb smacked him unexpectedly at the back of his head, slamming his face into the dirt.

"Rina…that was mean," Amara scolded, but the female clone of Wolverine grinned impishly as Jean went over to help Jake up.

"Are you kidding? Dad says that the hairball asks for it at most times, anyway," X23 giggled while maintaining a perfectly angelic face in order to ward off suspicion.

"Hey, Mr. McCoy, we won fair and square!" Sam cheered, pointing at his blue, furry instructor as Ororo helped him up gracefully, "Ya' gotta keep your promise! No Danger Room sessions for two days, and Mr. Logan can't get mad at us for slacking off!"

And the thing was, even though both Jake and Hank knew that Jean helped them cheat, they really couldn't say no to the students, especially since everyone could use a little happiness during these tense times. With a wide and sincere smile, Beast nodded.

"A deal is a deal, kids," he admitted, causing a good series of cheers and joyous yells. It became apparent that everyone looked forward to that, especially since Wolverine and Cyclops had been pushing all of them so much. Cabin fever was hard to avoid here at the mansion.

"Hope you're not too mad that I did that little bit of cheating," Jean murmured to the kat as he wiped the sweat off his furry brow, but Jake shook his head in an easy-going manner, chuckling and holding his bruised shoulder.

"Nah, kitten, I know the kids need it, and a day or two of vacation isn't going to kill them. Ow, though I have to admit, Rogue can throw pretty hard. Seriously, Scott, you're going to need to keep an eye on Jean; she's got a playful, mean streak that she doesn't let on very much."

"That's why I love her," smirked Cyclops as he gave Jan a kiss on her head as he hugged her to his side, and Jean commented as the three of them walked to the sidelines.

"And you seem…well, happier, Jake. Are you all right? You don't seem as weary or tired like you were several weeks ago," the red-haired girl remarked, and indeed, she was worried about her friend when she learned that Jake hadn't been feeling well. The ex-SWAT Kat frowned to himself, pondering. It was true; ever since that day, he no longer had a single heart pain or a nightmare, allowing him a full night's sleep at last. Of course…

Jake shook his head, realizing that he was still feeling guilty at brushing Justin off. Though he could have handled that better, the kat felt that he and Justin must have some time apart, especially since things were getting too complicated. His nightmares, his worries, adjusting to a new dimension, along with Whitelighter bearing the responsibility of fighting with his teammates alongside the Heartless.

"I'm all right, Jean," Jake said as he smiled, a bit unconvincingly in Jean's eyes, "It was fatigue, I guess. And it's nice to finally have some peace and quiet."

"Especially since the Misfits haven't shown up for over a week," sighed Scott, his grin so elated and dreamily euphoric that one would think that he was high on medication or tranquilizers, "This is undoubtedly the best week of my entire life here at the Institute. No Misfit morons, no chaos, no explosions or those idiots mooching off our food and fights breaking out every time Althea and her lunatics come over."

"**_Tessa?_**" Ororo and Xavier blurted out in shock suddenly, and this statement was so unexpected, everyone, from Jake, Scott, and Jean to the young Jamie, saw a strange girl running for her life, making her way past the school's defenses and with an expression of horror. Ororo and Charles Xavier then saw why as a hulking and towering figure raced behind, trying to trample the girl in its stampede.

"_Mein Gott!_" Kurt gasped in German as he teleported and grabbed the woman before disappearing in a cloud of brimstone, depositing Sage into Hank's arms. Sage, now reeling from her blood loss and fatigue, fainted and lost consciousness in Beast's arms.

"What the hell?" Rogue growled, instantly on the defense, as Piotr transformed into his organic steel form, but the sight of the now familiar red-and-black heart with the thorny-X crossed over it send some chills in the teenagers' bones.

"_Merde!_" Remy cursed as he readied several playing cards in between his fingers of one hand, the projectiles instantly glowing with pink, kinetic energy, "It's a Heartless!"

"Some Heartless! It's not like any Heartless we've seen before!" Tabitha yelled with fright as she readied a powerful plasma time-bomb in between her palms while Amara, who was next to her, summoned two balls of molten lava in her hands.

Indeed, what Boom-Boom said was true. This was not like the Heartless they've seen and fought against before in Jump City and San Francisco. This was a massive giant, large enough to even lord over the rooftops of the X-mansion itself and visible from a great distance away due to its colossal shape. It could have very nearly been the same size of a Sentinel android. Simply put, this was a large version of a black, furry, upright badger, uniquely designed with human-like arms and legs. The entire hide was furry with black, meticulous fur and there were two patched of white and gray ringed around its yellow, wicked and carnivorous eyes. And besides the badger's black snout was a snarling mouth full of jagged, misshapen white teeth, ringed with strands of saliva. Its paws were as massive and powerfully muscles, corded and hard as steel underneath its thick pelt, and on its front appendages were two sets of metallic long claws protruding from its hands, three metal blades each per paw. And on the very center of its broad torso was the emblem of the Heartless.

"It…it almost looks like a…badger?" Ray blinked, confused and a bit taken aback at the weird choice of form for the dark monster.

With a roar, the badger-Heartless stomped towards the X-Men at charging speeds, roaring.

"Who cares what it is or what it looks like? We have to take it down now!" Roberto snapped as he powered up underneath the sun's rays and went into his radiation mode, his body now outlined with black and orange solar energy.

Cyclops gasped as he remembered one vital thing about the Hellfire Heartless, and he roared over his communicator, "**_NO WAIT! STOP!_**"

But it was too late as Boom-Boom, Bezerker, Sunspot, and Magma all let loose with a harmonious and beautiful display of teamwork, a steady stream of solar radiation mixed with electricity flew directly towards the chest of the monster, escorted by a small cloud of time-bombs and molten rock-fireballs.

But to the adults' prediction, the Heartless took all these energy strikes head on before it began to glow and grew larger and larger, becoming precariously more dangerous and more powerful as the influx of energy generated from the X-Gene gave it increased strength, endurance, and agile speed.

"No way!" Jubilee gasped.

"It's getting bigger! What the hell?" Sam gasped as the Heartless charged, "It took all those attacks at once and it didn't faze it!"

"Kurt!" Forge exclaimed, "Quick, take me to the control room for the Mansion's security defenses, dude! If we don't use the lasers, we're all toast!"

"Contact the Misfits as well, Forge!" the Professor ordered, knowing from previous experience that in this battle, telepathy were useless against Heartless experiments, "They can help us!"

Scott bit back the heated opposition that was begging to rise from his mouth.

Nightcrawler agreed as he held on to the inventor's arm, and the two disappeared in a cloud of smoke, but to their horror, they didn't move significantly. In fact, they stopped short of the front door of the school. Kurt cursed before he tried again, but to his dismay, he was unable to transport himself and Forge into the building.

"Kurt? Didn't you listen to Forge and the Professor? Get to the Mansion and contact the Misfits!" Jamie cried out before both he and Jake snapped to full attention and expertly cocked, aimed, and fired from their glovatrixes in perfect unison, fluid and practiced.

"Octopus missiles…AWAY!" the kat and the mutant roared. The badger roared as the missiles struck and wrapped themselves around the Heartless, pinning its arms to its sides in an unbreakable ring of metal. But with a little exertion, it broke free.

"_Neit!_" Kurt whimpered in German as Lockheed swooped down and bombarded the badger ogre with dragon fire, managing to set a portion of its head aflame and angering it immediately, "I can't! I can't teleport in! I can't get in!"

"It's a force-field!" X23 cursed as she reached out to the vicinity of the building with her claws, only to find a painful sensation of backlash through the metal the instant the adamantium came in contact with the magical barrier, "There's a force-field around the entire mansion! We can't get in!"

"But how the heck is that possible?" Tabitha gasped, her hands clenched with a mixture of adrenaline and horror.

---

The boy from the Thirteenth Order stood back from his handiwork, the floor littered with smoking machine parts and fractured metal and plastic. With his weapons, he made quick work of the communications console so that none of the mutants' communicators could reach out to anyone of help. And with the energy barrier in place around the courtyards of the Institute grounds, the mutant children were sitting ducks.

Of course, should the Misfits and the ones named Falco, Octavia, and Leomon appear in this fight…

The boy grimly smiled to himself under the shadows of his hood as he teleported away in a cloud of dark aura, walking through the portal, silent and solemnly moody.

---

Cyclops, his mind racing furiously, then came up with a different tactic instantly…

"X-Men!" he roared, aiming his powers at the ground below, forming a deep trench to cause the Heartless to stumble into upon surprise, "Attack it indirectly! Repeat: attack it indirectly! Don't use your mutant powers directly on it! Try other ways to slow it down without actual confrontation! **_Repeat: don't attack directly!_**"

"Shoot!" Piotr cursed as he realized he couldn't pummel the fiend with his metal armor, "I didn't bring my glovatrix!"

"There are other ways, _mon ami_!" Remy yelled as he flung a kinetically-charged card at a tree, causing it to fall precariously close and crushing the badger monster, but unfortunately, it fell short and their current threat evaded being pinned down.

"How do you know this?" Multiple asked Scott in a rush as he multiplied into a bunch of clones before they all fired with their glovatrixes.

"The Misfits and the Joes dealt with them before!" Jean cried out as she telepathically grabbed one of the lawn statues (she prayed the Professor wouldn't mind) before hurtling it at the Heartless with incredible force, shattering it with impact, "They found out that the Hellfire Heartless were created by the Inner Circle to get stronger from absorbing mutant energies, whether they be from attacks or by physical contact like how Rogue drains someone!"

"**_Everyone, shield your eyes!_**" commanded Jubilee as she tried to let loose a blinding flare of plasma energy to blind the creature of darkness, but undaunted, the experiment just grew, absorbing the intense harsh light to its inner core.

"Nice going! That didn't work!" Iceman groaned as he tried to create an ice wall with his powers to trap and seal off the Heartless.

"Hey, it's not like we have a list available that tells us what counts as a direct attack and what counts as an indirect attack!" Amara snapped, but the argument was quickly abandoned and forgotten as the badger Heartless broke out of the icy prison formed by Bobby with its own set of claws.

"Claws? That thing has claws?" shouted Ray in surprise as the Heartless monster then succeeded in swatting the baby purple dragon trying to swoop down and incinerate it, sending poor Lockheed lying a good distance before he hit the ground with a sickening thud, losing consciousness and remaining still.

"Lockheed!" cried out Kitty in tears as she rushed to her fallen pet, picking up the winged lizard and feeling blood soak her uniform sleeves and feeling the animal growing cold as it went limp in her hands.

"**_Hellfire Heartless?_**" Roberto asked, thinking it was a bad pun, "'Hellfire' as in the Hellfire Club?"

"Yeah, blockhead, it makes sense! The Inner Circle's sending them so of course they'd name them Hellfire Heartless!"

"Don't call me a blockhead, Sparky!" snapped Roberto.

"Don't call me, Sparky, then, nimrod!" heatedly retorted Ray.

"Buttwipe!"

"Ass kisser!"

"**_Will you two shut up?_**" Tabitha and Bobby yelled, "**_This is NOT a good time right now!_**"

"Damn it!" cursed Rogue as she neatly uprooted a tree from the ground before flinging it at the creature from the Thirteenth Order, "Then this makes 'em the perfect killing machines!"

"And just when we you going to tell us about these…Hellfire Heartless, _homme_?" Remy snarled as he stopped himself short from reaching for the playing cards he kept as spare reserves, realizing they wouldn't do him much good.

"Depends. When were you planning on asking?" Scott shot back ruefully, but no one (not even Jean) could find that answer the least bit humorous.

"Yeow! It's shooting its claws at us now!" yelped Piotr as he grabbed Kitty and causing her to narrowly avoid being speared by several sharp slates of metal, the Heartless now roaring gutturally as it aimed its hands at the mutant teens and adults and fired rapidly, elongated projectiles of shining metal raining down upon them.

"Yaaahh!" Rogue cried out in pain, taken completely by surprise as one grazed her arm and broke her skin, causing a deep gash, "Dang it! Watch out, you guys! These things are sharp! They can cut even me! And **_I'm_** invulnerable!"

"And I can't deflect them!" Jean exclaimed with horror as she found out too late that the magic bullets could pierce through her telekinetic shield, and she hurriedly moved her head, causing one flying claw to soar past her ear, mere centimeters away from killing the red-haired telekinetic.

"And I can't blast it! Damn it, it makes them bigger!" Cyclops cursed as each optic blast from his eyes actually caused each blade to grow significantly when the crimson solar energy struck it.

But before the claws could impale them all, a familiar voice rang out at the last minute as the Professor and his students and staff felt a sudden freak force of wind…

"AEROGA GUARDIAN HURRICANE!"

**Author's Notes: Next week, in the chapter "Misfit Intervention", the X-Men all finally see the Misfits' magic and Keyblades in action as their allies rush to their aid. But there's no time for explanations as Wolverine's heart is increasingly in danger by the moment, especially when the entire Organization appears and so do Falco, Leomon, and Octavia. And they learn a rather shocking secret about the mysterious thirteenth member, and it's not a pleasant fact! But with this kind of help, can the Misfits truly defend the X-Men against the Heartless and the Organization Thirteen? Find out next week, and until then, read and enjoy! Constructive criticism welcome!**


	17. Misfit Intervention

**CHAPTER 17: Misfit Intervention**

"Whoa! What the tarnation's going on?" Sam asked in typical country-boy slang as a silvery and violent orb of pressurized air and sparkling dust emerged and encapsulated all of the X-Men and a good portion of the area around as a shield. And the instant the Heartless' claws struck it, they bounced off, leaving the mutant teenagers and adults unharmed as the claws then, reflected back, headed right back to their origin point.

_Spak! Spak! Spak!_

The badger creature howled murderously as a multitude of jagged metal claws were now painfully and excruciatingly embedded in its torso, face, and shoulders, and screeching inhumanly and gratingly enough to make one's bones shiver, the monster ceased its pursuit and instead found itself trying to claw and extract the relatively miniscule shards jammed into its sensitive flesh, a cumbersome task given its huge paws.

"Hey, we're being protected by some far-out wind-thing! That's so sick!" Forge marveled, his eyes shining at the prospect.

"X-Men! You guys OK?" yelled a familiar voice, and everyone turned to their right to see Wavedancer and the Misfits along with the Joes and Supergirl and Batgirl from the Justice League running up to them. The Misfit, Quicksilver, was holding out his hand at the X-Men and doing his best to maintain the shield before dropping his arm, and as a response, the winds died down, allowing the newcomers to reach their friends safely without backlash from the Aeroga magic.

"_Danke!_ Good timing, you guys!" Nightcrawler said joyously.

"Is anyone hurt?" Wavedancer asked Cyclops and Jean, and Jean nodded. To tell the truth, she was never more grateful to see the Misfits before in her entire life as of now during this one invasion. Jake, however, hissed to himself as a long-forgotten pain erupted in his chest and ribcage, and wincing, he clutched a paw to his heart and held tightly to his fur and pelt.

_Damn it_, he thought, casting a furtive and wary glance at Whitelighter, who was staring at him worriedly, _Not now…_

"Rogue's a little grazed, but help Lockheed! He got hit by that Heartless!" Jean said hurriedly, and upon hearing this, Justin knelt down next to the distraught Shadowcat and laid a glowing hand on Lockheed, healing the dragon slowly.

"It'll be all right," he murmured over Kitty's strangled whimpers, "He's not dead yet…I can still save him."

Avalanche was now livid as he turned and whirled his gaze on the Heartless in his line of fire as Daria, Quinn, and Brittany started immediately scanning the creature in front of them with their telltale, pink scanners. Beach Head and Shipwreck got out their guns as the Heartless then stopped clawing at its face, black blood and fluid dripping down its cheeks, before growling with insatiable bloodlust.

"Damn, this one's now really pissed," Beach Head muttered.

"Trinity, any idea on who this Heartless is, girls?" Shipwreck asked before firing from his dual Eagle pistols as the Heartless attempted to charge. Unfortunately, the metal bullets did little to hinder it as it continued approaching, prompting several of the X-Men to try to continue to stop the monster from killing them and destroying their home.

"_Quoi_?" blinked Remy, lapsing back on his French, "Who the Heartless is? Remy thinks you Joes have finally lost it! Who cares what that Heartless is when it's attackin' us, _mon ami_!"

"No, give us time!" Quinn yelled frantically, clicking her console pad and thankfully ignoring Gambit's questioning, "But I can tell you one thing: this Heartless is powerful, a lot more than normal when you guys got infected! His energy levels are way higher than the other Hellfire Heartless normally!"

Iceman blinked before he asked, "'_Infected'?_ What are you guys talking about?"

No one answered the ice-generating teenager.

"That is because the kids tried using their powers on the Heartless when fighting it!" Beast yelled while protectively cradling a bleeding and limp form of Tessa in his arms, "It was chasing Tessa, and the kids attempted to try to hinder the brute with their powers!"

"WHAT?" exclaimed Scarlet Witch, Cover Girl and Low Light, and Quicksilver couldn't help but open his big mouth, rubbing it in.

"Nice going, you guys. Why not just wear signs that say '_We're Mutants! Free Recharge!_' while you're at it? Might as well make yourselves even bigger targets."

"Pietro, shut it or else I'm throwin' you to the Heartless as bait! We didn't know that mutant powers help the Heartless!" Rogue snapped.

"And we can't hide in the Mansion and activate the Institute's defenses because we're locked out! There's some kind of force-field around the house that's trapping us with the Heartless!" Forge hurriedly explained.

"Wait a minute!" Scott asked, looking at the Joes and Misfits, "If there's a force-field around us, then how did you Misfits get in? The Mass Device can work through force-fields?"

"Supergirl gave us a hand!" Dragonfly explained as she tended to Jean's bruised arm while Bree tied a firm, gauze bandage around Rogue's shoulder to stop her bleeding laceration, "It turns out her wings allow her to teleport herself and anyone she wants to any location here on Earth or in the galaxy! She brought us here with the powers given to her by the Phoenix when we got the Heartless alert being in Bayville!"

"We need more firepower, though! Didn't any one else from the Justice League come by?" Bezerker asked Supergirl and Batgirl worriedly.

"It's just me and Batgirl again! They went to Apokolips to help Mr. Miracle! And none of the new recruits for the Justice League are fully trained to help stop the Heartless in the first place! And the Titans are busy because Clayface and Toyman somehow took it upon themselves to attack Jump and Steel City!" Supergirl said before she let loose a tremendous blast of flame vision at the Heartless, though understandably holding back enough to just injure it since she didn't wish to kill whoever was the poor soul who was infected. And after Toad and Xi's warnings about what happened to Snake Eyes, she wanted to be careful. Thanks to the Phoenix fire, the badger experiment howled as the flames licked and singed its fur.

"You mean we're on our own because the Justice League thinks that chasing after some other maniac on Apokolips of all places was more important than the actual Heartless?" shrieked Rogue, her eye twitching and incredibly outraged if not offended. Supergirl snapped back at the mutant Goth.

"Hey, we can't ignore other enemies that could cause just as much destruction and endanger other innocent lives, Rogue! Fighting against the Heartless is not the League's _only_ main priority! There are other bad guys who are just as big of threats too!" Kara retorted, losing her temper.

"Well, gee, forgive me if I can't exactly be in a good mood when we're nearly killed by big, black, and ugly over there!" the Southern belle groused irritably.

"Wait! What about the Slayers? Why aren't they here along with the other recruits from the Ghostbusters?" Amara asked worriedly, keeping a wary eye on the Heartless in the distance. Apparently, Vi had gotten quite detailed in her letters to Amara about being a Ghostbuster. Batgirl shook her head before she yelled out a warning right as she tossed a flash-Batarang.

"SHIELD YOUR EYES!" the masked female vigilante yelled, and all the X-Men and Misfits did so right as the Heartless got a very painful surge of white light to its face, effectively overloading its yellow retinas and temporarily blinding it. The badger screeched, now forgetting the burns caused by the Phoenix Force in Supergirl, as it dealt with a new excruciating sensation inside its skull and eye-sockets.

"That won't hold it off for long! Keep firing or everything will go wrong!" Roadblock yelled as he and the other Joes let loose with their rifles and bazookas and firearms they had on hand while Batgirl then explained to the other X-Men.

"The main teams of the Ghostbusters are busy helping a government group called Section Thirteen along with a Captain Black to stop a group of fanatics in releasing a powerful Demon Lord named Shendu! And Jenny Calendar couldn't send those staying behind in headquarters because they can't leave the Ghostbusters' firm open to attack by Wolfram and Hart! Not to mention a good portion of them are kids! It's only me and Supergirl! And the other slayers not associated with the Ghostbusters are still fortifying and rebuilding the Academy!"

"You mean the Slayers and the Ghostbusters are gonna do anything? They're not helping us?" snapped Ray heatedly as Bobby then took the opportunity to create another ice wall all around the Heartless, now topping it with deadly spikes and stalagmites and making it exceptionally dangerous to tear its way through.

"Who says they were doin' nothing?" Blob said a bit disgusted at the ingratitude, "How'd you think we even knew that Heartless was attacking here in the first place? It's because Ms. Calendar and her hacker, Mike something-or-other alerted us when their headquarters were able to detect the essence of the Heartless here in Bayville! Their satellites and witch-alarms made from the Charmed Ones and Willow told them that we needed to come here!"

At this, Ray blushed, a bit ashamed, at jumping to conclusions.

"We finished the scan! It's - !" but the words died in Daria's throat as the badger Heartless roared while the magical probes violated each and every one of its senses and caused it to stop and falter, annoying trying to regain some function of control over its body as it became translucent. What the X-Men saw brought them to new levels of shock, grief, and worry. There, in the outline of the experiment, was the lone, limp figure of the X-Man elder, Wolverine, strung out like a limp puppet on strands of dark aura, supporting his arms and torso. And in the center of his chest was a lone Hellfire Heartless spore, beating and pumping eerily like an actual human heart, leeching off Logan's body and life-force and fueling the monstrosity before them.

"**_NO!_**" screamed Jubilee, Jean, and Rogue in horror.

"Goddess, it's Logan!" Ororo gasped, turning white, but Rina immediately took a different approach, her mind not allowing her to succumb to her grief as she turned automatically to the Misfits and Joes.

"Is there anything that can fix this?" she asked hoarsely as the Heartless experiment that was once Wolverine then screamed from the pit of its stomach before slicing through once again the wall of ice with its claws, and the Triplets nodded.

"We have to weaken it enough so that Wavedancer can cure Wolverine and bring him back to normal! The reason he's like this in the first place is because the Organization infected Wolverine with one of those strange spores!" Brittany said in a rush.

"This'll slow him down!" Magma yelled as she went into her flame mode and touched the earth with her hands, doing her best to raise a circle of fire all alongside the grass, and like clockwork, a wall of blaze cut the monster off completely from her group. Unfortunately…

"_Was zum Teufel?_ Hey, it's absorbing the fire!" Kurt gasped, horrified as the flames caused from Magma's powers immediately died down before they evaporated into thin streams of heat and surged into the abomination, snakes and veins of red now pulsating madly across its hide and actually causing the ogre to grow to now towering heights equal to all four stories of the X-Mansion.

"Great!" groaned Cyclops as Jean picked up several more stone statuettes before flinging them at the Heartless along with Batgirl and Supergirl and the Joes adding on to their fire, "Now it's even bigger and stronger!"

"You can't take it out like that!" Blob yelled, "It absorbs mutant energy generated from any X-Gene, remember? Ya' hafta attack the Heartless with magic!"

Amara then absolutely had enough, and losing her temper, she lashed out, snapping, "Oh give me a break! What do you want me to do? Say a rhyme and hope I become a Wiccan like Willow and the Charmed Ones? Wave a stick like Benny Barumpbump and hope I get lucky? **_We don't have magic, Blob!_**"

Fred and the others blinked before it clicked, and they and they Joes turned to Hank, Ororo, and the Professor with something akin to disbelief.

"You didn't tell them?" blurted out Blind Master as he let loose several steel ninja stars, embedding them skillfully in the Heartless' cheek, jaw, and throat. Beast, Razor, Jean, Cyclops, Storm, and the Professor all looked extremely uncomfortable and guilty as the other X-Men and Mew Mutants just stared, confused.

"Professor?" Colossus asked, a bit demanding, "What do you know about this?"

"We'll explain later, I promise!" Storm said strongly before turning to the Misfits, jadedly yelling, "Help Logan! **_ Please!_** Do not let him die!"

"Wolverine, forgive us for what we're gonna do! Just remember, we're not going to enjoy this! Everyone, get clear!" Avalanche yelled as he knelt down on the ground with one knee and laid a hand on the grass. The allies did so.

"GAIA…EARTHQUAKE FORCE RUSH!" Avalanche yelled, and instantly, the ground trembled before a yawning crevice cracked the earth and brown dirt asunder, speedily rushing towards the badger until the crack ran right underneath the Heartless itself. There was a tremendous flash of brown as a pillar of earth energy erupted from the Heartless' feet and seared him with a column of painful explosions.

Kabooom!

"Holy kats!" Jake could only gasp, forgetting the pain in his ribcage, at the smoking form of the black fiend, "**That** one hurt him!"

The X-Men, the instant they witnessed this, all went still with a mixture of surprise and awe as well as mind-numbing shock, complete with wide-eyed expressions and dropped mouths. Heck, a few such as Rogue, Scott, and Jamie felt as if their lower jawbones dislocated from their skulls from the jolt of amazement. But it was to be expected; after all, this was the first time any of the X-Men witnessed the power of the Elementa Kingdoms in their full glory.

And that was what made the sight they were witnessing all the more poignant and wonderful.

"Oh my stars and garters…" Beast could only proclaim, his head buzzing from taking it all in at once.

"Whoa! Cool!" Jamie breathed out with a touch of reverence. Scott threw him a look of irritation.

"**_Merde!_**" Gambit exclaimed, "_Homme_, how did you do that? I thought the Hellfire Heartless absorb energy from mutant attacks!"

"It wasn't his mutation, Cajun!" Quicksilver snorted, rolling his eyes, "It was his magic! Just like how I used my wind magic to save you all from Wolvie's spikes! **_Duh!_** Oh yeah, and that reminds me: you still need to thank me!"

"Shut up, Quicksilver!" snapped a good portion of the Misfits.

"Magic?" chorused Tabitha, Sam, and Kurt, not sure if they heard correctly.

"Lance, since when could you do that? And why is your forehead glowing like that?" Kitty whimpered, looking at the geokinetic with gratitude, something that Piotr was not particularly fond as he felt a stab of annoyance hit his temple. Damn it, why now? Wasn't she over Lance by now?

"I know magic now!" Avalanche said, startled as if he was taken aback that she didn't know, "All of us do! Didn't the Professor tell you?"

All the teenage and ignorant X-Men turned to glare at the Professor again accusingly who sighed gravely, but Storm then piped up, "Children, this isn't the time! We need to save Logan!"

"She's right," Roberto admitted, but it was clearly evident from some of the angry looks that the students of the Institute weren't going to let this one go anytime soon. They were going to have a _long_ talk once they were all free and clear.

Wavedancer took charge as she realized that it wasn't enough to weaken the Heartless as she looked at her fiancé and said with a smirk, "Double team, Toddles?"

"I'm ready, yo! Let's do another Thunder-Dragon combo!" the frog-mutant teen cheered, and a few of the ignorant X-Men then caught on.

"Holy!" Sam blurted out, "Al, Toad? You guys know magic too?"

"Watch and see, Sammy boy!" Todd couldn't help but brag as he brought the palms of his hands together in a prayer-like fashion as Althea then raised a hand above her head, the skies instantly rumbling and crackling with thunder from Toad starting up his power as her hand was engulfed with an orb of azure, dark-blue, like a sapphire.

Wavedancer chanted, "AQUARA WATER DRAGON!"

To the X-Men further astonishment and wonderment, streams of crystal-clear and pure water swirled all around Althea, forming a cascading effect of a small rivulet of liquid to converge and froth madly in her hands before multiplying in volume a thousand fold in a matter of microseconds. With a gigantic bellow of something fierce and powerful, a gargantuan current of water flew out of Althea's hand before it took into the shape of a serpent, with a majestic head formed in the front that artistically looked like a dragon, complete with empty eyeholes, a beaked mouth, and two horns like an antelope.

Toad struck next, even managing to stupefy the X-Men even further as electricity began to glow in between his fingers, forming an unnatural ball of orange to go along with the glowing orange crest of Thundaga that appeared on his forehead. With a frown of intense concentration on his face, Toad pried his hands apart and a web of lightning sparkled and snaked in between his hands, building in power and voltage by the second.

"Goddess…" was all Ororo could only murmured as Toad brought his hands together and leaned back like a baseball pitcher, his hands now glowing even brighter, almost blinding. It was destructive and incredibly vigorous; she could sense it.

"THUNDAGA BLITZCLAP PRESSURE!" Toad yelled before he pitched the lightning, the skies now creating a plethora of deafening explosions of thunder and noise as Toad's thunder magic convalesced into a ball of electricity, fluctuating madly between shades of orange and white-blue.

But as these two attacks were summoned together, thanks to their training, Wavedancer and Toad's magic combined, the thunder now embedding itself into the stream of water to form a powerful and searing dragon of heated and frothing water mixed with crackling thunder energy.

And with a loud snarl, the thunder-enhanced dragon was about to hammer down upon the Heartless, promising a painful delivery.

"Geez, that's gonna be one restracto attack!" Forge couldn't help but blurt out in seventies ling in reverence, already feeling more confident that they would get out of here alive.

But to all their collective surprise, the attack was not meant to connect as the Heartless' yellow eyes flashed for a fraction of a second before its furry skin and hide changed substance and hardened right before the water and thunder hit it and surrounded its form…

Whoooossshhh! Kashooom! **Kawhoooom!**

"Huh? Hey what gives? It's _still_ standing! And the magic didn't stop it!" gasped Wanda, horrified as she and the other mutants and Joes watched, stunned, as the badger creature now triumphantly getting back to its own two feet and now completely covered in metal, its hide now a silvery shell of indestructible armor similar to Colossus' except that it was all one, continuous covering.

And it was what nullified any damage brought on by the magic of the Aquara and Thundaga Kingdoms.

"Yow…" blinked Todd, wincing.

"Trinity, any weaknesses? Your scanners saying anything" Wavedancer said slowly and calmly as she braced herself while Supergirl let loose another blast of her flame vision from her eyes, causing the metal abomination in front of her to back off a bit, but now finding that its shell could even stop Phoenix fire.

"It's another ability of Wolverine's Heartless!" Daria said excitedly at her discovery, conveniently forgetting that she and her teammates were now in bigger danger, "Wow, this is so cool! Turns out a Heartless made from a mutant can display similar abilities related to his or her mutation! Wow, what scientific genius! I can't believe the Organization is _this_ skilled at the genetic manipulations and magic!"

"Trinity!" yelled everyone impatiently and fearfully, short of panicking, not in the mood for babble, and Quinn filled in for his sister.

"All right, all right, hold your horses!" Quinn groused like a typical child-like manner, "It turns out a strong mutant's heart can make a strong Heartless, so any abilities that the mutant has will be passed on to its Heartless! That's why Wolverine's all encased in that weird metal armor! **_It's adamantium! _**Because Wolverine has an adamantium skeleton, his Heartless will have an adamantium armor to protect it!"

"And adamantium is practically indestructible…" Batgirl whispered, going pale.

"And what makes this worse is that the adamantium is influenced by the Organization's magic," groaned Blind Master, "So it's not ordinary adamantium! It's **_magical_** adamantium!"

Spirit cursed as he then remembered, "And the only one who has been able to shatter such metal was Piper Halliwell with her Charmed powers, but she's off with the other Ghostbusters along with her sisters or else she would have come with Batgirl and Supergirl."

"Great, just great!" Roadblock cursed sarcastically as he then took out a rocket launcher and fired a blast dead center into Wolverine's chest, only to find that a bazooka blast was equally ineffective, "This really takes the cake! Girls, are there any **_more_** unpleasant surprises that'll come in its wake?"

And cue in Murphy's Law, the badger experiment of darkness then tried another tactic as it sped off, its form now nothing more than a metallic, silver blur, not moving in speeds as fast as Quicksilver or the Flash, but worrisome enough. And because it was moving around and running at high speeds, none of the heroes could effectively get a lock on it. Brittany chuckled as she then got the reader on her pink handheld console.

"Uh…heh, heh," the Delgado sister weakly tried to joke, "Turns out that also due to all the mutant powers it absorbed and how Logan usually has abnormal stats for speed, senses, and agility…his Heartless can move and probably dodge all our attacks more fluidly than most of our past Hellfire Heartless, making him difficult to lock on with our magic."

"Next time, **_tell us these things sooner!_**" snapped Wavedancer as the Heartless continued flurrying about, running literally in circles around the group and cutting them off.

"It's running too fast for us to shoot it!" Shipwreck cursed.

"And I can't use my telekinesis to hold it in place because he'll just get stronger!" Jean moaned, her face white and holding her elbows so tightly her fingernails dug into her skin. Rina turned to Supergirl with some hope.

"Any way you can continue to weaken Wolverine with your powers from the Phoenix Force?" X23 asked calmly, trying to rationalize, but Kara shook her head miserably.

"If I tried going into hand to hand combat with it, I might risk losing my heart to the Organization! And if I went full out with the fire wings or my flame vision, I might endanger all of us or risk killing Wolverine before Althea has a chance to cure him from his infection!"

"Hmmm…y'know, if there was more emphasis on hurting Logan and less emphasis on endangering us, I think we could all live with that one," Quicksilver commented rather waspishly. But Jubilee and Rina both whirled on the albino speedster with fists and claws ready, their teeth bared, making him shut up automatically.

The Heartless then made an abrupt stop before it halted in front of Colossus and Shadowcat and Whitelighter (who was still healing Lockheed), and before any of the X-Men could react, it reached out to all of them with its claws, ready to grab their bodies and hack them to mulch before extracting their hearts.

"No!" gasped Kitty as Colossus, though he knew it was a vain attempt, got in front of both the X-Girl and the Misfit to protect them and shield the Heartless' blows with his body. But then to his surprise…

"What the hell?" Piotr gasped as a loud roar that was not coming from Logan rang out before a huge furry, four-legged animal charged from the monster's blind spot and latched on to the Heartless' face, snarling and clawing madly while biting down with its jaws. And though it was protected by an adamantium shell, the creature roared, instantly forgetting his attack, as it tried to swat the Disney lion, Simba, off its visage.

"Simba!" Lance yelled as the Heartless immediately ceased in its charge and roared, madly clawing at its face and trying to stop the feline from marring its eyes and cheeks, but adroitly, the tawny furred lion released his hold and back-flipped expertly away before Wolverine's claws could impale him. Due to his timing, the Heartless only succeeded in striking its own face while Simba slid to a stop in front of Avalanche, emitting a cloud of dirt to scatter from his paws digging into the lawn.

"Simba, **_Proud Roar!_**" yelled Avalanche, pointing at the opponent, and upon his partner's command, the Disney lion tossed back his shaggy mane and bellowed to the heavens, and at once, a powerful and shimmering wall of air rushed out and struck the badger monster, sending it flying a good distance, only to crash against the trees and splintering them upon impact. From the sonic boom created by Simba's roar, the ogre was now seriously injured.

"Whoa! Lance, how did you summon Simba so quickly? And without your Keyblade?" Xi could only marvel, and Avalanche shook his head in confusion.

"It wasn't me!" he protested truthfully, "He just came out! I didn't even summon him consciously!"

"By the Great Spirit," murmured Spirit with relief, "I guess Simba must truly be able to come and go when he feels he needs to of his own power."

"Rocky!" Tabitha said in awe and shock, still trying to process that a lion of all things had just appeared out of thin air and saved her friends' lives. Simba just turned his ember eyes at the bomb-maker and gave a growl, nodding.

"Hey…" Jamie wondered aloud, "_Simba?_ Doesn't that lion look a lot like - "

"Yes," Dragonfly replied rather testily, "It's Simba from '_The Lion King_' Disney movie. Long story, and no, we don't have time to explain."

Piotr just silently fumed a bit, his face remaining stony, when Kitty's eyes were sparkling with awe and thankfulness. Granted, he knew that Kitty would always love him and that she broke up with Lance, but still…he couldn't help but feel a little worried.

Still…he did save his and Kitty's lives.

"Thanks, Rockhead," Piotr said sincerely, and though he used the insult, he meant it in a friendly banter, judging by the smile of easy-going demeanor on his face, and knowing that the Russian was trying to be friendly, Avalanche nodded back with a small smile of his own.

"Thank Simba, Russkie," the Misfit corrected, "After all, I can't take credit for this one."

"Like, thank you, Simba," Kitty said shakily as Whitelighter finished healing Lockheed, the baby dragon now cooing and gurgling appreciatively at the Misfits and no longer in critical condition.

"He's still pretty powerful!" Daria yelled warningly, looking at her scanner and seeing that Simba's attack didn't lessen the Heartless' strength that much (and considering how much of a power up it got before, who could blame it?).

Before the creature once Logan could try to run again, Daria, Quinn, and Brittany all took the initiative as they nodded at each other before raising a hand at the enemy, the sign of the Stopra Kingdom now glowing on their foreheads.

"STOPRA…TIME FREEZE!" Daria, Quinn, and Brittany chanted as one.

With a pink flash of light, the X-Men could only watch, amazed, as the entire air around the Heartless began to shimmer in the Triplets' command, and before the abomination could even attempt to charge again, there was a faint outline of a translucent clock face before the hands made one full revolution and created an audible loud click before fading. And with another glare of bright pink, time stopped and the experiment was left in mid-roar and mid-step, stuck in temporal stasis and completely neutralized.

"You stopped him! Cool! You have like Piper's time-freeze powers!" Bobby said with wide-eyed respect.

"Any chance it's permanent, kittens?" Jake rasped as he coldly shoved away Justin's hand from his chest before Whitelighter could attempt to heal him. Justin looked hurt (while Blind Master had trouble hiding his gleeful smile).

Quinn shook her head as she explained, "No, it's only temporary! The time magic won't last long, but we're trying to figure out a way we can stop Wolverine and use this to our advantage!"

"And we found a structural weakness!" Brittany said in a rush, breathless, "At least, I think so! The stuff may be magical adamantium, but it does have a domino-effect like weakness! If we can manage to make a break or a crack somewhere, it'll be enough to deliver an attack to cause it to shatter like glass and break off! In other words, find the weakest link, and the whole chain breaks off!"

"But how are we going to do that?" Roberto gulped, "Last time I checked, adamantium is practically unbreakable! And if Wolverine's claws couldn't be dented by anything, then nothing we can fire at it will break the thing off! Heck, it even stands up to Supergirl's fire attacks, and _she_ got hers from the Phoenix Force!"

Scott calmly turned to Forge, Jake and Hank, trying to not give into his dread and helplessness, as he asked the three mechanical geniuses, "Is there anything you three can think of that can help out and protect us? Is there anything you three can think up of that can break adamantium?"

The three looked at each other before the same conclusion came to mind.

"Pressure!" Forge shouted at last, "Adamantium may be resistant to a lot of energy, but it can't withstand huge amounts of force if applied strongly enough! It'll totally cause it to collapse!"

"Even strong alloys like the one Jake developed for the Aquain aren't completely safe should we dive too deep in the oceans. All metals, no matter how tough, have some sort of weakness. No substance around Earth can ever withstand the laws of force and gravity," Beast added, still carrying Tessa in his arms.

Althea and Wanda looked at Blob, the same idea coming to them at once, upon Beast's words.

"Gravity! That's it! Blob, use your magic on Wolverine! Concentrate on breaking his armor, even a little bit! Just like we trained at the Pit! **_Hurry!_**" Wavedancer commanded.

"Aw, geez…" winced Fred as he brought two of his fingers at the bridge of his nose and mentally concentrated, "Mr. Wolverine, just don't kill me for this! I'm just followin' what the others think can save you!"

"GRAVIRA…ORBS OF FORCE CRUSHER!" Blob bellowed.

The stuck and motionless form of the Heartless before them had no choice but to accept its fate as several huge spheres of magic grew and expanded in seconds before converging upon its body with forces that could rival a black hole. Each sphere was purple-colored, but had a center of a multicolored, furious nova, like a center of a universe of planets and suns, and each blast was like being subjected to enough G-forces to crush a building flat in seconds. And the same thing with the Heartless' adamantium armor.

For several seconds, Blob just gritted his teeth and focused until he was dizzy, trying his best to will his magic to cause any sort of physical damage, his head now swimming from thinking too hard. But before the magic disappeared from his overuse of his exertion, to his extreme relief, there was a faint crack in his chest area, right where the Heartless symbol resided. Blob fell to his knees, panting and sweat covering his brow, as he felt Tabitha and Amara run up to him.

"Fred, are you all right?" Amara asked worriedly.

"Nah, it'll take more than that to stop the Blob," panted the Texan, grinning, "I…wow, that took a lot out of me…"

"But it worked, Fred! You did it! The armor's cracked!" Daria squealed happily, her scanner now spotting the small, cracked gap in the adamantium, meaning it would be free for any magical assault that managed to make its way through. Just one good hit…

"I can attack with my magic," Xi said automatically, raising his arms over his head and causing the crown of leaves to appear, startling a few X-Men who were still silently observing this in admiration. The Triplets shook their heads.

"Can't," chimed in Daria, "Your attack is too widespread, and it won't effectively wreck that armor from the inside out and caused the adamantium covering to break."

Brittany then said, "We need an attack that's concentrated and good for sniping or delivering a huge amount of energy solely on a certain area in order to cause it to collapse in the domino effect. Y'know, like Toad's thunder or…"

The Triplets gasped as they turned to Whitelighter, causing the teen to jump with nervousness as the three eleven-year old girls practically screamed their order at him.

"Justin, use your magic!" they said in unison eerily, "Aim at the origin and center of that cracked area on Wolverine's chest, right where the Heartless symbol is! Hurry, before the time spell wears off!"

Justin gulped, his hands shaking; he had never been put under so much pressure before, and it was absolutely nerve-wracking. Blind Master gave him a strong bark of command.

"Whitelighter, do it! Remember your training! Remember what you practiced! You can do this, but there can be no fear or hesitation! Wolverine's life is at stake! Go! You can do this!" Gabriel encouraged.

"Just don't choke, chubby-cheeks," cackled Pietro softly to himself, and all the Misfits around him gave him a glare of annoyance. Xi turned to the ninja master, deadpanned in voice and expression.

"May we?" the lizard asked.

"You may," Blind Master and Low Light chorused, and before Quicksilver could run off, both Scarlet Witch and Xi delivered a good slap upside the Misfit's head for his thoughtless remark, causing him to squeal, rubbing his sore spot on his skull. Whitelighter looked like he was going to throw up, but he managed to rub up and position himself directly in line of the cracked area of Logan's chest before he raised a glowing fist of yellow to his heart.

_Pleasedon'tletmemissPleasedon'tletmemissPleasedon'tletmemissPleasedon'tletmemiss…_he kept begging to himself before he cried out.

"LUMIGA…MARK OF THE SUN!"

With that, Justin focused all his intent and concentration on aiming at the Heartless symbol in the distance, his eyes strained, as he flung the glowing hand outward, and to the X-Men's collective amazement (and there would really be no end to them), a ring of yellow emblems that looked like tiny suns formed around Whitelighter before they converged as one and flashed before rushing out to the badger.

The time-freeze of Trinity wore off finally, and the monster was about to charge when it suddenly felt a searing pain in its chest, and it helplessly and vainly tried to claw at the yellow revolving symbol of light as it struck and burrowed into the small gap and chink in its armor. This, in turn, caused more cracks to appear all throughout the Heartless' body, rivers of yellow now making their way free from inside out of the metal, and unable to tolerate it any longer, the Heartless arched it back and howled before the light completely shattered the shell and caused it to go flying in shards.

"Wolverine's armor! It's off!" cheered Whitelighter, grateful he succeeded.

"Now it **_our_** turn!" Scarlet Witch and Xi yelled, nodding once to each other as the signal, before they charged forward and striking together, willing their magic to not conflict but rather work in perfect unity.

"Xi…" murmured Rina, for once looking completely fearful, her face a myriad of hopelessness, fear, and apprehension at what would happen if Wolverine was killed. Xi, hearing her, gave her the briefest of glance before he answered back softly.

"Just trust me, Rina."

"I do…" the clone of Logan whispered back.

Now with his forehead glowing along with the green and lush leaves garnered around his head and black hair, Xi stood up straight and summoned his magic, instantly feeling the familiar warmth surging in his soul. With a flourish, his crown of leaves fell apart before each cotyledon began to rustle in the air and glow with energy, as bright as emeralds put through a laser-beam, swirling madly as they circled around the lizard Misfit, his face calm and at peace.

"WOODRA LEAFBLIGHT REVOLUTION!" Xi roared.

And with a huge brush of his hands outward, almost like a dance, the leaves all around Xi went flying out, a storm of glowing, photosynthetic darts rushing out and threatening to rend anything in their path to messy little pieces. At the same time Xi started, Wanda then brought her hands close before together before a small, nascent ball of red flame flickered to life and surged into her palms.

"FIRA…!" she began before she split the fireball in two, one part in each of her hands, before forming an L-shape with her arms and began spinning like a ballerina, not even feeling her body move of her own accord to tell the truth. As a result, the two fireballs in her hands grew larger and caused streams of fire to encircle around her, growing hotter and thicker with smoldering heat and flame within seconds, almost creating a pillar of inferno. It was so blinding and intense, it was as if the entire school grounds were inside an oven.

Scarlet Witch then flung out her lower arm as she came to a complete stop, the fire now arching around her like a snake and bathing the entire lawn with the color of red.

"…CRIMSON WHIRLWIND!" and with that, the pillar of flames became an unstoppable wave of heat and flickering red and orange as they swelled and flowed towards Wolverine. The badger was confused for a brief moment before it was besieged and blinded with an unstoppable pouring of wood and fire, bathed in green and red. Roaring, the Heartless could only helplessly shriek in pain as its exposed black flesh was completely covered with fire as a barrage of razor-sharp leaves zoomed past, ripping the body apart to its very core and leaving deep lacerations, unaffected from the fire. It was being doused with flaming gasoline while being shot at with bullets, only at a magical level and being much, _much_ worse.

"Whoa! That hurt him!" Wanda marveled, wincing at the apparent and painful burns now raking the entire hide and skin of the badger abomination before them. The Heartless gave a moaning cry of pain before it sank to its knees, thoroughly weakened and yet still wrathful and murderous.

"I see it but I'm still havin' trouble believing it," blinked Rogue, her face whiter than normal.

"And we're winning," grinned Sam, nearly elated at being saved from certain death, "Wow, the Misfits are winning!"

Dragonfly then decided to finish it, seeing as how all her friends used up their magical reserves, and being grateful that she hesitated and waited until her power was needed before she willed her violin of ice to shimmer and materialize into her hands. The cloudy instrument of ice sparkled under the sun like morning dew.

"Huh?" blinked Amara, "A violin? Dragonfly, what are you trying to do? Singing and playing music isn't going to help us - !"

"Shut up, Amara!" Bobby piped up heatedly, startling the Nova Roma princess, "Just trust her! Let Lina do her thing!"

The insect-girl threw Iceman a grateful smile before she just chanted her incantation. She began playing, feeling her slim fingers dancer across the strings while the bow created the familiar, haunting yet powerful rhapsody, echoing in everyone's ears like a cold, death melody.

"BLIZZAGA ARCTIC REQUIEM!" Dragonfly yelled.

Instantly, the Heartless was encased in a towering, spiked stalagmite of ice as streams of fluid ice, each shining a gorgeous color of light-blue, flew and glided upon the air all around the X-Men and Misfits, as if each note she was playing from the violin was a powerful artic force, and the experiment of darkness was unable to anything, severely weakened and struck down by Xi and Wanda's magic team-up. With a glistening noise of soft wind and crackling, hardening water, the abomination was completely trapped and frozen.

Quinn yelled as she scanned the energy levels from her scanner, saying, "That did it!"

"Althea, he's weakened and he's frozen!" Dragonfly called out strongly, a hand to her chest, "But he won't stay that way forever!"

"Hurry! Use the staff and cure Wolverine! It should be enough!" Xi added.

"I'm on it! Everyone, get back!" Wavedancer yelled, twirling the scepter in her hands as it materialized out of thin air, only to be firmly gripped in her palm. Roadblock roared as he helped push Professor Xavier to the sidelines.

"Everybody, get clear! We can't have anyone near! Wavedancer's gonna fix Wolverine, but it's not about to be a pretty scene!" the machine-gunner from G.I. Joe warned as all the Joes and Misfits helped the X-Men move to the sidelines and to safety. Jubilee was still hysterical, shrieking as this unquestionably and uncomfortably played upon the grief of her parents being killed.

"Althea, STOP! Please, don't kill him!" Jubilee screamed, and Daria hurriedly explained.

"Just trust her! It's the only way to bring Wolverine back, otherwise he'll lose his heart! **_Just trust her!_**" the Triplet sister tried to convince strongly.

Wavedancer then pointed the head of her scepter at the Heartless as yelled out, feeling the power flow through her, "**_Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!_**"

The X-Men saw the several bright flashes of multicolored light radiate from the staff before the Heartless was stamped with the searing symbols of the ten elemental kingdoms, each one hammering a painful blow to its core and epicenter of the Heartless spore inside it. And then, to everyone's amazement, a trinity of white symbols appeared, forming a pillar of white light to engulf the monster from above. A crown, the sigil of the Heartless, and the insignia of the Nobody. All three of them gave a soft noise before there was an intensive and blinding conflagration…

FLASH!

"Wolverine!" some of the students yelled with relief and joy as the lone and unconscious body of the adult and mentor fell to the grass, intact and now back to normal. Though a bit tussled and messy, the feral mutant was otherwise fine.

"I got him!" Kurt yelled as he teleported over to the lone body and disappeared back to his previous position, and at once, the teenagers and adults gathered, relieved.

"Hey, what the heck?" Sam blurted out in shock as the Hellfire Heartless spore emerged out of Logan's chest cavity and dropped to the grass.

"Don't touch it!" warned Low Light, his voice harsh and insistent, "For God's sake, don't touch it! That's the same thing the Organization has been using to infect the rest of us into Heartless! It's what caused Wolverine to turn into that monster! Don't touch it!"

Fearful, all the teens and heroes edged off slightly as the oval grassy matter plopped to the ground before it cracked like an egg and disintegrated, now thoroughly destroyed and useless.

"Whoa! That was completely gnarly, Wavedancer!" Forge couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.

"Yeah, that was so cool! Why didn't you do this stuff before?" Ray gushed.

Tabitha then added eagerly, "Any way you can teach us how to use this magic junk too, you guys? It'll be so awesome! All of us can be a kick-ass team against the Heartless!"

Scott, Piotr, Remy, and Jean all felt a bit collectively annoyed as they saw some of the X-Men fawn and gather around the Misfits as if they were idols of some sort, but then again, this was indeed the first time any of them, even the adults, have witnessed the use of the Misfits' magic. And it was definitely a wonderful sight. It was more exciting than watching a hundred impressive fireworks displays on the Fourth of July at once. But then a sharp intake of breath came from Storm as she yelled out, getting everyone's attention.

"Leave that heart alone!" she said in a threatening and livid manner, and all the heroes turned before it came to them what they had forgotten in the excitement and reprieve of getting Logan back to normal.

"Damn it, we forgot to look for his heart!" Shipwreck grimaced to himself as Octavia just stood there, serenely analyzing the pink crystal in her hand, her purple eyes solemn and studying as he probed the object.

"Heart?" Ray blinked, "That glowing pink thing is Wolverine's heart? Uh, hate to break this, but hearts are normally supposed to be…red and bloody and…have these little veins sticking out of them."

"Who is she?" Colossus asked, ready to charge, "Is she a Heartless too? Or is she sent by the Thirteenth Order?"

But before anyone could answer, Leomon jumped out from the woods, roaring as he leapt towards the female octopus with one paw outstretched and ready to pin her down to the ground. It was apparent that he had been watching this from the scene and came too late to prevent the female warrior from taking possession of the mutant's heart.

"Octavia, stop this!" the lion swordsman roared, but before he could do anything, Falco struck Leomon from behind with a flurry of kicks, his boot moving so fast that it was nothing more than a mere blur, as he dropped from the air so swiftly, Leomon barely had time to process his incoming.

"Nice try, puddy tat, but you're not getting the drop on her!" the blue-feathered avian snarled as he then did a spiral smash kick at Leomon's head, dropping like a stone, and had the lion strong-man not blocked it with an upper-block with his arm, he would have gotten a cracked skull in return. Supergirl and Batgirl were about to charge into intervene, but Octavia then summoned a wave of water to cut them off, preventing them from adding in their inputs and making things difficult for Falco.

"Aquara Tigershark Tsunami…" Octavia said in a low, controlled, yet coldly formal voice. The woman's eyes were unsympathetic steel as Supergirl hurriedly grabbed Batgirl out of the way before the wave of water could crush them both. Rina drew out her claws with a _shikt_ as Jubilee and Remy got their powers ready to blast Octavia to kingdom come. Some were still slightly hesitant.

"Are they also immune to mutant powers, you guys?" Piotr asked, and the Misfits shook their heads.

"Give that heart - !" began X23, but she couldn't even finish her threat as Octavia then gently tossed it with an underhanded lob directly at the daughter of Wolverine. Rina, stunned, caught it deftly with one hand, careful to not break such a fragile object and thankful that her past training with Hydra and current Danger Room session could have her pluck a bird from flight without even bruising the animal. Still, the fact that she was holding her father's heart in her hand made it feel like she was carrying a fifty-pound weight.

"Logan's heart wasn't a Talisman…" Octavia said simply. Toad snorted with anger.

"Gee, and that's supposed to make it all right, then?" the frog Misfit griped, glaring at the aquatic soldier. Rina turned gratefully to the body of Wolverine and knelt down to the prone form.

"He'll be all right then!" Bree sighed with relief, "And it looks like…"

But the words died in the medic's throat when she and the others could see, to their amazement, a yellow keyhole of light appearing in the center of Logan's chest as the heart crystal in Rina's hand levitated of its own will and onto the X-Man's body.

"Whoa! Like, what's going on?" Kitty gasped as Justin's Healing Mercy appeared in his hands and began to vibrate and glow in a yellow-tinge. Justin's eyes widened; then that meant…

"What in all of hellcats?" Jake could only utter, blinking and his eyes so wide that they made his muscles around the eye sockets of his skull sore a bit.

"Justin! Quick, seal Wolverine's heart! Hurry!" Scarlet Witch yelled insistently, and shaking, Justin raised his Keyblade before there was a small flash of yellow and with a click, Logan's heart faded safely into his chest before the keyhole disintegrated.

"Like, can someone tell us what the heck is going on? How did you guys totally do all that weird magic?" Kitty asked, her face so strained from the pure expression of disbelief and surprise that it was a wonder that her visage didn't crack.

"It's a long story, Kitty…" Xi said, wincing and exhausted, but then a cold, unfamiliar voice from the distance made all of them (even the brawling Falco and Leomon) cease and stop before turning sharply to the young male wearing the damning black hood and robe with the silver furnishings.

"So that's how you did it," the thirteenth member said coldly, looking at Justin's Keyblade. It was immediately apparent that he heard and witnessed everything from the sidelines. Oh, the Superior would certainly be interested in these events.

"The Organization," Sam gulped, feeling his stomach twist.

"And something tells me he's the creep who had something to do with Badger being changed into that Heartless!" growled Tabitha as she stood ready to fight and charge with fists ready.

Maintaining his hold on pinning the falcon to the ground with his massive paws, Leomon was silent and still as he just continued staring at the lone black figure from Organization Thirteen. There was something…he couldn't quite place it, but it was…elusive and familiar. Somehow.

Unfortunately, that one moment of stunned distraction cost him as Falco then smirked to himself before his entire body began to glow in flames, the surge of fire energy swirling around him and enveloping his feathered, lean body with a protective shell of blazing heat. And becoming much too hot for Leomon to continue his grip on his former ally.

"**_Augh!_**" Leomon roared, hurriedly detracting his paws from pinning Falco to the ground before cradling them to his chest, the fur and padded flesh badly singed and smoking, charred. The avian sneered as he powered up, the fire now taking shape of a bird, intense and searing in temperatures in the thousands.

"I said I'd kill you if you ever got in our way, you traitor," Falco said, clearly enjoying his vengeance before he charged with a shrill cry of a predator, like a hawk descending down on a helpless meal, and before Leomon could try to move, Falco barreled with full force into Leomon's bare torso, nearly gouging through as he sent the poor lion flying. Leomon crashed on his back, his frontal side singed and seriously burned, the fur black and bleeding, a large circular burn in his sternum. Leomon's eyes swam with agony as he felt the skin underneath his fur beginning to blister already, and since he was severely injured from being taken aback, he could barely reach for his sword to his back as Falco held his laser pistol to Leomon's head.

"Hmph, you may be tough, but I'd doubt even _you_ could even take a full-powered blast to the head…ex-friend," Falco said coldly as his finger itched to pull the trigger. Leomon didn't say anything as he realized the betrayed and hurt look in the avian's eyes that he wouldn't hesitate to kill him; Leomon couldn't blame Falco. Still, it was sort of ironic to die at the hands of a former ally…

_Whack!_

Falco cursed several foul oaths as he felt his bones of his wing break for a second time as he dropped the laser gun, glaring at his left as the yellow and black Batarang that struck his hand circled back over his head and was caught swiftly by the masked, red-haired vigilante known as Batgirl. It was she who threw the Batarang and intervened before Falco could decide to just shoot Leomon. Octavia, surprisingly, did not intervene. And from Jubilee could see, if she didn't know any better, she could have sworn that the fish-terrestrial was relieved that Batgirl saved Leomon.

"Back off, Falco," Batgirl said warningly in an even tone, "Leave him alone."

_Damn_, Falco thought, _I should have expected to see those idiots coming…_

Falco narrowed his eyes, but considering that a good number of Joes and Supergirl were concentrating on his presence, he just gritted his teeth before he used his good hand to snatch his pistol from the ground and flew up towards the skies only to land gently next to Octavia.

Meanwhile, the other Misfits and X-Men were furiously bracing themselves against the thirteenth member of the Organization as he calmly removed his hood, exposing his face for all to see. He was a young male, a boy really, probably in his teens, with blond, messily tussled and spiky hair that pointed in various directions everywhere like straw. Along with his eyes of the deepest blue and his youthful and unmarred face, he was actually quite handsome if he wasn't coldly and emotionlessly frowning.

"And to think, we were stumped over what should have been obvious all along," the robed boy said coldly, "That's how you were able to have your Joe parents become immune to further infections with the Heartless. You locked their hearts."

"And you're gonna pay for infecting Wolverine and turnin' him into that monster, you low-down, cowardly, cow-pie!" Blob snarled, but then the boy revealed his trump card, not the least bit intimidated that he was facing the Misfits and X-Men at once, as he drew out his weapons.

The Misfits and Joes' collective jaws dropped as the revelation hit them.

"**_What the hell?_**" Roadblock, Shipwreck, and Low Light all yelled in unison.

"Oh…" began Daria.

"My…" continued Quinn.

"…God!" finished Brittany.

"No way! _It's impossible! _How can that actually be possible?" Scarlet Witch stammered as Pietro felt a ball of ice having trouble making its way down his esophagus as he swallowed, his throat dry.

For what they all saw the same thing, and there was no denying it.

The Organization member before them was holding two Keyblades. His own Keyblades.

One was completely black, as if made of dark-purple steel, with the rod portion of the weapon flattened to a metal bar, carved expertly to form a depiction of a metal chain along with the heart-shaped crossguard that looped over the smooth grip of the handle. And the blade was a gigantic and heavy old-fashioned key, sharp and certainly lethal looking, and from the pommel of the Keyblade was a black keychain with a metal crown, the same symbol of the crown found on Trinity's scanners and on Althea's staff. The other Keyblade in the boy's hands was a stark contrast, almost comparing dark with light, for it was silver-colored and consisted of a blade with two intertwined and elegant bars of silver and gold, only to form a sun-like head at the tip, jagged with spear points in a semi-circle. The crossguard of this second Keyblade was formed by a pair of silver wings, forming a square-ring around the handle, and hanging from this Keyblade was a silver keychain with a five-pointed pendant made of pink seashells, an odd charm to say the least.

Light and dark. Black and silver. Good and evil.

There was questioning it. The structure, the shape, the way the Organization member just summoned them in the same manner without any conscious effort similar to the way the army mutants summoned their blades.

"He's got Keyblades! The Thirteenth Order kid's got Keyblades! And he's got **_two_** of 'em!" Shipwreck couldn't help but thoughtlessly blurt out in confusion and shock. Really, this was a day for unpleasant surprises.

Leomon, Falco, and Octavia just remained silent as they observed this.

"How did you get Keyblades?" Cyclops demanded harshly, his hand going to his visor, and ignoring the looks of confusion and question from his teammates, "Last time I checked, Pluto didn't give anything to the Organization! And you're definitely **not** a good guy!"

The boy didn't say anything, though he inwardly flinched. That was indeed a question that had plagued him for so long. Without saying anything, he raised one of his Keyblades (the black one) at the fallen form of Wolverine, pointing the head of the weapon at the mutants' fallen body. To his confusion and disappointment, nothing happened.

So apparently, even with his Keyblades, unlocking one's heart didn't work the same way.

It had to be the damned staff of Wavedancer's behind this. It had to.

"Hmph, apparently, I'll just have to kill all of you the old-fashioned way," the youth said as he twirled his Keyblades expertly, having them whistle in a deadly manner in the air.

"Just you try it!" snarled Wavedancer as she and the other Misfits brought out their respective staff and Keyblades with a flourish before going into defensive, battle poses, their blades ready to attack. The Joes also aimed their weapons and gun at the invader who just shrugged.

"Please, I just took down Wolverine without much effort. Do you honestly think I'd be scared of you group of morons?" he asked emotionlessly.

"And keep in mind, we outnumber you!" snapped Lina as she hefted her Icewing Keyblade.

"Numbers don't mean anything, Dragonfly," the boy replied.

The X-Men just watched, blinking in surprise, before Bobby gaped and asked, "Whoa! You guys all have the same weapons?"

But before any bloodshed could be made, a voice rang out from above as twelve more plumes of dark aura appeared all around the thirteenth member.

"Enough, Roxas," commanded one as he stepped forward, still hiding his face and head from the hood of his cloak, "We have seen enough, and your battles with the X-Men have been fruitful nonetheless."

"What the - ?" gasped Batgirl.

"The Organization! All thirteen of them!" Cover Girl gulped as she aimed her rifle at the head of Zexion, at least taking solace that if she was going to go down, she'd take out the bastard who infected her. Indeed, most of the Organization Thirteen had their hoods lowered, their faces exposed, and all of them were staring coldly at the assembled group before them. Leomon winced as he weakly went for his sword while Falco and Octavia made angry and hateful expressions towards the evil order of the Nobody.

The Misfits recognized all of them, save the Superior and one other member who didn't bother to reveal his face from the shadows of his robe. Each and every one had been a previous member sent to wreck havoc on the Pit and steal hearts, including…

"Hey, I thought we killed you!" snarled Xi, feeling his blood bubble underneath his scales, as he saw the blond-haired girl named Larxene. The girl just coyly smiled, smug and annoyingly presumptuous.

"Like I could be done in by that!" she scoffed. The X-Men, Batgirl, and Supergirl, upon seeing all of them together in this revealing manner, didn't say anything as the leader turned to the boy (Roxas).

"You have done well at least, my Keyblade wielder," he said in his deep, mysterious voice, "You have at least discovered what truly allowed the Joes to remain immune from the Hellfire Heartless spores. But do not kill them just yet…their time will come. Now leave, all of you."

With that order, the twelve lesser members vanished through portals of darkness before the Superior and number one member of the infamous Organization Thirteen turned to Althea coldly.

"That staff will not protect you or this planet forever, Wavedancer. That damned, infernal mutt can't save you, no matter how much he tries," the Superior intoned, almost as if he was stating fact. Cyclops then had enough as he let loose a furious optic blast and shot dead-center at the robed figure. But with a simple flick of his hand, the energy vanished before it could touch him, cancelling out Scott's mutant powers before they could hurt him.

"_Merde!_" Gambit gulped. This was **not **good news…

"And heroes…" the Superior droned in his deep and emotionless voice before he snapped his fingers together, "A present for all of you, courtesy of the Hellfire Club."

Upon this sentence, with a series of inhuman roars and guttural sounds of hungry savages, a massive horde of thirty Hellfire Heartless appeared all around the grounds of the school, surrounding the heroes. They were each over twenty feet tall, almost as big as a four-story building, and similar in shape and structure as the black monsters they had fought before in Steel City, the Slayer Academy, and San Francisco. With that, the Superior disappeared.

"Damn it!" Beach Head cursed, "These guys don't fight fair!"

"At least these guys aren't made from infected people!" Daria exclaimed, "Our scanners show that they're empty! There's no one inside of them!"

Falco just looked upon with a cold eye before he and Octavia started walking away,

"Hey, where are you two going?" snapped Jubilee as she and Rina held on protectively to an unconscious Logan. The avian and the octopus-woman turned to the X-Men dismissively without much interest.

"Wolverine's heart wasn't a Talisman, and we gave it back to you and the other X-Men," Octavia said calmly, trying to placate the livid and outraged group, "There's no need for us to remain here."

"Aren't you going to help us? There are still Heartless here!" Colossus snarled, but Falco gave a curt laugh of derision.

"I'm sorry, but you must actually think that's our problem. Granted, we fight against the Organization and the Heartless, but this isn't our battle. Besides, the Misfits and that ex-friend of ours can help save your collectives asses without our help," the falcon humanoid replied.

"_Mein Gott!_ How can you be so cold? A hero helps those who need it!" Kurt yelled. Octavia and Falco regarded the blue, furry mutant coolly before the Tigershark sighed.

"We're not heroes, X-Man. You do best to remember that…" and with that, the two left before they could even comprehend it, vanishing into thin air as they leapt towards the woods, as elusive as the mist and wind.

"Weird…" Multiple murmured to himself, frowning at the fleeting image of the falcon-humanoid. He had seen Falco somewhere before, he just knew it!

"Jerks," Rogue just hotly muttered.

Simba looked meaningfully at Avalanche who then turned to his friends and said, "Simba could use some help!"

The meaning was clear as Toad, Xi, Wavedancer, Wanda, and Whitelighter raised their Keyblades.

"Genie!"

"Dumbo!"

"Bambi!"

"Mushu!"

"Tinkerbell!"

"**_Give me strength!_**" they all called out, and with a flourish of impressive sparks and multicolored essences of the elements of thunder, water, fire, wood, and light, the skies above them displaying a beautiful light show of orange, blue, red, green, and yellow similar to the effects of the Aurora Borealis in the North Pole. And to the X-Men surprise, the ever-so familiar Disney characters from childhood memories emerged, valiantly protecting the Misfits and their friends.

"UUrrrraaaaahhhh!" yelled Genie, joyously unable to keep his mouth shut as he cheered, "Let the butt-kicking begin! Shall we do it to rumba or Calypso?"

If anything was going to be declared as the one moment where the X-Men could say they had never been more surprised and flustered and overwhelmed on sight immediately, the X-Men, both the senior members and the New Mutants and the adults, could all agree much, much later that this would have been the one.

"I must be hallucinating…" blinked Piotr as Mushu hopped on Scarlet Witch's shoulder and started blasting fireballs at several Heartless while Supergirl and Batgirl took out another faction with a combination of flash Batarangs and Supergirl's Phoenix wings.

"Uh…you're not," winced Jake, "The Professor and Hank and Storm all will validate that the Misfits now have Disney characters as partners that came along with some of their Keyblades. What you're really seeing…are Disney characters destroying Heartless left and right."

Genie whooped as he turned several Heartless into harmless butterflies with a snap of his fingers with Toad hacking away with glee.

"Wow, but like, look at them go!" Kitty marveled as Simba, carrying Lance on his back, roared to the heavens and vanquished several Heartless with the intensity of his Proud Roar attack, "They're so cool! They're like totally kicking Heartless butt!"

"Well, Genie and Simba…I guess I can kinda see it," admitted Rogue as Wavedancer, riding o nthe back of the flying dumbo, was bombarding Heartless left and right with lets of ice-cold water, "But Dumbo and Bambi and Tinkerbell?"

"Technically, Tinkerbell doesn't fight," answered Blind Master in between shuriken throws, "She just heals wounds and injuries and offers great back-up along with Bambi."

"This is undoubtedly the weirdest thing I've seen in my entire life, and you know, given our past history, that **that** statement's saying something," Jean commented with a wry face.

"Strike Raid!" Quicksilver yelled as he neatly decapitated one Heartless by flinging his Zephyr Keyblade at its head, and though it died, toppling to its knees and disintegrating, Pietro was still confused when it released a heart. And he wasn't the only one…

"What the heck?" gasped Blob as he and Lina managed to hack three Heartless to death with their Keyblade abilities, only to see them releasing pink crystals as well before the orbs of light vanished in thin air.

Dragonfly was floored as she said slowly, almost murmuring, "They're…releasing hearts?"

"But…nobody's inside them," Fred pointed out as they charged towards their next target. Leomon then had enough as he aimed a fist in the air and called out his ultimate attack, knowing that it would cost him greatly.

"GAIA HUNDRED KING FIST!" the lion humanoid roared, and with a scream, all the Hellfire Heartless perished as the multitude of roaring streams of brown, earth energy rose up and vanquished them. But instead of thanking the furry warrior, Roadblock released a special missile given to him by the Justice League and fired. Leomon, so drained and fatigued already, could only scream and roar in pain as a energy net deployed from the missile and covered him, searing into his fur and flesh. And this was no ordinary net; it was designed specially by magical spells formed by Dr. Fate and Etrigan…

"**_AAAAAAAA!_**" Leomon hollered, falling to his paws and knees as the energy snaked through him, threatening to sap out his strength and topple into unconsciousness. By the Great Beast, it was more painful than being immersed in red-hot lava and fire! And how was this even possible in the first place? And because Roadblock used it when he was drained from using his ultimate magical attack to save the X-Men, he barely had the strength to crawl. It was as if the covering was draining him even further…

"We're sorry, Leomon, but we can't let this go on," Roadblock said with a mixture of remorse and sternness, and it was apparently evident in most of the Joes' faces that they didn't want to hurt the Digimon, but they had no choice.

"What are you guys doing?" Sunspot asked, horrified, but the army soldiers ignored the Brazilian mutant. Althea then turned to the X-Men, temporarily explaining.

"Leomon isn't with us, not completely! He works with Falco and Octavia! He's been secretly trying to fight alongside us so that he can figure out who holds some Talismans in their hearts so that he could sacrifice them! He was planning to kill people and sacrifice them!" the Misfit leader said. Upon hearing this, the other teenage X-Men turned to Leomon in shock.

"Please, don't struggle," Bree tried to plead softly at the swordsman, "We won't hurt you, we promise! But we need answers, and you're the only one who can tell us what's going on and why you're trying to find the Talismans!"

"Leomon, please, understand that you haven't given us any reason to trust you," Spirit said in a strong voice, "And we cannot risk this, especially when so many hearts and lives are at stake."

"Either way, you're coming with us where J'onn and Xavier can read your mind and see whether or not you're really on our side or just trying to screw with us. Even Wonder Woman's lasso has to work on you, flea-farm. One way or another, you're not leaving here without our consent and without being put someplace secure where we can keep an eye on you," Beach Head growled without pity as Leomon's vision began to blur from the pain.

Batgirl said solemnly, "Leomon, you have our word nothing bad will happen to you if you come with us quietly. But we need answers, that's all. Please, don't fight this!"

"We need help, Leomon!" Cover Girl said pleadingly, "If you're against the Heartless and want to save this world, then help us!"

The lion warrior then tried one final attempt to rid himself of the net burning his fur as he brought his paws together with a final spell he had never used before since coming to Earth.

"In the name of the King…" Leomon hissed, groggy, before he roared, "MAGNEGA!"

"What in the name of Newton and Asimov?" Beast gasped, still carrying Tessa in his arms, as Supergirl and Batgirl suddenly found themselves being lifted into the air and held fast by a glowing ball of force.

"HEY! No fair!" Althea yelled as strange orbs of magnetic forces, similar to the intensities of Magneto using his powers, engulfed the grounds of the X-Mansion and extracted the net and all the Joes' weapons. And without the net, Leomon was free and beginning to shakily make a break for it. Though he would have wanted to help, Leomon wasn't willing to be a prisoner and it wouldn't help the Sovereign and Champion of Twilight if he got captured…

"You're not getting away that easily, furball!" Wavedancer yelled as she then pointed an azure-glowing finger at Leomon while Dumbo angrily swooped down from the skies above and bombarded the Digimon with lets of icy-water from his trunk.

"Aquara Water Dragon!" the Misfit female yelled, but thankfully for the lion, he managed to sidestep and avoid the roaring current and it sped by his side by inches, threatening to pin him down and crush him. Unfortunately, in his rush to avoid the sudden downpour, he didn't see the fawn, Bambi, charging at incredible velocities with his with angry eyes and a lowered head. But he certainly felt the excruciating result as Bambi rammed his skull into the lumbar region of the Digimon's spine.

"Agh!" he cursed, muttering, as Genie and Dumbo swooped down, taking advantage of Bambi's sneak attack, with the blue djinn wielding a gigantic wooden mallet.

"Here ya' go, big and furry! Take two of these and be prepared to call Mr. Lobotomy in the morning!" Genie drawled with his usual zest as he tried to swing and connect his weapon to Leomon's skull, but Leomon then fled swiftly, making a beeline for the front gates until one Misfit and his partner got in his path, blocking him with the Steel Quartz…

The Digimon skidded to a stop, heavily injured and breathing in weak rasps.

Leomon's eyes widened slightly in horror as he just stood there, staring at Avalanche and Simba. Oh no, not them. Leomon wasn't sure if he could bring himself to hurt the two should it come down to it, but then again, he couldn't let anything get in the way of his mission for the Sovereign and Champion. And he was hurt badly enough thanks to Falco and the energy net.

Avalanche looked horrified and disgusted with himself as well, and Simba the lion then worriedly nudged his head against the mutant's leg, whining piteously.

_Lance, no…let him go…please_, Simba telepathically begged in the teenager's mind.

"Lance, you idiot, stop him!" yelled Pietro angrily as Dragonfly, Blob, and Xi closed in fast behind Leomon.

Leomon drew out his sword from his scabbard ever so slightly while Avalanche just looked into the swordsman's eyes, feeling Simba whine piteously and begging inwardly for Lance to show mercy.

A tense second passed which actually seemed like an eternity to the two in the standoff. And then…

Avalanche's face was expressionless as he lowered his head slightly and his arm fell to his sides, the Steel Quartz Keyblade disappearing from his hands when sensing its bearer from losing his will to fight.

The sign was explanatory.

"Thank you," Leomon managed to say with gratitude before he dashed past Simba and Avalanche and with several mighty leaps and bounds, Leomon sailed past the gates of the Institute and disappeared out of sight through a dimensional rift. And with that, the magnetic magic Leomon cast over the field disappeared, freeing the trapped individuals from their grasp. Though it hardly make them any less angry…

Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were both actually screaming at Avalanche, outraged at how their teammate and fellow friend just gave up and let Leomon go. Along with everyone else, it seemed. After all, they lost their one good lead that could have saved them a lot of trouble and not to mention ensured that three people wouldn't have their hearts sacrificed.

"**_You idiot!_**" Scarlet Witch yelled.

"How could you do that to us?" Quicksilver.

"I hope you're pleased with yourself!" growled Roadblock, so livid that he was no longer speaking in verse, "Because you do realize that because you let him go, Leomon is free to kill whoever is unlucky enough to have the Talismans that he's trying to look for! Their deaths are gonna be on your head for this!"

"Boy, I guess the Joes that died at the Pit because of your screw-ups haven't affected you that much at all, huh?" Kara snapped, her hands on her hips. Thankfully, a few were reserving judgment.

"You guys, stop," Whitelighter murmured gently, seeing the look on Lance's face, "It's hard for Lance too. You were asking him to attack someone who's fought alongside us and who's helped Lance before in the past."

Bree nodded in full agreement, her blue eyes compassionate, as she tried to placate the other adults and army mutants, saying, "Please, stop. All of you. Fighting and arguing won't make this any better, and what's done is done. Leomon's gone."

Still, practically everyone ignored the two peacekeepers, and the X-Men just stood silently on the sidelines, knowing they really didn't have much of a reason to join in on this tirade as the Misfits and Joes just continued expressing their outrage.

"Lance?" whispered Spirit as he came up to his son, worried and concerned. He just wanted to know why…

Lance's voice quaked a bit as he looked at his father.

"I couldn't do it," he croaked hoarsely, and Spirit understood. He understood, without judgment and condemnation.

"It's all right," the Native American Joe managed to say truthfully at last as he enveloped Avalanche into a hug, letting him know that it wasn't the end of the world and that he wasn't going to berate him for his decision.

Beach Head was about to start a huge tirade immediately, his face red and livid underneath his green ski-mask, saying with deadly rage and growling, "Private, you're about to be up to your eyeballs in shit for this screw-up, and if you think for one minute I'm gonna let your ass get covered for this - !"

Spirit then shot the army Ranger a look that would have been worthy of Batman. Especially since it actually stopped Beach Head short from finishing his threat.

"Leave it," Spirit said strongly. Wayne, however, was still intent with having the last word and didn't back down as he then grit his teeth and growled at the Native American man.

"Hawk will hear this, Spirit," he fumed, his voice shaking with fury, "And I'll be damned if we're gonna give Avalanche another time to wimp out on us and turn his back on - "

"Beach Head…" Spirit said, his voice low but deadly and intense enough to knock down a brick wall, "**_That's enough. Not here, not now._**"

No one, not even Roadblock and Blind Master, wanted to push it, and though Beach Head was about to easily remind Spirit of how he was his superior officer and thus, had a higher rank, Low Light easily then clamped his hand on the ranger's shoulder and squeezed warningly.

"Beach Head, we'll do it later. And Lance is torn enough," the sniper said as Simba then protectively got in front of Spirit and Avalanche and growled warningly at the masked Joe. Beach Head, now helplessly stuck and finding that it wasn't going to do anything to rant and rave, lashed out at Simba.

"Oh shut the fuck up, you Lion King reject!" barked Beach Head, "After today, I'm not exactly charitable to anything that resembles a lion, so shut it unless you want to be a fur rug!"

Simba's thoughts echoed in Lance's head (and surprisingly enough, Jean and Xavier were additionally able to pick them up with their powers), _You have no idea how tempted I am to biting you, you loud-mouthed tyrant. Thankfully, I know better than to chew on something that is liable to make **me** sick. And I actually eat bugs!_

"He talks?" gasped Jean, her hands going to her mouth in shock, "Alvers, Simba talks?"

"Huh?" blinked Supergirl, "You can hear him? Jean, you can hear Simba speaking?"

Jean nodded.

Simba then turned a very annoyed and beady eye at the red-haired telepath before then defensively snapping for his Keyblader, _His name is **Lance**, Ms. Grey, and yes, I talk! Did you think I was a dumb beast without a heart of his own?_

Jean turned red with shame-faced embarrassment.

"Look, as much as we would love to discuss this, outside in the open is not the perfect and ideal location…" Professor Xavier spoke at last, glancing around worriedly.

Blind Master exhaled wearily as he said, "Let go to the Mansion, then. We'll explain everything these."

"At least now it's over…" Jamie moaned as he rubbed his bruised thigh.

Unfortunately, Multiple couldn't have been more wrong; this was only the beginning of things to come…

**Author's Notes: Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! And things shall certainly be more tense now that the X-Men finally learn the truth about Pluto and how the Misfits got their magic and Keyblades. Of course, a gamut of emotions will be felt as the X-Men contemplate the turn of events while Jean learns something quite disturbing about Pluto as Logan finally gets a chance to say what he's been wanting to say! Check back next Friday for the chapter "Explanations and Jealousy" and until this, read and enjoy! Constructive criticism welcome!**


	18. Explanations and Jealousy

**CHAPTER 18: Explanations and Jealousy**

"I can't believe you didn't tell us about the Hellfire Heartless and how they can absorb our powers!" Kurt yelled.

Ray's voice was resentfully annoyed and bitter as it said with barbed wire, "What? Did you think we were stupid? Did you think that even after all our fights with the past Heartless and enemies and Danger Room sessions, we'd still be unable to handle it?"

Rogue was standing up, her back arched angrily and her hands balled into fists as she growled, "Boy, shows a lot about how y'all think of us if you keep makin' the same mistakes and hide secrets!"

"Nice way of displaying that you cared! We had to be saved by the Misfits of all people!" growled Piotr.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" complained Quinn, but thankfully, the X-teenagers ignored the Triplet.

"Like, why didn't you trust us?" Kitty said in a hurt voice, her pet dragon nudging protectively against her ankles, "Lockheed and the rest of us could have like died out there! We would have told you if we were totally in your shoes!"

"Just because you're the adults doesn't make you smarter than us or because you think you know what's best! We have to have our inputs in this too since we're in this as much as the Misfits!" Amara shouted, hands on her hips.

Needless to say, it was not going to be an easy evening for any of the faculty and the Professor. After the grueling battle, Logan was immediately escorted to the medical bay of the X-Mansion, with Kurt teleporting him and Beast to the infirmary before coming back to escort Bree, Jean, and Jake for assistance. Jake actually volunteered, and Justin was starting to become more and more at unease in thinking that Razor was purposefully trying to avoid him.

The next five minutes were absolutely unbearable, none of the X-Men willing to say a word as they waited in the main living room. It was soon apparent that they were afraid Wolverine would die, despite reassurances from the Supergirl, Batgirl, the Joes, and Misfits. And even though Pietro threw a few thoughtless quips here and there (Fred and Wanda kept him in line with several good whacks with a pillow), the adults were actually a bit surprised that not a single fight or argument broke out. Heck, most of the Misfits were doing their best to comfort the X-Men who accepted the tokens gracefully (or in Scott's case, with his mouth shut).

Once things were settled down and Kurt teleported back and reported to the others that Logan was going to be fine and that all his scans came back negative, Althea decided it was best to fully explain the whole story with the others since it was apparent the Professor neglected to mention to the students and kids about the recent turn of events. She contacted General Hawk, and then with some afterthought, notified Jinx, one of the Joes' ninjas and Logan's current lover and/or girlfriend, about the situation.

They couldn't arrive fast enough, even with the Mass Device. And Jinx thanked Althea and the X-Men for letting her stay with Logan as she went to the medical ward. General Hawk, to some of the Joes' surprise, brought the Disney hound, Pluto, practically dragging the dog by his green collar as if he didn't trust the dog to not run away at first chance. Pluto was giving Hawk the evil eye as he was being roughly handled, but Hawk wasn't exactly willing to be charitable, especially since hearing that the thirteenth member called Roxas was wielding Keyblades of his own.

And since all the Misfits got their gifts from Pluto, this either meant that Pluto was helping the Organization or the Keyblade wasn't necessarily a weapon solely associated with fighting against the Heartless. Regardless, Hawk was determined to get to the bottom of this, and he wasn't going to let Pluto play the "_I'm-just-an-innocent-and-lovable-Disney-dog_" shtick any longer.

Once in, General Hawk waited as the kids and the Joes told him essentially what had happened with curing Logan, dealing with the Organization and their dual-Keyblade wielder, and Leomon's escape. Hawk had to grit his teeth and rub his eyes, counting to ten, when he heard that. Granted, they would never hurt Leomon in any manner, but they needed information and the lion was the only one would have been less unwilling to give it. And since asking him didn't work, they would have to result for less gentle means. And now, it would be at least doubly hard to find the lion swordsman after all this.

_And I'm not sorry at all!_ Simba growled telepathically (which Xavier reiterated for the crowd), but Lance touched Simba's head before saying he'll accept whatever consequences because, yes, he did make a huge screw-up. Beach Head wanted a straight court-marshal, but it was evident from everyone else that that option was way too harsh.

Still, Hawk pushed aside all emotions as he got the facts straightened out before he took it upon himself to explain the situation to the X-Men, beginning with Pluto's arrival. Despite various interruptions from the other Misfits for putting their two cents in (especially by Quicksilver), the teenage X-Men were able to learn everything. Of how the Organization was infecting all the Joes with the strange pods specifically developed to turn targets into Heartless. Of how Althea and the other Misfits gained strange and wondrous powers of the Keyblades and strange magic that seemed incredibly effective at fighting the Heartless. Of how the Hellfire Heartless was a special breed designed by the Inner Circle to absorb energy through direct contact and absorption of attacks derived from the X-Gene. How the bird and octopus female humanoid called themselves Falco and Octavia and were stealing exposed hearts in order to find the supposed Talismans which were apparently inside in three beings. And how various Slayers and civilians from the Slayer Academy and Steel City lost their hearts along with Leomon's true alliance with Falco and Octavia and his "promise" that if they won the Gathering of Twilight.

At this, Scott and Piotr and Rogue gave Lance a rather accusatory glare as Piotr said with insulting sarcasm, "Nice going, Rockhead. You let him go after he's already proven to not be on our side and is willing to sacrifice an innocent person's life to get the Talismans, and yet you still couldn't do the right thing for once."

"You know, there isn't an _I-told-you-so _big enough for this, so I'm just going to keep my mouth shut and enjoy the fact that the Joes are going to give you so much grief for this. Why you were chosen to use a Keyblade instead of someone else is beyond me," Scott griped as Lance cast his eyes downward and rubbed his arms, steamed yet conceding that they had a point. Heck many of the Misfits and Joes seemed to share those same sentiments.

Simba growled protectively, baring his teeth, but he didn't do anything else.

"For once, I agree with Summers," Beach Head rumbled. Forge blinked.

"Whoa, did anyone else think that hell had just frozen over?" the inventor tried to chuckle, but no one else was finding it funny when all the kids were glaring at the adults in the living room, their looks mixing hurt with anger. Hence leading to their current situation…

"I can't believe you didn't tell us this! After what happened last time when you hid from us how Principal Darkholme was really Mystique! Or that Cobra soldiers were trying to attack Bayville High when they were disguised as teachers? Why didn't you tell us about how Pluto came and how the Organization was infecting folk?" Sam exclaimed, his eyebrows and forehead crinkled with disbelief.

Ororo tried to placate the children by holding up a hand to signal them to hold off their outbursts as she said, "To be fair, Jake and Jean both wanted to tell you and didn't like that we were being confidential, but Charles and the rest had decided that it would be better to simply not inform you unless they was no other choice and just simply keep you confined on the grounds of the school and keep you safe that way. Without requiring you to directly confront the Hellfire Heartless, especially since we would not be able to do much good in battle anyway."

"_The rest of us_? And Jean knew this?" Kurt exclaimed, echoing Storm's words, before he was able to rationalize and glared at Scott, "You knew about this? And you're one of us, more than any of the adults here! And you kept quiet?"

"We were afraid the New Mutants would try something! And we didn't want to encourage anything or lead false hopes for you guys, especially since Pluto made his choice," Scott explained.

"Scott, we're totally not the New Mutants! Me, Kurt, Rogue, Gambit, and Colossus are just as totally veteran as you and Jean! Like, how could you? You're like supposed to be the like liaison for us kids to the Professor and the other adults!" Kitty cried out.

"We already almost lost Wolverine! So what, you wanted to wait until actually one of us died before you would decide to tell us?" Jamie whined.

It was then that General Hawk stood up and spoke, and when he did, his grey eyes were narrowed and his jaw was grim as he sternly addressed to the heart of the matter. This had gone on long enough, and he could see that some perspective was needed, especially since the Professor looked pained enough as it was. And this bickering and complaining was certainly going to be counter-productive if not handled soon.

"You are right. **All of you.** Now's not the time for secrets."

This brought all the arguing and barbs to a standstill. That was an unexpected answer, especially from a strict leader of the military. General Hawk continued.

"The Professor made a mistake, yes…but I would rather have this sort of mistake than telling having you tell you kids and you running off and doing something stupid. Granted, neither would have worked, and you kids have a right to be angry, but this is a time of war, and you know deep down that the Professor was put in a tough spot to begin with. He went with the lesser decision, especially since he and the faculty have to watch over all of you and make sure you wouldn't be caught in the crossfire. Now, granted, it was under the assumption that he could anticipate what the Organization was planning. But, he simply wanted to keep you out of the war and didn't want to risk your lives, considering how hard it is to keep secrets here at the Institute and how you kids sometimes eagerly get too involved in fights and skirmishes."

"It was a stupid way of doing it!" Rina protested, "In my times serving Hydra, the risk of having the wrong people obtaining the information is far less than not telling the right people the information in the first place!"

"And if the Professor told you about Pluto and the Keyblades and the magic, you kids would have kept quiet about this and not blabbed it to say, Rahne and Theresa over at Muir Isle? To Evan and the Morlocks? To the few family members that still keep in contact with you? Would you guarantee to me that you could all keep this secret from Magneto and other people who could be tempted to see how the magic could be used for their own gain? Secrets are also made for good reasons, kids."

"Duh! Of course we know how to keep a secret! **_We always have!_**" protested Jamie, and at this, each and every one of the Joes gave all of the teenage X-Men a baleful and miffed look in unison, their eyes honed with steel and unwavering strength. They didn't buy it. Jamie gulped and winced before he hung his head a bit.

"All right, you have a point," the brown-haired adolescent admitted.

"Hey, don't you dare blame it on us and say that the Prof was right to hide things from us!" Tabitha snapped, waving a finger at the Joe general.

"Give us one good reason why we should turn the other cheek and overlook this when we nearly got killed because of his screw-up!" roared Gambit. The Professor winced, a bit hurt, and Scott was so tempted to blast Remy through the wall with his optic blast. Hawk, however, managed to eloquently make his point with simmering yet restrained anger, outraged for Xavier's defense.

"So why don't I remind you all of a few times you X-Men have been certainly questionable in your judgment, even though it was for extremely good reasons and intentions?" the Joe leader said rather sternly as he then ticked off each one with his fingers.

"Remy, if I recall correctly, you used to work for Magneto yourself along with Colossus. And who took the both of you in and gave you refuge, protection, and helped you recover when it nearly cost you your lives? Without question or expectation of return for the services?" Hawk said sharply. Remy blinked before he realized how ungrateful he was sounding (though he was still mulish).

"Or X-Men, how about setting an entire island on fire when you and the Misfits went on a field trip together when using the Mass Device for the first time?"

"That one was solely the Misfits' fault!" Scott protested, getting a few nods of agreement from his other teammates.

"It was not, Summers!" snapped Lance back, and the General continued before another argument could break out, though he knew it would be inevitable.

"How about the time you, Kitty, and Kurt risked exposure of your mutations when you saved that bus driver from toppling off the freeway overpass?" the Joe continued.

Kurt tried to object, but he was red in the face from embarrassment, as he meekly replied, "That was…for a good reason! It was to save someone's life! And besides, no one saw us!"

"All the New Mutants going to Bayville Commons to help fight against Live Wire even though the Professor specifically asked you all to stay in the Mansion, and as a result, nearly got killed in the process when attacked by H.A.T.E.?"

Another bulls-eye.

"That…was for a good reason too! We were worried!" Sam protested, though one could see that was a lame excuse.

"All the New Mutants getting drunk when the adults left that led to Jamie getting alcohol poisoning when Bobby's parents disowned him?"

Direct hit.

"Oh geez, stop it, will you?" wailed Bobby, holding his head in his hands in shame, "How long are you going to hold that one over my head? I'm sorry, and I've regretted everything I've done!"

"Not enough in my opinion," muttered Xi, but Lina swatted the lizard's arm as she rose and (much to Fred's jealous anger) sat next to Bobby on the couch before she gave him a comforting hug of acceptance.

"It's all right," she murmured, and Bobby, though he was still feeling a bit ashamed, felt elated at the touch. Lance then offered a shaky smile as he added his own form of redemption to Iceman.

"And…and it's all right on my account to. I never officially said this…but I forgive you for that, for exposing my past to everyone and trying to get back at me for being so hard on you for getting Jamie drunk. I…I forgive you. And it's all right. Everyone makes mistakes. I did with Leomon," Lance said softly, and the look of gratitude on Bobby's face was absolutely priceless.

"I never thought I'd see the day…" murmured Kitty, her jaw dropping in surprise.

Then Charles Xavier wheeled his wheelchair forward until he stopped in the middle before addressing his students and Hawk.

"General Hawk, I appreciate your defense, but I have always taught the students that if one does wrong, they must be willing to acknowledge it and own up to it. And I am no better than my students at times, especially since I have made this mistake before…and I appear to be slow and reluctant to learn as well."

There was a stunned silence before the Professor, now looking worn and tired, but still offering a sheepish and reconciliatory smile, spoke next.

"I was wrong," Professor Xavier said with tired sincerity, "Can you forgive me? For making such a big mistake? All of you? Again?"

The rest of the students were stunned. Never before had Professor Xavier humbled himself before them like this.

"You're…asking us? But…but you're the Professor!" Kurt could only manage to utter. The Professor sighed.

"I cannot promise to you that I'll always do the best decision, especially since I am faulted and as human as any of you. I can only do the best I can with what limitations and lack of judgment that I occasionally affect my rationale. But yes, Kurt, and I am asking now without wishing to prod if you do not feel like answering it or you cannot find it in your hearts to look past my mistakes. I will accept it. But, can you forgive me? For thinking that it would be safer to not tell you? For trying to hide and shelter you and forgetting that none of you are children any more?"

The decision was unanimous. Mostly.

"There's nothing to forgive for, Professor," Scott said.

"Hey, as Hawk said, we all screw up," Roberto managed to hoarsely chuckle as a tension-reliever.

"Aw, gee, Professor, you don't need to ask! We forgive you! Apology accepted!" Jubilee said strongly.

The mentor and leader of the X-Men smiled a bit ruefully before he admitted, "Sometimes, even I need to be told off every once in a while for I have the tendency to make the same mistakes."

"_D'accord, mon ami_," Remy muttered heatedly in French.

"You need to get it a lot more if you ask me," Ray added sullenly.

Hawk and some of the other Joes looked at Remy and Ray with cold anger.

"And I suppose you're all perfect little angels and model students who have never made a mistake, correct?" Spirit asked rhetorically. Ray turned red with shame, getting the point, before he bowed his head and then looked at the faculty. Remy just winced and flinched a bit at the Joe's barb.

"I'm sorry, Professor. I…didn't mean it," Bezerker softened, and the Professor nodded, smiling.

"It's forgotten already, Raymond," and that thankfully settled it. And all the students were appearing more and more relaxed and less guardedly tense now that things were exposed and all out in the open.

"But…" Rogue said fiercely, "From now on, no hiding stuff from us about this. Anything that deals with the Heartless and the Organization, we're in it whether you like it or not. Deal? And we promise we'll be careful from now on, especially since we know what we're dealing with."

"We nearly died out there, Professor. We can't anticipate what the Organization will do so if anything, this should tell us to get things done if we ever have a chance to do so. And I want to be alive to fight, for all of us," Roberto said strongly. Some, such as Sam, looked a bit sick if not fearful at the prospect of fighting a war, and Lina and Justin could empathize with those sentiments wholeheartedly.

"Some of us don't have anywhere to go back to either, and this is the only place we can be at. If the Thirteenth Order is going to take this away from us, then we'll fight. We're not afraid, not if it means losing everyone," Bobby said strongly, which surprised many around him. This was so uncharacteristic of the prankster Bobby who liked to be thoughtless and crude and oblivious at times.

"Agreed," Storm and Xavier said in unison, and the Joes and Misfits relaxed.

"So tell us more about this whole magical stuff with your Keyblades and all the other stuff that you guys can do!" requested Tabitha with some excitement, morbidly curious and interested.

"Yeah, we got the general run-down but give us more details! I bet the Joes are also happy for you guys now that you have the magic!" Amara added eagerly. And then she and her other teammates were confused at the look of tragic sorrow on the Misfits' faces.

"It's…not that good…" admitted Lance, reminding himself of the downsides of their gifts as he and the Misfits explained what happened when Blackheart attacked the Pit. There was a stunned silence, and a few such as Jubilee, Kurt, and Kitty had tears in their eyes. Kurt even recalled that it was Quick Kick who trained alongside him and did Clint Eastwood imitations when the X-Men first trained at the Pit before the Misfits were formed.

"Wait…they're gone?" Scott murmured, shocked. He didn't know of this and it made him sick to his stomach.

"Snake Eyes…Lifeline…Duke…Quick Kick. And the others. Their hearts were all stolen," croaked Daria hoarsely.

"Wow," murmured Piotr, looking thoroughly saddened and disheartened before he sincerely placed a hand on Althea's shoulder and said with some sympathy, "I…you have our condolences. All of us. Having so many Joes die like that…I'm sorry."

"We all are," Roberto said, and Wavedancer and the other Misfits were touched to see the unanimous expressions of compassion and sorrow. Todd smiled a tired smile, his face clammy.

"Thanks, yo," he said at last, "And now you know why we need to win this and all. It's the only way to get their hearts back."

"But if Leomon is telling the truth, then who knows how long the Gathering of Twilight will take to arrive, and until then, we'll have to continue risking other people getting their hearts taken by the Heartless, not to mention this Falco and Octavia might be eager to kill us as much as the Organization," Roberto pointed out.

"If only we knew who this Falco came from along with Octavia came from…" mused Low Light, "Too bad none of us know or have any idea of who he or this Andross person is."

"Andross?" Xi asked, confused.

"He mentioned that when I first fought him, and when he injured his foot against my body when I transformed into steel, he said something that sounded like 'damn it to Andross and back' or something…like…it?" and Cooper trialed off as Jamie gasped and rushed to the next door recreation room, rummaging like a madman before he emerged back to the puzzled crowd with a book before flipping to a page in the middle and slamming it in front of everyone.

"I knew it!" Jamie yelled, "I knew why Falco looked familiar! And that 'Andross' tidbit cinched it! It's because he's Falco Lombardi of the Star Fox fleet of the Corneria System! **_That's him, right here!_**"

"Child, you must be mistak-…goddess," gasped Ororo as she and the others looked down on the glossy page. There was no question about it. The structure of his face, the blue feathers along with the circles of red encircling his eyes, his attire complete with the boots and laser pistol, the cocky smile along with the crossed arms over his chest. Along with the gold lettering "Falco Lombardi" next to the image.

"Oh holy shit!" Shipwreck cursed, "The kid's right! That is him! That's Falco!"

"And the book shows all his attacks!" Justin exclaimed in shock, "Look, all of them are in here! His firebird rocket attack, his shield, his laser pistol, even the Shadow Phantasm move that's based off the same wind magic Pietro has!"

"Unbelievable…" Althea could only utter.

"Where did you get this book?" Cover Girl asked sharply.

"Because this is the game strategy guide for our popular Game Cube game here at the Mansion, '_Super Smash Bros. Melee_'! Don't you guys see? **_Falco is a video game character!_**"

The look on everyone's faces was nothing short of priceless.

"You've got to be kidding me," muttered Beach Head, but Pietro slapped his head, suddenly realizing why Falco seemed familiar all this time and yet he never pieced it together.

"Argh! Of course! That's why Falco seemed so familiar! It's because we've played this game so many times already that he's been used several times during our video game tournaments!" the speedster griped.

"What can you tell us about him?" Rina asked, one not very familiar with video games. Multiple took several deep breaths before he explained.

"He's from the Star Fox video game series! He was a fighter pilot for airships that battled Andross' minions in space and was an excellent combatant. He lived a rough life on the streets before he joined the military academy along with his best friend, Fox McCloud, when they were teenagers, and became the infamous Star Fox fleet that protected the Corneria universe. He's a hero, a good guy!"

"I'm still trying to accept the fact that…he's from a video game…and brought to life," Kara admitted with hesitation, obviously not sure if this was even logical to begin with.

"It makes sense though, and it is possible. Keep in mind, the X-Men have Jake Clawson as a teacher, and he's a character from the 'SWAT Kats' television cartoon show in this dimension, even though in another dimension, the show exists as reality," Batgirl pointed out.

"In other words, different dimensions, different realities," Xavier summarized.

"Whoa…this is getting freaky," Fred gulped.

"But Falco's a good guy though!" Kurt tried to point out.

"But that doesn't mean he's on our side. And now that I think about it, it makes sense. Hawk, Joes…didn't you reveal that Falco and Octavia are searching for these Talismans because it will help them? And how they were arguing with Leomon that it would save their worlds and families after the Heartless destroyed them? Then that explains why they have been incredibly hostile and desperate. Like Leomon, their homes and worlds must have been obliterated by the Heartless and Organization Thirteen, and they must be willing to do whatever it takes to bring back their loved ones and their home," Ororo pointed out.

"True, Stormy…but it doesn't make what they're doing right," Shipwreck sighed.

"At least now we know who he truly is. Any idea if Octavia is from a video game too?" Lina asked Jamie, but the adolescent shook his head.

"Not from any game I know of. But it won't help us against the fact that we're all vulnerable against the Hellfire Heartless sent by the Inner Circle!"

"However, since these Heartless have a mutation that is similar to Rogue's, this may mean that her power may provide a way to cancel out a Hellfire Heartless' ability should one ever get in contact with her," Blind Master said, "It does make sense, that like mutations would cancel like. However, this is just a hypothesis, so in no way does this mean we want you to go out and try it. Just because you may not be able to give the Heartless any additional strength doesn't mean your heart is resistant to their attacks."

"So why even tell her then, _mon ami_?" growled Remy, starting to get angry and knowing full well this was practically encouraging her to do what she was not recommended.

Low Light's voice was just as hostile as he uttered with a snarl, "Hey, cool it, Cajun, we're just speculating, not telling her to do something stupid."

"Actually, then the X-Men do have an advantage," mused Cover Girl as she looked at Lockheed, "Last time I checked, Lockheed isn't a mutant, so his dragon-fire shouldn't be able to give the Heartless any type of a power boost. Same with Razor, who's additionally a kat with no X-Gene from another dimension. And last time I checked, you X-Men have glovatrixes."

"Duh, of course!" Sam groaned, slapping his forehead and wondering how could he have let that one slip by, "Just 'cause we can't use our mutant powers doesn't mean that we're helpless! And heck, what's the point in having the glovatrixes if we're not gonna use them? Jake's already trained us more than enough in how to use them!"

There was a general silence before Scott turned to the furry animal in their home.

"So…this is Pluto?" Scott murmured, seeing the hound for the first time. Upon hearing his name, the canine gave a loud and friendly bark, never once letting up on the smile on his face. Tabitha, Kitty and Jubilee squealed at the sight of such a cute and furry animal, and this actually made the dragon, Lockheed, jealous a bit as he turned and glared at Pluto, wisps of smoke coming out of his nostrils.

Jubilee leaned over for a closer look, studying Pluto all around before she gasped, "Oh my God, you're right! He does look like the Disney character! Wow, it's like he directly from the cartoon or something!"

"And let me get this straight," Rogue said, trying to make sure she wasn't losing her sanity, "Those things you summoned from your Keyblade things are really Disney characters who have magical abilities to help fight against the Heartless?"

"Yep," said Althea simply before she and the others just summoned their partners with a quick, soft phrase.

"Give me strength," they all said unanimously, and at once, the familiar forms of Dumbo, Genie, Mushu, Tinkerbell, and Bambi emerged with various plethora of magic and the various elements of water, thunder, fire, light, and wood before they softly landed gracefully on the plush carpet of the Institute's living room.

"My word…" Xavier could only say.

Storm was trying to go through what she was seeing as she remarked and stated out loud, "Goddess…all of them are Disney characters. Dumbo, Genie from the '_Aladdin_' movie, Tinkerbell from '_Peter Pan_', Mushu the dragon from '_Mulan_', and - "

"Blah-ah-ah-ah-ah!" bayed the deer fawn, Bambi, invoking a squeal of delight from Kitty, Amara, Tabitha, and Jubilee. Even Rina had to admit that Xi's summon had that certain bashful quality about him.

"**He's sooooooo cute!**" they shrieked as Bambi found himself the target of several hugs.

"Genie," Toad said proudly, "These here are the X-Geeks!"

"_X-Men_, Toad," corrected a few waspishly, but Genie took no notice, pleasantly and sincerely eager to meet new people as he teleported everywhere, shaking hands exuberantly and jabbering on and on.

"Oh sweet mother of mercy!" he cheered joyously, "More adorable little guys and gals to help out and impress with my phonemically, cosmic powers! And kids, lemme tell y'all something: this ain't no ordinary light show here! Any Genie can do magic, but **_I_** do it with style…!"

With a snap of his fingers, the whole living room was covered with paper streamers, confetti, balloons, and a general atmosphere of a party.

"…Flair!" the Genie added.

With a simple wave, the Genie made all the confections vanish before dressing all the X-Men in elegant dresses and tuxedoes.

"…and all the stuff in between!" and with another snap, the X-Men and Misfits were all sitting at round tables in stunned surprise and disbelief as Genie put up a gigantic show in front of them displaying various doppelgangers of Genie dancing a cam-cam dance-line, playing various musical instruments, and juggling various flaming batons and bottles before ending their grand number under a glowing neon sign that said "Applause, Applause". With another snap of his fingers, it all disappeared, and the living room was brought back to normal as Genie was vigorously shaking Scott's hand.

"But enough about me! It's a pleasure and honor to meet all of you!" Genie said warmly and excitedly like a hyperactive child (only much worse and less inhibited).

"Er…it's…nice to meet you too," Scott tried to gasp despite his whole body shaking and bobbing up and down from the djinn shaking his arm so hard.

"Wow, he's exactly like the cartoon movies," blinked Sam.

"I like him," giggled Kitty, "He's funny."

X23 then looked at the Rainforest Scale in Xi's claws.

"And those are Keyblades? The weapons that were bequeathed to you that can seal and lock hearts and seem to have an effect on fighting the Heartless?" Rina asked, trying to process in everything that was being told to her. On cue, the Misfits nodded before they brought out their gifted weapons with a flourish of various-colored hues and illuminations.

"Whoa, cool…" marveled Jamie, his eyes wide with joy and awe.

"All except this one," Althea said as she indicated with her white-colored staff, "This thing is definitely not a Keyblade, and it works differently from the Keyblades too. But one good thing is that it gives us a chance to save those that were infected with those Heartless pods, so we still have a chance to bring people back."

"But aren't they heavy and like totally hard to carry and swing around?" blinked Kitty.

Xi confessed, shaking his head, "Funny you should mention that. They're as light as feathers, as if we're barely holding anything at all. And they way they listen to us…it is sort of strange, but there is no other way to describe it. The Keyblade actually acts as if it's a living thing, as if it can hear what we think and want in our minds and hearts."

"Whoa…freaky," Jubilee commented.

"Hey, Toad, can I see that for a second? You're Keyblade, I mean? Please?" Kurt asked, and Todd shrugged before he handed over his orange and green Amphibionian Keyblade over to the German teenager with a warning.

"Careful though, yo," he said, "It might not let ya' hold it and all."

And indeed, what the frog-like mutant said was true. Instantly, with a flash of pure orange, the Keyblade in Nightcrawler's hands vanished, disappearing, before reappearing into Toad's hands for everyone to see.

"Goddess…" murmured Storm, taken aback.

"Whoa! How'd you do that?" Bobby remarked, stunned and in awe, already picturing shamelessly in his mind of wielding his own Keyblade…and Lina fawning over him and saying he was so valiant and noble.

Blind Master explained, "We're a little unclear about that ourselves, Bobby, but it appears that each Keyblade that was given to the Misfits was specifically made for them, and only them. In other words, they are pretty much the only ones that can wield such things. No one else can hold them, at least not for very long."

"Not that it matters, though," Xavier commented worriedly, "I am still in shock that one of the very individuals in Organization Thirteen, one of our most dreaded enemies, is the wielder of not one, but two Keyblades."

"And something tells me that this mutt's behind that one, or at least knows the answer to it," growled Beach Head as all eyes turned to a meek Pluto. If dogs could groan, the golden-furred hound would have given the mother-load. Instead, he had to settle for snorting in disbelief as he gave the Joes who were scrutinizing him with a look that said somewhere along the lines of _you've-got-to-be-kidding-me_.

"It makes sense," Supergirl commented as last as she rubbed her chin, "If the Misfits got their Keyblades from Pluto, then maybe that's why the Organization was trying to send the Heartless to capture him, so that they could bequeath to them the same powers. Maybe Pluto was even a part of the Organization before he ran away when he realized what he was getting into and ran away to find the Misfits."

"That would fit the facts," Batgirl admitted, "We've already established that Pluto isn't evil, and we don't have proof otherwise."

"This still doesn't encourage me to give him the benefit of the doubt. In fact, I daresay that this makes me even less willing to trust Pluto, especially since it turns out that Keyblades can be used for good or evil. And even if Pluto didn't give the Organization the Keyblades, I'm willing to bet that he knows why the thirteenth order has them," Hawk said sternly as he gave Pluto the evil eye.

"Hawk," Shipwreck finally broke in, "Look, I'm as wary as you are, but until we specifically have proof, we can't suspect Pluto for something like that. And if he was trying to lead us on, he wouldn't even be helping us in the first place."

The Joe leader had to admit that one at least. But something just wasn't adding up…

"Besides," Genie interrupted, magically dressing an annoyed Pluto with a baby bonnet, a boy's blue sailor suit, and placed the string to a red balloon saying "World's Cutest Dog" in the hound's mouth before adding in a honeyed, mollycoddling voice, "How can you think of the little guy being evil? Just lookit that widdle face!"

Pluto looked like he wanted to bite Genie's head off. And Hawk had to mentally count to ten to not lose his temper at his increasing irritation. Althea then tentatively looked at her teammates.

"Hey…you guys…think we should ask him now?"

"There isn't any other better time than now, Al," Todd said, and the other Misfits nodded. To everyone's confusing, Althea walked gently over to Pluto before she knelt down in front of the Disney dog and made sure she was eye level with the canine. Pluto cocked his head, bewildered, as Wavedancer made her request.

"Pluto…can you teach the X-Men magic? Like us?" the Misfit leader asked.

The hound's eyes went wide with shock, and the other X-Men were startled too. The adults blinked, their heads shooting up sharply. This was a surprise, especially since the kids never discussed it with them, but a few such as Spirit, Roadblock, and even General Hawk was starting to see the logic of such of a request.

"Like…huh?" blinked Kitty.

"Wait," Rogue said slowly, "You guys…want Pluto to teach us magic too? Instead of givin' it to the Justice League or the Titans or the Slayers?"

"Well…yeah, yo," Toad said honestly, scratching his head. Pietro looked sour, but thankfully, he didn't say anything. Deep down, he agreed with that decision, especially since they all promised to protect everyone they could.

Xi then explained, "Althea brought up the possibility several times during our training sessions - "

Fred blinked before he interrupted, "We did?"

"Yes, Fred, we discussed that more than once. Remember? The last time we all played with the idea was when we were eating lunch with the Slayers Monday, when B.A. served us that giant ham and potato-salad meal? And you had to fight Dana and Kennedy for that last slice of ham?" Lina prodded helpfully.

"Oh yeah…" crowed the Texan as it dawned on him before he pouted, "Kennedy really doesn't fight fair. I wanted that last piece!"

"How is it that you recall every piece of food you've had and yet you can't seem to remember something as important as discussing the Heartless and Pluto's magic?" groaned Roberto, rubbing his face awkwardly with one hand and sighing in aggravation. Xi continued.

"And we all agreed to it, especially since all mutants are especially vulnerable to the Hellfire Heartless. Though they don't have Keyblades, at least the Slayers and Titans and Superman can use their powers while you guys can't."

"And if Pluto was willing to trust us with these Elementa magic and Keyblades, then he'll definitely help us out and give you guys powers too since you all need them just as much as we do. And besides, we don't want anyone else to get their hearts stolen like the Joes," Wanda said.

"But…" Roadblock asked hesitantly, "Kids, are you sure you want this? Giving them magic will make the X-Men bigger targets for the Organization. And X-Men, are you sure you would even want this? If you did get powers, that means you'll all be put in a position you can't back out of, that you'd be on the front lines of this whole war, probably at he Gathering of Twilight."

Sam and several of the other X-Men seemed a bit fearful at this prospect, while others, such as Remy and Piotr and Scott, seemed only interested in how the magic could work for them.

Ororo could see Cooper's point, but she then highlighted out, "At least we would be less easy targets, especially since it would give the Hellfire Club less chances to have the Heartless attack our defenses."

"I'm game," Roberto said simply.

"Me too! I'm willing to learn!" Bobby chimed in. and if he should learn ice magic just like Dragonfly, then it was just further proof that he and Lina would be far better of a match than she and Fred.

So imagine all their collective surprise when Pluto actually frowned like a sentient being and shook his head once, giving a furious and negative bark.

"HUH?" everyone in the living room chorused, stunned.

Several of the X-Men were hurt by this, and some, understandably, were incredibly insulted if not offended.

"Pluto?" Scarlet Witch asked in shock, blinking. This was unexpected…

Xi tried to point out, "Pluto, what could be wrong with this? A bigger faction of people to assist us in the war against the Heartless isn't a bad thing, and if you could give out more magical powers, why not?"

Wanda then tried as she said to the hound, "Pluto, we know you had reservations about handing the powers to other people you've met so far, and we understand that its your choice. But trust us…the X-Men need the elemental magic and powers of a Keyblade much more than any of the other people could because they're especially vulnerable. We don't want to force you, Pluto, but please, can't you? We made a promise to do anything we could to protect this world and all our friends and allies, and it'll be a big help if other people could learn the same magic we do, especially since we're starting to see that it's harder and harder for us to try and get the Joes' hearts back."

Pluto was now starting to look irritated as he gave an annoyed bark, shaking his head again. It was amazing how he seemed so human at times.

"Hey, that's not fair, mon ami!" Remy snarled, now leaping up to his feet and his hands balled into fists, "You're willing to trust those losers over us?"

"Hey, who are you calling losers?" growled Fred, now incredibly insulted, as Lina tried to calm him down.

"That's enough!" growled Roadblock, trying to keep the peace.

Pluto looked torn and saddened as the X-Men were now furiously glaring at him with offense and hurt, and he wished to the King that they could understand that he didn't want this…

"That totally isn't fair!" Kitty whined.

"I can't believe this! Once again, you Misfits never fail to screw us over! Even Pluto was willing to give Keyblades to that Organization member named Roxas something or other and yet he's not willing to give us stuff to help us fight and protect this world too!" Ray yelled.

"Hey, it's not our fault!" Brittany argued heatedly.

Forge then muttered darkly, "Pfft! As if. If Pluto came to us, he obviously would have been more likely to hand out the Keyblades to people who were more responsible and better."

"What was that?" growled Daria, Quinn, and Brittany at once, overhearing Forge.

Tabitha then stood up for her teammate as she pointed out, "Oh come off it, he has a point. Look, I'm not saying all of us here at the X-Men aren't nuts and unstable at times, but not even you Misfits can deny that as a whole, we're a lot more capable of fighting the Heartless! Maybe not me, but definitely people like Scooter and Jean and Blue here! Heck, Storm, Badger, and Beast would be a far better choice! Even Bobby!"

"Hey!" protested the said Iceman, but no one paid attention.

"Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if Toad uses his Keyblade to roast hot dogs on it!" Rogue remarked with pessimism.

"I do not, yo!" Toad vehemently shot down before he thought about it and added a bit sheepishly, "Just marshmallows…"

"I rest my case," drawled the Southern belle.

"You guys, stop. We can't force Pluto to give us magic if he doesn't want to. He probably has good reasons to," Jamie tried to placate his teammates, and Sam, Jubilee and Professor Xavier both looked tempted to agree. However, Multiple's words just infuriated the other teens and adolescents in the room.

"Yeah, he's blatantly favoring the Misfits over us! He would rather have us dead than them! If he was on our side, he'd at least help us out so that we could help fight against the Heartless!" snapped Piotr.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" Roberto shouted, wishing he could just grab the Disney dog by the scruff of his neck and throttle him, "You handed out all your gifts to the Misfits instead of dividing it among all the heroes in this world fairly? What kind of stupid move is that? No wait, I take it back! It goes beyond stupid!"

"You did this on purpose, didn't you?" snapped Scott at Althea and General Hawk, now unable to take it any longer as the hot tightness in his stomach exploded, "You purposely brought Pluto here to humiliate us, didn't you?"

"Oh come off it, Summers! You're not the center of the universe, and we know when to drop the fun and pranking when things are serious! Get this into your head that our lives don't revolve around making fun of you!" Wavedancer snapped.

"A good portion of it does, however," Pietro added impishly.

"**_PIETRO, SHUT UP!_**" bellowed a good number of X-Men and Misfits along with Supergirl and Batgirl in response.

"Hey, I wonder…" Blob said out loud, "Maybe…maybe the reason Pluto is saying no isn't because he won't but that he **can't** hand out any more magic. Maybe he's given out everything he has or something'. In other words, whatever he has, it's all gone, like all the food and spread after fifteen minutes of a barbeque at my Dukes family reunion."

Ororo tried to shoot it down as she said, "Fred, I do not think - "

But then to further everyone's bewilderment, Pluto gave an affirmative bark, nodding once and wagging his tail, the black appendage thumping on the carpet. This, if anything, made the Joes and Misfits even more confused while the teenage X-Men and New Mutants became even more hurt and infuriated at being cheated.

"You mean…" rasped a shocked Rina, her voice strangled and her eye twitching, "Pluto…the only reason you can't teach us magic…is because the materials and forces necessary for it…was already given to the Misfits _first_?"

Pluto nodded, giving another affirming bark. Quicksilver, predictably, made matters a little worse.

"Oh, well, in that case, I'm glad I was in line before any of you," he quipped thoughtlessly, and though he wasn't trying to sound smug, it certainly wasn't taken that way.

"Pietro!" Cover Girl, Roadblock, and Low Light all retorted sharply, scolding. Rina took the less verbal option as she unsheathed her adamantium claws and pointed them with deadly accuracy and swiftness at the albino's face.

"You better keep your mouth shut if you know what's good for you," X23 growled.

"Hey, I usually never know what's good for me," dismissed the speedster, waving a hand nonchalantly at his admission and then sped off before positioning behind the couch before Rina could make an attempt to swipe at him.

"Pietro, apologize!" ordered Roadblock sternly, and the speedster, unfortunately, didn't take it seriously.

"Fine, I'm sorry we actually need to take time off our busy schedules to baby-sit ungrateful X-Geeks," he commented off-handedly, and this was the typical metaphor of adding gasoline to a fire.

"Babysit?" growled Rina, taking offense.

"**_Ungrateful?_**" Ray shouted, "You Misfits are so pathetic, it's not even funny! There's no way in hell anyone in their right minds would think that you losers are good enough to fight the Heartless over us! And after everything you put us through from the pranking and the fights and explosions and troubles you cause to wreck our home, you think you're better than us? HA!"

"He didn't mean that," Xi tried to placate, giving Pietro a glare to shut up, "Quicksilver's just mouthing off like always. Don't take what he says seriously; we're not enjoying this."

"Oh like that's easy for you to say, Xi!" Amara snapped, "You're the ones with the cute Disney partners and powerful magic attacks, so of course it'll be easy for you to say that you're not enjoying this! You don't have to worry about losing your hearts any more since the Organization is afraid of you."

"Hey, having the magic isn't a walk in the park, you know! There's downsides to having a Keyblade and all these gifts Pluto gave us!" Daria snapped, hands on her hips.

"You have my deepest sympathy," drawled Bobby sarcastically, feeling cheated at a rare chance to show that he was possibly better and more worthy of fighting the Heartless than Blob and impressing Dragonfly.

"Geez, the way you're rubbing this in our faces makes me sick! To tell ya' the truth, if you want to keep Pluto and your stupid Keyblades to yourselves, you're more than welcome to it!" Rogue spat.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" yelled all the adults, and General Hawk then added the following ultimatum.

"They next teenager from either the X-Men or the Misfits who says one word without our consent, especially to make a crack, insult, or retort, gets one week at the Pit for KP duty! **_For each word spoken._**"

That shut them up.

Scott was darkly thinking to himself as the Joes pondered and talked with Xavier, glaring at Pluto was who trying to look apologetic in his decision, his words echoing, _I wish the Misfits never existed. **I really wish that they never existed!** God, isn't it enough that they wreck our home and mooch off our food and fight with us each and every day? Haven't they made our lives enough of a living hell? If they weren't around, then we wouldn't be in this position of not being able to defend ourselves and watching Althea and her team of idiots have the last –_

**_Scott!_**

Cyclops did a mental double take, nearly jerking out of his meditations and deep thoughts (and causing a few around him in the living room to glance curiously at him) before he relaxed, realizing it was Jean who telepathically spoke to him in his head. Even though she was no longer in the room, the red-head's powers were strong enough for her to establish her mental connection with Scott, a bond that had been born from their close intimacy and feelings for each other and had only grown in time and practice.

Scott and Jean were practically one during this established mental sharing, being more attuned with each other's psyche and feelings as a result of their relationship. And no one, not even Professor Xavier or Trinity, would dare intrude on it. Not that they could anyway.

And right now, Jean, as she was leaving the infirmary, was hearing the dark and angry and bitter thoughts of her boyfriend so loudly, she decided to take it upon herself to comfort Cyclops in his mind and try to help him wade through his emotions.

Scott asked telepathically, _Jean? You can hear me all the way down from the medical ward?_

His girlfriend's voice, as gentle as a falling leaf, whispered in his head, worried and concerned.

_Scott, you were thinking so loudly, it's a wonder that the Professor and any telepath within a mile couldn't hear it. If they did, they probably chose to ignore it or are hiding behind their own shields. It's all right, we're talking in private now. Scott, what's wrong?_

_Pluto won't teach us magic. He's blatantly favoring the Misfits over us, and because of it, we're stuck in a position where we won't be able to fight or do much good against the Inner Circle, some like Pietro are gloating, and…_

Scott stopped, but Jean finished it gracefully, without judgment, as if she understood.

_And you're jealous because the Misfits are proving to be better than we are at this, especially since they have Keyblades and so does the Organization, but we don't._

_Yeah._

_Scott, I…can understand it. And yes, I definitely wish I could learn magic like the Misfits too. But like the Professor said, it's not a contest. I wish things were different and that we were the ones who Pluto came to and…yeah, I would like to show him that he's making a mistake in thinking the Misfits can handle this. But we can't._

Scott glared at the hound darkly as the canine laughed as Jamie, Sam, Xi and Trinity were all cuddling him, stroking and petting the hound as if he was nothing we an oversized plush toy before he thought, _And I'm also worried. I don't trust the Joes' opinions about this, especially since we're getting the short end of the stick. I don't trust that dog! He's hiding something, that much I'm sure, but the Professor won't even try to read his mind! For all we know, Pluto could be secretly working for the bad guys._

_The Professor tried already, remember? He discovered that there's some sort of shield in Pluto's head, one that not even Martian Manhunter can break through. And the Professor won't read minds unless there's no other choice, and Pluto hasn't shown…_

Jean trailed off, and Scott could have sworn he felt a tinge of…inspiration?

_Jean?_

The red-head answered back hurriedly, as if running towards somewhere, as she breathlessly responded, _I'll talk back to you later, Scott! I need to concentrate and see if it'll work, especially since the Professor's trained me enough! And besides, it's only to see if Pluto is really on our side. I'll contact you later!_

Bewildered, Scott just shook his head a bit as the session with Jean ended. Meanwhile, Xavier was discussing his request to the Joes.

Just then, Lina and Justin got an incoming call on their communicators. It was from Bree.

"Dragonfly, Whitelighter, can you come down to the infirmary? We need some assistance with the girl that came to the Institute when Wolverine attacked the school as a Heartless."

The two Misfits looked at each other before looking at the Joes before Roadblock nodded.

"You are dismissed," the machine gunner rhymed, smirking, "Tell Bree and Beast to not get their panties in a twist."

"Take the elevator closest to the main foyer. It shall lead you straight to the infirmary entrance," Storm provided helpfully, and with that, Justin and Lina took off, leaving the others as they disappeared though the hallway.

"Would it be too much to ask if the Misfits could stay here for several days?" the Professor asked the Joes, and they all seemed a bit startled until Xavier explained his reasoning.

"I understand there is some tension, and this may be a big request…but I want my students safe, and even if I close down the Institute and send them all back home, some of them have no other place of sanctuary to go to. Not to mention that if Pluto can't teach the X-Men magic like the Misfits, I still would be grateful and would be willing to open my home to you all if you could be inclined to stay with us until we have some sort of protection against future Heartless invasions."

Cyclops looked ready to explode along with Rogue, Colossus, and Gambit, but a look from Hawk told them to shut up. Cover Girl nodded.

"We'll stay. We can brief all the other allies about the current situation here at the Mansion," Cover Girl agreed.

"We'll summon and contact them. You won't have to worry about that," Batgirl piped up. Beach Head turned and glared at the X-Men and Misfits.

"It's decided then. You punks have any problems with that? We'll give you the chance to make your stand and speak your mind, not that it'll do you much good," the Ranger growled. Jubilee raised her hand.

"Permission to speak, sir?" Beach Head nodded as Jubilee stood up…and to the Joes' surprise, turned to the X-Men, her own teammates, beseeching.

"You guys, quit it," Jubilee then spoke at last, her eyes troubled, "They saved my Dad, they saved Wolverine. I…I owe the Misfits a lot, and I don't speak for the rest of you, but I'd rather have them around because I'd feel a whole lot safer. And I don't care if they eat our food or sleep over as long as they're willing to help us. And deep down, when it boils down to it, they got chosen by Pluto and we didn't. We have no right to change that, and until then, I'll be grateful that they and Pluto stay here. I'm willing."

"And so am I. I'd feel a lot safer," added Sam.

"Me too," Jamie piped up.

"I can't believe this," groaned Scott, feeling the tides and majority turning against him. Pietro then remembered something as he turned to Xavier.

"Uh…Xavier?" the speedster asked, "That reminds me…do you have any idea who that girl was that came to the Institute and why the Heartless were chasing her? That girl that Beast brought to the infirmary?"

The Professor winced as the Joes fell silent, knowing the truth but deciding that it was Xavier's job to tell it as the telepath confessed, "Yes, I do, Quicksilver. That girl is Tessa, also known as Sage, and she was my first student, long before Cyclops and Jean were brought under my wing and care. She was a skilled telepath and…and she was my spy that I sent to infiltrate into the Hellfire Club so long ago."

"**_WHAT?_**" all the students screamed with shock, flabbergasted.

Unfortunately, at that instant, Pluto howled as an excruciating pain seared into his mind for one lone fraction of a second, and though his shields and mental blocks of the most powerful magic in all existence kicked in and shielded him from the probe, the hound fell to his stomach and hugged his head with his forepaws. It was as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to his head before spearing a red-hot piece of metal into his brain.

"Yo, what's wrong with ol' Pluto? He gonna need an aspirin or something?" Mushu asked as the other rushed to him.

"Pluto? What's wrong? You OK?" chorused the Delgado Triplets as they helped the weakened dog up from his sprawled position, and Pluto didn't even look at the X-Men and Misfits around him as he trembled, whimpering, his tongue limp from his mouth. A telepathic probe. It was powerful enough to even break through _his_ defenses. But from where? Whom?

The Organization? The Inner Circle? An unknown enemy?

Meanwhile, in the grand and metallic room that housed the Cerebro program…

Jean cried out in pain from the mental backlash, sinking her knees and sobbing, the Cerebro helmet still atop her head and covering her red tresses as she felt faint and dizzy, nearly giving in the urge to vomit. God, it was the most painful feeling she could have ever encountered in all of her telepathic sessions! Not even accessing Slade's mind during Trigon's Armageddon was this difficult.

She actually managed it, managed to get a glimpse from burrowing deep into Pluto's psyche before she was forcibly thrown out, and though young, the Professor always warmly commented on how Jean had the potential to become so much more vibrant and powerful at telepathy than he could ever be.

And it was that encouragement along with the worry that Pluto wasn't all that he appeared to be that prodded Jean Grey to use Cerebro to give her a risky boost before probing into the hound's mind and psyche forcefully. And for a few minutes, she shook and quivered as the images rushed into her…

_A shield, a mirror, a sword…_

_A female angel, with wings of pure white, holding a small cup and offering it in her hands…_

_A white door…_

_Two powerful and influential figures against a twilit sky, the light from behind them shrouding their faces…_

_A destroyed and ruined land…gray, desolate, and dead, bodies strewn everywhere…_

_Twelve members in cloaks…_

_Leomon on his hands and knees, weeping uncharacteristically, big tears dripping down his normally hardened face, and choking, "Oh by the Great Beast, what have I done?"_

_Pluto sobbing and wailing next to a fallen figure in a puddle of blood as the figure whispered to the dog weakly, "Pluto…I…won't have another incident like Riku. The Keyblades…are meant for salvation or destruction at the hands of the user. Base your choice on the strength of heart…but it will not be set in stone."_

_Strength of heart…_

_The ten sigils of the rainbow, all different colors and representing the various elements given to the Misfits…_

_A man named Ansem…his experiments…_

"Jean?" a voice broke her out of her reverie, and Jean regained consciousness as she realized she must have passed out before she weakly turned to see a shocked and disappointed Professor. He must have come down to Cerebro's room once the meeting with the Joes dismissed itself, only to find his protégée and student wearing the helmet. And he then pieced it together instantly.

The Professor let out a very big sigh and winced, rubbing the bridge of his nose at the sudden appearance of a headache as he murmured jadedly, "Jean…you didn't…"

"I thought it could help!" protested Jean weakly, "And if anything…I learned something that…well, there's more to Pluto than the Misfits know. And it may not be necessarily a bad thing."

Charles Xavier gave Jean a look of conflicted interested mixed with exasperation and a bit of self-loathing at the fact he was even willing to listen.

At the same moment, Justin was agitatedly waiting in the elevator with Lina. Dragonfly just warily kept an eye on her friend as one of the many lifts inside the Institute took them to the medical wards downstairs, far from the heated discussion and fights above and towards the infirmary where…

Dragonfly blinked, wondering why she didn't realize it sooner. Whitelighter was eager to go see Jake who, if she recalled, was also in the infirmary helping Beast tend to the mysterious girl (Tessa if she remembered), so if anything, this would give Justin a chance to see the kat again.

Not that she could agree with his apparent puppy-love; it was obvious Jake was acting distant for a reason.

"Whitelighter, stop fidgeting," the white-haired insect-girl sighed as the elevators opened…only to reveal the instructor Razor who was walking down the corridor towards the elevator only several feet away. Justin looked happy to get his chance while Lina inwardly winced at the bad timing. And she had a heavy feeling in her stomach when Jake frowned and averted his gaze a bit as the two Misfits got off the elevator.

_Damn it all to hellkats, there was no avoiding this_, Jake thought. The memory of Justin dying in front of him along with the other X-Men and Misfits immediately loomed in his mind along with Chance's voice.

_Do you really need more pain, buddy? Cause anyone can see that Whitelighter's gonna be the cause of it._

"Um…I better go help Bree…" Dragonfly said, hurriedly making herself scarce as she went into the ward where Tessa was resting. Jake was about to just brush off Justin and leave without saying anything when he hissed, a sharp stabbing pain in his ribcage, this time so intense, Jake had no choice but to hiss and topple against the wall in pain. Clutching his chest, the brown-furred kat just leaned heavily until he heard Justin try to approach him.

"Jake, let me heal you if - " but Razor's voice cut through him brutally.

"Can't you just stop and take a hint? **_Leave me alone, Moore!_**"

Whitelighter stopped, frozen, before he let his hand drop. There was only the silence of Jake's ragged breathing before the pain dulled, and Justin was doing his best to keep his emotions walled up, his eyes troubled and downcast. That was the first time Jake ever yelled full-out at him like that.

Still, Justin was hoping to lessen it with an apology; he certainly didn't want Jake to stay mad at him.

"I'm sorry," the Misfit said softly, "I thought I could help - "

Jake then couldn't bear to look at the teenager as he then interrupted the mutant's sentence, saying in a final tone, "No…this isn't helping. None of this is. This, all of this, it's a mistake."

Razor, now feeling well enough to stand, managed to reach out and press the elevator button with one clawed finger before he then delivered his decision, the visions of his dreams haunting him in the back of his mind.

"Justin…kitten…this isn't helping me. I…I think trying to make a relationship between us isn't a good thing right now. It wouldn't work…and I probably was deluding myself. And I've been thinking that for a while."

Justin looked up, shocked. His mind was numb as the door to the elevator opened.

"I'll always be an ally and I'm thankful for what you did for me, and I want to give you an explanation…but I don't have one. That's the kat-honest truth. I just feel…it's not worth trying to make our lives more complicated than it already is. And like I've said before, I need my space. I need to be alone…and you're not what I need to be around me like this. Justin, I'm sorry but let's just pretend nothing ever happened between us. I'm so sick of this, all the fighting between our teammates, all the threats from Blind Master and Allo, all the ongoing wars with the Heartless. Like I said, this isn't making things better for me. And I doubt it will."

Jake turned with eyes filled with regret as he pressed the button to close the lift as Whitelighter, shaking, managed to squeak out hoarsely, "I…I thought…you liked me."

"'**_Liked_**', Whitelighter. I didn't say '_love_'. There's a difference," Razor said truthfully, and with that, the elevator doors closed with a final click, ending the discussion once and for all. Justin just stood as still as a statue as he continued watching the empty corridor, shattered.

"Ergh…"

His head pounding and his senses temporarily dulled, Logan groaned a bit under his breath and stirred before he came to, opening his eyes. He tensed immediately due to his instinct, but then relaxed when his nose could detect the unmistakable scents of medicines, disinfectant, and the various, telltale odors of the students of the X-Men. He was in the medical ward downstairs in the basement levels of the Institute, wearing a rather pathetic hospital gown.

Then it came to him.

Tessa, bleeding and crying. That weird kid from the Thirteenth Order. Two Keyblades. A searing pain in his back.

"You're awake," a familiar and feminine voice spoke next to him, and Logan turned to see the Joe ninja, Jinx, his little Mariko, setting down her cup of Japanese green tea on the stand and looking thoroughly relieved. She was still wearing her burgundy-red ninja-outfit from training, being interrupted from her sessions at the dojo when Althea called her.

Logan tried to leap out of bed before the strain in his back caused from his brawl with Roxas immediately halted his efforts, feeling the stinging pain travel from his spine up towards the area in between his shoulder blades. Still, he wasn't willing to let up as he hissed.

"Shit…the girl, Tessa? Mariko, she - ?"

"She is well and stable, Logan," Beast said, coming in with a sterile and slightly bloodstained surgeon's uniform, a relived look on his blue, furry face at seeing how Wolverine had already regained consciousness, "Her wounds were thankfully minimal, and she collapsed due to exhaustion, blood loss, and stress. Frankly, after what she had endured, it was indeed a miracle that she had managed to progress her way here past our Mansion's defenses and the wards. Of course, no doubt your attempts to chase her managed to allow her to break free such entrapments and barriers considering you did quite a bit of noticeable obliteration to the Institute's grounds in your wake as a temporary, mindless drone."

"That's Tessa," murmured Logan, still edgy but feeling himself relax a bit as he leaned back upon his pillows, now feeling the chill lessen a bit, "Her mutation allows her to physically process and do things that would even be impressive on **_my_** terms and standards. She gonna be fine?"

Hank pursued his lips a bit as he then spoke hesitantly, "Yes, she's stable, and thankfully, she'll regain consciousness by tomorrow. Lina and Bree were especially helpful in providing assistance and blood for the transfusion from the Pit, and Justin healed anything they missed. She's safe now, and Charles is with her in the other medical wing. I take this…Tessa…is the same one you and Charles have mentioned briefly about as the same girl sent to spy on the Hellfire Club and the Inner Circle? And are you sure it is her and not an imposter or shapeshifter like Mystique?"

"Yeah, it's her. No way Mystique could disguise her scent like that, and if the Professor couldn't sense anything foreign, then she's the real thing. And I'm guessing that she was able to escape otherwise that Organization creep would have been sent ta' kill her, to silence her before she could make it to Chuck. Little, smart-assed, arrogant punk…"

He paused before he ran through the events in his head before he realized what had happened, clicking into place, and he rasped, "I was turned into one of them, wasn't I? The Organization turned me into a Hellfire Heartless, didn't they?"

Jinx nodded as she said, "You turned into the Heartless and attacked the X-Mansion while the kids were outside training. The Misfits along with the Joes and Batgirl and Supergirl were able to bring you back to normal and cure you before you could get out of hand. Had to say, though, you gave 'em a real fight. It took all of the Misfits' combined magic to stop you."

"Thankfully, you're completely free and clear, and your healing factor apparently is helping you recover much more quickly than any of the Joes have when they had been infected with the spores. I daresay that you should be able to be fully up and walking by early tomorrow," Hank added.

"But the boy, the one from the Organization," Logan managed to grunt in his deep, feral voice, "He - "

"…has Keyblades, we know, Logan," Mariko said gently, holding out a hand to prevent him from trying to leap out of bed again, "The Misfits and Hawk are in a right snit over it, considering that they thought that only good guys can wield Keyblades, and as such, they're already notifying everyone about this turn of events. Not to mention Professor Xavier's getting some heat from his students from not telling them about the Hellfire Heartless and the Misfits' power-ups and Pluto."

"Hmph, wish I was there to add some of my own," grumbled Logan hoarsely as Jinx poured the grizzled mutant a cold glass of water for his parched throat, "Can't say I disagree with the rugrats, especially since I…I could have killed them."

"You didn't though, Logan-san," Jinx said softly, in understanding and using her pet name for Wolverine just this once in public as she held his callused hand. She could feel the fatigue and slight worry in his voice, even though the mutant would never admit it.

"And you brought Tessa to here where she could finally seek refuge and where the Hellfire Club cannot get to her as easily as they could before, especially since they apparently were fearful enough of her reaching the X-Men and perhaps revealing to us some light on the recent and puzzling events with the Heartless and the Organization. And it's all right for now, Logan. Take refuge in that and enjoy the moment while it lasts," Beast said with a smile, rubbing the sore and stiff joints of his giant hands.

That reminded Wolverine something…

"Hey, Hank, can ya' give me and Mariko a moment? In private? Please," the X-Man said in the closest he would ever get to a jaded tone, which actually caused both Jinx and Beast to widen their eyes a bit in surprise before glancing at each other. Logan wasn't one for cordial politeness. Beast nodded.

"I'll be in my room changing and needing a good shower. If you need me…" and he left it unsaid as Hank gracefully ambled out of the door, letting the electronic and sliding metal doors click softly behind him as he left. For several minutes, there was only silence as Jinx waited patiently while Logan wheezed a bit, still incredibly uncomfortable and tender from his ordeal with being a Heartless as he gulped the water from the glass the Joe ninja provided for him. Though a million questions and emotions were running in her head, Jinx remained calm; after all, a ninja was hardly effective and skilled if he or she wasn't patient and observed in silence.

"So…what did I look like as a Heartless?" Logan grunted, trying to make things less awkward.

Mariko managed to let out a small smile as she confessed, "It was a badger, Logan. You turned into a badger Heartless."

"Damn. How long before I start hearing jokes and barbs from the kids and the hairball?"

"Until you're well enough to leave the infirmary is when you're fair game."

"Shit. Maybe I should just camp out here from now on."

She wouldn't push. She knew this was small talk, and she would wait until he needed to say what he wanted. And that made Logan feel that this was the right moment, as good as it would ever get considering peace and solitude were a pipe dream at the Institute of the Gifted.

Wolverine affectionately squeezed the woman's hand, enjoying the touch, before he said, "Jinx, Mariko…can you get my jacket? The one I was wearing before I stumbled here all deformed and brainwashed?"

Jinx didn't question it, didn't even say a word, her face blank, as she did it obediently and handed the word-down, leather article of clothing to the man who accepted it gracefully before he searched the inside pocket and felt a familiar square object, relief filling his body as he closed his fingers around it before he held Jinx's hand again as she sat down next to his bed.

Damn it, this was so hard…

"Jinx…" Logan tried to say, his brain fuzzy before he grunted and cursed inwardly, knowing he could never do an eloquent speech like Hank or Xavier, so he just decided to go for frank and blunt honesty.

"Hell, Mariko, I can't say this right…but you…make me happy. Happier than I've been in a long time, just as much as the kids do, except that you don't make me wanna dice and rip somebody's head off. And I've been feeling and thinking this for a long time."

The ninja just looked at him.

"Fighting and boozing 'till I'm pissed-assed drunk, two of the few things in life that I could honestly say that I always could look forward to when I wanted to get away from it all. But…it's nothin' compared to how much I wanna be with you, how much you can't ever get out of my damned head, no matter how much a part of me still wants to run for the hills for being a lovesick idiot."

Jinx continued to look on with an emotionless and patient expression.

Logan then took out the jewelry box, the small black cub of velvet and cardboard now revealed in his palm as he managed to place it gently into Jinx's smooth hands, his heart and his insides quivering.

It was then that Mariko blinked, her mouth opening the slightest of cracks, as she opened the box to reveal the diamond and ruby gold ring before Logan gripped her hand firmly, getting the Joe's attention.

"Ah, damn it, there's no right way to say this since I'll probably just screw it up as always…" groaned Logan before he reached out and touched Jinx's cheek.

"Mariko…will you marry me?" Wolverine croaked hoarsely.

There was a collective gasp from the doorway and both Logan and Mariko rolled their eyes but didn't even turn around. Wolverine could already detect the numerous scents of all the kids from both the X-Men and the Misfits and even a couple of the Joes waiting out in the hallway, hidden out of sight behind the cover of the metal walls.

"All right, bubs!" snarled Logan, starting to feel his temper get the better of him, "I know you're out there! _Get lost!_"

No one complied (and considering the juiciness of this event, who could blame them?), and Logan could even hear Kitty murmuring to herself in a faint and awestruck whisper, "Like, oh my God, oh my God, like oh my God…"

The female ninja said with a slight laugh, "To be fair, Logan, I could sense them eavesdropping from the door two minutes after Beast left and Bree contacted the Misfits on her communicator. Any time you say the words, '_in private_' here at the X-Mansion, it will surely send the kids, and nosy adults, stampeding to listen in."

Jinx looked at Logan, her expression touched, and for a minute, Logan was afraid she would turn it down, mistaking the look for pity.

"Shit…" he sighed before he rubbed his face tiredly with one hand, already grunting, "Look, if you're not ready…then I was being a goddamned idiot who was rushing things. Mariko, ya' don't have to say anything and I…damn it. We can pretend this never happened - "

"Yes."

The world absolutely stopped as there was another collective intake of breath, this time followed by mutterings of shock and shushed as everyone now stepped and climbed on top of one another as the Misfits, X-Men, and even the Joes peeked furtively from the sidelines of the doorframe as Logan could have sworn his heart stopped beating for that one moment.

Mariko repeated it, now smiling and her eyes shining and sparkling with a light that had never been in her soul before as she repeated with joy creeping in her voice, "Logan-san…yes. **_Yes._** I'll marry you."

"Mariko…" Logan whispered amid the cheers and yells of excitement from the hallway, he managed to gracefully take her left hand and slide the simple yet impressive gold band on her fourth digit, having the lights above catch the glint and surface of the lone diamond in the center of the ruby rose, sparkling and winking. Jinx rubbed her hand as Logan watched the ring now joined with its bearer.

Damn, it fit her.

Jinx then stopped before she leaned down and touched her soft lips against Logan's, allowing herself to be cradled into his hard arms as he returned the kiss with fervent excitement, wanting nothing more than this, to have Mariko close to him.

"_Here's comes the bride, fair, fat and wide! Here comes the groom, skinny as a broom! Here comes the usher, the old toilet flusher!_" sang Bobby, Ray, Fred, Trinity, and Shipwreck from the hallways to the ever-so infamous wedding tune, and despite being crude, hardly anyone reprimanded them. And thankfully, Jinx and Wolverine let it slide. For now.

"Whoa, isn't that cool or what Rina and Jubes?" Tabitha was heard whispering excitedly to the two aforementioned X-Girls, "Jinx is gonna be you're new mother! You're gonna have a ninja for a step-mom! Is that cool or what?"

"Uh…yeah…" Rina tried to sound jovial.

"Cool…" Jubilee chuckled weakly and audibly, but Logan could detect the reluctance and hesitation and fear in their voices, and inwardly made a mental note to have a good talk between himself, Jinx, and the two of them, to help establish something and assure them that Jinx wasn't going to take him away from them.

Wolverine and Jinx just continued kissing, actually letting the ninja crawl on top of his body on the infirmary bed, as they both enjoyed the moment and treasured this one event in their hearts. Wolverine didn't even stop as he passionately hugged his now-fiancée, running his hands over her back, while Jinx was already dreaming of the wedding and having his children.

They were so into their embrace, they didn't hear the shrill and impatient screaming from one thoroughly annoyed Jean Grey and the meek protesting of one Scott Summers in the hallway.

"EVEN **LOGAN** IS WILLING TO BE MARRIED NOW? TO JINX, A JOE NINJA? **_SCOTT!_**"

"Calm down, Jean! This doesn't mean anything! You know I still love you! This is just another everyday occurrence in our insane lives! It's nothing to feel left out of!" Scott feebly protested.

Jean's voice was so cold that one had to wonder if the hallway didn't turn to ice as her voice grew hard before cutting down her intimidated boyfriend and leader of the X-Men.

"Everyday occurrence? _Nothing to feel left out of?_ I beg to differ, Scott Summers. When Toad and Althea wanted to marry, that was one thing. But when Wolverine, the last person any of us would ever expect to get married and be willing to give up everything and his life of being single and free in order to be with Jinx when a _certain ruby-shades-toting person who shall remain nameless _hasn't even attempted to try to set up a date with his girlfriend for the past month, despite subtle hinting that even Blob could pick up, **it means something!**"

"Someone's getting in trouble…" sang Pietro annoyingly, "Somebody's getting in trouble! Someone's gonna go to the doghouse! Hope you like being celibate for the next ten years, Summers!"

"May God have mercy on his soul," Kurt was heard next, and one could almost picture the grin of amusement on his furry face from the tone of his voice.

"I can't watch. No wait, **_yes I can!_**" Lance cackled, enjoying every second of this.

"Lance…" scolded Lina, her voice echoing the annoyance at taking pleasure at Scott's suffering.

"Rogue, Remy, help me out! Why isn't Rogue getting mad at you? You're in this as much as I am, Gambit!" Cyclops tried to vainly and desperate cry out, searching for lifelines.

Rogue's voice answered from the hallway with exasperation at being dragged into this argument, "Because after I thought about it, I knew I can't force the swamp rat to want to go into marriage if he ain't ready for it. And since I know that we…care about each other enough, I've pretty much accepted the fact that we can be together and wait however long it takes before we'd be willin' to make some sort of commitment."

"Remy so lucky to have you, _chere_," Gambit was heard slyly commenting.

This was followed by a loud smack and a yelp of pain from the Cajun mutant (not that it did anything to interrupt the make-out session between Logan and Jinx in the slightest).

"Hands above the belt, ya' lousy swamp rat!"

Scott's voice then actually sounded a bit triumphant as he then said, "See Jean? Not everyone's impatient and rushing off to get married! Some people are actually quite mature in waiting and seeing that there's nothing wrong with holding off an engagement! It's the most logical and rational thing to do as mature adults! Why can't you be more like Rogue – oh boy."

Open mouth, insert shoe store.

"Ooooooohhh…Scott…no," Jamie could be heard groaning with extreme commiseration and pity.

"Should we help him?" Jinx broke off the kiss with Wolverine to ask (mostly to get some air into her lungs). The grizzled X-Man just smirked as he drew the ninja closer to his body.

"Nah, some things, Slim'll need to learn to deal with on his own," Logan continued as he touched his lips against Mariko's again, enjoying the feeling of her arms close to his head and shoulders.

"_Merde_," Gambit was heard whimpering to Scott in the hallway as Jean advanced on Cyclops, a mere whisper of apprehension, "_Homme_, you are **_so_** screwed."

From the way that Jean's narrowed green eyes were now ice chips and the way that her fingers were twitching like claws, Scott then realized that previous response may have been the worst thing to say, and wincing, he hoped to God that this wouldn't cost him any more than being banned from his girlfriend's bedroom for the next year or so.

**Author's Notes: Check back next week for the chapter "Delivery Boys" and it will be here that the X-Men will discuss things in greater detail when Jean reveals to her teammates what she had inadvertently discovered, but things become more and more complicated or borderline unethical as the X-Men take into account that Pluto's decision on who are Chosen may not be the final say, especially when Tessa reveals why the Hellfire Club was trying to silence her. Add pressure from the Jugglers and Eddington for the Joes along with the other allies shocked at the Organization wielding Keyblades on their own, could this get any more complex? Tune in next week to find out, and until then, read and enjoy! Constructive criticism welcome!**


	19. Delivery Boys

**CHAPTER 19: Delivery Boys**

"I don't believe it," blinked Bumblebee, her voice hoarse, as she looked at the image from Trinity's patented _Telepathic Projector 5000_, the image of the thirteenth member of the Organization wielding and brandishing his Oblivion and Oathkeeper Keyblades as well as the pictures Jean got from Pluto's mind when she tried tapping into Cerebro.

Apparently, Xavier was learning from his mistakes about secrets; after discovering what was in Pluto's mind via a telepathic session with his student, decided to share this immediately with the allies. The Justice League had returned from Apokolips, the Titans unfortunately allowed Toyman and Clayface to escape while chasing down and neutralizing Toyman's mechanical duck tanks, and the threat to Section Thirteen was neutralized much to Captain Black's appreciation.

Due to Batgirl and Supergirl's efforts, thankfully, all the necessary and trusted leaders and were able to be summoned and contacted over at the Institute smoothly, since none of the Misfits wanted to hold the congregation in another location and leave the mansion and the X-Men vulnerable again to another Heartless attack. The Professor volunteered his office for such an event while Alfred was summoned to watch Claudius and Beak over at Misfit Manor. Though it was a tight squeeze (especially considering Allo needed to squat down on the floor in order to not accidentally break the ceiling), they all managed to gather together as Supergirl, Batgirl, Hawk and the Joes explained everything. Then Hawk brought out Trinity's mechanism to visually show the events as well as Jean's input from her unapproved session with the Professor's Cerebro (Xavier was hardly pleased).

Needless to say, many of the heroes and defenders were troubled and stunned to say the least. Batman and Quentin Blud just grimly set their mouths in a line, narrowing their eyes in thought. It seemed that no matter what, the situation with the Organization appeared to get worse and worse.

Xander, who was sitting next to the female Titan, couldn't help but snort.

"Y'know, if we only had a dollar for every time we've said that phrase or something like it each time we're at these meetings, we'd pretty much be rich," the one-eyes young man quipped, which earned him a few disapproving glares for the fact that jokes weren't really appropriate at this time.

"Shut it, Harris," Quentin and Beach Head said in unison, and the brown-haired warrior gulped before looking down at the floor, twiddling his thumbs and a bit embarrassed. Supergirl, who was sitting next to him, gave Xander a kind smile of encouragement which Xander returned, gleeful that he was getting attention from the female Justice League member. Superman made a mental note to do whatever it takes to diminish the Scooby's exposure to his cousin in the near future as he turned his attention to the hologram in front of him.

"Play it again, please," he gently commanded to the Joes, but Beach Head then lost his temper as he exploded, red in the face underneath his green ski-mask. Of course, it was to be expected since they had been in this meeting for a good hour and a half, and one would generally be frustrated with the lack on answers as well as watching the same footage over and over again.

"What's the fucking point?" snapped Beach Head, now nearly roaring, "We've seen the goddamn footage enough times to make our eyes bleed! Get this straight into your head, Superman: the Organization has Keyblades, they're going to keep chasing us and making all our lives a living hell, Pluto knows a lot more than what he's telling us, and we now have more questions than answers ever since this whole damn Heartless mess started!"

Superman gave the Joe Ranger a tired frown, but didn't hold it against him. Robin from the Titans mused out loud with a grimace.

"That's true, and unfortunately, we still don't know if whether or not our guesses and theories of what the Organization is and how they came to be along with the Heartless and the enemies that are siding with them are even correct or not. If anything, for every clear answer or fact we have, we discover more and more unanswered parts of this whole mystery."

"It hardly makes sense though," Allo commented, "If the Keyblades are such a threat to the Heartless, then why would the Organization themselves wield such objects? It wouldn't be strategic of those underhanded louts and their Superior to hold weapons that endanger the very creatures they control."

"Yeah, yo, I thought those Keyblades thingamabobs were supposed to be our five by five ticket to nailing those Heartless bastards and wasting 'em! In other words, how can the Organization use 'em if they're meant for good?" Faith Lehane said, throwing an impatient look all around the room as if expecting someone to answer her question.

"That's not always true of any object, Faith," Jenny Calendar said, idly tapping her fingers against her arms while holding her elbows, deep in thought, "The Powers That Be can easily attest from their past experiences and observations that in most cases, power isn't necessarily good or evil. It is how one uses it that defines whether or not it is salvation or destruction. And like that mysterious figure in Pluto's mind said when Jean managed to extract it with her session with Cerebro, the Keyblade can be used for either forces. That must be why whoever Pluto was talking to was telling him that those he chooses to gift the Keyblades and the magic will not be permanent."

"Thank Hera," Wonder Woman muttered dryly, rolling her eyes, and though some of the Joes were a bit irritated at this commentary, they could see why one would not normally think of entrusting the Misfits with the only real effective powers that can stop the Thirteenth Order.

"But **_why_** would the Organization want them?" the Flash pointed out, "We saw that guy, Roxas or something or other, try unlocking Wolverine's heart with his Keyblades and it didn't do anything. And if they can't unlock a person's heart after it's been locked and if all these Keyblades can do are summon Disney characters and cut through Heartless, then the things'll be useless to them."

The dhampir, Quentin Blud, then spoke out, "Then that means that there's another ability of the Keyblades that makes them desirable to the Thirteenth Order, one we don't really know about other than locking and unlocking barriers."

"Statistically speaking, that is quite possible," Giles said as he polished the lens of his glasses on his dress shirt, "Most enchanted objects of the mystical or paranormal have more than one desired effect on various situations, meaning that though their main function could be a single purpose, there is additionally a darker and secretive ulterior use used for another purpose, similar of that like a backup fail-safe to counteract its primary ability or as a self-destruct mechanism."

"So in other words, there's another way for a Keyblade to be used, one that is worth it for the Organization to have them. And that must also be the same for the kids' Keyblades," mused Cover Girl worriedly.

Shipwreck frowned before he pointed out, "Yeah, but then that doesn't explain how it's even possible for them to even use such blasted weapons in the first place? I mean, heck, I thought that only Chosen ones or something like that could use them, and last time I checked, a Chosen person is usually a good and virtuous guy or gal, definitely not someone evil like those Inner Circle or Organization jackasses! Heck, that dying guy, whoever he is, even said that Pluto's to base his choice on strength of heart! There's no way that qualifies the Hellfire Club and the Inner Circle!"

Wood then blinked before it came to him and he blurted out, "Not exactly, Shipwreck. Strength of heart doesn't necessarily mean it's associated with good; it's a misnomer, and we've seen it enough in our times training the Slayers and going after vampires to witness living proof of it. An evil person can have a strong heart or a strong will just as much as any us like Superman or Wolverine. Strength of heart doesn't define your morality, but if anything, it just shows how committed you are to your cause whether it be to help or hurt people."

"You're right," blinked Spirit, "I certainly didn't think of it that way."

"Maybe that's why the person, whoever it was, was telling Pluto that whoever he chooses to harness the strange Elementa magic and the Keyblades isn't permanent. In other words, it could be a way to backtrack in case any former Keyblader turns evil and to counteract it should they go against whatever they were chosen to do or become rogue," Phoebe said, the Charmed One a bit bothered as she tugged nervously on the collar of her shirt.

"And the problem is, we don't recognize whoever is the person who was talking to Pluto before he or she died and told the dog about someone named…Riku," Hawkgirl pointed out, "Not only is the scene so brief and Pluto's body was blocking the way, but I'm pretty sure that the flashback is mystically enhanced so that none of us can really grasp on what the figure was or upon recognizing the voice, if it is one that we're familiar with."

"It's true," Paige Halliwell remarked, "I can sense it, a form of magic that isn't common here on Earth or in Wicca. This must be one of the safeguards that protects Pluto, especially if the Organization is hunting him down. And it's powerful. I kid you guys not. Whatever's protecting Pluto, it's **_not_** ordinary magic."

"Are you sure?" Roadblock said, blinking. Having even mere memories being protected by paranormal forces was a little uncommon if not unheard of. The Justice League member nodded solemnly once before she showed the glowing head of her N'th metal weapon, a good indicator of detecting mystical forces.

"Look at my mace! Even _from_ the telepathic projector, it's still glowing, so there must be some sort of magical properties from Pluto's memories! By Thanagar, even in my history of dealing with forces on my planet, that dog manages to defy every single rule we've always accepted as fact! I've said it once, and I'll say it again: it's like nothing I've ever seen before!"

"I don't think it would even help if we **did** recognize the voice," Willow Rosenberg pointed out, "Unless if whoever this person who's instructing Pluto is a Disney character himself, we wouldn't be able to know what his or her intention is with us and whether or not they are truly good or evil."

"Hey, here's a thought…" Xander piped up, "Well, Pluto's a Disney dog…and in the Disney cartoons, if you know who his master is, maybe…maybe the person who sent Pluto is Mickey Mouse."

"Didn't we tell you to shut up, Harris?" snapped Beach Head as everyone else rolled their eyes and bit their tongue at the suggestion while Giles just opted for wearily rubbing his head at the beginning of a new headache.

"Only you, Xander, could come up with something **_that_** asinine and foolish and preposterous," the Watcher sighed.

"Hey, it was just a suggestion," Xander said defensively, embarrassed.

"The thing is, we know that Pluto gave the Misfits their Keyblades…but it doesn't explain how the Organization got theirs," Blind Master pointed out.

"Something tells me that Pluto obviously has done a few things without our knowledge, or at the very least, the mutt's been hiding stuff, especially since it appears from what Jean has been able to extract out of the dog's mind shows that he knows a lot more than what he's telling us," Low Light muttered.

"Uh…technically, dogs can't talk, need I point out…" Xander tried to say again, but a sea of glares and condescending looks of irritation caused the Scooby to turn red before clamping his mouth shut for good this time and trying to remain inconspicuous.

Roadblock then sighed as he then asked, "Any thoughts? From what we've seen from the battle at the Mansion and from what Jean spied in Pluto's mind, any suggestion of what this could mean is really welcome."

"Just one: is **_this_** really necessary? I mean, this is Pluto we're talking about here," Paige remarked, disapproval in her voice as she pointed to the corner of the room where the hound was residing in Xavier's office. There, Pluto was sitting comfortably on the plush floor and squatting on his haunches, but it was most likely that he's be more comfortable if the green energy shield (complete with air holes) that Green Lantern summoned with his power ring wasn't confining the dog in a small hemisphere, essentially imprisoning the dog. The golden-furred animal himself was frowning at Green Lantern, moans of displeasure rumbling in his throat, but deep down, Pluto conceded that he needed to endure this since they had a reason to suspect him.

It didn't make him like this development, though.

"We can't trust Pluto, at least until we're sure that he's not behind the Organization member wielding the Keyblades that we've seen. Just because he's entrusted to assign and guide the Misfits with their recent power-ups doesn't mean that he's doing it because he wishes to protect the Earth. It could be that he is trying to destroy us or doing this not for our benefit but for his own agenda. And the fact that what Jean has been able to extract shows that he knows more than what he's telling us, we're willing to take this precaution and treat him like any other suspect," Spirit said.

"Actually, I have to admit that I have reservations about that one," Bree said, brushing back her long blond hair from her face as she looked upwards at the Native American Joe, "Pluto has been nothing but a friend and an ally to us, especially since he has saved all our lives countless times when the Organization has infected many of us multiple times. If it wasn't for the dog, the Pit would have been destroyed long ago. It's wrong to treat Pluto like this after everything he's done for us."

"It could be an act, Mrs. Steen," Jenny Calendar pointed out softly before she turned to Martian Manhunter and asked, "And Mr. J'onzz, perhaps you could read Pluto's mind again like Jean had attempted to do so before with Cerebro? If Ms. Grey had been able to do so by herself, it could be possible for you to look into Pluto's mind without hurting him."

To her confusion, the Justice League member shook his head.

"I cannot. Due to Jean Grey's lone yet successful attempt, Pluto's mind has become even more guarded and impenetrable. Now, I cannot even detect nor sense the hound's presence and his psyche; they are **completely** untraceable. No doubt it is part of the magic that safeguards the animal so that the Organization and Hellfire Club cannot exploit him and his knowledge."

"Wait…you mean his mental shields are now **_stronger_**?" gaped Roadblock. This was another surprise.

J'onn nodded as he explained, "Yes. Apparently, this must be some sort of magical version of a feedback effect. Though Jean Grey's telepathic intrusion did reveal a few details, her unwelcome appearance into the hound's psyche caused the magical barriers in his mind and soul to develop and strengthen by more than two-fold."

"Wait, what about other members from the new recruits we've been asking to join the Justice League?" Batgirl asked, "There's B'wana Beast, and his ability is to telepathically connect and speak with any animal. Can't we use him to see if we can talk or extract any vital information in Pluto's mind? And maybe Leomon's should we ever catch him?"

The green-skinned extraterrestrial shook his head as he clarified, "If the mental shields in Pluto's minds have increased in their intensity, then it would be doubtful that anything would be able to get through them, especially if they have withstood Professor Xavier's and my attempts. B'wana Beast may be able to telepathically talk with Pluto, but it wouldn't be able to gauge if the canine is indeed telling the truth or if he is withholding back information."

"Um…here's a thought," Willow pointed out hesitantly, "Could it be perhaps maybe…well, we should try asking Pluto? I mean, he can't speak but that doesn't mean he's stupid. And he can at least tell us yes or no, in his own ways of course, and the fact that he can at least understand us proves he is a sentient being, although he's not a human, but really, he's a Disney character which in itself - "

"Ms. Rosenberg, not now," groaned Green Lantern, rubbing his head. Granted, the witch was trying to be helpful but she had a tendency to babble and carry on aimlessly, and after being cooped up in this room for over an hour, he didn't have the strength or patience for that. Superman, however, gave it some thought before he lifted his head from its lowered, thoughtful, expression.

"She has a point," the Kryptonian conceded, "We never directly asked Pluto our questions. We've only just…tried to extract them by force. We never actually asked him like we would any other being."

That was true, and General Hawk then turned to the hound who was now a bit apprehensive as he managed to meet the stern and annoyed gaze of the G.I Joe general.

"Pluto…you've got one chance. And before you try to act dumb again, let me remind you that trust goes both ways. If you expect us to trust you and see that you really do want to help save us from the Heartless and thus, why you gave the Misfits Keyblades, you need to trust us and trust that we will not exploit nor abuse whatever you tell us. Screw this chance up, and the next time we try to get information from you, it will be in **_less voluntary_** methods."

Pluto gave a long and unreadable look before he made a groaning noise and lowered his head in submission, as if he was giving in. A good sign.

"Are you here to help us?" General Hawk asked, knowing that in this case and like Willow said, all they could do were depend on questions that could easily be answered in a canine version of "yes" or "no". Pluto barked once, happily, nodding his head and wagging his tail.

So far, so good. Still, General Hawk and the other adults made a mental note to take everything the dog was revealing with a grain of salt, knowing that he could be lying to them.

"Did you give the Organization member, the one named Roxas, his Keyblades?" Diana asked next, her blue eyes narrowed. Pluto frowned before he shook his head, giving a negative bark and raising a few eyebrows in the process. Then if he was telling the truth…

"Are the sword, shield, and mirror, the ones depicted in the memories Jean got from you…are they important somehow in this whole Heartless thing?" asked Bree then asked, recalling the images she witnessed on the telepathic projector. Pluto looked a little reluctant, his eyes now becoming sorrowful, before he lowered his head a bit and nodded, barking once.

Hawkgirl's eyes lit up behind her mask before she then asked, "Pluto…the sword, the shield, and the mirror…by any chance are they the Talismans? The ones that Falco, Octavia, and Leomon are searching for?"

Pluto's head snapped up back in horror before he found himself staring in a sea of interested eyes, all of them waiting expectantly. Oh, may the King forgive him…

The golden-furred dog whined a bit to himself before he lowered his head…and nodded, barking piteously. A few collectively gasped. Now this was an interesting tidbit…and another piece of the puzzle

Quentin then asked a question, "Mutt…this King, the same King that Falco, Octavia, and Leomon serve…is he evil? And by evil, I don't mean in a relative sense, but does he cause suffering, erase free will, or do anything that is an injustice to the innocent?"

Pluto looked outraged before he barked once angrily, shaking his head. All right, so perhaps that could be a good sign, but it wasn't encouraging.

"So…then you're saying that the three who serve the King…are they good as well?" asked Cover Girl.

Another nod and affirmative bark. Still, considering the Joes' feelings on the subject, that wasn't exactly doing much to assure them that Leomon was necessarily on their side considering how he betrayed them and indirectly stood by and let so many Heartless attack their home.

"So you know them? You know Falco, Octavia, and Leomon?" Phoebe pressed.

A nod and bark.

"Do you know who this person named Ansem is? The one that Jean discovered in your mind?" Blind Master asked. Pluto lowered his head in remorse before he nodded again.

"Is this Ansem evil?" asked Shipwreck.

This time, Pluto shook his head, causing a few to feel a bit frustrated until Allo hit the jackpot, guessing why the dog was showing such sadness and remorse, as if Ansem was an integral part of this whole mess, almost as if…

"Is Ansem the one responsible for the Heartless?" Allo asked, the Dinosaucer's tone surprisingly stern. Pluto then whined before he nodded miserably. The Flash blinked, puzzled.

"That…doesn't make sense," the speedster admitted, "If he's the one who created the Heartless and was responsible for it, then how could he **_not_** be evil? All right then, you Disney copyright infringement, this thing about the Sovereign and Champion of Twilight, the ones who Falco and Octavia keep carrying on about. Do you know who the Sovereign and Champion are?"

A negative bark as the dog shook his head. Well, that was a dead end.

"Was this King that we've been hearing about so much the one who sent you?" Giles asked.

Pluto actually paused for several seconds before he nodded, making a guttural noise of sadness and discontent. Well, this explains why the dog knows so much about Falco, Leomon, and Octavia then.

Wood then tried a question as he asked, "Pluto…do you know who the King is?"

Pluto started to visibly shake; they were treading on very tense and narrow ground right now. The hound barked once, nodding. All right…

"Can you tell us who the King is?" Wood asked his second question automatically. Pluto whined before he shook his head, causing a few to erupt with anger and annoyance, and considering that this questioning was incredibly limited due to the fact that one can only get so much out of a answer consisting of only "yes" or "no", it was no surprise several people were losing their tempers already.

"What the hell?" roared Beach Head, "I thought you were gonna trust us, you dumb mutt! **_Why the hell are you holding out on us?_**"

"Pluto, please, help us out here! Can you tell us who the King is? Do we even know the King? Is he a Disney character, like you and the other Keyblade summons? Or is he someone we've never seen before like Octavia and Leomon?" Shipwreck carried on a mile a minute.

"He's not going to be able to answer all of those questions at once, you nimrod!" Low Light groaned. Batman then actually marched up solemnly to the dog before he knelt down on one knee and stared past the green energy barrier so that he could be eye level with the dog. Even underneath his cowl, the look the Batman was giving Pluto was absolutely dangerous and one that could make one's spine vanish and one testicles shrink before causing one to wet himself.

"Pluto…look at me," Batman growled.

Pluto whined before he managed to gave at the emotionless and burning eyeholes of the mask of the Dark Knight.

"Is there a reason why you cannot tell us who the King is?" the vigilante rumbled.

Pluto whined, trying to stall, and Batman's mouth set into a grim line, making him even more determined as his aura now increased wrathfully. Clearly, Pluto's lack of answers was already starting to piss him off.

"Pluto…" Batman said dangerously. Pluto nodded.

"But you know who the King is?"

Pluto nodded again.

"Is the reason you cannot tell us magical?"

This time, the dog shook his head, giving a half-hearted bark of contradiction. Batman frowned before he asked another branch.

"Are you protecting the King from being harmed? Is that the reason?" he asked. Pluto shook his head, making him contemplate. So if Pluto wasn't magically restrained from revealing the King's identity and if he wasn't trying to protect the King, then that must mean that the King wasn't in a position to be harmed. But then the only other possible reason why Pluto would be so adamant in keeping his mouth shut would be…

"The King made you promise, didn't he? The reason you cannot tell us is because you made an oath to the King and you do not wish to break it? There are some things you can't tell us because you swore not to, correct?" Batman asked, but from his tone, it was as if he needed no confirmation and that it was true. Pluto nodded before he sank to the floor on his stomach, actually covering his head with his paws and wailing, causing a few to

It was clear Pluto wasn't going to answer any more questions, at least not ones that were pertinent to the subject at hand.

"Well, at least we learned a few things," Bumblebee said.

"But not enough, and not those that could really answer the heart of the matter. And from what we can see, Pluto may only answer if it apparently doesn't break his oath to this…King," Robin groaned.

"I still don't trust him," growled Quentin, "Promises are not actually a reason to let an entire planet suffer from the Heartless, and if anything, a promise can be broken, especially if we're the ones at risk while the Joes are actually keeping that ungrateful flea-bag from being harmed."

"Isn't there any other way to make the furball talk?" groused Beach Head which earned him a dry look from Spirit.

"What else can we do?" the Misfit handler asked, "Wonder Woman's lasso doesn't work on animals, Pluto is immune to telepathy and psychic probes even more now than before, and there doesn't seem to be any other power available to us that can force Pluto to talk if he doesn't want to. And I'm not sure if any of us, despite our suspicions, are willing to resort to physical torture to make the Pluto break a promise that we don't even have a right to ask him to break in the first place."

"Actually, I'm open for that," growled the Ranger, "If not direct dissection, then a little bit of physical persuasion to help the mutt open up would definitely reap some results. And the Geneva Convention doesn't say anything about political prisoners being protected if they're animals."

"That's enough," Green Lantern said strongly, using his ring to set Pluto free (who practically dived behind the Misfit handlers and Bree for protection), "And no, we're not even going to consider that."

"Regardless…" and Batman turned to Hawk before delivering his judgment, "Should you trust Pluto? Certainly not. He's too much of a variable to say for sure that he isn't risky. But is he a danger to you, the Misfits, and the rest of us? If you want my opinion…no."

"Batman!" gasped Batgirl in shock, but her mentor sternly shook his head.

"Despite what little he's revealed, I do not think Pluto would willingly wish to endanger the Misfits, the X-Men, or our cause to protect this planet from the Organization and the Inner Circle's associate. He genuinely likes you. I think he is a safe being whose desires and goals coincide with ours. However, I wouldn't say he is good just yet."

General Hawk sighed before he nodded. Despite whatever reservations he had before with Batman in the past, the Joe leader grew to trust the Dark Knight's judgment. And it did make sense. It's just that he wished they had more damn answers…

"And unfortunately, the only other person who could answer our questions would be Leomon, but after what happened, it pretty much a given he won't be showing his face anytime soon," Supergirl groaned.

"Speaking of which," Bumblebee had to remark, narrowing her eyes in anger at General Hawk and the Joes, "I can't say I agree with your decision to try to capture Leomon like that. Need I remind the fact that he saved you and us multiple times? No offense, but call me a bit peeved that you decide to capture and restrain him after he destroys the Hellfire Heartless to protect all of you. That says '_ingratitude_' in my book."

"We had no choice," Blind Master said in a harsh tone, "Thanks to him, a good number of our Joes had their hearts lost when Blackheart attacked the Pit, and he isn't truly willing to help us if he doesn't trust us with his secrets which is actually insulting considering we've helped him before in the past. And considering that we need information more than ever, and Pluto definitely isn't as helpful as we hoped, we need to find a way to forcibly make Leomon tell us what he knows. And considering that the asshole's been using us from the beginning and that he's been less than pleasant, it's safe to say he deserves a good part of it."

"I agree with Bumblebee. This isn't right, and before you say so, Gabriel, let me remind you that there are some of us who would certainly agree with Lance and have let Leomon go had we been in his place. I would never mistreat the lion who saved my own sons' lives back at the battle for the Nexus," Piper said irately.

"Of course _you_ wouldn't," Quentin said coldly, and it was that tone that made the eldest Halliwell sister arch her back up defensively like a steel rod before she turned and gave the dhampir a death glare that would have hacked him to pieces and cast the remains to a pool of piranhas. Batman had to inwardly admit that she could potentially rival him in spine-shivering stares.

"If you have a problem, then say it to my face, vamp," Piper drawled, knowing that calling the Ghostbuster a vampire would certainly get his annoyance up. Quentin bared his teeth, but thankfully didn't rise to the bait.

"Not you too!" Beach Head moaned with disdain, "The last thing we need in this operation is a bunch of overemotional turncoats like Avalanche who - "

Piper then gave the Joe Ranger a withering look before she said as calmly as she could through gritted teeth, "I'll advise you to watch your mouth if you know what's good for you, Mr. Sneeden. Charmed One or not, powers be damned, I'm not above giving an asshole a good kick in the nuts if necessary!"

"Just you try it, you pig-headed - " Beach Head was about to rant, but Bree thrust a hand in between the Wiccan and the Joe, ceasing their quarreling immediately. J'onn then turned to General Hawk.

"Is it even a good thing for the Misfits to stay here instead of the Pit though?" Martian Manhunter asked, "Not that I am not grateful for Professor Xavier of opening his home to you and us and the fact that he's trying to inform us of these recent events, but are you Joes comfortable with the Misfits staying at the Institute? You know how the Misfits are…er…"

J'onn hesitated as he tried to find the right word to describe them in a delicate and non-offensive manner. Fortunately, his teammates were willing to provide suggestions.

"Insane?" the Flash quipped.

"Unbalanced?" put in Green Lantern.

"Destructive?" Superman said dryly.

"Wild?" Hawkgirl added with disdain.

"Annoying?" Batman grumbled.

"Psychotic, inconsiderate, crude, little monsters who deserve to be roasted alive in the pits of Hades?" Wonder Woman muttered with a dark look on her face, and the fact that this statement was coming from the Amazon princess was so surprising, atypical, and unexpected that everyone looked at her with raised eyebrows. She characteristically wasn't one prone to insults and suggestions of violence.

"I hope you realize that that is **my son** you're including in your thoughtless remarks," growled Allo at the Amazon goddess, the Dinosaucer immediately baring his teeth and taking to offense. Cover Girl then answered for the Martian.

"What else can we do? The Professor said he wanted to keep the X-Men safe, and unlike the Pit, the Institute isn't shielded. At least with the Misfits here, the Heartless have less of a chance to succeed in taking more hearts. Plus, the Pit's safe for now, and we can always use the Mass Device if there's an emergency. And we are preparing ourselves for occurrences should we have to split up the Keybladers so that it could be possible to both defend the Mansion and try to neutralize any Heartless threats. Besides…"

And with this, Courtney gave a sad smile.

"The Misfits could use the time off from training at the Pit. All the cabin fever's been driving them crazy, and despite the fighting, a good portion of them are excited about staying with the X-Men, like a gigantic sleepover of some sort. Right now, they're actually having fun with their Disney partners, playing in the Danger Room and with their magic in the simulations with Jinx and Wolverine supervising. They're blowing off some steam. They could use some time off, considering all the training is starting to wear them down, and the X-Men could benefit from the Misfits being here to keep watch."

"That's true," Supergirl admitted, "There's no telling what the Thirteenth Order and the Inner Circle will resort to with the X-Men. Heck, I'm surprised they haven't tried this sooner!"

"And keep in mind what the Inner Circle will do now that Tessa is here at the Institute," commented Wood.

"I'm still in shock that Charles Xavier, of all people, sent a spy to the Hellfire Club in hopes of trying to infiltrate the Inner Circle and gain information to help him and his X-Men from establishing peace and doing damage-control from the Inner Circle's actions. Xavier definitely is a lot smarter that I thought," Bumblebee remarked in a dazed sort of voice.

Hawkgirl tried her best to keep her face emotionless behind her mask.

"It might also bring some unwanted attention from S.H.I.E.L.D., the F.B.I., or other agencies who would like to prosecute the Inner Circle and their associations. Not only would it give Sage some additional grief, but other groups not associated with the Hellfire Club but who would kill for whatever information she has that could reveal any of their holdings, assets, and weaknesses such as the various enemies of the Justice League, Cobra, Magneto, Hydra, the Kingpin…" said Bree as she ticked off each antagonist with a finger.

"You're asking for false hope if you think that Sage has something that can topple the Organization and the Inner Circle in one blow," Quentin growled pessimistically, "Though I concede that there's a reason they were trying to kill her, it's doubtful that she knows all the vital information that could answer all our damn questions about the Organization, the Heartless, and the Gathering of Twilight."

"We'll ask her when she regains consciousness in the infirmary and see, but until then, we better keep mum about her and keep an eye out for future attempts for the Inner Circle to try to get rid of Tessa while she's recuperating here in the X-Mansion," the Flash agreed.

"I agree; we can't let the fact that Tessa is here out of this room. It'll just make her and the X-Men bigger targets, and they'll have enough of that now that the Organization is planning to gun them down," Roadblock said.

"We should still tell Nick Fury this though," Hawk rebutted strongly, "I know him and he's a good man. He knows how to keep a secret, especially if pressured from the suits higher above, and not to mention, if the information is sound and correct, then he won't care where it comes from as long as it can help stop the Hellfire Club and their holdings. And I know for a fact that he would do everything he can to protect the X-Men and Tessa while going after Shaw's criminal associates."

"Where are the X-Men, by the way?" Faith asked.

"Xavier's briefing them in Cerebro's room, giving them a private and detailed explanation about Jean's visions she extracted from Pluto's mind along with explaining his history with Tessa. They needed the privacy considering this is a delicate topic, and a lot of the students weren't very pleased with finding out that the Misfits were going to stay alongside them for an undetermined length of time," Roadblock sighed.

"Since when are they ever where the Misfits are concerned?" Faith smirked.

---

Speaking of which (and thankfully, the whole chambers that housed Cerebro was able to give all the kids room to stand or sit on the additional platforms the Professor provided)…

"I can't believe it," murmured Kurt as he sat idly on a metal counter, swinging his legs, "All this time…who knew that the Professor had a student before Jean and Scott? I always thought that those two were the first students he ever trained! I mean, they were here before I came!"

"And like, not to mention that he sent her to spy on the Hellfire Club and be Shaw's personal assistant! I mean, that's like totally heavy, to be the assistant of the Black King and leader of the Hellfire Club!" Kitty added.

Rina then spoke, her memories of the training she endured as X23 coming to mind, as she recounted, "And considering that she was trained in her telepathy by Xavier himself, it must have been easy for her to train her subconscious into releasing her from the Inner Circle's programming and brainwashing, even despite Shaw and the others discovering that she was Xavier's spy eventually. But it was extremely foolish and fortunate; she could have easily not been so lucky."

"Forget the whole Tessa-Sage thing, girl!" Tabitha said dismissively as she looked at the images Professor Xavier and Jean brought in full view on the widescreen, displaying to them to everyone, "I'm more interested in all this stuff that Pluto's been keeping from us!"

"Ya' hafta admit, he ain't nothing like the Disney cartoon," Sam agreed, "Who would have thought? I mean…OK, if you think about it, things don't really make much sense. Sure, it shows some stuff that does reveal a few new things about what's going on with the Heartless, but we don't even know how it's linked and all. If anything, I'm more confused and curious now than ever."

Meanwhile, Jamie was sitting next to Razor when he slowly asked the kat instructor the question plaguing his mind.

"Um…Jake?" Jamie piped up a bit hesitantly, truly concerned and worried.

"Yeah, kitten?"

"Are…are you OK? We're worried about you."

The brown-furred kat blinked before he said, a bit puzzled, "Well…my chest pains have subsided if that's what you meant - "

"Actually…" and Jubilee winced before she spoke alongside Multiple, "Are you all right with…breaking up with Justin? I mean, from what Lina and Xi told us, he was crying when he left the Mansion last night. And, well - "

"Oh holy kats," groaned Razor, rubbing his eyes and holding his temper, wishing the kids weren't so good at making themselves apparent in everyone's business, "Do **all** you kids know this? And for that matter, **_how_** did you find out?"

Jamie looked sheepish as he explained, "Well, Lina overheard what you said to Justin in the hallway along with Mr. McCoy, and when Beast and Dragonfly came to ask Scott and the Professor if Jake was feeling all right and Dragonfly was furious at how Justin was dumped. And I…uh, I eavesdropped along with Trinity…and it got out from there."

Jake gave him a tired glare of exasperation, but deep down, he conceded that it would be better to get this out of the way now than later, especially since this was the last thing Razor needed to deal with in the months to come. He felt incredibly guilty though, and he certainly didn't wish to make the Misfit break down from that…

_No, it's better that I did that to Whitelighter. For his sake…_ Jake mentally reminded himself.

"I'm fine, kittens," Jake said, warmly squeezing Jubilee's hand and letting her know that he wasn't irritated. Meanwhile, as the discussion was going on, the doors to Cerebro clicked open to reveal a wobbly and weakened Tessa, carrying her tattered knapsack from her travels, as Hank walked alongside her, ready to offer a hand to Sage should she need it. The Professor became immediately distressed.

"Tessa…you should be resting in the infirmary," he chided gently, but the young female shook her head as she steadily walked to the platform. Now upon a closer look and safe from any battle, Jean was able to take in the strange woman who was the first student Professor X ever trained. She was certainly older than she and Scott (whom Jean made a point to give the cold shoulder and stay as far away as possible), about twenty, perhaps twenty-two, with shoulder-length, wavy, black hair that had red highlights dyed into it. She had smooth skin, a heart-shaped face, and looked incredibly athletic and trim, a form of one who studied and practiced much martial arts.

"No, I am all right now, Professor," Sage spoke, and Jean could detect a faint trace of an English accent, as she wearily set down the knapsack on the metal floor gently, "And thanks to the Joes, I am…stable enough to be able to tell you what I needed to inform you all about. This was the reason why the Organization was attempting to kill me, why I was considered a threat, and…why I came here. Once I broke through my programming, I did not know where else to turn to for refuge and for a way to warn you except to make my way as speedily here as I could."

"Why couldn't you warn us then? Aren't you a telepath?" Jean asked suspiciously, and Ororo and Xavier looked a bit stricken with shock and disapproving anger for that blatant mistrust and wariness.

"Jean!" reprimanded Ororo, but Sage held up a hand to stop the scolding before she turned to the red-haired telekinetic, and the X-Girl was a bit taken aback to see the bags of weariness and fatigue under Tessa's eyes.

"I…don't blame you for being suspicious, Jean," Tessa said, and she looked so sad and lost as she shivered, rubbing her arms together for warmth as she continued, "I…being a spy of the Hellfire Club and the personal assistant of Shaw was not pleasant to say the least, especially since how the Inner Circle has caused you so much grief in the past. If you, any of you, have any reservations about me because of my associations with them, I do not blame you. But please understand, I had no choice. Once they discovered my secret identity as Charles' spy, I was subjected to immense telepathic manipulations to erase my consciousness and turn me into nothing more than Shaw's mindless computer. It was only recently that I had been able to break free of the brainwashing and escape here. And I could not contact the Professor because Emma Frost placed a fail-safe telepathic block in my mind to hinder my mutant powers from being utilized should I break free and go rogue. In short, my telepathy was rendered useless from Frost's mental lock."

"And while recovering in the infirmary, while I was probing her mind to see if there was any need to fix any damage to her psyche and mind, I discovered the mental shield that was preventing her from using her powers of telepathy. It took some careful manipulation and time, but I was successful in removing it. She is now able to use her telepathy once more," Xavier said sternly, looking at Jean who immediately became ashamed for her earlier behavior.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it," she apologized sincerely, but Sage shook her head, letting Jean know that the apology wasn't needed before she turned with sincere eyes to the other X-Men and New Mutants.

"I know I do not have any reason for all of you to trust me, and I don't argue against that if you hate or dislike me at first," Tessa confessed, and the Professor could sense her fear rising inside her, "But…I now have no where to go and the Inner Circle will be furious at the fact that I managed to escape. I do want to stay here, but…if not if it causes dissension and makes any of you uncomfortable. If anything, had I not been asked to be a spy for the Hellfire Club, I would love to be the X-Man that I had always desired. But, I would like to earn your trust, all of your trust, before I can do that."

There was a pause before all the kids gave soft looks of automatic acceptance.

"Aw, heck, after all that? Of course we'd accept you! You're the Professor's first student!" Ray said.

"Like, it must have been rough on you. If anything, we want to totally help you get over it and be a part of our family, just like we did with Rina after we saved her from her brainwashing from Darkseid," Kitty chipped in.

"And we wanna get to know you as well, Sage," Roberto piped up, "And if the Professor and Wolverine trusts you, heck it's good enough for me!"

Rogue then asked, frowning, "Actually, Tessa…how did you manage to break free from the brainwashing and the mental stuff Frost and Shaw put on you? You weren't able to do so before, so what changed now?"

"I…I'm not sure how to explain it, but it was early in the morning and I was sleeping in my quarters when I suddenly felt...something large press against my forehead and I could actually consciously and actually feel my mind opening up, as if ripped asunder. And with it, my subconscious was able to take full control of my mind again and deprogram all the years of instruction due to a few telepathic tricks the Professor taught me. And I thought I was dreaming, but then I slowly realized I was actually…in full control again. And I know this next part will sound strange, but even though I thought I was dreaming, I could have sworn I saw someone standing next to my bed, wearing a black cloak. But when I fully awoke, it was gone."

"Black cloak?" blinked Roberto, "Wait…you're telling me a person from the Organization broke free of your programming? I have to say that doesn't make much sense."

"I know, but it's true. I don't know how else to explain it, but it could be possible that I was simply imagining it and that it could possibly be because the smallest part of my mind I managed to safeguard from Shaw's attempts somehow activated. But what I tell you is the truth," Tessa said wearily, taking off her glasses and rubbing her eyes.

"So wait…why were the Organization creeps trying to kill you? Because you know stuff or something?" Rogue asked. Tessa then nodded before she knelt down and opened her pack, tossing back the buckled flap.

The young female then reached into her tattered knapsack to bring out one of the few items she stole from the Inner Circle before managing to flee. It was wonderfully and beautifully carved box made of real red leather, cracked and dirty from her travels and harried chase. And when she opened it, to everyone's awe, it was filled with various orbs of a strange yet alien substance, swirling in colors of the purest yellow and white, much gentler than the colors of the sun at sunrise. One could actually feel the air around them change and vibrate as the spheres radiating a soft sheen of mystical energy, powerful yet comforting.

"What…what is that?" asked Amara.

"A magical essence called Yellow Materia," Tessa explained, and she felt so cold at the memories as she shivered to herself, "Shaw and the other members of the Inner Circle were planning on using it in preparations to stop any future Keyblade wielders from getting out of their control or being more of a threat to them than they would have liked. It was given to them by the Superior of Organization Thirteen."

"_Ma-tear-ria_…" Tabitha said, trying out the word phonetically and making sure it didn't sound incorrect, rolling the syllables off her tongue.

"Wait, to stop the threat of the Keyblades? How exactly?" Forge asked as Tessa then pulled out several old and dusty rolls of parchment and novels, cracked and turning a sickly yellow from the age and dust.

The ex-spy then answered, "I'm not too clear on the actual details, myself, especially since I rarely attended the meetings with the Organization and the Inner Circle since they were exclusive and private, but Materia is some sort of magical essence that allows a user to accomplish certain magical spells they choose if they are skilled enough to manipulate it. The Superior bragged how they destroyed a planet to obtain these Command Materia from one of their servants, one that was recently killed by Wavedancer of the Misfits."

"They destroyed an **_entire planet_** to get this stuff? That's just whack!" Forge blurted out in horrified disgust.

"And these things would somehow destroy the Keyblades? Or the Misfits? That's why the Superior and the Hellfire creeps wanted to use them?" Tabitha asked.

Tessa sighed as she wearily rubbed her forehead, feeling the stress and fatigue develop a migraine as she clarified, "Not exactly. To…to be sure, I am not very clear on what Materia is or how it is even possible to even work in this manner, and even then, the representatives from the Organization told Shaw and Lord Imperial that normally, Command Materia doesn't typically work in this manner. But thanks to Vexen's experimentation and enhancements - "

"Vexen?" remarked Ororo, blinking and lapsing on the name.

"The name of one of the members from the Thirteenth Order," the telepath and living computer clarified, "He managed to use his scientific expertise to alter and drastically change the magical Lifestream aura in the orbs slightly so that they would be able to deprive and transfer the abilities of the Chosen Ones from Pluto and their Keyblades to different people who are harnessing the yellow Materia, an ability called '_Enemy Skill_' and '_Steal_', if I recall correctly."

"Wait, **steal** their Keyblades?" blinked Sam, hesitant to believe it, "Is that…even possible? I mean, you sure those Organization greenhorns or the Inner Circle ain't being delusional or something? I mean, from what the Joes told us, it sounds like the Keyblades are tied with the Misfits and that no one can really take it from them. Didn't even that one guy say in Pluto's memories that who Pluto chooses is 'strength of heart'?"

"I know, I know," Tessa said, placing a hand to her head, "It doesn't seem likely, but considering that the Organization seemed so sure of themselves, I rationalized that this was the only thing I could do that could possibly hinder Shaw and the Inner Circle while escaping for refuge with the Professor. I can show you on Cerebro a talk between Lord Imperial, Shaw, and the Superior of the Thirteenth Order if you will allow me, Professor."

Professor X nodded, intrigued, as he allowed Tessa to carefully place the helmet of Cerebro on her head and project her thoughts and memories viewed in her eyes on the screen for everyone to witness. What they viewed was actually very surprising…

_A tall man still hooded in his black robes (rationally the Superior) and clock was standing next to Sebastian Shaw and a strange tall man in white armor and wearing a metal face-plate that eerily hid all except the man's animalistic and narrowed dark eyes and merciless cruelty. They were all clearly talking and discussing with pointed interest…_

_"Tessa is processing the texts and scrolls on how to use he Materia," Shaw said with a slight braggart tone, "With any luck, she should be able to fully learn the skills needed to transfer and steal the Keyblades and magic to warriors on our side such as the Hellions and numerous students in the Massachusetts Academy where Frost is also training potential elite mutant recruits. The Misfits will no longer be a threat to us when she is done…"_

_"Actually, we finally have decided on a change of plans, Black King," the hooded man said in a hauntingly deep tone of voice, "We decided to scrap our original intentions with the Command Materia to render the Misfits powerless. They being chosen as the Keyblade wielders would rather suit us much better than we originally anticipated."_

_"And why would that be?" Shaw growled in disbelief, "They and the soldiers of G.I. Joe could still be a threat with our plans with the Gathering and Experiment 666."_

_"Not exactly, Shaw," the man in the strange white armor said at last, "You're forgetting the additional way of how the Keyblades can benefit our case, and with the Misfits being the only ones to wield them, it'll be all the easier to trick those inbred army brats into doing our work for bringing the door here to Earth."_

_"They could still be a threat. Need I remind you that they even managed to defeat Sephiroth?" Shaw pointed out, and the Superior stiffened before his voice became frosty with anger and disdain._

_"Are you questioning me or your Lord Imperial, Shaw?" he intoned gravely, and Shaw, though he maintained his stance and angry expression, had a slight tinge of fear on his face._

_"No, but what if the Misfits actually turn out to be far stronger than we anticipated? It will do us no good to underestimate them," the black-haired, brawny mutant retorted, which invoked a short bark of laughter from Lord Imperial._

_"Please, those sorry group of mutants? Hardly what I would classify as the strong warriors that could mean our downfall, especially since their luck will not last them long. And as long as the Keyblades do not go to the stronger warriors we had initially feared such as the X-Men or the various members of the Justice League or even the Slayers, then we are content to gather the hearts we need while those military dupes play right into our hands. Now, had Xavier's blasted demon-spawn been chosen, that would have been worrisome for they are stronger and purer in heart than most mutants we've tried dealing with ad then, yes, I agree. We will then need to steal the gifts away with the Materia. But since the Misfits were stupidly chosen for a role more competent heroes were made for, it'll be better in our little manipulations game to have the army mutants do our work for us."_

_"They would be the weaker warriors, and thus, it would be far easier to crush them when the Gathering comes," the Organization leader added, "And as long as the infernal dog has already made his foolish choice, it is too late for any of the heroes to make any change to Pluto's decision."_

_It was then that Shaw finally smiled, saying, "In other words, the Misfits were just the delivery boys. As long as the magic and Keyblades do not reach the stronger warriors of heart like they were originally intended to, then all the better for us, correct?"_

_"Exactly," the Superior and Lord Imperial answered as Shaw then dismissed Tessa with a wave of his hand, causing the screen to go dark, and Sage sighed with weariness as she removed the helmet from her head._

"That's all I was able to hear before Shaw gave me the order to leave him and his meeting," she sighed.

"So…because the Keyblades are in the hands of the Misfits instead of being in beings who could be a far greater threat, the Inner Circle is actually pleased with this development?" Storm asked.

"Yes. At least on the upside, Lord Imperial and Shaw won't be able to take away the Misfits' powers any more, so we still are safe thankfully since the Misfits will still be able to retain their tools to help fight against the Heartless. And thankfully, once we destroy it, the Misfits being the ones chosen to work against the Heartless will be safe," Tessa said gratefully.

The X-Men immediately perked up their heads in alarm at Tessa's last sentence.

"Destroy…it? Destroy the Materia?" Jean echoed, and confused, Tessa nodded though she became apprehensive. What could possibly be wrong with that suggestion?

"Yes," Sage reiterated, "When I was fleeing away from the Black Friar's Club in London to escape the Inner Circle, I couldn't just abandon the orbs during my run or toss them into the sea while I was stowed away on the cargo ship because then Shaw and his men could easily retrieve them. And since I am here now at the X-Mansion, safe for now at least, there are plenty of ways available that we can get rid of the Materia once and for all so that no one could use it and steal the Misfits' magic and Keyblades from them. And if we can't destroy it, we can certainly ask the powerful magical users to help us out here. Wolverine explained to me how we now made friends with the Charmed Ones and the Justice League and Willow from the Slayers."

"So…if there's a way to destroy it, you'll do it?" Roberto asked.

"Of course," Sage blinked, now feeling a bit bothered at how some of the X-Men were eying the box on the floor, "There's no need for us to keep such dangerous items around, especially since they would be of no help to any of us and it would ensure the Misfits' security on the only gifts that can help the "

"Not exactly…"drawled Scott, and the X-Men and the Professor turned to see a mischievous grin on his face as he was thinking, rubbing his chin with one hand. Scott then looked at the ex-assistant of the Inner Circle before he carefully voiced a question.

"Sage…Tessa…is it possible that you still know how to use the Command Materia? Could you…still attempt to do what Shaw and Imperial wanted if it's necessary?"

Several, such as Professor Xavier, Rogue and Storm, realized the intention behind the request instantly, and Tessa looked especially shocked and horrified.

"Scott, no," Professor X said at once, not liking where this was going, but some of the other X-Men and New Mutants seemed interested in what Scott had to say.

"Wait, so what're you going at, Scott? You got an idea?" Forge asked, piqued.

"Well…" the X-Men leader emphasized, "What if we were able to transfer the Misfits' magic over to us and really put a monkey-wrench into the Hellfire Club's plans? What if we used the Command Materia to…reassign the magic to us? Then **we'd** be the ones to fight the Heartless and the Organization Thirteen and be able to protect the planet."

Some looked absolutely horrified at the suggestion (the Professor especially), but many blinked before nodding and giving each other inquisitive looks of sly interest.

"Scott, like no! That's so wrong!" Kitty exclaimed.

"It is a good plan. I mean, why let all that Materia and resources go to waste? This is a really golden opportunity if you think about it…to put the Keyblades where they rightfully belong," Piotr said, the Russian mutant already imagining being able to protect Kitty and commanding Simba with his own Keyblade.

"And even the Hellfire Club admitted that they were more worried about us wielding those Keyblades, _mon ami_," Gambit nodded, rubbing his chin, "Besides, why not? It would be so sweet to see the look on that Quicksilver's face when he loses it! And it _would_ serve him right for bragging and being all pompous and smart-aleck."

"Tessa, since you know about the Materia and were there with Shaw and that Imperial guy, you then know how it can be used right?" Amara asked. Sage had the oddest look of discomfort and unease on her face as her dark eyes widened a bit behind her red cybernetic glasses and the young woman bit her lip nervously.

There was a pregnant pause before she tried to sidetrack in a flustered manner, saying, "Uh…well, though I processed the information about them, I never got a chance to practice with what I have studied the texts the Superior provided - "

"But you could do it, can't you?" pressed on Ray, "If you process things like a computer and have a photographic memory, then if you studied up on the Materia and how to master it, then you could be able to use those enemy skill and steal abilities to take away the Misfits' powers, right?"

Tessa looked so torn, but she certainly looked as if she did not want to lie, so she whispered a bit shakily, "Yes…possibly. But, I don't think we should - "

"Tessa, you heard them! They were meant to go to other people, not to the Misfits! And who knows? Maybe some of them could even be us!" Scott argued.

"Scott!" Kurt was saying, aghast, "That's wrong!"

"_Merde_, Kurt! Do you honestly believe that it's better if the Keyblades and the magic from that dumb dog are best in the Misfits' hands? Especially Toad's? Can you honestly say that you feel safer and better knowing that those morons have the only things to help fight and protect everyone?"

Kurt grimaced. That was true. Anything this big in the hands of the Misfits was certainly asking for a disaster if not much trouble.

"And it would be what's best for the world and the planet," Jean said slowly, her eyes sparked with interest, "You don't guard something precious with your most unsavory and least dependable minutemen. Like all tactics, you would use the strongest ones at once."

"Well, she has a point," Piotr conceded, "I mean, we're only making sure that the Earth has the best chance of surviving against the Heartless, right? We'd only do it if it turns out that the Misfits aren't suited to handle fighting against Organization Thirteen."

"What do you mean '**_if_**'?" snorted Bobby, "It's a given!"

"Kittens, stop…please," Jake couldn't help but plead in a jaded tone, "Think about this: none of us even have the right to pass that sort of judgment on why the Misfits were chosen by Pluto or why they have the Keyblades when none of the others on this planet were selected. You'll be hurting the Joes and the Misfits if you do this."

"Jake, think of it this way: if Justin lost his Keyblade, then you wouldn't have to be worried about him getting killed or anything that would make you worry about him," Scott said.

"Scott, that may be true, but understand that I still have reservations on this," Jake tried to argue.

"Me too. This isn't right. The Misfits had the magic and Keyblades first, so if anything, they deserve to keep it," Multiple broke in strongly, and thinking that his childlike naiveté was rather foolish yet endearing, Ray patted Jamie's head in a condescending manner.

"Aw…look at the shrimp. He's all concerned," the electrokinetic drawled, and Jamie looked like he wanted to specifically take his glovatrix and ram down Bezerker's throat before firing.

Ororo then worriedly pointed out, "Jamie, Jake, think of it in this way: doing this will be exactly the opposite of what the Hellfire Club wants. If Shaw and the Inner Circle along with the Superior and his Organization actually want the Misfits to keep the Keyblades, then this is **_exactly_** why we should try to distribute the powers to other people."

"That's true," Amara said thoughtfully, "**_Anything_** that the Hellfire Club actually wants can't be a good thing!"

"Maybe they're wrong. Maybe there is a reason that the Misfits were selected by Pluto first," Tabitha chipped in.

"Like what? That the Misfits are worthier to use this stuff over people like us? Or Superman? Or Buffy? Or Starfire and Robin? Need I remind you that this is a group that includes Pietro, a hood, a girl who spent her life in an insane asylum and wishes to kill her father, a thief, and an over-violent, insecure monster-truck fan? Please…I'd have an easier time believing that Emma Frost would want to join the X-Men in the future," scoffed Jean.

"Look, I'm just saying that maybe there's a reason Pluto is choosing the Misfits over us," Tabitha said, but this was shot down.

"Yeah, either the mutt's stupid or he's evil and actually wants us to lose to the Heartless!" retorted Gambit. Sage looked up at this statement.

"Actually, I don't think that Pluto is evil," she tried to point out, "Even the Organization members themselves admitted that Pluto has the potential to ruin everything they worked so long and hard for due to who sent him and how he represents the Light. It could be possible that Pluto simply works for a greater evil that the Organization and Hellfire Club does not wish to interfere as competition, but it doesn't sound like it."

"Besides, he's _a Disney character_," Bobby pointed out, "Call me crazy, but no one in their right minds would associate Pluto and others such as Genie, Simba, Bambi, heck even Tinkerbell, as evil. And all of the Misfits' partners came indirectly from Pluto, so I doubt that he'd be evil if he selects Disney partners."

"You know, your logic is scary in the fact that it actually made some sort of sense," Roberto admitted.

"Oh come on!" yelled Jamie angrily, "Are you guys even listening to yourselves? Pluto wouldn't even have given the Keyblades to the Misfits if they didn't have strength of heart! Since they have it and the Elementa magic, it's apparent they have strong hearts to fight against the Heartless."

"But probably not strong enough," Bobby flatly retorted.

"Strength of heart, though, not **pure** of heart," Kurt then spoke at last, "I remember in my Catholic teachings to never confuse the two. Strength _never_ indicates purity and faith. I think that must be why Pluto must have been confused. Since he was staying at the Joe base, he must not have had a lot of time to think about making the right choice and searching for the right candidates, especially since there are so many heroes and noble people in this world who have pure hearts such as the League, the Titans, the Slayers, people in the Ghostbusters, or even ordinary people like the Pope or any humanitarian you can think of!"

"That, like, is true," Kitty reluctantly confessed, "I mean, we all know that the Misfits and the Joes are totally on our side and they are good people, but…well, I don't want to bad-mouth them - "

"So why even open your mouth and say it?" Jamie retorted sharply, frowning, and Kitty gave the adolescent a steely glare before her irritation caused her to finish her sentence in a growl.

"But there **are** people who are better, even if they aren't us. But I agree with Tabby: the Disney guys are like gonna be hurt if they move to a new person and partner. That's like totally having a person love and care for a puppy for a year or two before the puppy's passed down as a pet to someone else. The puppy's not going to like it, so neither would the X-Men or the like summon guys like Simba."

"_Katya_," Piotr said soothingly, using his pet name for his girlfriend as reached out from behind and warmly held her close to his body, his strong arms trying to console and convince her while holding the girl as if she were a little, fragile baby bird, "It would be for the best if you think about it. And the Disney summons wouldn't be hurt because they're supposed to fulfill their duty of staying with whomever is chosen as the Keyblader, right? They won't be hurt because they're doing what they're supposed to. Besides, they've only known the Misfits a couple of weeks. They won't miss them that much should they find new partners."

Kitty was inwardly fuming, unconsciously resenting Piotr more and more. Yes, he treated her right and he loved her. And she loved him. There was no question about that. But…Colossus treated her as if she was fragile, as if she was weak and defenseless. And the way he dismissed her concerns as trite or childish and something to be humored rather than taken seriously.

Tabitha winced as she could see Shadowcat was biting her lip to keep from screaming in aggravation, and she had a sinking feeling this wasn't going to end well in the future. Jean then carried on Piotr's assertion.

"And if you think about it, a good portion of people have purer hearts than some of the Misfits. I mean, none of us have ever killed anyone or caused mass destruction or grew up in broken homes and had disciplinary problems or has an ego problem or committed enough heinous acts to make a criminal record of Bobby Brown look like an amateur," Jean said, ticking off each reason with a finger.

"I still don't think this is right," Jubilee said, "Pluto doesn't seem stupid."

"He choose to give all his powers to the Misfit morons instead of distributing them to other people on this planet equally," scoffed Piotr, "That's not exactly bright in my opinion."

Rina then spoke out hesitantly, "I must…say that I am torn. Yes, I do not wish for anything bad to happen to Xi and his friends, and we do owe them and the soldiers of G.I. Joe thanks for coming to our aid. To do something like this would be to endanger them, especially since they seem sufficient in harnessing their magic and Keyblades. But at the same time, I do not wish for the power to be exploited should it solely be in the Misfits' hands and solely for them to use. Even though I now disregard much of my training from Hydra, one thing that does apply in this case is that you cannot have too much concentrated in one sole group or area otherwise it can be a crippling weakness if destroyed. And…"

The female clone of Logan paused before she then confessed with a heavy sigh.

"I do not wish for more people of my friends and teammates to risk further injury from the Hellfire Heartless, especially since unlike the Misfits, we have no barrier to protect the Mansion and we have no Keyblades nor Elementa magic to protect ourselves. However, I do not want them hurt."

"They won't get hurt, Rina," Jean said gently and soothingly, "They can survive with some of their members losing their gifts that Pluto's given them. It's just that we'll be helping other people by making sure that the Keyblades go to people…who can handle them better."

"And it'll be an added benefit if the magic goes to some of us!" Roberto said with a smile.

"Too bad it can't go to **_all_** of us," Kurt pointed out, "More magic users and Keyblades means that we'd have a better chance of destroying the Heartless once and for all and saving the world. But last time I checked, there are only ten kingdoms."

"It's OK, Kurt. Some of us actually don't want them," Sam confessed before he blinked and wished he kept his mouth shut. He didn't mean to say that, but it just slipped out. His teammates gave him incredulous looks.

"Wait, you actually _want_ to be out of this? Wow, talk about surprising," Bobby confessed.

Jubilee understood as she said softly, "You're nervous about wanting to fight in a war with the Heartless, right? Because it's not exactly something anyone would be fully willing to jump into and think it'll be all fun and games, right?"

Sam nodded, relived some of his friends could understand his reluctance to fight.

Rogue snorted pessimistically as she snorted, "Uh, need I point out the obvious flaw here? There's no way the Joes are going to let this one slide and neither are any of the Misfits! OK, granted, some of them could really use a swift boot up the butt like my idiotic half-brother, but some like Althea and Lina and Justin definitely don't deserve to be left high and dry like that!"

"But the Joes are seeing what Jean saw in Pluto's mind, and they know that the Keyblades and those chosen to use them aren't permanent," Nightcrawler said hesitantly, "And frankly…well, I hate to say this, but I would feel a lot better if some of the Keyblades were given to other people. _Mein Gott_, can you imagine how disastrous it would be if the Misfits did something stupid with their new magic? If they killed someone? What if they just end up making things worse and we've only been lucky so far at the fact that they haven't caused some sort of disaster?"

"Kurt, these are the Misfits we're talking about. Chances are, they **_will_** make things worse for us when they screw up. Like Snake Eyes and the other Joes who got their hearts stolen," Scott said flatly.

"I'm sure the Joes would understand. They wouldn't argue if the Keyblades and magic went to other people who are stronger than them. Heck, they might even be happy because it takes some of the pressure off them and puts them less as targets and in danger," Forge then reasoned softly.

"I would feel safer," admitted Kurt.

"And they would kill people with it," Ororo said sadly, almost horrified at the prospect, "Should they ever run into Magneto, and knowing their deep resentment and hatred for him, they could even kill him and the Acolytes if they ever lose themselves in battle. And that cannot possibly be a good thing, especially since unlike the X-Men, the Misfits and the Joes have no code of avoiding killing the enemy at all costs unless unavoidable."

That did appall and sicken Charles Xavier; as much as he disliked Magneto's goals and intentions and maniacal procedures, he certainly wouldn't want him dead. And if he ever faced the Misfits…they may truly lose control.

"Professor! Tell them! You cannot possibly agree with this!" Sage broke out strongly.

There was a pause before Charles Xavier then hoarsely croaked out.

"I'm not sure, Tessa. I…I need to think about this. But I _do_ want to tell them. The Joes and the others should know about this."

"Maybe…we don't like have to tell them everything," Roberto pointed out, and the mentor in the wheelchair gave the Brazilian mutant a dry and miffed look.

"And yet you were angry when I hid the Hellfire Heartless from you and the other students, Roberto? If you did not like how I did it to you, then imagine how much it would hurt the Joes and the other allies would feel if we did it to them. I am trying to _learn_ from my mistakes," Xavier clarified in a hard tone.

"Charles," Ororo said softly, "I do agree, but in a way, this isn't a mistake. This is simply just a way to make sure that we have a stronger chance to survive. Hiding from the kids did nothing to really benefit them from staying safe during this war. But in this case, we would be doing this as a safeguard to help give more people a chance to defend themselves against the Heartless and as a way to deal should the Misfits ever turn rogue. Or if we need to use one of the powers and Keyblades if they are unable to carry on the responsibility. Not for the kids sakes, but for everyone else's. Charles, please, Logan nearly died yesterday. If the Misfits aren't around to help, and we cannot always depend on them, we may need this in order to make sure one of the X-Men has the ability to keep us safe."

"I still don't like this. It's asking for trouble. It's not right," Rogue pressed on.

"Oh come on, it's not like we're doing anything wrong," Scott grinned, "Like the Inner Circle said, the Misfits are just the delivery boys."

"This isn't a contest, Cyclops! You need to take the Misfits' feelings and well-being into account!" snapped Tessa, whirling on Scott, and unsurprisingly enough, Scott didn't like it.

"Oh like how **_they_** take our feelings into account when they drop in unannounced every day?" the brown-haired mutant snapped back, the injustice and sting of the memories eating at his stomach and riling him up, "Like how **_they_** cause explosions that wreck our home and damage our security systems without so much of an apology? Like how **_they_** got us banned from every single establishment in Bayville because they gave all mutants a bad reputation? Like how **_they_** stole and mooched off our food for years? Like how Toad would blab out our secrets? Like how Lance would always bug us early in the morning with his stupid earthquakes and teleported here in his insane attempts to woo Kitty? Like how Fred kidnapped Jean in high school? Like how Quicksilver used to work for Magneto? Like how they made our lives a living hell ever since they existed? I say this is just karma and they'll just get whatever's been long deserved!"

There were a few murmurs of agreement which made Tessa even madder.

"Evening the score is never right! And the Misfits are trying to stay here to protect you! And if you were any sort of leader, you would take the higher road and be thankful that the Misfits and Joes are concerned for your safeties!"

"**_Oh what do you know?_**" roared Scott, now completely livid, "**_You aren't even an X-Man in the first place!_**"

The room went dead silent, so still that one could hear a pin drop. And Tessa's face just…broke.

"Excuse me…" she choked, and one could tell that the sentence Cyclops said had hurt her deeply from the glint of tears in her eyes from underneath her tinted lenses and the way her voice was strangled as she fled out of the room of Cerebro. The others just watched her leave, running the gamut of remorse, sadness, and annoyance.

"Nice one, Goggle-Head," Rogue snapped, glaring at Scott, and even Jean was frowning at her boyfriend with outrage. Making Scott feel even worse. He didn't mean to say it; it just came out and he was just so mad at how Tessa was dismissing every grievance and ordeal the Misfits and Joes sent their way.

And the look that the Professor was giving him could have killed him right then and there. It was a mixture of anger, loathing…and dissatisfaction (and that actually hurt the most).

"I'm disappointed in you, Scott," the Professor said in a simmering yet restrained and remarkably calm tone before he wheeled his chair out of the room. Scott didn't just answer as he felt the ground fall beneath him. He could honestly say he never felt more like a first-class heel before in his life. And from what Xavier could sense, it was going to be a long night for Tessa and himself…

**Author's Notes: Yep, that's the end of this chapter folks! Next week, check back for more developments as the X-Men and Misfits try to settle down with each other as Tessa and Xavier have a few words (and not all of them pleasant) while Hawk gets some unpleasant news from Eddington. But perhaps it'll be a welcome respite for all as the X-Men and Misfits spend time despite the secret plotting from the X-Men and Falco and Octavia. Check back next week for the chapter, "And So It Begins" and until then, hope you enjoyed this chapter! Constructive criticism welcome! Wow, I need to get to bed…**


	20. And So It Begins

**CHAPTER 20: And So It Begins**

Later that night right after the meeting with the others, General Hawk teleported back to his office over at the Pit with the Mass Device, a bit weary but still feeling better than he had normally been for a while, especially since seeing the League, Titans, Slayers, and other allies diligently making efforts to be involved in this war and fight for Earth. It did give him some peace of mind, knowing that the Joes, Misfits, and X-Men weren't alone in this.

Unfortunately, that feeling didn't last long when he saw who else was waiting for him in his quarters. Though General Flagg and General Whithalf were both welcome friends and respected officials, it was the third person Hawk felt revulsion for…

"General Eddington," Hawk said with aloof yet respectful cordialness, giving a curt nod, "This is…unexpected."

"Not to mention a bit unwelcome considering that the chap is hardly the bringer of good news," Whithalf had to murmur a bit under his breath, but General Flagg gave him a look to keep silent in warning. Though they were Hawk's superiors, they were no more pleased to see Eddington here.

Hawk had to mentally brace himself, knowing he wasn't going to like what was coming as he asked, "Considering the congregation here at this hour, I assume that whatever you have for me is urgent enough to regard the Heartless and the Organization events that took place with the X-Men earlier today?"

Eddington couldn't help but smirk in a very smug and knowing manner as he said, "Not really, though eventually, you will have to inform the Jugglers in a lot less of a… plodding manner than you did telling them about the Keyblades and the Disney mutt, Pluto. This has more to do with the meeting with the Omega Jugglers earlier today."

"What meeting with the Jugglers?" Hawk said in a slight accusatory tone of disbelief, "I was never told that there would be another meeting with the Omegas."

"Neither were we," Flagg said at last, throwing a look of dislike at General Eddington, "Apparently, the Omegas questioned whether or not our involvement would do any good in the meeting regarding the Heartless and our allies and what to do with them."

Hawk's blood went cold when he heard that, but he never faltered in his stern look as he glared at Eddington and asked with a tinge of animalistic danger, "Care to explain?"

Eddington the delivered the Jugglers' request, saying in a steely tone, "To be frank, the Omegas feel that your…allies may have questionable methods and intentions behind their stance against the Heartless and protecting the world in general. Granted, though the Heartless are a top priority in protecting this nation, the Omegas also feel that the various individuals in the Justice League, the Teen Titans, the Ghostbusters, and the Dinosaucers may prove to be greater threats in the future. After all, what's to guarantee that those who help us eliminate the Heartless do not turn on us as well? As such, they will require…closer observation, ones that allow the Omegas and other interested groups to ensure that our allies to not become even greater threats than the Heartless themselves."

"So in other words, you want us to spy on our allies?" Hawk surmised, his voice now emotionless and his face cold stone.

"To be more precise, the Omegas would rather you argue their case to have diplomatic immunity to be more involved in their affairs, especially since we don't wish to be helpless should the heroes such as Superman or Quentin Blud or even the Titan, Raven. And should they refuse, the Jugglers can simply ask you and the other Joes to help them…analyze what goes on in their bases and headquarters considering that you have been granted honorary membership and access to most if not all of these organizations. The Lavadome, the Titans Tower, the headquarters of the Ghostbusters Incorporated in New York, and especially the Watchtower, a weapon of mass destruction if there ever was one."

"I'm not betraying our **_friends'_** trust in the Joes and planting bugs and electronic devices in their base of operations to fuel and feed your self-serving opportunities and some corrupt Juggler's agendas. And they won't go for this, not all of them. They caved in after how I argued with them that spying on the X-Men would have severe repercussions when Cobra infiltrated Bayville high school," General Hawk growled, putting additional hard emphasis on the word "friends".

"I'm sorry. You must be mistakenly under the impression that you have a choice in this," Eddington said smugly.

"This will not stand, Eddington! The Omegas - !" began General Whithalf on his tirade, but Hawk stopped him by raising his hand.

"No need. I've already made my decision," General Hawk said with a resigned sigh, and Eddington inwardly smirked, knowing he had the three Joe leaders and superior officers over a barrel. And since the bugs he planted in General Hawk's office yielded little results to please the Inner Circle and Cadmus (Hawk was apparently getting smarter in not discussing vital matters in his quarters), it would certainly be more of a boon to study with the heroes' plans and knowledge was power. Of course, though they could find other, clandestine ways to get the information, Eddington and Eiling felt that this would certainly be more painful to the Joes and certainly risk lowering their favors with the Omegas in making them look bad and volatile. And having the Omegas additionally plot and scheme behind the allies' backs would just add further pressure to the heroes in the future. A double-whammy. And Eddington felt so sure the Joe leader would take the path of least resistance and cast off his loyalties. So imagine his surprise at Hawk's next words.

"**_Piss off, Eddington_**. I'll take the X-Men and the other heroes over you and the Jugglers any day of the week."

Flagg and Whithalf couldn't help but smile, wishing they had a camera. The frozen look of a fading, smug smile on Eddington's face was nothing short of memorable.

"I'll advise you to…reconsider your initial answer, Hawk," Eddington hissed, doing his best to keep his face stern and composed despite the anger and annoyance welling in his stomach, "You better remember your sworn duty to protect this country and serve it to the best of your ability…and not to those who do not wholly represent the well-being of this country and its people."

"And that would happen to be you?" Hawk growled, his brows furrowed.

"No, that would happen to be the Jugglers, and need I remind you the foolishness of getting on their bad side, Hawk!" spat Eddington, now starting to lose his temper.

"I would remind you to not be so presumptuous to speak for all the Jugglers," Flagg growled, "Especially since you and your so-called concerns with keeping the mutants and metahumans and paranormals on our side under check comes to suspicion considering you were the one who signed the papers to have Ethan Rayne be released along with being the head of the new Initiative."

"The Jugglers found it best," emphasized General Eddington, his smile now cat-like.

"The Juggler's agendas cost over two-hundred Slayers their hearts, especially since I would feel that the Heartless and Rayne siding alongside them to attack the Ghostbusters would be a much bigger concern to the Jugglers than spying on the few beings that wish to help us fight the Organization!" Hawk snarled, inflamed at how dismissive Eddington was being at the mention of the girls' deaths.

"Like I've inferred before," the antagonist before them drawled, "Better to eliminate the greater threats while they're still weak. And after how the Jugglers saw the potential danger in trusting those they cannot control, it was all for the better, I daresay. Now, granted, it was an unfortunate stroke of bad luck as General Red and General Black could testify that Ethan Rayne fled after release and somehow managed gain the resources to begin the Initiative project and forcefully reform it as a terrorist mercenary group along with the Heartless without government authority. But then again, any foe that lessens the number of our problems and errant abnormalities is all so much for the better."

"'_Unfortunate stroke of bad luck_', my bum!" Whithalf snapped coldly, inflamed at the death of so many innocent Slayers, "You and the other members of the Inner Circle released Rayne on purpose! You and the other Jugglers on the Hellfire's payroll bloody well knew what was going on!"

Eddington's face grew austere as he stated, as if daring Whithalf, "Can you _prove_ that? You can check with whatever research you can find with your connections and your Joe Mainframe, and it shall prove exactly what I have just stated. The Initiative is now a rogue agency that has no government backing, and sadly enough, though started out as a way to utilize his knowledge and talents to help prepare us against future paranormal threats, Rayne became a loose canon that got away from the Jugglers' control."

"Bullshit," growled Flagg, "I don't believe it, and neither would any right-minded Omega."

"Whether you believe me or not is hardly an issue, Flagg," Eddington said coolly before he turned to the unyielding General Hawk and continued in a suggestive tone, "And yet I cannot say the same with your answer, Hawk. Mark my words, the Jugglers won't be pleased to see you adamantly going against their orders, and we have ways of making you regret your decision since the last thing we need is a destructive, rogue general in our ranks."

"You can't disband G.I. Joe, Eddington," Hawk shot back severely, "Despite their reservations on our alliances, the Omega Jugglers know the Joes are too valuable and needed to fight against Cobra."

That, unfortunately, was true, and Eddington knew it. Hawk had him over a barrel on that one.

"Still, lowering the Omegas expectations of you and the Joes will being many questions to entrusting the Misfits and their Keyblades solely to you. If they wanted to, the Omegas could use force to split those army brats you've adopted for good. But then again, it makes no difference in your noble sacrifice for those allies. The Omegas can easily assign and use _other_ groups to help keep the aliens, metahumans, and paranormals under control if you won't."

After all, Cadmus had yet to release their secret weapons of the Ultimen and Task Force X, and such a surprise would lessen the heroes' ranks if not cripple them…

"And with that type of scheming, self-righteous philosophy, it's hardly surprising to see why Hawk won't allow you and the Omegas to spy on our friends and potentially harm them as much as any Heartless," Whithalf said humorlessly with a touch of disgust.

"I would watch my tone if I were you, Whithalf," Eddington said with harsh ice, "Considering how you may also do well to remember that you cannot afford to be under court-marshal as well, especially with those kids you're attempting to pass off as an inadequate addition to the Misfit team. And I know for a fact that the two Wildfire brothers would be especially vulnerable should someone let it slip that to the Inner Circle that Red Dragon and Thunderbolt are alive and well…"

General Whithalf's blue eyes immediately turned arctic under the hidden menace, his moustache twitching dangerously. If any subject was prone to make him lose his temper, it was any sort of threat to the West Coast Misfits. Now Flagg and Hawk had to physically grab the elderly general by the shoulders before Whithalf could punch Eddington's lights out. The infuriating man turned to leave Hawk's office before struck with a wicked thought.

"Oh, and Hawk?" Eddington commented coolly but with a touch of arrogance, "Though it's too early to say to be sure from the Jugglers, consider the Joes' budget cut down by fifty percent from now on."

And with that, he left, not even bothering to slam the door like most people would out of frustration. But then again, Eddington apparently had better ways to express his displeasure, mainly by making life difficult for Hawk and the Joes. And what made it even more serious was that Eddington would have most if not all of the Omegas going along with him, especially since they didn't trust the League, Titans, Dinosaucers, Ghostbusters, and the X-Men that much more than the Heartless.

Hawk exhaled all the frustrated breath he had unconsciously been holding in his lungs while trying to stand up to the general, now deciding that he hated Eddington far more than ever before.

"That was damn foolhardy, Hawk," Flagg muttered, his arms still crossed over his chest, "Eddington this time has the Jugglers backing him up to make good on his threats to give you and the Joes hell."

"I don't remember hearing you telling me to keep my mouth shut," Hawk returned, but he did it with a rueful smile while caused a faint gleam of amusement in his superior's eyes.

"I said no such thing. I just it was foolhardy, that's all," Flagg clarified, a bit lightheartedly, but still in extreme consternation nonetheless.

"This won't make things any easier for you, Clayton," Whithalf murmured with uneasiness as he laid a hand on Hawk's shoulder, "Eddington and the Jugglers may not be able to fully disband the Joes, but it is worrisome that they can make you and your soldiers' lives a living hell. That includes the kids and the Misfits on both teams. And they have the power to back up on that threat. As I said, it's worrisome."

It must be considering that Whithalf actually called General Hawk by his real first name (a rarity if there ever was one) and that he was acting uncharacteristically serious. Hawk's mouth grew into a grim line before he replied back.

"It was worth it."

"Was it?" Flagg asked coolly and rhetorically, clearly in much disagreement, despite the benefit of the alliances with the other heroes of the Earth. Hawk even surprised himself when he could admit that a part of his psyche clearly sided with Flagg.

---

Meanwhile, over at the headquarters of the Thirteenth Order, the Superior along with his twelve subordinates and esteemed warriors were discussing the latest turns of events amongst themselves in a surprisingly calm manner as they seated among their various thrones.

Naturally, this wasn't going to bode well for the X-Men, Misfits, or the Joes…

"How is that even possible, though?" Larxene said in a displeased and cheated tone, "The fact is that Keyblades don't work like that! Even though we hardly know anything about them, they can **_never_** seal a persons' heart from being taken by the darkness! And every heart has never been able to contain the ability to fully resist the Heartless like that!"

"That is true," mused Xaldin, "Even though we surmised that the only new variable of the staff that belongs to Wavedancer must be the cause of such a feat, we never specifically discovered how the staff indirectly allow the Misfits' Keyblades to lock the hearts of those who lost them or have become Infected."

"I know I would certainly relish a chance to study that scepter. It would serve us well and it would provide me much pleasure in seeing the scientific and abnormal properties of such an item," Vexen mused, smiling to himself at the thought while tapping his fingers idly on the arms of his chair.

The Superior then broke the side discussions and cross-talk with his baritone yet powerful voice as he said, "Regardless, this is only a small setback, especially since we have only begun to set the wheels in motion for the Gathering to come. The fact that those army children can lock specific hearts does not change the fact that they will be unable to stop many more deaths and hearts to be sacrificed to the Door."

"But the Heartless we have designed with Hamilton cannot overcome the effects of the scepter of that blasted Misfit. And no experimental manipulations on my part can overcome it," Vexen protested, which earned him a steely glare from the number one member.

"Then we will simply create…a _new_ breed of Heartless, one that are not entirely similar to that of the Hellfire's type. And the Inner Circle themselves anticipated this when they did their experimentations with the leftovers from the H.I.V.E Academy students and the X-Men's DNA from Cobra as well as Hamilton developing the Ultimen for Cadmus' troops," the Superior said.

"Cobra still has the potential to become stumbling blocks in our plans for the Gathering. Like all fools, they'll attempt to harness the power of the Heartless themselves," Lexaeus said brusquely, flexing the bicep muscles in one arm and impressively making a bulge apparent underneath the sleeve of his uniform. But the assassin Marluxia grinned knowingly while Saïx, who was next to him, maintained his emotionless demeanor as he spoke flatly.

"It is handled. Keep in mind how much our little chess game figures on the two groups being our pawns. If they ever manage to create additional Heartless, so much the better for us and so much worse for them."

"And of course, once we discover who holds the Talismans of Twilight, we'll be able to fully handicap the mutants and their allies while giving ourselves a powerful boost thanks to the Chalice. And Hamilton is well aware of other outlooks of possible genetic material from various scientists all over the world in his quest to help weaken the Justice League severely," Marluxia chuckled, and this caused Luxord to raise a bushy, white eyebrow.

"There is still no positive identification from the Oracle on who are the three beings who have the hearts that contain the Talismans?" the gambler asked in his suave voice. Zexion shook his head.

The Organization member replied negatively, "There are indeed millions if not billions of worthless beings and hearts residing here on this planet. The Fountain is indeed powerful but even it cannot scan all those that reside here alongside the heroes in an instant nor can it automatically tell whether a heart contains such a mystical item in an instant. Unfortunately, such a thorough investigation takes time."

"Funny, I happen to have all the time in the world," bragged Luxord, his handsome face oozing a devil-may-care grin as he playfully flicked a stack of playing cards between his gloved hands.

"This is serious, Luxord," Zexion chided sternly, trying to be mature despite the fact that Luxord certainly appeared much older.

"I don't see why we can't just waste Falco and Octavia when we have the chance," Xigbar persisted, his good eye lazily surveying the room as he leaned back uncouthly on his throne with one leg on his seat and with his arms tossed back behind his head, "They're worthless, and those clever little sneaks have the ability to ruin things for us, especially since they're sent by…him."

Apparently, the mere mention of the King was taboo in this circle of schemers.

The member named Demyx (and the only one save the Superior who hadn't had his chance to go out in battle with the heroes yet) then thoughtfully pointed out, "Not really, if you think about it. After what we've seen of how much they're finding the Talismans and giving the X-Geeks and the Misfit-Morons grief, it's better if we don't get rid of them since they're adding on the pressure to the defenders of this place. And plus, now that I think about it, don't we still need Falco and Octavia once we even find the Talismans since they are the only - "

"Well whaddya know? Our resident little musician actually has a brain! Who would have thought the little blockhead would ever get anything memorized though that empty skull of his…and without the use of a cue card while giving the typical monologue?" Axel sneered as he idly leaned his head against his hand.

"That was one time I did that! **_One time!_**" protested Demyx hotly, starting to feel embarrassed and defensive.

Roxas (the Organization member who revealed to the Misfits and X-Men that he wielded his Oblivion and Oathkeeper Keyblades) turned to the Organization Superior and addressed the leader. It was apparent from any outsider watching in that he was the thirteenth and final member of the Organization for a reason; he was apparently the youngest, no more than sixteen and still a youth.

"But what shall we do now, my Liege?" he asked, "I cannot unlock the hearts that were sealed by the damned Misfits, even with my Keyblades, and now thanks to that dog, both the Misfits and the X-Men are still alive. We may have discovered the cause, but the Misfits may have a chance to grow stronger if we let them continue."

"The Misfits we can concede to tolerate their Keyblades since we have now decided that we can work around the fact that those inadequate mutants are better than people such as Superman or the X-Men harnessing them," the Superior said at last after a minute of contemplating silence, "The X-Men, however, are a different matter, and it all depends on whether or not our little plans for them will be necessary, though I will not stand in the way of what the Inner Circle desires, especially since they are adamant in making sure that Xavier and his students do not live throughout all this. And they are indeed quite willing to use Magneto and Cobra into this play."

"And the sealing of the hearts?" Axel asked.

"We shall let it slide for now. A lone heart or two that will forever be unattainable is a small price to pay for the large amounts of hearts that we shall reap now that the Oracle has shown us that the time is right to let loose the plague upon this planet. Keep out an eye for the bird and the Tigershark along with that Digimon, remember our plans to plot Cadmus against the Justice League and against the Ghostbusters, and continue our search to find the Talismans while helping the Inner Circle release more of the Hellfire Heartless in various cities and areas of our choosing."

The other twelve members nodded without question at their Superior's decision. The Superior then turned to Xaldin who by far was the most successful member in his past battles and would be the best candidate to start the ball rolling.

"Go to Chicago with the next wave of the experiments," he ordered, "Xaldin, you may officially initiate the beginning of the Harvest, starting with Experiment 335…"

---

The next day, the skies were clear, hardly a cloud in sight, along with the cool breeze mixed along with the hot sun bearing down upon the school's grounds, even though it was barely mid-morning. It was going to be an unusually warm spring day, perfect for staying indoors…

**_Boom!_**

"Augh! My room! My hair! **Oh my God, is this what I _think_ it smells like?**" Jean was heard screaming from her bedroom where one could detect the overpowering stench of manure.

Crack! **KABOOM!**

Not surprisingly, black storm-clouds began to gather specifically above the rooftops of the X-Mansion as Shipwreck fled for his life with Hank and Ororo chasing after him. And both of the adult X-Men were covered with green slime and red gunk which happened to be non-toxic yet messy chemicals from the lab explosion in Beast's quarters.

"**_Die, sailor!_**" Storm shrieked as she kept hurling ball lighting from above at the Joe who was madly strafing and protesting his innocence over the accident.

"Yeow!" Shipwreck hollered, all the meanwhile trying to plead his case, "Aw, come on – _yeow!_ It was an accident! It really was, **_I swear _**– ow! Yah, Hank, aren't you over-reacting? **Aaah! **It was an accident, an accident! Ow, not the lightning, not the lightning! All I did was say 'hi' again! _Yeow!_"

"And if you hadn't picked your way through the lock of my laboratory door and startled me by saying hi in the first place, I wouldn't have dropped my samples to cause that explosion in the first place! Get back here and die so we can eliminate all causes of accidents as good laboratory conduct requires so!" Beast roared as he galloped hot on Hector's heels with three of his paws while carrying a baseball bat in his forearm.

"How was I supposed to know the thing was supposed to be private and you two wanted to be alone? Ow, that hurts!" Shipwreck yelped.

"The door was _locked_! That should have been your big clue in the first place! And now because I'm red and green, you're about to become black and blue, you abysmal lunatic!" Ororo promised as she invoked a gust of hail to rain down upon the Joe.

"You inconsiderate buffoon!" snarled Hank as he madly swiped with his bat, missing the man's head by an inch or two.

"You destructive, irresponsible nincompoop!" Ororo yelled as she sent down another shaft of electricity.

"You sneaky, underhanded wretch!" Hank growled as he tried to tackle Shipwreck to the ground so that he'd be an easier target. He unfortunately missed.

"You – you…you…!" Ororo lapsed as she tried to summon a gust of wind to send Shipwreck flying, but she was so livid and apoplectic that she had trouble thinking up of a good and suitable insult.

"Moron?" Shipwreck suggested helpfully and meekly as he found a second wind.

"Thank you! **_YOU MORON!_**" yelled Storm and Beast together simultaneously as the chase continued.

"Help! HELP ME! Trinity's after me again!" Jamie squealed in fear as he ran out of the garage where he was hiding, his hair and clothes messily disheveled when the Triplets tried to strip him. And hot on his heels, firing bola missiles from their glovatrixes were Daria, Quinn, and Brittany, cooing and teasingly trying to snare the X-Teen so that he could go for a round of "kissy-time". And in Quinn's hands were a pair of boxer short with little hearts on them which would explain why a red-faced Gambit was cursing a storm and chasing the Delgado sisters while brandishing his bo. And the sight of seeing what sort of underwear the Cajun had made several watching such as Spirit, Forge, and Kurt howl with mirth.

"Come here, our little love-slave!" purred Brittany.

"Our little snuggle-toy!" giggled Daria.

"Our hunky, mutant stud-muffin! And we can try seeing how you'll look only in Remy's underwear!" catcalled Quinn.

"**_You're disgusting!_** HELP ME!" Multiple screamed.

"You insane _femmes_!" Remy shouted, so tempted to use his kinetic cards, "Give Remy back his underwear right now, or the police and the Joes will _never_ find your remains when Remy gets his hands on you!"

"Drake, you're dead, you hear me? **DEAD!** Get back here!" Fred was heard roaring as he chased Bobby in the Mansions' backyard, his rear end now thoroughly encased in ice and weighing down the seat of his pants. And regardless of the number of past experiences, Bobby still forgot that when angered, Blob could run _amazingly_ fast for an obese mutant.

"Aaaaaaaahhhh! It was a joke, a joke! It was just a joke, Fred! **Just don't kill me!**" Bobby pleaded as he ran for his life.

"Why, God, why?" Scott was heard moaning to himself in the ruined main foyer, "Aren't our lives a living hell enough? Was it too much of a prayer to ask that the Misfits never existed? Was it too much to ask? What did we ever do to deserve this?"

…if not for the general insanity and chaos that normally comes with living with the X-Men. And of course, the presence of the Misfits now staying at their home under the condition of protecting the X-Men from future Heartless attacks as best as they could wasn't helping matters much either.

And yes, the Justice League, Ghostbusters, Titans, and Scoobies kindly requested Professor X and the Joes to hold the meetings among the adults somewhere a bit more tranquil and undisturbed from now on since they pretty much reached an unanimous decision to not even be anywhere near the vicinity of Bayville and the X-Mansion unless given no other choice.

Not that the staff or the Joes could blame them. And on the upside, spending time with the X-Men gave the Misfits a chance to blow off steam and recover from the anxiety of cabin fever and staying at the Pit 24-7. It was practically like a vacation.

At the X-Men's expense, of course.

Kapaff!

"Is it **always** like this whenever the Misfits and X-Men meet up?" Tessa bit back a groan and hoping Scott wouldn't be around to give her an _I-told-you-so _as she and the kat, Jake, vainly tried to wipe of the dyed shaving cream off their bodies from the bombs that Pietro set off in the hallway.

"Sort of, kitten," sighed Jake, wondering if he would ever get his fur clean again, "And eventually, you'll learn to accept it. But I do sympathize with you considering it takes a long while before you get used to the general screaming, arguing, fighting, and general explosions and property damage. Fur and tail, and I thought being a SWAT Kat was stressful enough, but being a teacher of these kids has been enough to take three of my nine lives."

"And to think if I wondered all the rumors I have heard about the X-Men and Misfits from the mouths of the Inner Circle and the Hellions were merely exaggerated," Tessa winced as she picked at a blob of gunk from her dark hair.

"With these kids and the Joes, things are **_never _**exaggerated, Tessa," Jake chuckled.

"I just hope Fury and General Hawk will be all right with me in this state considering I'm supposed to meet them in the Professor's office to brief them on anything I can remember about the Hellfire Club's criminal activities and holdings and assets, things that S.H.I.E.L.D. and G.I. Joe could use to bring legal action and prosecution. It's not as much as what Shaw or Frost know, but despite some of the brainwashing erasing some parts of my memory, I felt it would be best to tell them everything I know that they could use. And it is a considerable amount, but unfortunately, it's nothing that can link them to Wolfram and Hart or anything else sufficient about the Heartless," Sage commented worriedly.

"You'll be all right, kitten. Just go to General Hawk and Nick Fury while I clean up the mess," Jake said amiably and encouragingly, and touched, Tessa squeezed Jake's paw a bit from gratitude for the friendship as she left up the stairs. As Jake went towards the garage to get the mop and cleaning supplies, he passed by one of the rooms to see the sight of a despondent Justin wearily seated at a table with Lina, Low Light, and Cover Girl trying to talk to him while Pietro was on a chair nearby, idly filing his nails without much concern. Althea, Todd, and Jinx were looking over the plans of Wavedancer and Toad's wedding on a couch nearby the doorway, and with their ninja sense, they looked up to see Jake looking at Justin with a pained expression of guilt before the kat's eyes met theirs.

They shot a unanimous glare, one of accusation and dislike. Jake broke off his staring match as he left quietly as to not alert Whitelighter.

"Oh come on Justin, it's not the end of the world," Lina said softly, trying her best to cheer up her still depressed teammate as Whitelighter just remained unresponsive, folding his arms on the table and hiding his face in them, depressed and melancholy. Not to mention to hide the fact that he was still tearing up a bit from the harshness of the break-up. After giving Razor the angry look, Althea, Todd, and Mariko continued to pore over various catalogues and lists for the wedding as if nothing happened, this time finally tackling the seating arrangements for the after-reception and dinner, and Jinx thought now would be a good time to help and see how much work was needed since she would be planning her own wedding to Wolverine.

"Yeah, chubby-cheeks," Pietro carried on blithely as he carefully manicured his fingernails using his super-speed, "C'mon, quit being so over-emotional for once. So you got dumped because you weren't worth it to Jake? Big deal, life goes on. You two really weren't serious anyway to begin with, and all you got to was one lousy kiss, which if you think about it, is a lot than you've ever gotten before. Besides, everyone knows that a relationship between a Misfit and an X-Geek would end up in a disaster anyway and the age thing was going to be a big hassle to begin with, so the way I see it, you actually got left off easy."

"Pietro!" Cover Girl scolded.

"Actually, I'm with Pietro on this on. I **told** you this would happen, Whitelighter. You were too blind to see that nothing good would ever come out of having puppy-dog love with someone twelve years older than you and you being a minor," Low Light commented without much sympathy. No one forgotten that he was one of the more adamant ones against Jake and Justin developing feelings for each other in the first place.

"Low Light, could you be any more blunt?" sighed Althea, realizing that as team leader, she needed to end this drama as best as she could as she then sighed and said to Justin, "Hey, Justin, it's all right to feel down about this. Breaking up's hardly easy, and Jake didn't have any right to hurt you like that. But we're all worried and here for you. And Blind Master didn't want this to happen as well."

"Althea, you don't need to lie to me. Pietro showed me the video footage of Blind Master and my Dad dancing at the dojo at the Pit to Kool and the Gang's '_Celebrate_' earlier today," Justin moaned. Althea and the others irately whirled their heads at a rather unabashed silver-haired speedster as he counted a small amount of dollar bills in his hands before he noticed the other Misfits and handlers glaring at him with exasperation.

"What?" he said defensively, "It's not like it's a surprise or anything! All I simply said was that I had some video footage from my nifty camcorder of Blind Master and Allo discussing the break-up between him and Jake for a low, low price of twenty dollars if he's interested."

"Pietro, you know we love you and all, but I'll make this plain: you're a dick sometimes," Lina groused, one corner of her mouth turned downwards. The albino shrugged.

"I never denied it or said otherwise," he said nonchalantly. Cover Girl then tried to rub Justin's shoulder as an act of comfort.

"Well…I admit, Blind Master had his reservations about Jake and he certainly was…relieved to see that things ended between you and Razor, but both he and your father are concerned about how you feel about this as well," the female Joe said softly, smiling encouragingly, but then Justin's muffled voice rang out from his arms again.

"Pietro **_also_** showed the footage of Blind Master and Allo singing songs of praise while drunk in Josey's Bar together."

The group collectively glared at Pietro again.

"Hey, if chubby-cheeks didn't want to see it, he wouldn't have paid me. Besides, he's better off knowing the truth and just accepting the fact that Jake dumped him like a bad habit," Quicksilver said in his defense.

"Pietro, I think I speak for all of us when there are times there's no one around who's a bigger dick that you, yo," Todd quipped dryly which Pietro hardly took to offense. Jinx then tried to offer some advice.

"Look, Justin, you're still young! You don't need to think that your first crush is going to be your lifetime partner and soul-mate! It never happens! And as the old saying goes, 'there's plenty of fish in the sea'!" the female ninja offered.

"I **_don't_** **_want_** another fish! I want Jake…" whined Justin like a typical teenager in denial.

"Oh God, this couldn't be any more pathetic…" muttered Cooper to himself, rubbing his forehead, which invoked a furious jab from Courtney into his ribs with her elbow.

"Apparently, love isn't blind. It's deaf, dumb, and stubborn," quipped Althea, rolling her eyes.

"Y'know, put that on a T-Shirt, and we've got something here, yo," mused Todd, already losing attention to the current subject like a classical child with ADD. Then surprisingly enough, Lance from out of nowhere with Simba strode in the living room and gently guided his teammate up from the chair.

"C'mon, let's take a walk outside," Avalanche smiled sadly with Simba giving an encouraging growl while prodding Whitelighter with nudges of his furry head.

"Lance…I'd rather be left alone right now," mumbled Justin miserably, and he was surprised when Avalanche placed an arm around his shoulders in understanding, as if he understood exactly what Whitelighter was -

Oh, right.

"I know. Let's talk," Lance said simply and gently as he led his younger teammate outside of the Mansion, leaving the others to just watch them as they went to the gardens for a private chat. Pietro was about to go speed off to eavesdrop when Althea managed to painfully yank the Adonis by the ear and twist it warningly, causing him to squeal like a pig in a falsetto voice.

"Do and die, Pietro. And I'll have the Triplets do the dirty work for me," Wavedancer growled.

"Fine!" groused Quicksilver before he dashed off, "But you have to admit, it's like the blind leading the blind! Oh well, nothing juicy about two lovesick charity cases moping over past break-ups! I'll just go bug Rogue instead! I still have some cans of silly string leftover!"

"Do you want to stop him?" Jinx asked wearily as the silver-haired Misfit used his super-speed to disappear out of sight and leave a trail of dust in his wake.

"No," came the unanimous reply right before a commotion erupted in the kitchen.

"There's no where to run now, Ice-Cube! You're dead meat!" Fred was heard roaring.

Kurt was then heard cheering madly, whooping, "_Ach!_ Defend our fellow teammate, troops! Let 'em have it!"

This exclamation was followed by the sounds of several splashes of water followed by more yelling and cheering as Fred then madly laughed, "Oh, so you wise-guys wanna play the 'ol water balloon tactic, huh? You're all dead! Water balloons don't hurt the Blob!"

"I'll go stop them," Lina sighed above the cries and hollers of warfare and fun as well as the crashes of breaking china and glass along with the roars of anger from Logan as he stepped into the kitchen to break up the fighting, "Something tells me that I'll be needed again to keep the peace between Bobby and Fred. I just wish they'd get along…"

"Not in this lifetime, Lina," commented Toad idly as he got back to looking over the mapping of the seating arrangements for the reception while Logan was hollering something fierce.

"**_All right, Spirit, you're askin' for it now!_**" Wolverine howled as he launched himself at the Joe, causing a few more additional crashes and damage to the kitchen as the water balloons intensified along with the occasional ice beam from Bobby.

Meanwhile, Roadblock, on a hunch, walked a bit towards the seaside of the Institute of the Gifted where he saw seated in his wheelchair while looking at the calm, blue ocean from one of the garden gazebos was Professor X, his back to the Joe and his posture tense and contemplative. Still, Marvin remembered the past talk with the Professor at the last time the Misfits came to visit the X-Men at the Mansion (how long ago that was) that when the mentor wished for some time to think alone, he was deeply troubled. And realizing that, the Joe carefully walked towards the structure, knowing that Charles Xavier would sense him with his telepathy and thus wouldn't be startled.

"Something on your mind? It does no good to keep troubles and worries confined," Roadblock asked as he entered the gazebo, enjoying the fresh cool breeze of the ocean wafting through the wooden pergola.

To the Professor, that was an understatement. And true to Marvin's judgment, Charles hardly seemed surprised that the machine-gunner and Misfit handler was coming to visit him in one of the few places that he needed to escape the general insanity. And the soldier had to admit it was nice here, away from the screaming and fighting and explosions and only hearing the sea and the roar of the waves.

"A bit," the Professor confessed sadly. Roadblock decided to prod a bit.

"Problems with the lawyers we sent to help you battle with the lawsuits?" he asked in his deep voice.

The telepath shook his head, replying, "No, it's not that. Although I never did get to thank you again properly for that godsend. They are indeed a great help, and I daresay they are a bit more efficient and effective at handling the various and numerous lawsuits we've received over the years. I was thoroughly impressed with how they actually made Michael Eisner cry after dealing with the lawsuit from the 'X-Men TV' fiasco."

Roadblock smiled at that bit of news before he tried again with another question, asking, "Are you worried about the Heartless? I know it's always a risk and we can't always guarantee your safety, but at least the Misfits being here will give you and the other X-Men a better chance to defend yourselves."

"Actually, though it was a good guess, it was actually the last concern on my mind considering I've learned to try to not doubt the Misfits' abilities and that there are other things on the front burners, if I may be metaphorical, so no."

"How's it going for Tessa?" Roadblock asked, his face softening and concerned, as if he had a pretty good idea of how Tessa would initially and inwardly feeling his heart sympathizing with Xavier. The patient and weary mentor winced a bit at the mention of Sage.

Bulls-eye.

"Even though she is recovering nicely, I fear that it will take much time and interaction with the other students and the staff before she can fully work through her fears, reservations…and resentments," the Professor sighed, and the machine gunner could hear the guilt and hurt in the man's voice.

"Xavier, Tessa loves you and she always will; you know that as well as we do," Roadblock versed, "But she's been through a lot trying to spy for the Hellfire Club, so it's understandable that she'd have some emotions to work through."

Despite the dark grief festering in his stomach, the Professor couldn't help but chuckle.

"I appreciate the attempts to add some humor with rhyming every sentence you can, Marvin, but please, just this once, can we talk normally? I'm afraid I haven't had much to laugh during this past month or so," Xavier requested cordially. The African American Joe grinned sheepishly but honored himself at the Professor's request.

Xavier inhaled and exhaled a bit for a minute therapeutically through his nose, trying his best to find the words and seemingly wrestling with himself before he answered back the patient soldier.

"Tessa is certainly…admirable in her efforts to help us and fit in here at the Institute," he remarked, "After last night, she actually volunteered to tell Fury and the Joes everything she could remember about anything incriminating that could be used to bring legal action and prosecution against many of the Hellfire Club's assets and criminal activities. I believe that she is meeting them right now."

"_'After last night'_? Xavier, I assume you and Sage had a fight…er, sorry about that, force of habit, but…she's a little angry at you? Because of how she was used as your spy in the Inner Circle?" Roadblock asked, after he realized he unintentionally rhymed.

"Something like that…" Xavier said enigmatically as he winced, going back to the flashback of memories…

_It was immediately after the huge outburst from Cyclops in the room with Cerebro, and the Professor was able to thankfully sense his first student in the study with his telepathy, and he carefully wheeled over to the library to see Sage staring outside the cloudy and moonless night sky, her body as still as a statue, her fingers gripping her arms so tightly, her skin was white. Though she appeared serene, the young woman's mind was a gamut of various emotions and thoughts, and the Professor could sense it boiling to its pinnacle._

_"Tessa…" the good teacher and instructor tried to say to his charge, "I…I raised Scott better than that. Please, do not hold grievance against him or my students. They are simply - "_

_Yet Tessa then cut him off, and the tone of her voice was so cold, it actually pieced through his grief and guilt he had always harbored over her sake._

_"Your 'students'? So that general grouping does not include me?"_

_Xavier bit his lip. He didn't mean it that way._

_"I made…a mistake," Tessa said, her throat hoarse, "Coming here, thinking things could simply be fixed and automatically solved, that everything would be all right once I was back and that it could erase everything that happened between us and how it left things for the worse. I should go to S.H.I.E.L.D, Xavier. It would be far better than staying here, considering I'm not really wanted."_

_The Professor felt hurt and snubbed; to have Sage of all people calling him by his last name was hardly a good sign…_

_"Tessa, Scott didn't mean that. He doesn't know the full story about the trials you and I endured in the past and how much suffering and grief you had to be willing to go through to help spy on the Inner Circle - "_

_"Willing?" Tessa practically spat this one word at Xavier as she whirled around on the mentor in the wheelchair, her face even more pallid and ashen than normal as she bared her teeth, her jaw tight from anger and outrage and the general feelings of shock and disbelief at the X-Men, "Willing? Is that what you call it? Is that how you manage to get through each day and night in order to live with yourself? If you recall, I wanted to be one of the first X-Men you would ever train! I was your first student! I wanted to be an X-Man, and you wouldn't let me!"_

_"I know," Xavier said sadly, knowing that he would never be able to fully justify that action, "Tessa, I may have wanted you as an X-Man, but I needed you more as a spy for the Hellfire Club on my behalf because of the dangers Shaw, Frost, and the Inner Circle were posing to my future plans of a school. Your talents would have been for the greater good if you were to help me spy on the Hellfire Club to lessen the damage they would do to the hope of mutant-human peace. And I had no one else who could fill in that position, though I tried. And when I asked you, you then became willing to attempt the deed."_

_"That was because I loved you as a father…" Tessa whispered, shaking, and the Professor didn't have to look closely to see the tears brimming her eyes as Tessa choked uncharacteristically, letting her grief and hurt exposed, "I would have died for you if it meant protecting you. And yet you left me. You didn't try harder to go find me. I had to escape all on my own and you weren't there for me."_

_"I didn't leave you Tessa, please believe that!" the Professor said hoarsely, feeling his grief and pain crawl up his throat, mixed with his guilt, "I looked, I tried! Even with the Hellfire's mental shielding and with Cerebro's limitations, I never stopped searching for you every day! But I couldn't ignore my students who needed me as much as you, and there was at least some solace that even though Shaw discovered you were my spy, at least he wouldn't harm you since you were too valuable as his assistant - "_

_Tessa then absolutely had enough, reaching her snapping point of her resolve and temper as she took hold of a nearby Ming vase with one hand and flung it straight at Professor Xavier with a livid grunt. The porcelain artwork precariously flew by the Professor's right ear by several inches before shattering against the wall with a high-pitched crashing noise, fragment of blue and white dropping to the carpet and leaving nothing but an eerie silence between the two. Xavier knew, deep down, that Sage didn't do it to physically hurt him (she was a crack-shot) but that she wanted to simply make her point clear and just lost her temper._

_"**You didn't try hard enough!**" she screamed, ripping her red cybernetic glasses off her face, allowing the tears to pour through now, "**You didn't know what I had to go through, how scared I was, how many nights I wished you were with me because I felt my resolve breaking and fearful of every second of not being able to trick Shaw! You don't know anything! You didn't know how much it felt like my world crumbled when Shaw bragged that he always knew you sent me! You don't know how alone I felt! You don't know what sort of mental mind-assaults I had to endure from Frost and how I nearly died in my psyche trying to remember your training to hide the smallest bit of my subconscious as a mental fail-safe! You don't know how much Shaw just treated me like a servant, giving me information to file away lifelessly like the super-computer I was meant to be, as a tool to be used, and not like the daughter-figure you treated me in the past! Or at least I thought since now I don't mean a damn to you now that you have sons and daughters far more important for me or else you wouldn't even let this debate over the Materia even happen!**"_

_Her energy spent and her outburst now said, Tessa started to weep, openly and with heaving cries, as she weakly sank into a chair and cradled her face in front of her hands. The Professor's heart broke and he himself felt tears brimming his own eyelids as he wheeled towards his first student hesitantly._

_"Oh Tessa…" Professor X choked._

_"Why did you abandon me? Why, why, why?" she continued to sob like a scared child._

_"I never abandoned you, Tessa," the kind-hearted and noble man confessed, brushing her hair in a soothing gesture before he continued, "But I failed you. Ever since you ceased contact, I feared the worse and the psychic sessions I had when you arrived here after Logan's Heartless infection confirmed my worst fears. I nearly didn't form the X-Men when you vanished because I didn't want to endure losing another student…but when Scott came to me needing help and so did Jean's parents, I knew I needed to carry on to help those like them and you."_

_"In other words, you brushed me aside because you had other students to look after and protect from the Hellfire Club and Magneto?" Tessa said, and though she could understand the reasoning and logic behind such actions, her voice carried an undertone of bitter accusation. It was clear Tessa didn't like it and would continue to harbor some anger towards the Professor for a good while because of it._

_"It would do me no good trying to beat around the bush, especially since this has hurt you, so I must accept the truth. Yes, in a way, I did brush you aside for the other X-Men because I was worried about them as well, and though it was certainly not deliberate, I am pained that you were hurt by it nonetheless. And God forgive me, I've regretted it ever since I lost telepathic contact with you."_

_Tessa wiped her eyes as she sniffed and looked to the side with hurt and anger, but the Professor did his best to get his point across as he gently held the woman's hands._

_"But…I won't stop you on your choices, Tessa. You've proven yourself capable of any decision and that you are responsible enough to choose whatever you feel is best. But if you are to leave, I do wish to say that I am proud of you. I am. You held your own against the Hellfire Club. You gave no other thought about your own safety and self, but rather risked everything you had to make sure you could find me and inform me of the dangers coming to the Institute, to protect me and my students. I have been proud of you for being willing to bravely put yourself in danger to spy on the Inner Circle, and I'm just as proud to say that you are my student and an X-Man. No matter what anyone else says, you are one of the X-Men and you always will be no matter what," Professor Xavier said softly._

_Tessa looked at her mentor slowly with touched shock._

_"And…and I'm not asking you to forgive me now or ever if your heart is still reluctant. But I ask that you think and look it from my point of view and just…understand. That is all I ask, Tessa: **for you to understand**. And if you cannot look past these feelings and still hate me…then it's no less than I deserve."_

_Tessa's lower lip quivered._

_"I'm sorry," Xavier choked, blinking rapidly to erase the stinging in his eyes, "I really am, Tessa."_

_The Professor then nearly felt the wind knocked out of him as Tessa stooped down and hugged him fiercely, whimpering, and the Professor felt so relieved as he wrapped his arms around Sage's lithe body and held her close, grateful she was safe and thanking whatever deity he could think of that she was here and back._

_"Do you still wish to go to S.H.I.E.L.D, Tessa? I still stand that whatever decision you wish, I will respect it," the Professor intoned softly, and Tessa broke the hug, sniffing._

_"No, I do wish to stay here…but…"_

_"But nothing," Scott said contritely and awkwardly as he slowly walked in hesitantly to the room where he showed extreme remorse, "I…I was wrong. And after everything you've done for us and for the Professor…I acted pretty harshly and was a jerk. I shouldn't have said that, and losing me temper isn't any excuse for saying that you weren't an X-Man and scoffing everything you've been though. I'm sorry. I really am. And I wouldn't be much of a leader if…if I didn't beg you to stay with us and with the others. We do want this to work out, and I don't want you to miss out of living here and being with a family you'd belong with just because I acted like…like a prick."_

_Tessa and the Professor couldn't help but smile a bit at the humility._

_"I'm sorry. We want you to stay. And you could be a great addition to us since you probably have more of a right to be an X-Man than any of us since you were the Professor's first student. So will you stay? Please?" Cyclops asked. Tessa then had a sneaking suspicion as she frowned, crossing her arms._

_"Are you telling me this because you've come to terms with the Keyblade situation or are you just telling me what you **think** I want to hear?" Tessa said in an annoyed and stern tone. Scott then realized that it would be generally be unwise to lie to a telepath. Thankfully, Remy's voice rang out from around the corner where he and the other X-Men were hiding and eavesdropping._

_"Depends, femme. Which answer will get us out of this predicament faster?" the Cajun X-Man asked rather brashly, which was unsurprisingly followed by the sound of a loud and hard smack, invoking a loud "ow" from Gambit._

_"Nice one, big mouth!" Bobby was heard retorting._

_"Hit Remy again and I'll ram a kinetic card where the sun don't shine, mon ami!" growled the Cajun X-Man._

_"Fine, then I'll do it!" Rogue could be heard snapping next which invoked another slap and another squeal of pain from Gambit. Scott tried to explain._

_"Look, I'm not saying we'll use it now and right away, but as a back-up in case anything goes wrong! It's all for the right reasons, and we won't do anything until we're sure we know if it's too much of a risk!" the mutant teen argued._

_"Scott, the road the hell is paved with good intentions," the mentor chided gently._

_"With the Heartless invading and trying to infect everyone and with the Misfits leading the way, we're on the road to hell anyway," Scott pleaded his case with a hint of jaded begging, "Look, let's just hold on to the Materia just in case! Even if we don't use it on the Misfits, we can use it when the Hellions or any of our enemies have the stronger hearts to steal the Keyblades away from the Misfits and Pluto!"_

_"'**When**'? " echoed Tessa coldly, raising one eyebrow in stern disapproval and annoyance. She wasn't fooled._

_"C'mon, this will be a wasted opportunity to help us! Tessa, I'm not saying that we care more about the Materia than you, and I'm not saying that we want you to stay with us on the condition that we use the Command magic! Let's just…selectively tell the Joes about what Tessa saw from Shaw and the other members of the Inner Circle and tell them that Tessa managed to steal away the Materia, but other than that, nothing else! And we'll just hide away the Materia where it'll be safe until there may come a time we need it! I'm just saying let's just save it…just in case," Scott argued in a jaded tone._

_The Professor and Tessa just shared a look in silence before looking back at Scott…_

"Professor?" Roadblock asked again, his voice breaking the telepath out of his reverie. Charles Xavier sighed again, making a steeple with his hands.

"She's adjusting…at least," Xavier said before he then asked, "And what do the Joes and Misfits think about the plans the Organization and the Inner Circle were making about attempting to steal the Misfits' Keyblades and powers?"

"Well, the kids are relieved that they won't be losing their gifts, and I hafta admit that a good bunch of the Joes are too, and though we don't really understand how any of this is possible with whatever this Materia stuff is, the images you were able to show us on Trinity's Telepathic Projector 5000 really does show that they were actually plotting it. Still…"

And with this, Roadblock trailed off before continuing.

"We're grateful and all, but Hawk actually considered that perhaps using the Yellow Materia stuff to relieve some of the Misfits of their Keyblades may not be such a bad thing. After all, he has some doubts about Trinity being able to hold on their own in a real battle considering they're so young, and Allo would be joyous if Justin wouldn't be in danger again. And Hawk especially doesn't want to have another repeat with Leomon from Lance again, not when so many lives are at stake. But after some thought, he decided against it, saying that things are fine now as they are."

There was a pause.

"So where is the Yellow Materia now?" Roadblock asked innocently enough, but the Professor felt a twinge of guilt. Oh may God forgive him for the sin of omission…

"It's safely handled and stored away," the Professor assured, "It's been taken care of."

"You destroyed it?"

"It's been taken care of," repeated the Professor a bit more insistently, and though suspicious, Roadblock went with his better judgment and decided to trust the Professor, leaving it unsaid with a smile of confidence. And that made Xavier feel a bit worse; the Joes didn't know how much the X-Men wanted to use the Materia once they found out about it. But then again, hopefully, nothing would come from his…

Meanwhile, there was quite a congregation in the recreation room of the X-Mansion where Mushu and Bambi were with Xi and Wanda along with a good portion of the New Mutants as they all watched several very familiar Disney cartoon movies on the big screen. Earlier, Sam and the others asked the Misfits if they could show the summons their collection of Disney movies to see if it could spark anything in their memories when it was revealed that the characters didn't remember anything of their former lives. Althea even remarked that it was a good idea and wondered why she didn't think of it in the first place; anything that the Summons could remember could yield additional information that could help them solve the mystery of Kingdom Hearts, the Gathering, or the Talismans.

So currently, much to everyone else's amusement, Bambi and Mushu were being bombarded with images of the various Disney animated features, seeing a marathon of famous films such as "Beauty and the Beast", "Dumbo", "Aladdin", "Robin Hood", and of course, "Bambi" and "Mulan". Heck, Tabitha threw in "Bambi 2" for good measure for the little fawn, and the X-Men, Misfits, and Disney partners did nothing but watch and eat popcorn in silence. Despite the intention of this exercise, it was actually quite pleasant, not having to worry about Heartless attacks (though it was in the back of everyone's mind) and just watching animated features. Even Rina herself was intrigued; she never had seen a Disney film before. Pluto, in the meantime, was resting on a couch cushion at Xi and Wanda's feet with the baby dragon, Lockheed giving him the evil eye all the meanwhile.

Still, once the showings ended, if the New Mutants thought that they would get some sort of result from showing Mushu and Bambi the cartoons, they were sorely mistaken.

Mushu miserably shook his head, sadly saying, "Nah, hate to break this to you kids, but I don't remember anything from this. I mean, sure that looks and sounds like me, and maybe it does seem a little familiar, but no, nothing. It's like…well, it's like I'm watching someone else's story, to tell you the truth. I don't remember any of that. Not that Mulan chick, Shan-Yu, the Emperor's army, nothing."

"You don't remember anything?" Wanda asked, feeling very sorry for her Summon as she gently scratched his back with a finger, and the diminutive red dragon shook his head.

"What about you, Bambi? Do you remember you father? You mother? Thumper or Flower? Did…seeing all that start any memories?" Amara asked hesitantly, but like Mushu, the fawn shook his head miserably, whining.

"Well, that's a dead end," sighed Roberto in disenchantment.

"It was a good try, though," Xi tried to cheer up. Still, it was hardly a success considering that it would help if they learned more. Ray then glared at the rather jubilant form of Pluto.

"Let me guess," the electrokinetic griped, "Even if you do know anything, you're not going to tell us, right? Because of that stupid promise you made?"

Pluto barked in affirmation, panting and smiling.

At the same time…

"I hate the Misfits," grumbled Scott, marching outside after now being thoroughly drenched with water balloons that were somehow lobbed from an out-of-control water balloon fight between Fred, Lina, Spirit, Kurt, and Forge (and Logan wasn't helping), "I **_really_** hate the Misfits. _Oh, even though they wreck everything, they're obviously **worthier** than the X-Men to wield the Keyblades! Oh, even though they've screwed up so many times in the past, we'll still give them the benefit of the doubt rather than trust the X-Men to come through and clean up like **they always do** when given the short end of the stick to take care of their messes! Oh, rather than make the most logical and rational choice, why don't we play dumb and just hope for the best even though we know that Pluto made the **stupidest** choice ever in the situation!_"

It was clearly obvious from the mocking manner the teenage leader was mimicking the various responses from the other heroes that Scott was still inflamed at the apparent injustice that the X-Men wouldn't be on the front lines and be able to handle the threats of the Heartless, even though they were clearly a lot more responsible that the Misfits as a whole (and excluding certain members as well).

Piotr then came up to the rather harried leader, smiling as he asked, "Rough day?"

"And just where were you?" Scott grumbled bad-naturedly.

"Used one of the Joes teleporter watches to go to Jump City, having a small date with myself and Kitty in private," Colossus answered back truthfully.

"Peter! You know it's dangerous to go out with the Heartless and Organization Thirteen running amuck! It's not safe out there!"

"And staying here in the Mansion while the Misfits are here is a better alternative, comrade?" smirked Piotr as Pietro ran by, hooting, while Rogue, covered with multicolored silly string and wielding a baseball bat, flew after him and hollering threats.

"Get back here, ya' over-caffeinated, hyperactive, loud-mouthed yahoo!" screamed the Southern belle, swinging wildly with her blunt object and missing her half-brother's head, "And don't think I don't know about the water-balloons and stink bombs in my closet, you jerk! When I get through with you, you and your face are mulch, ya' hear me?"

"Oh come on, my dear sister! You never looked more colorful which was better than the '_Mrs. Dracula_' look you were always trying to use! And the stink-bombs couldn't make your clothes smell any worse considering you hardly use deodorant in the first place! Woo hoo, woo hoo, woo hoo hoo hoo!" laughed Pietro, hooting like Daffy Duck as he ran for his life with Rogue trying to murder him, shrieking.

Scott gave a long look before he turned to Colossus wearily with defeat.

"Point taken," Scott groaned, "Think Jean and I can join you on your next excursion to Jump City?"

"Hey, you find your own places to have a peaceful date and to get away form these morons, Scott," Piotr said teasingly, "And besides, last time I checked, she's still mad at you and won't even get within a ten-foot pole, so to speak."

"Don't remind me. And it doesn't help that Althea and Toad are feeling sorry for her and are actually asking her for input on their wedding plans along with Jinx's, making her even more dissatisfied and digging my grave even deeper! And a part of me wouldn't be surprised if they're doing this on purpose! And add another notch to the thousand reasons why I hate the Misfits!" Scott softly whined lugubriously.

"You poor bastard," Piotr said with some sympathy, but mostly because he was enjoying the scene of his illustrious leader being in such big trouble and partially relieved because such romantic tension wasn't happening to himself. Cyclops gave the brawny, Russian male a deadpanned glare before veiling the look.

"_Et tú_, Peter?" Scott drawled.

"It **_is_** sort of funny when you look at it. I don't mean any malice or harm in it, though," admitted Colossus.

"Actually, you're a lot more restrained than Gambit has been! Ergh, I swear, I am going to relish the day he'll be sent into the doghouse by Rogue when he does the major-screw up and will need to do the butt-kissing!" grumbled Scott darkly. And what Scott Summers didn't know was that should Rogue ever discover the secret marriage between Remy and his past fiancée, he may get his wish sooner than he thought.

Meanwhile, far off in the distance, and clandestinely hidden so that not even the Institute's defenses and the Summons could detect them…

"Things can't ever be easy, can they? I can't tell if any of the kids or the adults could be worthy and pure of heart enough to contain the Talismans," Falco muttered as he viewed upon the dispersed activity of the X-Men and Misfits talking, hanging out, and fighting amongst each other. Considering he was an avian, he had acute and powerful eyesight, far sharper than any human's and being able to spot a blade of grass from a quarter-mile in the skies. Octavia just serenely remained seated next to her feathered companion on the tree branch, her face sad.

"So now you're all right to sacrificing a child's heart in order to find the Talismans, Falco?" Octavia sighed.

"I didn't say I'd enjoy it, so quit harping on me!" Falco snapped back irately, and indeed, one could tell that the falcon was already frustrated that their search yielded no fruits, "You know I don't like this any more than you do, but unlike you, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to save my planet and get my friends back from the Heartless! And that goes double for Leomon! Don't think I didn't see how relieved you were that Batgirl stopped me from killing him! So what, you're gonna turn on me too and forsake the other Tigersharks for the Misfits and Joes?"

Octavia glared back at the blue-feathered bird, but Falco was a bit taken aback to see the angry tears in her eyes at that mention, and he realized he went a little too far with that insult. Violence, brawls, and insults, he knew how to deal with, but females and hurt emotions…

"Damn it to Andross and back…" Falco groaned to himself softly before he awkwardly tried to rectify the situation with as much remorse as he could allow himself to show despite the fact that his visage was still crossly frowning.

"I didn't mean that, Octavia…" he sighed contritely.

"Is that supposed to be your version of a suitable apology?" the female octopus-humanoid asked sardonically, her voice brittle.

"Look, what do you want me to say? That I'm still hurt that the cowardly furball sided with the X-Men and Misfits over us? That I'm haunted every day with the fact that I survived while Fox and the other didn't? That I can still hear them screaming for their lives when the Heartless killed them? That at this point, I don't care who lives or dies as long as we can stop the Organization and help the King?"

A twinge of pity and sympathy managed to work its way into Octavia's expression as she still averted her gaze from the Cornerian pilot, and Falco wished that for once in his goddamned life he would be so caustic and drive people away form him. Lylatt only knew how Fox, Slippy, and Peppy grew to love and tolerate him despite it all…

"Octavia…don't be like this. I've been a loner most of my life, and it isn't what it's cracked up to be. I can't do this by myself, and Leomon's abandoned us and the King…well, you know. Look, despite what I say and act, the main point is that I want to get my friends and family back and to defeat the Organization, but I can't do that alone…or let the mutants get in the way."

The green-skinned Tigershark said softly, "The King wouldn't want us to us to fight the Keybladers nor kill innocent lives by taking their hearts."

"And the King wouldn't want the Door to the Light being taken over by the Organization and the Hellfire Club to begin with. This is the lesser of two evils and he'd forgive us for doing it, I know it! At least we're in better standing than that traitor. Octavia, please, you know how I feel about this, but I can't do this alone. I already had so many teammates leave me…I don't want you to leave me too."

The woman felt the pity deepen a bit as she looked up from the uncharacteristic pleading and soft tone in the blue falcon's voice, his dark eyes saddened and vulnerable.

"You know…it's actually scary to see you being so…open and considerate like this," she admitted, and Falco gave her a dirty look before he sighed resentfully.

"Fine," grumbled Falco before he carried on in a little more whimsical yet deeply sarcastic voice, "'_I'm Falco, and I'm here to kick your ass! I'll take the skies any day over you flat-footed losers! A Keyblader may have strength of heart, but that doesn't mean they have brains to go along with it! The X-Men are wimps, the Misfits are morons, and the Joes are just a plain embarrassment to any military group! I'll make a fur-rug out of that yellow-furred Digimon the first chance I get! Superman's an annoying busy-body, Batman's a pointy-eared dick, and they still can't beat me, the number one Cornerian brawler and pilot of the Star Fox fleet!_' There? Happy now? Does **that** sound better?"

"A bit," Octavia could admit with a small smile, "But I wouldn't say _that_ in front of their faces when we see them next time."

"_Pfft!_ Like I care," scoffed Falco, his yellow beak in a smirk before he then circled back to his point, "Look, I promise you: I won't let anyone get in the way of bringing back our friends and families we lost to the Heartless and I'll watch your back. But, will you do the same thing then for me, Octavia?"

Octavia paused before she sighed, nodding once and then qualifying her answer with the statement, "But, please, try to not kill Leomon. I can't just ignore the history we've had with him, and there may come a time when we will need his help."

"Don't make me laugh," muttered Falco hotly, obviously showing that he wasn't going to really take the Tigershark's request with a lot of consideration, "I'd rather die than give that hypocritical _holier-than-thou_ asshole the right to gloat. And since he's siding with the X-Men and Misfits, he's obviously forsaken us and the Sovereign and Champion, so the last thing that'll happen will be him coming to our rescue and bringing the heroes to tag along."

Suddenly, to the two warriors' collective surprise, there was an unexpected commotion in the front gardens and yard of the X-Mansion where a rather harried and alarmed group of Misfits were convening along with the other X-Men and Joes.

"And so it begins…help them all," murmured Octavia as she and Falco looked on by while the X-Men, confused and puzzled, were trying to figure out what was the cause of the sudden clamor.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Ororo asked as Althea and the other Misfits traded looks of grim apprehension and dread amongst themselves before Wavedancer reported with dismal news.

"Mainframe and Hawkgirl just contacted us on our communicators," she said in a steel tone, "Hellfire Heartless have been spotted in Chicago, and one of the Organization creeps are there too, leading the siege! It just started several minutes ago, but Hawkgirl up on the Watchtower was able to spot it with the base's monitors, and alerted the Joes back at the Pit as well as our signal here at the Institute. And what's worse is that they're terrorizing the lower downtown areas along with the suburbs! Where Jesse D's radio station is located in!"

Kitty turned pale as she gasped holding a hand to her mouth.

"Mom…Dad…" she whimpered.

**Author's Notes: Next Friday, check back as the X-Men and Misfits head off to Chicago, Kitty's hometown where Xaldin is leading the rampage with the Hellfire Heartless in commencement of the Harvest. Expect the "List of the Dead" to increase from this point on as the heroes do their best to stop the damage done by the Organization and the Inner Circle, but when Piotr gets infected, will the Misfits still be able to help while protecting the city? And be prepared as a noble sacrifice is made and the first X-Man is blessed with the first of many gifts to come! Check back next Friday for the chapter, "Avalanche of Earth, Shadowcat of Light"! Until then, read and enjoy! Constructive criticism welcome!**


	21. Avalanche of Earth, Shadowcat of Light

**Author's Notes: Before anyone asks, I do wish to point out that the current version of the Ghostbusters is not mine, but rather, an inspired universe created by my friend and fellow author, Sparky Genocide, where he has created the plot of various beings of the supernatural and the paranormal to join with the members of the Ghostbusters to police the Earth of spiritual and paranormal threats. That said, whenever you see familiar characters from different cartoons showing up as part of the Ghostbusters, it is due to reference to Sparky Genocide's story who has graciously lent me his characters and universe to use here! Google "Sparky Genocide" and "Ghostbusters United" and you'll be able to find and read his story entirely if you are confused who has joined the Ghostbusters in this universe. That said, Danny Phantom isn't mine; he is property of Nelvana Studios and Nickelodeon. Now enjoy the chapter!**

**CHAPTER 21: Avalanche of Earth, Shadowcat of Light**

"What the hell- ?" cursed one police officer as he uselessly fired his gun at one towering behemoth, having the bullets bounce off its impenetrable hide, "**_Heartless?_** What in God's name are Heartless doing here?"

"Gee, I dunno! You wanna ask that big ugly giant yourself, Mitch?" snapped his fellow coworker sardonically as he aimed with his small bazooka and fired a direct missile payload into the chest of another towering black mass, dead center in its emblem. Unfortunately, though there was a considerable explosion and some discharge of fleshy matter and blood, the hole in its torso wasn't enough to cause it to falter and die as it merely roared and lumbered forward again.

It was indeed pandemonium in Chicago. Two Hellfire Heartless were ambling amuck in the city, and no amount of gunfire and missiles launched from the Chicago PD and the scant S.W.A.T. teams made available to the scene provided little effect against the experiments of the Organization. And though many men and women ran and tried to gain distance away from the creatures, they weren't able to escape the shafts of black lightning or the elongated arms and claws. As a result, numerous civilians and officers alike screamed and perished as their bodies disintegrated, releasing numerous pink crystals to hover serenely in the air. One frantic mother, who was separated from her five-year old son from the shoving and pushing of the crowd, screeched unbearably as her child was grabbed by one of the Heartless and killed right in front of her.

"My baby! My baby! Somebody, please, save my baby!" the mother screamed, but unfortunately, no one could do anything as the boy's heart ascended into the sky and vanished. Among the rooftops, Octavia and Falco were surveying the massacre with scrutiny, though Octavia winced as each random human was subjected to the excruciating agony of losing their heart.

"We can't back out now," Falco said stonily, as if reading her thoughts, "And keep a lookout for the Misfits and the X-Men. Chances are, one of those annoying losers will have the Talismans we need – well, speak of the devil. By Corneria, those pissants are getting way too predictable."

The Tigershark next to Falco bit her tongue and didn't bother with a reprimand as the Joes, Misfits and a small group of X-Men consisting of Wolverine, Cyclops, Rogue, Jean, Shadowcat, and Colossus teleported into the chaos with the Mass Device.

"Help protect the crowd and get everyone here under control and out of the way! Leave destroying the Heartless to us, and be careful that you also don't fall prey!" Roadblock yelled as he let loose with special, armor-piercing bullets doused with holy water and enchanted by Willow Rosenberg on one Heartless, the bombardment of shrapnel being actually a bit more effective than the bullets.

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in," grumbled Cyclops as the other Joes and Misfits joined in.

"Thank you, we will," Quicksilver said smarmily, overhearing Scott's mutter and rubbing it in for all it was worth with a toothy grin, before he sped off and said dramatically, "Strike Raid!"

"I hope that Keyblade circles back and hits the silver-haired loudmouth right in the kisser," Rogue said darkly as she helped pick up an elderly woman escape by swooping down and picking her up gently.

While Shadowcat was helping the police officers maintain control on the panicked mobs, she then heard three voices managing to waft their way to her ears above the din of the screaming and yelling and occasional explosion and magical war-cry. But then again, considering that these particular voices were bellowing at the top of their lungs, it really wasn't that hard to discern them out of the pandemonium.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, RICHARD!"

"WELL EXCUSE ME FOR TRYING TO DO A SERVICE TO SOCIETY AND CLOSE DOWN THE TRASH-TALK RADIO SHOW YOUR BOY-TOY HOSTS THAT COULD MAKE JERRY SPRINGER AND HOWARD STERN'S SHOWS SEEM LIKE DISNEY RADIO BY COMPARISON!"

"HEY, IT'S 'MUSIC', YOU FASCIST PHILLISTINE! AND LEADING A MOB FROM YOUR SCHOOL'S PTA ISN'T A SERVICE TO SOCIETY!"

"Gravia…Orbs of Force Crusher!" yelled Blob as he aimed one magical attack at one Heartless.

"Yeow! Watch it! This sucker's got a long reach!" Shipwreck yelped as he narrowly avoided one clawed hand from one Heartless that stretched towards the Joe sailor like rubber.

"Oh no…" groaned Shadowcat, wincing and feeling she was going to get a lot more drama as she turned and half-ran towards the scene of the brawl where she heard the three familiar voices.

"RICHARD, JUST GO RUN ALONG WITH THE OTHER IDIOTS WHO ARE TRYING TO FLEE FOR THEIR LIVES AND LEAVE ME AND JESSE ALONE!"

"YOU HEARD HER, SO GET LOST!" This voice was Jesse D's, of this, Kitty was certain, as she got nearer and nearer. So then that meant most likely he was arguing with…

"OH, I'M SORRY! YOU WANT SOME PRIVATE TIME SO YOU COULD CONTINUE TO GET CRADLE-ROBBED BY MY HARPIE OF AN EX-WIFE?"

Beach Head was literally cursing up a storm as he shot at the other Heartless with his rocket launcher, yelling, "Back! Back you bastard, back!"

"Oh no!" Xi wailed, "It's got more hearts! _They're fading!_"

"**_DIE, YOU CREEP!_**" yelled Daria, Quinn, and Brittany as they blitzed forward, their Trichrona Keyblades out and ready for major pawnage.

"It couldn't be them! I mean, out of all the times to do it and Chicago is a big city! There's like totally no way it could be them! What are like the chances they'd be here?" Shadowcat had to murmur to herself, but she really had a hard time convincing herself this.

"YOU JERK! YOU'RE NOT EXACTLY RUNNING FOR 'STABLE-PARENT-OF-THE-YEAR' YOURSELF BY CANOODLING OFF WITH YOUR GAY LOVER, RICHARD!"

"I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY HEARTLESS WOULD WANT YOUR HEART! YOU AND YOUR CHIPPENDALE LOOKALIKE DON'T EVEN HAVE THEM!"

"THAT'S IT! YOUR ASS IS MINE NOW, TUBBY!"

"Gaia Earthquake Force Rush!" yelled Avalanche, causing a gigantic fault to form and blast back one Heartless, but unfortunately, it wasn't enough. If anything, it just made the monster madder.

"Aquara Water Dragon!" yelled Wavedancer, sending a powerful waterspout to crash into one Heartless.

"God, like, please," Shadowcat pleaded to no one in particular in her prayer, "Please don't let this be what I think it is. Please, don't let this be another like one of my family moments during this, of all times. Please tell me this won't totally be…"

"You punch like a girl!" Richard Pryde shot back as he tussled and traded blows with Jesse D, Althea's cousin and a popular music DJ who was additionally Kitty Pryde's mother's lover (and yes, Kitty still had headaches and migraines to this day about **that** one).

"And you can't even satisfy one!" snarled Jesse, and considering that he had a bodybuilder's physique, he clearly had the upper hand as he tried to pin Mr. Pryde to the ground in order to subdue him in a wince-worthy wrestling move, "YEOW! He bit me! **_You just bit me!_**"

"Ha!" crowed Mr. Pryde as he used his knee to send Jesse flying off him before he tackled him with a renewed vigor, using his fists.

"Richard! Jesse! Both of you stop this now!" Mrs. Pryde was screaming, in her red sweater and jeans, standing on the sidelines and pleading for the two men to stop, but in their bloodlust, they were ignoring the yells of the woman and concentrated solely on beating each other up into a gory mess.

"**_Why won't you die?_**" yelled Beach Head irritably at one Heartless as he let loose with two grenades.

Toad shrieked as he dodged several attacks, crying out, "Yeow, yo! **This** one's sending lightning everywhere! Genie, give me strength! Help us out, yo!"

"Got it! One magically-sensitive lightning rod, courtesy of Phenomenal-Cosmic-Powers Incorporated, coming right up!" the blue Disney summon crowed before he managed to transform himself into a blue tower and safely take in all the black shafts of energy before they could strike the Misfits or the Joes.

Shadowcat felt her temples throb as she bit back a groan. Her mother, her father, and Jesse D. All of them fighting and arguing with each other during the middle of a Heartless invasion.

Apparently, God had a very strange sense of humor. At least in this universe.

And it only seemed like yesterday when Kitty was told by her parents at her birthday that they were getting a divorce, and that her father wanted to live with her friend's gay uncle and that her mother wished to move in with Jesse D, Althea cousin and Mrs. Pryde's mother. And yes, to this day, Kitty still needed therapy and counseling from the Professor (when she wasn't taking her frustrations out in the Danger Room).

"Like, a simple '_I-promise-to-not-screw-over-your-life_' would be too much to ask for, wouldn't it?" Shadowcat grumbled to the sky before she then gave a very sharp and menacing bark.

"If you three don't like stop right now, **_I WILL SHOOT ALL OF YOU!_**" Shadowcat screamed. All three of the adults stopped and turned to see to their surprise Kitty, in her X-Men uniform and brandishing her blue and pink glovatrix out for all to view. Mrs. Pryde just stood there, blinking. Mr. Pryde actually had a grip on Jesse's hair in his hand, and Jesse was frozen in mid-position, one hand yanking Mr. Pryde by the collar and the other cocked back and ready to deliver a fist to his opponent's face. Kitty took a deep breath before she clarified.

"I have a glovatrix with enough fire-power to destroy a reinforced army tank. **_Don't_** make me use it," Kitty said. The three adults hurriedly stood up and remained cordial, though Richard and Jesse still looked like they wanted to fight and kill each other.

"She obviously got it from _your_ side of the family…" Mr. Pryde muttered out of the corner of his mouth to his ex-wife.

"Dad….please, this is totally **not** the time," Kitty growled through gritted teeth, rubbing the bridge of her nose and contemplating if she could just shoot herself instead.

Meanwhile, Avalanche was busy using his magic when he suddenly felt a familiar and painful wave of nausea wash over him as every fiber of his body began to painfully throb and ache, sending uncontrollable spasms, his throat now feeling dry and cottony.

"Oh God…" Avalanche gasped, cradling his head as his convulsions continued, "Not now. **Please…**"

Simba immediately forgot all pretense and other concerns with the battle as he, Spirit, and Bree rushed over to the epileptic Misfit, and Simba screamed in his telepathic connection with his partner.

_Lance! What's wrong?_

The geokinetic was too busy shaking, one rivulet of blood trickling down his nostril and slightly foaming at his mouth, his chin covered with drool and his eyes rolling around in their sockets madly.

"He's having another attack!" Bree said instantly as she knelt next to him, fishing in her medical pack she brought with her in case of any emergencies.

"Can you help him keep it under control? He's causing a massive earthquake! If this continues, it'll destroy the whole block!" Spirit asked urgently, and Bree nodded as she fished out a hypodermic needle.

"I can't sedate him, but I can calm down the attacks! Just help the others! I've got it handled!" ordered the blond medic, and Spirit nodded as he armed himself with his crossbow and charged alongside Shipwreck and Dragonfly. Lance managed to croak out as he felt the little prick in his arm as Bree injected a component to lessen the adrenaline levels in his system.

"Simba…protect Kitty. Protect the Misfits and the X-Men. Please…do it, for me…" he rasped, and though he looked like he wanted to disobey and stay by his Keyblade wielder's side, the lion just growled before nodding his furry head and taking off. Unfortunately, the tremors caused by Lance were actually strong enough to cause the pavement and roads to wobble and collapse madly, rupturing pipes and cracking various buildings all around the metropolitan area.

"Yeow! Alvers, you idiot, what are you doing?" Cyclops yelped as a falling lamppost nearly crushed him, and Jean gasped in horror as she used her telekinesis to divert some rubble from a squadron of cops before it could fall and crush them from above.

"He's having another seizure!" she exclaimed. And it was additionally terrible considering that the tremors were also powering the two Hellfire Heartless, and now freshly enervated, one raised its claws to the sky and summoned an absolute cloud of black lightning, causing it to explode and spread out everywhere like a sonic wave.

"Yeow! Watch out!" Blind Master yelped as Whitelighter orbed him and Beach Head out of the destructive path, but some weren't so lucky. Though Genie tried, he could only divert so much, and the additional help of Jean's telekinesis couldn't shield everyone. Several more cops and lingering civilians perished, leaving nothing but their glowing hearts, and one shaft went directly towards Kitty and her family.

"Watch out!" Jesse yelled, and though Shadowcat managed to phase through it, it went past her and struck Mr. Pryde instead.

"NO!" Kitty screamed, horrified. She couldn't do anything, and her father was out of reach for her to grab in instinct to begin with.

"Richard!" screamed Kitty's mom as she made a mad dash to do something, _anything_, but Jesse D grabbed the woman roughly around the waist and restrained her from doing something foolish, maintaining his grip tightly.

"Don't…just don't!" Jesse hissed with steel, trying to calm down and prevent the woman from endangering her life as well, knowing that there was nothing else that could be done as the black lightning faded and Mr. Pryde's body disintegrated, leaving nothing but a shining pink heart crystal in its place. It hovered in the air, glowing in a cyclic rhythm from low to high intensity, before it hovered up in the air and vanished.

Kitty was already breaking down, falling to her knees and sobbing.

"Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!" she kept wailing piteously, not caring if she was in peril any longer, covering her face with her hands and the one image of her father dying in front of her eyes forever branded into her brain.

"Yeow!" yelped Quicksilver as he dashed in and out between shafts, weaving safely around the energy attacks, "What gives? These Heartless are tougher to beat!"

"They got stronger from absorbing Lance's tremors! Since they were generated from his mutant powers, it allows the Hellfire Heartless to absorb the energy and replenish themselves! They now fully recharged and still madder than before!" gulped Quinn as she analyzed this on her scanners.

"They're certainly smarter! They're not just standing around and attacking anything on sight like before! And these two are actually _trying to dodge_ out attacks a lot more!" gulped Dragonfly as she finished using her Sonic Blade technique with her Icewing, trying to hack off a Heartless' foot and trying to cause it to stumble. Unfortunately, the experiment got wise to the insect-girl's scheme and fluidly strafed to the side before trying to grab the Misfit with its elongated hands. Thankfully, she flew off before it could make contact.

"Wow! The Organization's must have been really upgrading the Heartless on the brains department! All for one…!" Daria cried.

"…and one for all!" Quinn and Brittany finished, bringing their pink Keyblades with their sister's.

"**_TRINITY LIMIT!_**" the Triplets yelled, blasting back the two Heartless with their Keyblade attack. With a massive flash of bright pink, the two specimens howled with pain as the time energy singed their hides, but instead of perishing, they became absolutely livid as they charged again.

"They just won't give up! Blizzaga Arctic Requiem!" Dragonfly yelled, summoning her violin and freezing one Heartless' arms before it could use its appendages to snare and drain them, causing the limbs to break apart in two as the ice energy crystallized them.

"And I can't use the staff on 'em! Not if they're not people who were infected and if they're not weak enough for me to finish them off!" Wavedancer cursed over her communicator as she rode on Dumbo's back.

Colossus then saw a familiar black orbed figure teleport above the grieving and oblivious Shadowcat and to his horror, he had a familiar object in his gloved hand…

"_Katya_, watch out!" Colossus yelled as he dove and got right in front of Kitty as Xaldin sent the spore down…only to infect Piotr instead. The Russian X-Man fell to his knees in absolute pain, holding his mid-section as he screamed in agony and felt his body alter itself horrifically.

"My God…" Jesse gasped, his face pale.

"Peter!" screamed Kitty helplessly as the transformation was complete, and the newly gained Heartless from the Hellfire spore was revealed to everyone's disgust and revulsion. The Heartless was mammoth, over ten feet tall now, was its physical musculature was hulking, bulging with noticeable ridges of corded flesh underneath its smooth, touch black hide. Classifying the monster of having a "body-builder's physique" would have not done it any justice and been woefully inadequate. Though it was still human-looking with Piotr's telltale crew-cut hairstyle and had two arms and two legs and a human-like face, it was still terrifyingly grotesque. The jaw was protruding out abnormally and pointed, and along with its narrow, slanted yellow eyes of no life and consciousness, the teeth were lined with triangular metal teeth similar to that of a shark. And as the hide began to encase itself with metal plates similar to Colossus' mutation, the heroes noticed another grim fact about the creature. Instead of hands and claws, the Hellfire drone had two hammers of solider steel. And on the head of each hammer was the black-and-red insignia of the Heartless.

"Peter! Peter, it's us, your friends!" Shadowcat tried to scream at Piotr, hoping she could break through to him, but with a frenzied roar, the Hellfire Heartless that was once Colossus now fully shielded itself, encasing its skin and hide with an impenetrable shell of organic steel plates. Xaldin grinned, showing all of his white teeth, his blue eyes shining with delight.

"Colossus…take their hearts," he intoned wickedly, and with that and causing the ground to tremble slightly from its wake, the Heartless charged at running speeds, leaving potholes in the blacktop road the size of manholes.

"This isn't good!" Jean cried.

"Gee, Jean, thanks for statin' the obvious!" snapped Rogue as she deftly lifted a car over head before she hurled it directly at the charging opponent who merely sent it back with one brush of its hammer-appendage.

---

Back at Xavier's School of the Gifted in Bayville, New York…

"This stinks!" muttered Ray hotly, sulking on the couch, "Not only are there Heartless in Chicago and the Misfits still have the Keyblades and magic, but we're stuck here under house-arrest because the Professor's afraid it's too dangerous while Scott, Jean and the others get to go off and fight where the action is! It doesn't make any sense!"

"I do not think that it is a bad situation, Ray," Rina half-growled as she chewed on her apple while sitting on the couch, "Kitty was logically allowed to leave because she could phase herself defensively and avoid any contact with the Hellfire spores, and Colossus wished to come to give her emotional support and lend his strength. And Rogue, Jean, and Scott were the only ones the Professor would trust to handle the battle and help get the innocent civilians out of the way and lessen the damage done by the Thirteenth Order. The rest of us needed to stay here in case the Mansion is open and left vulnerable to attack since the Organization has tried divide-and-conquer tricks before, but the all the Misfits were needed in Chicago to go fight the Heartless and in case anyone needed one of their Keyblades to seal a stolen heart. That's why Quentin from the Ghostbusters sent the Slayer recruits along with that ghost-boy to help guard the premises. It makes perfect sense to send all the Keyblades to completely eliminate the Heartless attack in San Francisco while fortifying the Mansion here with additional help in case the Inner Circle and the Hellfire Heartless strike here."

"As much as I hate to admit it, the _fille_ has a point," Remy grumbled, though one can tell he was incredibly sour for not being there with Rogue in Chicago, "Should those Heartless _conardes_ attack us here, we can at least hole up ourselves in the Mansion and in the lower basement and have a better chance of keeping outta reach. Though Remy gotta say that even with the additional spells the Charmed _sorcières_ and Willow put up all around the school, Remy don't feel any safer."

"I know," Amara said as she shivered to herself, hugging her knees to her chest as she watched her friends play on the Game Cube, "If that Organization guy with the Keyblades could come in here and wreck our consoles and communications center and create a barrier to keep us out in the open, then nothing the Halliwells or any witch and wizard we know can really prevent them from doing anything to us or the school."

"Well, except Wolverine. Last time I checked, the Badger's immune now that his heart's locked," Tabitha mused.

Jubilee's voice was a bit soft as she paused, letting Roberto beat up her Samus Aran, before she spoke, "I just hope he'll be all right. Even if he **is** immune, he can still get badly hurt."

"And at least we have some of the Slayers the Ghostbusters sent here ta' guard our school along with that new kid. Dang, what's his name? the one who showed us he's half-ghost or somethin' from some kind of experiment his parents did? Danny Fenton?" Sam pondered.

"_Phantom_, actually," Tabitha corrected as she twirled a lock of her hair idly with one finger, "Still, gotta admit that for a half-ghost, if he was a little older and our age, he'd be a total cutie."

"Of course you'd think that one, Boom-Boom," Kurt managed to tease in a slightly jovial voice, but inside, he was deeply worried for Kitty, Piotr, and the others.

"Yeah, and we're stuck here with a dumb Disney dog who's not going to help us out, even though this is our battle too and we've been fighting the Heartless ever since we started investigating in Jump City!" the red-and-yellow haired adolescent grumbled.

"Quit griping. Batman said that Pluto has shown reason that he's on our side, Ray, so if anything, having him here would be a lot safer," Roberto sighed, not looking up from his game of (ironically) "Super Smash Bros. Melee" with Jamie, Kurt, and Jubilee (and Jamie was using Falco himself). The electrokinetic made a grimace of disgust.

"Hate to break this to the supporters of the _We-Love-Batman _fan-club, but the Batman **isn't** always right," Ray retorted. Roberto and Jamie glowered at their teammate in response. Pluto opened one eye and looked balefully at Bezerker, but didn't even move from his position as he continued to slumber, his nose bobbing up and down adorably from his snoozing.

Meanwhile, outside on the lawns and grounds of the X-Mansion, the aforementioned Ghostbuster recruits were slowly and warily scouting the perimeters…

While floating on air, Danny Phantom gave a big wince as he heard the explosion come from Beast's laboratory along with the sharp scream followed by a series of hollering for someone's intervention

"Forge! Get back here and take your beating like a man!" Hank was heard roaring loudly, and considering that Danny, Kennedy, and Shannon were a good distance away from the building, this was no small accomplishment. And likewise, they could hear the X-Men's inventor pleading for mercy.

"It was an accident! Don't kill me! **Don't kill me!** **_Help, help, help!_**"

The half-ghost adolescent turned to Shannon and Kennedy with a hesitant expression of disbelief.

"Are things always **this** crazy with the X-Men?" he asked, causing the two girls to share a knowing look before smirking at their teammate. Unlike them, this was Danny Fenton's first experience with the mutant peacekeepers.

"Trust me, you haven't seen what it's like when the X-Men, G.I. Joe, and the Misfits get together. Compared to the insanity that comes from those run-ins, this is actually considered peaceful," Shannon said with wry humor.

"I didn't think it was possible, but apparently, I've met people who are more insane than my parents, Valerie, and Vladimus _combined_," groaned Danny.

"Look at it this way: they're nuts, but a good kind of nuts," Kennedy said without much concern, "You'll get used to it eventually. If anything, be more concerned about any Organization creeps that could be lurking around…"

And speaking of which, a lone black orbed figure was idly and sulkily teleporting himself among the cover of the grove next to the mansion, revealing himself to be a blue-eyed, youthful male sporting a mullet of brown hair and a frowning face like a temperamental child. It was apparent that Demyx wasn't exactly having the greatest time of his life.

"Oohhhhh…" whined the Organization member to himself (and it was clear to any outsider that he was most likely the most immature participant of the entire order), "I **_told_** them they were sending the wrong guy to do this! I **_hate_** reconnaissance work! I didn't want to do anything today! Rotten Luxord and Xaldin! Mean Luxord and Xaldin! Can't they take a joke? Sheesh, some Nobodies have no sense of humor and…oh yeah, we don't have a sense of humor to _begin with_."

Still, like a typical child, Demyx pouted before kicking the ground in frustration, sulking and carrying on with his tantrum. He then perked up as he saw through an opening in the bushes the Slayers Vi and Rona, armed with stakes, knives, and a mace, patrolling the gardens, and suddenly, the Organization warrior decided on a little fun.

"Heh heh heh…" Demyx chuckled, summoning his weapon which turned out to be a large and bulky sitar with strings of sea-foam and colored the purest tinge of blue from the cleanest lake and stream. Perhaps he could have a little fun with killing these girls right before he caused a little chaos in the Institute, and two ordinary Slayer girls would hardly be a match against fifty or so clones of water.

"Dance, water, da- !" began Demyx, plucking the strings, but then a rumble of anger from behind made his eyes widened, and slowly, as he gulped, Demyx turned around to find himself face to face with a hulking, furry figure with a sword pointed right into his face.

"You want to press you luck, pal?" the giant rumbled with the purest form of a threat.

Demyx then did the only thing that naturally came to him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Demyx screamed, which brought Danny and the other Slayers running only to spot the infamous black robed being dashing out from the wood.

"Organization Thirteen!" Danny growled as he brought out his proton gun, and Kennedy braced herself with her twin swords as she made her threat clear.

"You better back off, chump, or else we're - !" but Kennedy didn't even have time to finish that sentence as Demyx ran by her and the other Ghostbusters.

Yes. _Ran by them._

"Run away! **_RUN AWAY!_**" Demyx screamed shrilly before he madly dashed out the underbrush, ignoring the Slayers completely as he then dove into a portal of darkness and nothingness, and before any of the girls could stop him, the Organization member vanished into thin air completely.

Needless to say, the Slayers and Danny were a bit…surprised. Out of all the possible outcomes they heard and expected from the Thirteenth Order for a battle, this wasn't one of them.

Rona had the biggest _what-the-hell-just-happened_ expression on her face, his mouth turned downwards into a shocked grimace. Vi just continued to blink and stare blankly ahead. Shannon and Kennedy actually looked wildly around, expecting this to be a trick of some sort and that there would be an ambush all around them. And to further confuse them, there wasn't anyone else they could detect with their Slayer sense, which made this situation more genuine…and unbelievable. Caridad's mouth was slightly open as she turned around and continued looking at the spot where Demyx disappeared. Dana kept opening and closing her mouth as if she wanted to say something snide or sarcastic, but considering that they just saw an Organization member run cowardly for his life, she couldn't think up of the words in her frozen brain.

Chao-Ahn just managed to sum it all nicely in English with her translator, asking in a dazed voice, "Did he just…run away?"

"Something must've scared him. And considering that he was running _towards_ us, it definitely wasn't our group," Kennedy said slowly, narrowing her eyes in thought. Danny meanwhile took out a PKE meter and scanned the area all around them, especially the spot where the hooded man in the black cloak teleported away.

"I'm getting a reading…whoa, this is weird, but the PKE scanner says that it's all around Xavier's Institute!" Danny said in amazement, "And before you ask, it isn't dark energy or any sort of malicious ectoplasmic reading we've seen before from the Heartless or from that Organization guy. In fact…wow, it's actually similar to the energy that is the unique signature of the Elementa magic the Misfits use!"

Vi blinked as she said in surprise, "The Misfits? But they're not here! All of them left for Chicago to the fight the Hellfire Heartless!"

"That's odd," Caridad said slowly, "Then who else could have cast that magic?"

Leomon just softly chuckled to himself as he looked down upon the Slayers from his position on the Institute's roof, hidden amongst the trees that were blocking their view of him, as he finished invoking the shield of earth energy all around the grounds of the school, his magic forming a sphere of the King's power above and below the ground. Just like the one he cast at the Pit before.

If Organization Thirteen and the Heartless were hoping to attempt to use the divide-and-conquer trick to attack Xavier's Institute of the Gifted and murder the rest of the X-Men, if not destroy their home and ransack their belongings, they would be in for another disappointment.

Granted, it was a risk coming here again, but with the Joes and a good number of the mutants in Chicago and having the satisfaction of driving away Demyx, it was worth it. Still, it wouldn't prevent other enemies such as Cobra or the Inner Circle's mutants from attacking, but it was better than nothing.

With that and feeling that the spell he cast was more than satisfactory enough, Leomon jumped slightly up and faded into thin air, hiding amongst the bright afternoon sky.

---

"Peter, stop! It's us! Can't you remember?" Shadowcat kept screaming at the Heartless that was once her boyfriend, Colossus.

"It's no good! He won't listen to us! He's only taking orders from the Organization!" Blind Master yelled as he threw several steel shuriken at the metal Heartless, only to have the sharpened projectiles bounce of its armor. Meanwhile, Wolverine, Rogue, Cyclops, and Jean were livid as they charged and blitzed Xaldin, remembering that Althea told them that the Organization members themselves weren't immune to mutant powers.

"You're gonna pay for this with your head, bub! And then I'll rip out yer nuts as the standard tip!" snarled Wolverine as he executed a series of ferocious jabs with his claws at Xaldin who parried as fast as he could with his lances in his hands while Jean wonderfully complemented her input to the battle by using her telekinesis to hold the free spears dancing on the air currents. Now Xaldin only had to fight with two of his six weapons, giving Logan a even chance to win.

Still, Xaldin was hardly worried. With a sneer, the black-robed warrior summoned a ferocious gust of wind that blew Wolverine backward and caused Jean to lose her telekinetic hold on the enemy's spears.

"Another time, vermin," Xaldin scoffed as a shadow began to loom and descend upon him from above…

CRASH!

Xaldin certainly didn't see the car come crashing down on him, but he felt the result as Rogue power-slammed the BMW she hefted with her strength and brought it down upon the man's head, pressing the Nobody to the pavement to be sandwiched by a heavy automobile.

"Talk about the pot callin' the kettle black, ya' roadkill pancake!" the girl with white bangs growled, but to her surprise, she was forcefully blown backwards by another strong cyclone of wind as Xaldin sent her flying, not the least bit injured from having several hundred pounds of metal crush him from above.

"Geez, this guy doesn't stay down!" Cyclops groaned as he fired another optic blast.

Meanwhile, Jesse had a brilliant moment of inspiration strike him as he saw one shaft of energy from a Hellfire Heartless strike another officer and caused the human to die, surrendering his heart to the voids unknown.

"That's it!" Jesse thought wildly, and as the Hellfire Heartless them shot another blast of dark lightning, the young man managed to twist his mutant shield in such as way where the shaft of crackling magical energy ricocheted off the opposing surface and flew upwards towards the sky…and right into the cloaked back of Xaldin himself.

"Aaaaaaaaaaa!" hollered Xaldin as the black energy managed to actually pierce through his bubble of wind and nail him directly between the shoulder blades. At first, Jesse was exuberant, inwardly cheering that such a magical attack would kill the Organization member and help the X-Men. But to his growing realization and dread, Xaldin whirled around, livid, to see the male below him still generating his mutant shield against the Hellfire Heartless. He didn't die nor lose his heart from the reflected energy generated by his own soldiers, despite what most sci-fi movies would tell otherwise.

"Oh crap…" Jesse blinked, realizing that things weren't going to way he expected. The Nobody with raven-colored dreadlocks furiously grabbed three Dragoon lances with his hands while sending the other three to hammer and jab mercilessly at Cyclops, Jean, Shadowcat, Wolverine and Rogue below.

"Heartless, go after the other mutants," growled Xaldin as he swooped down like a hawk with a murderous expression on his face, "I shall personally murder this one…"

"Leave him alone, you jerk! Aeroga Guardian Hurricane!" Quicksilver roared, shielding Jesse and Mrs. Pryde (who was still nearby) with a protective bubble of wind and warding Xaldin back while Fred tried again.

"Gravia…Orbs of Force Crusher!" but to the Misfit's horror, nothing happened.

"Aw, crap! I'm still not recharged yet! I used up all my magical energy or something!" Blob wailed.

Xi took the Initiative as he raised his Rainforest Scale above his head and cried out, "No you won't! **Give me strength!** Bambi, come out and help us!"

"Mushu, you too! Help my useless brother! **_Give me strength!_**" yelled Scarlet Witch as she raised her Vengeful Blaze, and at once the two summons materialized with a grand spectacle of lights and magical energies. The deer fawn immediately began to prance and jump with leaps and bounds, scattering mana orbs everywhere and recharging the Misfits everywhere while Mushu peppered the Heartless with fire blasts.

Meanwhile, Kitty was unable to run from the metal Heartless, and Colossus was about to crush her with one final blow with his hammer when Simba, roaring, rushed by and snatched her away right before the mallet fell, crushing the spot where she once stood. Shadowcat could only gasp as Simba threw the girl onto his back while he galloped away from Colossus.

"No! Go back! Simba, like go back, please! Peter's still a Heartless! Please, Simba, save him! Please, I'm begging you! Go back!" Shadowcat cried, practically screaming. The lion growled in a commiserating manner, but he shook his head, denying Kitty's request as he maintained his distance from the infected Colossus. Lance's orders were to save Kitty, and it wouldn't make much sense to continue endangering her life if Simba took Shadowcat back to the Heartless to fight it.

Meanwhile, Lance, still being treated by a frantic Bree, woozily managed to see Kitty being distraught and remembered that even though Piotr was his rival…Kitty still loved him and he would be a heel if he didn't do something, anything.

But how?

While teetering between the brink of consciousness and unconsciousness, Avalanche then took a final gamble, one out of pure desperation and because his brain was so fuzzy from his seizures. It didn't seem it would do anything, but then again, considering Pluto was the one who blessed him with the Elementa magic and the Keyblade in the first place…

"Plu-…Pluto…help me…" Lance rasped, blood trickling out of one nostril.

Back at the X-Mansion, Pluto, unbeknownst to the mutant teenagers around him, made a connection as he literally astral projected from his body and into the plane where Lance could see and hear him. The Professor, from his office as he was trying to calm down a meek Forge and a apoplectic and singed Hank along with Tessa and Ororo, felt a sudden jolt touch him in the back of his mind.

"My word…" Xavier said, not sure what just happened.

Meanwhile, back at the battlefield…

At first, Lance thought he was hallucinating until he could feel the wet, sandpapery touch of the hound's tongue caressing his cheek and whimpering softly. Why Bree couldn't see him was beyond all sense and rationalization, but Lance didn't give too much effort in that thought as he pleaded weakly.

"Pluto…can you heal me?"

Pluto gave Lance the saddest look in his life before he whined and shook his head. It was apparent that the dog couldn't grant that request, not because he didn't wish to but because he couldn't. Pluto, like everyone else, has his limitations.

"Damn…" Lance muttered. It figures. And he was so sick of this, of having his attacks and convulsions brought by the errants in his genetic code coming in and crippling him at the most inopportune times, like being locked in a battle for your life and countless other lives via the Heartless. And Kitty was still in danger…

"Can you protect Kitty, then?" he weakly asked, a little louder. This time, Bree heard Avalanche and mistakenly took the question as meant for her since there was no one else around.

"I…I'll try Lance, but I can't promise since I don't have a Keyblade to fight with," the blond medic answered hesitantly as she injected a syringe full of medicine to lessen the intensity of the pain from the seizures. She was clearly trying to humor the teen. Lance just ignored her as he pleaded again in his mind, hoping that Pluto could listen to him.

"Pluto…help Kitty, please. I can't help her…like this," Lance croaked. Pluto blinked and titled his head to the side quizzically, as if confused why Lance would want such as thing until the geokinetic clarified for the canine.

"Look, I know she's over me, and I respect that, but…but I still care for her. Please! She needs help and she just lost her Dad! As much as I hate the Russkie, I don't want him dead or to kill anyone! Not that I wouldn't mind him doing it to Summers and Red - "

There was an angry snort of disapproval as Pluto gave Lance a reprimanding look for that thoughtless remark, and Lance immediately became sorry he said it as he begged as much as he could despite the pain searing in every muscle fiber of his body.

"Look, please, just help Kitty! Give her a chance to save the Metal-Man and the X-Geeks! Teach her magic too! You have to! She can't use her powers on the Hellfire Heartless!" Lance weakly coughed, and Pluto gave Avalanche the deepest look of pity and apology as he shook his head.

Avalanche knew that look; he'd seen it so many times before on the various social workers, teachers, and heck, even Kitty's face at times. The look that said with some remorse, _I-can't-do-that_.

"Pluto, please! Kitty's in danger! And I can't save her! Not like this! You can't be fully out of magic and Keyblades and stuff! Isn't there any backup thing you have? A secret reserve power of something? Another Keyblade? **_Please_**, Pluto…Kitty's in danger."

Pluto shook his head again, this time making a grunt that clearly said that he could not do what Avalanche asked, no matter how many times he begged. Lance, out of the deepest pit of desperation then tried another tactic that one could only term as insane and reckless, if not foolishly noble.

"Then…then take **my** magic," Avalanche said hoarsely before he got into a coughing fit.

Pluto's eyes went wide with shock, giving an odd noise of bewilderment, as his floppy ears perked up and his tail shot up to the sky like a steel rod, thinking that he didn't hear right. Avalanche then repeated it to Pluto more insistently.

"Take my magic, take my gift you gave me and give it to Kitty. Even if it's just one time, give it to her! Let her have a chance to defend herself and save Colossus!"

Pluto hesitated, actually looking reluctant…but he didn't shake his head or say no. And Lance guessed why.

"You can do it, can't you?" the Misfit coughed weakly, "What Jean saw in your mind when she showed us, you can take our gifts and give them to other people, right? You can change your decision if you want to, right? So you can pass off my magic to Kitty if you really wanted to, right?"

Pluto gave him a long, sorrowful look. He wanted to lie, but decided against it, and he nodded without saying anything. Lance became even more hopeful as he wheezed out his plea.

"Pluto, give it to her! Even if it's just one time, give it to her! Take my magic and give it to Kitty so she can protect the other X-Geeks and save Peter! Please, I'm willing! _I'm willing to give it up!_"

Pluto still looked unwilling to comply, torn between humoring Lance and the fact that he didn't want to do this. The earth-shaker then pleaded a final time before he lost consciousness.

"Pluto…she's got a strong heart too. I wouldn't ask you to do this if she didn't. Please, take it and give it to her!"

This time, Bree heard Lance murmur this loudly enough over the din of the fighting, and she blinked, confused.

"Lance, what are you talking about? Pluto's not here!" she said breathlessly, unsure of herself, as she gently shook Lance's shoulder to get his attention. But Avalanche had already passed out.

Meanwhile, Shadowcat was trying to make her way towards the metal-armored Colossus-Heartless, ignoring the yells of frustration from her fellow X-Men as they fought Xaldin and the hollers of pain and fighting-adrenaline from the Misfits and the Joes as they tried their best to incapacitate the three Heartless and not kill Piotr in his infected state. Even though it was foolish, Kitty didn't care. She already lost her father, and she would be damned if she'd lose Piotr as well.

Thankfully, Simba wasn't having it as he remembered Lance's orders and blocked the valley girl's path, stopping her from advancing. Kitty was so tempted to phase through the lion, but then again, considering he was a magical beast, she wasn't sure if it was possible. Thankfully, her voice was enough to get her message through.

"Like, get out of my way! Peter's there! I'm not losing him!" Shadowcat threatened. Simba shook his head, rumbling dangerously. Kitty then tried to sidestep him, but the Disney lion got in her way again, making it clear that he would uphold Lance's orders to the letter, and Kitty felt her patience break due to her anger and grief. She then utilized her mutant powers and tried to phase through Simba, expecting the familiar cold feeling of passing through solid matter. So imagine her surprise that she solidly collided against Simba's furry head and was forcibly pushed back with a hard nudge, sent fumbling backwards. Shadowcat was stunned.

"I…I _can't_ phase through you?" she half-gasped. Simba narrowed his eyes and shook his head. Kitty was now starting to become frantic.

"Like, let me through!" she shouted furiously at Simba who continued to block her way, "Please, let me through! Peter's still in there, deep down! I can still try and reach him, even though he's still a Heartless! **_Please!_** Like, let me help and try to save Peter!"

Simba growled and shook his head again, and Kitty completely went ballistic as she then screamed, "Like, what is wrong with you? Do you and Lance actually **_want_** Peter to die? Is that like it?"

The orange-furred lion gave Shadowcat a deepest look of disgust and anger at that statement which Kitty immediately felt ashamed. There were several tense seconds between them while the Disney summon just silently glared daggers with promise of furry retribution at the mutant female.

"I'm sorry…" she whispered, "I didn't mean that."

Simba just turned his head away in loathing; though he loved and respected Lance, he wondered what in the name of the Pride Lands did he ever see in this vain, selfish, air-headed female. Shadowcat was about to beg some more when she felt suddenly woozy, and feeling faint, she collapsed on her knees. Alarmed, Simba was about to rush over and help the teenager up when he stopped short and stared, his jowls dropping in surprise.

There, in the middle of Kitty's forehead, was the yellow symbol of the Lumiga Kingdom, the King's magic of the element of light.

_Impossible_, gasped Simba to himself. Meanwhile, Kitty closed her eyes, her head swimming and her vision blurring so much that it hurt, holding her hands to her throbbing forehead. And yet, even amid battle, she couldn't hear or feel anything, almost as if she was displaced into another realm or plane of nothing but silence and peace. And in her mind, to her further amazement, she could see…Pluto?

No, there was no question about it. It was as if he was really there, wagging his tail happily and panting, looking at Kitty with love.

"Pluto…" Kitty said hoarsely, her throat hot with grief, "My Dad, Peter, everyone…please, help me. Like, I don't want to lose them. Please, give me a miracle to save everyone."

Pluto's eyes were warm as his eyes began to glow if a soft yellow, his pupils radiating in soft tones of the sun, and Kitty instantly felt a warm surge of power flowing all around her, easing her grief and lessening the petrified feelings of cold throughout her body. And she could feel the words come to her out of nowhere, instructing her on exactly what to say to channel this new blissful power.

But the only difference between her and the Misfits was that there was no voice instructing her.

Shadowcat then opened her eyes, her pupils glazed and hollow, as she stood up slowly and demurely, the sigil on her head glowing even brighter, her mouth slack as she then reacted in the only way that could make sense to her.

"Like, LUMIGA…!" yelled Shadowcat, building up her voice over the roars and bedlam of the battle as she pointed her forefinger up into the air, invoking a blinding star of yellow luminescence all around the field as it originated from her fingertip. In a flash, tiny, thin wisps of illumination surged towards the teenager and collectively gathered in her hand, nearly blinding everyone around her.

The other Misfits, Joes and X-Men were shocked and startled to say the least.

"What the hell is Kitty doing?" Shipwreck blurted out in puzzled bewilderment, but Wavedancer and Blind Master guessed it at once.

"I don't believe it! Kitty's…doing magic now! I can sense it! It's magic, the same magic Pluto's given all of you!" the Joe ninja master exclaimed.

"Impossible!" Xi gasped in awe as Shadowcat, with a fierce look on her face, pointed her glowing finger at the metal-armored giant that was once Colossus before she finished her bellow.

"…MOONBEAM SHOWER!" the X-Girl shouted, and at once, the convergence of light faded.

"Whoa! What the heck is goin' on?" Rogue gasped as she and the other X-Men could only look upon the scene in astonishment and growing surprise as Kitty raised her hand higher to the sky, and from her finger, a solid thin beam of yellow moonlight shot up and disappeared into the sky, fading into the light blue atmosphere…before the sky began to rain down a multitude of yellow shafts of light all over the city, each one hammering down and striking like a missile. And each one of the moonbeams was particular painful, an intense beam of light energy. All three of the Heartless and Xaldin were besieged at the streams of magic engulfed them and the battlefield.

Xaldin managed to use his array of lances to shield himself from the main brunt of the assault, but he still couldn't avoid the shafts of magic as the light surged through his body, setting every portion and cell of his being in excruciating torment. The Organization member screamed as the attack subsided and he gave Shadowcat the biggest glare he could, his black cloak smoking from the intense moonlight striking him.

The other X-Men actually stopped and stared, stunned beyond all forms of comprehension.

"Well, holy shit!" cursed Wolverine, "The half-pint knows magic! I don't believe it! The half-pint knows magic now! And it's that Lumiga crap magic, that magic based on the element of light!"

"That means…she has a purer heart! And because she's got a stronger heart, she got one of the Misfit's magic! Well whaddya know! Who would have thunk Miss Valley-Girl'd have a purer heart?" Rogue stammered in amazement, holding a hand to her mouth.

Jean gave Rogue a sardonic look as she said, "Rogue, these are the Misfits we're talking about. It's a given she'd be more pure than some of them."

Daria felt her heart ease up in relief upon its rapid pounding against her ribcage as she saw the levels of strength and dexterity of the Heartless experiment drop significantly enough though her scanner.

"Wavedancer, Peter's weakened enough now! You better do your thing!" the Triplet sister shouted over her communicator which prompted to act with her staff.

"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!" the ninja girl cried out, and the poorly battered metal ogre let loose the most piercing howl of pain as the ten colorful sigils engulfed followed by the ever-so familiar final scene of the pillar of light…

_Kawhoom!_

"It's Peter! He's back! You did it!" Jean exclaimed with joy and relieved gratitude as the light faded to reveal a now restored and whole metal form of the X-Man, Colossus, before he fell to the concrete with a mighty thud, forming a crater with his bulky, armored frame, as his heart crystal landed with cracking noises on the sidewalk next to him.

"Oh no…" Cyclops murmured, realizing what was coming next.

"I got it!" yelled Quicksilver as he dashed forward with his super-speed, but Xaldin then invoked a mighty tornado with three of his spears, and yelping, the Misfit speedster actually had to swerve madly and skid before leaping out of the way to avoid being stabbed to death. Descending lightly back to the ground, the Organization wind-rider snarled as he then brought the two lances in his hands and formed a vicious typhoon right in front of the Joes, Misfits, and X-Men, threatening to rip them to shreds.

"Yeow!" yelped Low Light as he transformed to steel, "What gives? This guy's wind magic is sharp, like knives!"

Sure enough, as the Joe sniper protectively held Cover Girl to his chest and shielded her with his body, the back of his uniform were already ripped to shreds, fabric flapping off in the gusts and exposing his metal back. If he hadn't transformed his atomic structure to solid steel, he would have been severely lacerated. And though Jesse, Jean, and Genie (humorously enough, using a giant parasol umbrella) used their powers to protect everyone from being severely wounded, it still held them at a standstill.

"That heart is mine, pests!" Xaldin growled as he reached for Colossus' heart, but another form struck the spear-wielding warrior from his blind spot.

"Aeroga Shadow Phantasm!" Falco roared, barreling like an unstoppable bullet, his blue, lithe body encased with a silver column of harsh winds that would have decimated and rent anything in its path, and sensing the danger, Xaldin took the two weapons in his hands to summon another protective bubble of air to counter the avian's magic. Both attacks struck with full force, causing a backlash of air to erupt and spread everywhere, with Falco doing his best to not give the Organization member an inch. Octavia, meanwhile was staying close to Piotr's unconscious body as she picked up the X-Men's heart and probed it deeply, not allowing herself to overlook anything vital.

"Now!" yelled Scarlet Witch as she struck along with Xi, "Fire Crimson Whirlwind!"

"Woodra Leafblight Revolution!"

Xaldin disappeared when the fire and wood attacks sped towards him, and Falco barely had enough time to dodge the magical combination himself, back-flipping and having his red jacket display a few nasty charred lacerations.

"Hey, you nimrod lunatics! You nearly hit me!" squawked Falco in anger.

"Oh golly gee, _that_ would have been such a shame," Wanda drawled, her voice simply dripping with sarcasm as she, Mushu, Bambi, and Xi charged. Falco then went for the defense.

"Reflega!" he squawked, sending numerous shrapnel of his shielding magic attack the four rather painfully and giving him some breathing room.

"Uh, hate to break this, but those other two Hellfire Heartless are still going around! We may have cured Peter but we haven't dealt with them yet!" Shipwreck yelled directly with dire need as he emptied his dual Desert Eagle pistols into the backs of the abominations.

"Kitty, use your newfangled magic thing again!" Rogue shouted, and Shadowcat nodded before she pointed at the Heartless again.

"Lumiga Moonbeam Shower!" she cried, but to her horror, nothing happened.

"Huh, what's going on? Nothing like happened!" Kitty gasped. That feeling, that warm and wonderful sensation and phenomenon of tapping into something huge and glorious and influentially vigorous and powerful…was gone. Octavia then sighed with disappointment as she tossed the heart at Wolverine who caught it in surprise.

"It was no Talisman, X-Men. Perhaps next time…" and with that, both she and Falco took off, jumping to the rooftops of the nearest skyscrapers and vanished from sight. Unfortunately, even though the soldier from the Thirteenth Order was gone and Piotr was back to normal, it didn't stop the other two Heartless from trying to kill all of them. And Simba looked on worriedly at Bree and Avalanche who were still out in the middle of the battlefield.

"**_Simba, GO!_**" Shadowcat cried, phasing Beach Head nearby so that the Heartless' magic would pass by them safely, "Go get Lance! I'm all right now and so is Peter, but go help Lance and Bree!"

The lion, after bellowing a vicious Proud Roar attack to send the Hellfire Heartless skittering backwards, turned and looked at Kitty incredulously.

"Look, Avalanche's more important than me even though I have magic because like he's got a Keyblade and he's your friend, so go!" Shadowcat said hurriedly as she loaded her glovatrix with a cutter missile.

Simba looked torn…until Kitty then said the words he needed to hear.

"Simba…like, just follow your heart. Doing the right thing means bending if not totally breaking some rules. And Lance wouldn't want you to feel guilty. He needs you, and I don't," Shadowcat said, her blue eyes showing compassion and rare understanding, and the lion's ember eyes gleamed before he took off. Bree was now thoroughly scared as one of the two Heartless began to reach towards her, but to her surprise, Simba came roaring, skidding to a stop right in front of the two right before he let loose a gigantic howl of rage, his jaws opening as wide as he could, and the Hellfire Heartless shrieked as parts of its hide exploded, bleeding profusely and starting to dribble down its muscled body.

Simba then growled and nodded to his back, which prompted Bree to awkwardly but quickly grab Lance by the waist and heft him across the lion's back before she hopped on and patted the Disney lion's flank encouragingly, causing them to dash off and out of peril.

"Simba?" groaned Avalanche weakly, "You…you're still with me?"

_I would never leave you, my friend_, the lion telepathically spoke with reassurance and promise as he looked warmly at his partner strewn out weakly on his broad back as he carried Lance and Bree out of the middle of the battle, making it clear for the Misfits to finish it once and for all.

"Thundaga Blitzclap Pressure!" Toad yelled, throwing a powerful ball of electricity.

"Lumiga Mark of the Sun!" Whitelighter cried out, and the Hellfire Heartless stopped and arched its back, roaring as the powerful column of thunder tore through its senses before the yellow symbol of the sun seared into its chest and caused it to die and explode in a brilliant detonation of orange and yellow luminescence.

"Huh? _Lumiga?_ Whitelighter still has his powers? And his Keyblade?" Cyclops blinked.

"I thought you had it now, Half-Pint," Wolverine said, confused and raising an eyebrow at Shadowcat who shook her head, showing she didn't understand what was happening as well.

"Like, I thought so too! Maybe he got it back or something!" she stammered.

"Ars Arcanum!" Blob roared as he charged at the last Heartless, swinging his Heavyweight Keyblade like a maniac. Dragonfly, Quicksilver, and Mushu chimed in as well.

"Sonic Blade!" Lina called out strongly, barreling forward and encased with a column of sky-blue arctic energy, at sub-zero temperatures, and gliding across the ground with her Keyblade pointed right out in front of her.

"Mushu, double team with me! And try to keep up!" Quicksilver shot back snidely.

"Ha ha," droned Mushu, deadpanned, before he shot out a terrific burst of dragon-flame, crying out, "I'm on fire!"

"Strike Raid!" Pietro cried out, reaching back and flinging his Zephyr Keyblade, combining with Mushu's fire magic and turning into a discus of searing red heat.

The Heartless didn't have a chance as it was severely and gruesomely hacked apart, with three consecutive strikes at it's back, legs, and head right at the neckline, and it gave a final howl before it perished and disintegrated to reveal…another glowing heart as it rose to the sky.

"What?" Cover Girl asked in shock.

"A heart? That Heartless had a heart?" Quicksilver gulped.

"Trinity…" Lina asked fearfully, but the Delgado Triplets shook their heads.

"It was empty! It wasn't made from an infected person or else it would have shown on our scanners!" Brittany protested fervently.

"At least Peter's safe…" Bree pointed out as everyone watched the heart leave Wolverine's hands and return back into Colossus' body, disappearing into his chest and forming…a brown keyhole. Lance's Steel Quartz began to glow and vibrate a bit in response and Simba smiled.

Lance… the lion intoned meaningfully and gently at the Misfit, and with a flash of light, Avalanche's Keyblade locked the keyhole on the X-Men's chest and caused it to disappear with a final click.

"Yeah…but it's not the same thing for all the other Chicago natives who just died here," Beach Head said hoarsely as he surveyed the wreckage everywhere.

"And the only way we can get them back is at the Gathering of Twilight," Blind Master said wearily.

"Dad…" sniffed Kitty, not sure if she could hold it in as Mrs. Pryde began to weep in her hands. All the Misfits and Joes and X-Men were pained; losing one's parent was truly life-shattering.

Genie truly showed the most emotion and touching concern as he flew down to Kitty and sorrowfully gave the teenager a big, massive hug. He said sadly, "I'm sorry, kid. I tried, I really tried, but I couldn't save everyone from getting their hearts taken. But I did want to say that I'm sorry I couldn't do anything for your Pops except that me and the other Misfits will get him and those other people back. Just like the Joes and the Slayers and all the other hearts that were stolen by the baddies. Don't lose faith, all right?"

"Thank you, Genie," sniffed Kitty, doing her best to not cry. But it was impossible. The more and more she attempted to push it out of her, the more she tried to deny that it ever happened, the event was forever imprinted in her memory and worst fears.

Her father was as good as dead. His heart forever lost. And Shadowcat just broke down right there and then, sitting down on the sidewalk and holding her knees to her chest, wailing as Jean, Scott and Rogue did their best to comfort and hug her. Wolverine just gruffly picked up his communicator and contacted the X-Mansion.

"Chuck…" he growled, "We've got a situation."

Not long after the battle, various squadrons of police officers and ambulances were scattered all throughout the ruined and wrecked portions of the city of Chicago, various buildings damaged with cracked windows, overturned cars, and massive indentations in the streets and sidewalks. But that was nothing compared to the innocent civilians whose hearts were stolen by Xaldin and his drones…

"_As you can see from the wreckage behind me…_" stated the female reporter, Trish Trilby, amongst the hundreds of other representatives from the media who wished to capitalize on the destruction and grief, "_Though the two Heartless may have been stopped, G.I. Joe and the army mutant group known as the Misfits have declined to comment on why such strange attacks have been appearing as of late or how the soldiers were able to beat back such threats with their tactics. And many question why only some of the various vigilante teenagers known as the X-Men are here instead of more proficient help such as the Justice League or the Teen Titans, but after viewing what can only be termed as a complete and utter war-zone, with the recent sightings of Heartless in Steel City and London in mind, people can only ask: when and where will the Thirteenth Order strike next? Reporting live from Chicago, this is Trish Trilby, Channel 6 News…_"

Despite Trish's attempts to remain neutral, resentment and blame for those that were lost were running high amongst the various people in the area, officers and civilians alike. Various screams and jeers of blame and uselessness peppered the mutants and Joes on the field, and Jesse knew unfortunately that after today, his secret of being a mutant would no longer be hidden.

"Was this how you wanted to come out to your fans?" Wavedancer tried to quip a bit in jest, hoping to lighten the mood, but deep down, she was pained. Her cousin was now in a place where he could no longer turn back to before.

Jesse managed to laugh a bit half-heartedly before his face grew somber again, and he looked at his cousin before he asked softly, "Al…this 'Gathering of Twilight' thing that everyone in the world has been overhearing and going on about. It's bad, isn't it? And somehow, that's where all this is going to end up, isn't it? And you and everyone else is going to be in the middle, right? Tell me the truth, Althea. _Please._ I've just seen people die here. And now I'm outed as a mutant, so it's not like I have anything left to lose."

Wavedancer sadly looked at Jesse before she knew that she couldn't bring herself to lie to her own cousin, so she exhaled wearily and nodded.

"Yeah, it's bad," the ninja girl admitted softly, "And it's going to get worse. This is going to involve the whole planet, Jesse. What all this is…is just a warm-up to what we'll probably be fighting in the big one."

"Good, the count me in," Jesse D said, his eyes now showing a fire that wasn't there before, and before Althea could automatically open her mouth, he continued forcefully, "And if you even try to tell me that it's too dangerous or any more of that bullshit, ninja-training or not, I **will** clock you one, Al. I just saw my girlfriend's husband die. I held my own against the Heartless and that Organization asshole. And I survived being kidnapped and brainwashed by Cobra to kill Uncle Hector when I was a kid. And if it's the end of the world, then I'll go down fighting alongside my family, and face it, Al. You'll need everyone you and the Joes can get. Even with the League, Slayers, and Titans, you're still not sure if you have enough to fight this threat at all for a survivor's chance. So no matter what, **_I'm in_**."

Wavedancer exhaled through her nose wearily before she nodded.

Shadowcat then unconsciously fingered the diamond and gold menorah necklace she was wearing around her neck, a tribute and gift her father gave her for her tenth birthday and just by unhappy coincidence, she chose to wear it on her date with Piotr in Steel City and in her rush to dress in her X-Man uniform for the battle in Chicago, she forgot to take it off.

"Dad…" Kitty whispered, her hand clenched tightly around her necklace and feeling her teeth grind against each other in determination as she promised, "I'll find you…I'll get you back…"

She turned her gaze back to her shaken and still grieving mother as Bree and Cover Girl did their best to talk to her and ease her pain, with Mrs. Pryde wrapped in a blanket brought by one of the paramedics and holding a Styrofoam cup of coffee in her hands.

"I'll **_so_** get you back…" Shadowcat promised again. If only she had the magic again to do it in the first place.

And then her thoughts then drifted shamelessly to the Yellow Materia that was still being kept for safekeeping in the secret and secure vaults underground of the Institute…

---

"Experiments 335, 336, and 337 have been destroyed, my Superior. And unfortunately, one of the X-Men is now immune to the Hellfire Heartless. I have personally witnessed the Misfit, Avalanche, seal his teammate's heart with his Keyblade," Xaldin said coldly as he reappeared with a plume of black smoke laced with cold drafts of air generated from his lances. The Superior looked up from his mid-tirade with a rather embarrassed and cowering Demyx, flinching from the thought of how painful it would be to be seared by the intense energy of the leader's weapon. And the Superior was certainly enraged enough to decapitate Demyx over a hundred-fold with it.

Managing to gain control of the usual stoic timbre of his voice, the Lord of all the Thirteenth Order managed to say, "You have done well at least in initiating the Harvest, Xaldin. Over one hundred hearts have been obtained, each one a pure light in the darkness that when added together with the other countless hearts we've gathered brings us closer and closer to bringing the Door to the Light at the Gathering. Unlike this fool who could not even _manage to spy and kill unsuspecting mutant children and Slayer girls **like he has been ordered to!**_"

This last sentence kept rising in volume and crescendo until it was nearly deafening Demyx then tried to utter a lame defense.

"Hey, the big puddy tat scared me! I didn't want to be on the wrong end of his sword! And he took me by surprise! He just appeared out of nowhere and was about to slice my in half! I just…did what…came naturally!" the Organization's musician whined.

"Demyx, you do know you're digging your grave deeper and deeper, right?" the blonde-haired Larxene grinned, folding her arms across her chest and her smile being so big that one had to wonder why it didn't break her pale cheeks. The Superior's frown actually marred his entire face as he bared his teeth. At first, he actually considered sending Demyx to carry out the next assignment to infect another city as punishment for the member's utter and complete failure, but then he realized that should Demyx fail a simple reconnaissance mission, odds are that he would fail at holding his own when he fought against the Misfits and X-Men. And considering that there were now ten Keybladers on Earth, the Inner Circle and the Organization would need everyone to help ensure that the heroes and this planet would not survive the Gathering.

Even Demyx. Unfortunately. And despite his disappointments, Demyx was still a powerful Organization warrior who could truly create a horrific fight should he be under the right circumstances.

The leader of the Thirteenth Order then turned to the red-haired Axel and gave his order.

"Go to the city of Bayville with the next Hellfire spore that Hamilton can provide for you. You may additionally take one or two of the already developed specimens along to ensure that your portion of the Harvest is fruitful. Considering that a good number of the various friends and associates of the X-Men reside in Bayville as well as high feelings of anti-mutant sentiment, such an attack will be a tragic blow for Xavier's brood as well as making sure that more and more of the foolish humans blame them and their allies for this turn of tragic events, making the job easier for the Inner Circle to manipulate those fools against them. **Do not fail me, Axel.**"  
The smarmy chakram-wielder with the spiky-mane expertly twirled one hoop on the edge of his finger, the circular spiked weapon generating a small tornado of flames impressively as it spun, obviously showing off that he was certainly not afraid of battle and confident enough to fight anything that came his way.

"Well, hate to brag, but I can definitely promise you better results than Demyx ever could," he declared a bit superciliously.

"I daresay that is hardly a big accomplishment…" drawled Luxord, the goatee-toting man smirking playfully as he shuffled a pack of cards rather quickly and fluidly between his palms, as Axel teleported away in a cloud of smoke. The Superior then coldly turned his gaze upon Demyx, his weapons now fully out and protruding from his sleeves, the red beams dangerously crackling in the air.

"Now as for you, my Melodious Nocturne…" the number one member said frigidly, "We still have to talk about this latest embarrassment…"

Demyx gulped and chuckled uneasily.

**Author's Notes: Next week, as the excitement grows over Kitty learning magic, the Misfits aren't readily pleased to learn how she got it as Lance lets them in on his secret. But time may not be on their side for debate as the Heartless again lay siege, this time in Bayville and to make matters worse, as Jean contemplates her frustration with her recent romantic struggles with Scott, the Friends of Humanity are causing additional chaos in the city as well. And yet as Cyclops become infected himself with the Heartless, romantic issues may be the last thing Jean needs to worry about as she and Fred battle Axel in the chapter "Phoenix Fire". Check back next Friday, and until then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Constructive criticism welcome!**


	22. Phoenix Fire

**Author's Note: I apologize for the lateness of this chapter! On Thursday, I got sick with a cold, so I couldn't write on time, but fear not! I will always try to maintain my schedule of one chapter a week for this crossover! Nothing will prevent me from updating, unless by an act of God or if I'm dead!**

**Fictives (holding mallets): Well, we can help you with that _second_ one…**

**Quiet all of you…and put those mallets down! Anyway, enjoy this late chapter and I hope the wait didn't kill you!**

**CHAPTER 22: Phoenix Fire**

"I don't believe it!" marveled Roberto, smiling with genuine happiness at the news.

"Goddess…Kitty, you and Peter were extremely fortunate. Thank the gods that you had not been more seriously hurt and that the situation did not get any worse than as of now!" Storm breathed in, her hands to her horrified mouth.

"This is…indeed…quite extraordinary," Hank blinked, his mouth slightly open with shock as Kitty and the other X-Men finished. Ray and Remy, unfortunately, were a little less cordial and a little blunter.

"_Merde!_ Remy don't believe this!" the red-eyed Cajun groaned.

"No fair! How come **_she_** gets magic?" Ray whined slightly, which earned his two swift smacks, one upside the head and one on the shoulder by an irritated and angry Amara and Tabitha.

"How insensitive can you be, Ray? God, there are times when I wonder if you even have a brain or not!" griped Amara, her face turned into a disgusted grimace.

Tabitha added in rather heatedly, "Yeah, Pikachu! Kitty just lost her Pops, you dim-bulb! You have any idea what she's feeling right now? The last thing she needs is more drama from jealous idiots!"

The red-and-yellow haired electrokinetic then felt ashamed as he remembered that Mr. Pryde's heart was taken hours ago, and from the look of misty tears from Kitty's red eyes, it was still an sensitive and tragic ordeal for Shadowcat. Ray turned red from speaking so thoughtlessly before he apologized.

"Sorry, I didn't mean that. And…it really sucks about your…your Dad. Kitty, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so thoughtless," Ray sincerely said which made Kitty smile a bit before she looked downhearted again.

"You're certainly sorry in **_some_** aspects, I'll give you that, Bezerker," drawled Roberto, playing it for all it was worth and not resisting getting in a good jab.

"Shut it, jerkface!" Ray snapped in response, which, unsurprisingly, led to another bickering match.

"Can't take the truth, Sparky?" drawled Roberto, still smiling a toothy grin that could give shame to the Cheshire Cat in "Alice in Wonderland".

"Keep smiling like that, and you'll lose some teeth, Butthead!" Ray snarled, making a fist.

"Gee, and with an attitude like that, it'll be a wonder if Pluto **_ever_** considers you pure of heart enough to wield magic and a Keyblade, Mr. Inadaquate," Roberto continued to shamelessly banter.

"Better than being a fanboy of the _We-Love-Batman-Club_!"

"You really need to think up of new material if you'd think I'd take _that_ one as an insult."

"Kittens, that's enough. **Stop**," Jake said strongly with some sternness, as he stepped in between the two X-Men, his eyes uncharacteristically severe and narrowed, breaking up the fight for now. Kitty then took advantage of the lull as she turned to the blue-furred Beast and asked in a hoarse voice.

"Like, how's Peter? Is he OK? Is like that Hellfire Heartless spore totally out of his system now? Please, Mr. McCoy, tell me the truth."

To Shadowcat's relief, Hank nodded with a smile of relief. At least one worry would now be settled.

"He's recovering nicely in the infirmary, Kitty," Hank said as he gave out a heavy breath in liberation, "Though he was infected, he is now fully cured and back to his normal self, exactly like how the other Joes that were infected before. He's still unconscious, but there's no sign of internal damage to his organs and brain, so he's simply sleeping it off until he regains his strength. Bree and Doc from the Joe Pit assured me that he will fully be back to his old self again in two to three days and can be well enough to be fully discharged and fight."

"That's good," Rogue commented, sighing. At least that was one thing less that they needed to fret about.

Meanwhile, the other X-Men were trying to make sense of Kitty's testimonial of what she had seen and felt during that tormenting clash at Chicago. Since this was indeed a miraculous event, the entire Institute and its inhabitants nearly went crazy in a silent uproar at trying to get the news. Thankfully, with the Slayers and Danny Phantom reporting to their superiors and the heroes that a telltale shield of magical energy not related to Willow or the Charmed Ones' spells mysteriously popping up to protect the school, the teenagers and the staff were a lot less worried about being safe from the Organization and a lot more eager and curious to find out what happened and how Kitty got her magic. However, this time, Quentin and the senior Ghostbusters were now all outside the school's grounds to not only further scrutinize the energy barrier but to make sure that no other Organization tricks would arise, especially after Kennedy and the other recruits told them of their very brief (yet silly) encounter with one of the group's goons. The Misfits and Joes mysteriously decided to go back to the Pit for the time being for an emergency meeting and to deliver Lance at the Joe infirmary ward to be treated for his seizures (not that any of the X-Men complained about getting the army mutants and soldiers our of their hair for a while). And Professor Xavier and Tessa were quick and worried to note that Althea took Pluto with him, actually dragging the poor hound by the scruff of the neck, and from the dark look of suspicion etched on the girl's face, it was clearly evident that Wavedancer wanted the Misfits to have a few words with Pluto alone.

Once the X-Men had the mansion to themselves, Professor Xavier gathered all of his X-Men and Tessa into Cerebro's quarters where Kitty hollowly explained everything. How she and Simba fought when Colossus became infected. How she got the headache and almost saw Pluto in her mind before she begged the dog for a way to save her boyfriend. How she saw the Disney hound's eyes glow and how she suddenly felt a surge of power appear inside her, guiding her to use the magic from the Lumiga kingdom. And how she suddenly lost it.

The other X-Men listened silently and attentively, and quite a few felt their hearts go out to Kitty at the mention that her father was now as good as dead. And Kitty was close to breaking down and crying again at the memory, and even the mug of tea Ororo provided for her did little to quell the ice in her gut. Still, the entire incident gave all of them a sense of surprised elation that they haven't normally felt before as they all reiterated the important and significant aspects of her story. And it was that shred of hope that didn't allow Kitty to fully give in to her despair and sorrow.

"So after you asked Pluto to give you magic, he just totally gave it to you and all that?" Forge asked, blinking, "You just asked him, and he gave you the groovy and wicked power of the Lumiga element?"

"But that's impossible," Jubilee frowned, rubbing her chin, "We were all here in the school playing video games, and Pluto was still with us. There was no way he could have gone with you guys and appeared in Chicago. He was sleeping in the rec room and didn't even move from his position the whole time until the Misfits came back and took him away after the battle."

"But still, it _has_ to be, Jubes," Sam shot down gently, "It couldn't be anyone else except Pluto. Think about it: no one else could hand out that sort of Elementa magic and it wouldn't explain why Kitty saw the dog in the first place right before she got the ability ta' do it. And if Pluto is supposed to not be an ordinary mutt, then it's possible he's got some magic tricks up his sleeve that allows him to…I dunno, contact people when he's not really there. Like…like…"

"Like astral-projection," Xavier said at last with a shocked expression, recalling that strange moment of a disturbance on the astral plane. Logan turned to Xavier with some confusion.

"You got something to add, Chuck?" Wolverine asked, and the Professor explained to everyone that earlier today, which would actually coincide with the exact time the X-Men were fighting with the Heartless in Chicago, he felt a strange yet fleeting being somehow caused a ripple in the level of human consciousness. Though it was extremely short, Xavier knew that it had happened.

The rest of the X-Men didn't know what to think about this, and even Tessa remarked, "But…that **is** odd. I didn't sense anything myself, and I was here alongside with you in your office while we were trying to settle the brawl between Hank and Forge."

"And I was too busy to try to fight alongside Wolverine against that Organization warrior to even sense some sort of telepathic connection in the battlefield," Jean added, but she didn't doubt her mentor's word. If Charles Xavier said he felt something, then she would accept it wholeheartedly. The others were trying to make sense of this new tidbit.

Jamie then remarked, "Pluto? **_A telepath?_** Uh…even for what we've seen so far, that's a little out of the blue. Correct me if I'm wrong, but no Disney cartoon's ever shown Pluto to have all these omnipotent powers and abilities."

"Actually, if anything, it _still_ makes sense," Bobby pointed out, "After all, Pluto's not a normal dog, so it would make sense that he could do some stuff like astral projection or have powers that we don't even know about yet. And if he's been able to stay away from the Organization and from the Heartless and give out all these powers, then he **has** to have some additional stuff that we don't know about."

"But then it's worrisome as to whether or not we can trust Pluto considering who knows how many other abilities and powers he has. What makes this troubling is one could say he is practically a God inside that small bundle of flesh and fur…and he could turn on us should he want to," Storm commented worriedly.

"And something tells me that the Misfits know this as well as we do," Rogue said, "That would explain why Pluto was dragged outta here when they took Lance to the Pit to be treated. The Joes probably want to find out exactly what Pluto's been up to with Kitty's power-up."

"Boy, are _they_ insecure and threatened all because someone else knows magic too," grumbled Ray.

Sam gave Ray a sardonic look as he scolded lightly with a sarcastic edge, "Gee, so the irony's not lost on ya', huh, Ray?"

"But I'm confused on one thing," Rina pointed out, "Why would Kitty be chosen to wield such powerful abilities? And why was she only given magic and not a Keyblade? If Pluto truly was behind this odd empowerment, then why not bequeath her with the same gifts he has given to Xi and the other Misfits? And why Kitty specifically? I do not remember her being especially nice to Pluto or spending noticeable time with the hound in the first place."

"Not to mention Remy thinks that little, flea-ridden mongrel is lying," the Cajun X-Men muttered, griping, "Remember what Pluto told us? That he couldn't give us magic and Keyblades because he handed them all out? Then why was Kitty able to learn magic and get it from Pluto then? Remy thinks that the little dog is nothing more than a no good, conniving, double-dealing rat!"

"It definitely seems like some things don't make sense," Jean mused, "From what we can tell from the scenes I was briefly able to extract from Pluto's mind, we know that the magic and Keyblades assigned to the Misfits can't be permanent and that it can be reassigned if someone of a stronger heart is definitely worthier to wield them…"

"Which happens to be us and any other hero other than a Joe or a Misfit," Remy grumbled, still feeling a bit cheated and loathing that Pietro was lording them over this little tidbit.

Ray then added, "And yet it made it seem like whomever that dying guy was, he was going to be able to veto Pluto's choices if it's necessary and yet Kitty said she clearly saw the dog when she got her magic. So either Pluto can change his mind on who he gives magic to or whoever is his master forced him to change his decision to give magic to Kitty anyway."

"And from what I remember, Kitty has light magic, and yet Whitelighter was still able to use his magic and still has that Keyblade of his," Rogue pointed out, "So if anything, if Kitty did take his magic because she's got the stronger heart, then it didn't show in the Misfits."

"Maybe it was only temporary," Amara pondered.

"It's still a little bit of a raw deal, though," Tabitha admitted, "Sure, Kitty's got magic, but without a Keyblade, she's only half as effective as the other Misfits, so she'll be more of a disadvantage to try to save her Pop's heart when the time comes."

"And considering that Althea and Logan told us that the Hellfire Heartless are getting smarter and stronger than before when they only attacked the Pit, we're going to need every groovy and powerful thing we can get to beat this and the Thirteenth Order," Forge murmured worriedly.

"Still, this is better than can be expected!" Scott said a bit jovially, "We can actually get magic now, so we're not going to be helpless and useless in this war! Not only can we protect ourselves and the be more involved in helping win this fight and protect the planet, but it'll show those Misfit morons once and for all that they're not special and good enough to wield those Keyblades! And the more and more we hang out with Pluto and the Misfits, the more that dog will see that he's made the wrong choice in the first place!"

"Scott, stop this. Goddamn it all to hellcats, are you even listening to yourself and hearing how petty you are?" growled Jake, and one could see that the kat's fur was bristled and sticking out like a dandelion puff in anger.

Kurt then had to admit that the instructor had a point as he said, "_Ach!_ Scott, Jake's right. This isn't a contest, and from the sound of it, maybe all of us can gain magic without needing to steal it away from Althea and the others. And not all of us want or need the magic to begin with."

Logan's head popped up at Nightcrawler's statement. **_Steal_** the Misfits' magic? That was a new one; he originally thought that the magic simply transferred from Justin to Kitty.

Cyclops felt his temples pound with frustration as he tried to fully explain his rationale logically. But what infuriated him was that why so many people had reservation when they agreed deep down that it wasn't right or fair that Wavedancer and the other army mutants held the fate of this war solely on their hands while everyone else had as much of a right to be on the front lines.

"Look, if Kitty wasn't suited to gain that magic in the first place, Pluto wouldn't even have given it to her! And c'mon, I'm not being petty! I _don't_ necessarily care if only some of us get the Elementa magic, I _don't_ want the Misfits hurt, and I _would_ want the Keyblades and the powers to be given to other people in the League or the Titans or the Ghostbusters and spread it out! But this is a lot better than just standing by and allowing the Misfits to take care of every Heartless threat that pops up! When the fail or when they fall short, then other people who can handle the job better can step in and help out! This is just simply a matter of doing what's best for everyone so that we'll **_all_** survive this invasion! And the Yellow Materia may be the best thing to do this!"

"Having Wavedancer and her team to be powerless and unable to use their gifts which had been originally bequeathed to _them in the first place_ is not that much a better alternative, Scott!" snapped Tessa, hands on her hips.

"Child, balancing the power of the Keyblade to people and heroes who are less likely to be manipulated and tricked by the Inner Circle is not a bad thing!" Ororo tried to scold slightly.

"But it'll put Xi and the others in danger! Whitelighter losing his magic will leave **him** vulnerable! And the last thing I want is to hurt Xi and Bambi if they are separated and Bambi is forced to follow another person and master!" Rina broke in strongly, and Kitty, so deep in her anguish and misery, furiously lashed out at these words.

"And what about my father?" Kitty snarled, her blue eyes blazing, "What about my family, my Mom? She had to see my father die right in front of our own eyes, and like, all you care about is Xi and Bambi? Well, I've got news for you, Rina! I'm like doing whatever it takes to get back my father, I need this Lumiga magic to save him and fight the Heartless, and that's more important than Xi's stupid friendship with a Disney deer or Justin's friendship with Tinkerbell!"

"Hey, don't yell at her! It's not her fault, and you have no right to take it out on Rina!" Jubilee snapped angrily, rising immediately from the couch with balled fists. As Ororo and Jake and Sam did their best to try to keep the peace as the arguing and debate became more and more fervent and wild, the Professor felt a hand tap him meaningfully on his shoulder.

"Chuck?" Logan asked as the students continued to quarrel and dispute, giving a gruff nod with his head to the hallway, "A minute with ya' and Hank?"

Having a slight indication of what this was going to be about, Professor X quietly wheeled towards the door where he, Wolverine, and Beast stepped into the well-furnished hallway, and though a few such as Ororo, Tessa, and Jean noticed this, no one decided to follow and eavesdrop or intervene.

Once in the hallway, Logan's face darkened as he lit a cigar in his mouth (despite the repeated insistence of the Professor's rule of no smoking inside the Mansion's premises) before he then growled to Xavier in a disapproving voice and ordered, "All right, Chuck, me and Hank don't know the whole story behind this, so do us a favor and tell us exactly what Cyke and the other kids meant when they were talking about some kind of Material and stealing the Misfits' powers for the 'greater good'."

"Logan is right, Charles," Hank said curiously, cocking his head, "I am a bit lost as to exactly what is going on as well. Keep in mind that Logan and I were quite distracted with caring for he and Tessa in the infirmary to attend the informative meeting with the other students and faculty in Cerebro's room, so we are relatively ignorant in this matter."

Biting back a sigh, Professor Xavier then explained to the two elders everything, how Tessa informed them how the Hellfire Club plotted along with the Superior to reassign and steal any wielder of the Elementa magic and the Keyblades to other people with stronger (though not purer) hearts. How Tessa managed to break free her programming thanks to a combination of her subconscious training the Professor had taught her before and one of the Organization members lessening the brainwashing hold Shaw placed on her. How Tessa, before she escaped, managed to steal a cache of magical essence called Yellow Materia, a tool that had the ability to transfer magical abilities and weapons to people of the caster's choosing, and though Tessa was trained by Shaw to study and master such magic, she didn't get far enough, thankfully. And how Shaw, Lord Imperial, and the Superior were actually pleased to have the Misfits be the only wielders of the Keyblades because they would be far easier to manipulate for their future plans (though they didn't say how).

Needless to say, Wolverine wasn't entirely pleased while Hank seemed a bit torn and contemplative, frowning to himself silently.

"Chuck," Logan rumbled with a grimace and wishing he just stayed out of this, "This isn't right, and no, I'm not basing it off my feelings from the fact that Mariko and I are gonna be married soon and that I'm for G.I. Joe despite the number of times they've annoyed the hell out of me. This is just nothing short of betraying the Misfits and the Joes. Yeah, I agree, they've given us some grief but they're our allies and friends, pure and plain enough, and no amount of crap that they've done even justifies what Cyke and the other kids are even considering. Hell, the Misfits are defending us, and here, you of all people, Chuck, are hiding the fact that you're still keeping something that can undercut 'em!"

"I know, I know…it sounds so suspicious and even if it wasn't, the other students such as Scott, Jean, and Remy are actually interested in seeing if whether or not the Command Materia could work in their favors and for the other X-Men should it be too risky and inadequate to carry on their duties with protecting the Earth against the Heartless," Professor Xavier conceded wearily, but Logan wasn't done yet as his voice brew harsh.

"Risky? _Inadaquate?_ Damn it, Chuck, **this is wrong and you know it**. Chuck, granted, I'm a little wary of these things being only in the hands of the Misfits and I know we aren't the only ones who'd have thought it before. Giles, the League, even Hawk and some of the Joes themselves are worried that the kids may not be able to handle this job or this amount of power could corrupt them, but the Misfits **know** better now that the stakes are rising and they need to get their friends' hearts back! Chuck, you should have just destroyed the Command Materia like Tessa asked you to."

"Actually…the kids may have a point. It is logical to keep such a powerful gift safe in case the need ever arises," Hank finally broke in, his face calm and composed and his eyes solemn as he looked upon the Professor with full agreement.

"Hank, not you too!" growled Logan in irritation, "Did it ever occur to you both that this could be a **_set-up_**? That we're being played and that this is exactly what Shaw and the other assholes in the Inner Circle wanted us to do, what they wanted Tessa to hear?"

"And that was why I myself am hesitant that we should even use such a powerful weapon in the first place," Professor X commented sadly, and he was clearly torn with some guilt over this, looking uncharacteristically lost and harried, "The fact that Tessa told me that an Organization member had seemingly freed her from her brainwashing alone is suspicious, especially since there is no evidence that any of the members of the Organization Thirteen are plotting against the Hellfire Club and are on our side."

"Or it could be a possibility that the Organization is secretly planning to double-cross and betray the Inner Circle and wish to use us to do it," Beast suggested worriedly, "Did you check Tessa's mind to see if whether or not she is fully free from any programming Emma Frost or Shaw may have done to her subconscious? No hidden agendas nor secret caches and words?"

"None, and I doubt Shaw is that foolish in counting on that," Xavier said, "I thoroughly looked in Sage's mind, but everything has fully been restructured properly and I erased all the foreign shields and suggestions from her mind, including the ones she developed while I trained her before I sent her to spy on the Inner Circle. If anything, Wolverine's guess that Shaw and Lord Imperial and the Superior are trying to set us up to exactly what they wanted Tessa to hear is far more plausible."

"Charles, perhaps it isn't a farce," Hank said, his eyes troubled, "Perhaps there is truth in this. If the powers cannot be transferred to people of stronger hearts, then how could you explain why Shadowcat was able to receive magic to save her family? And why would Jean have even seen and witnessed that vision in Pluto's mind that those he chooses will not be set in stone if stronger hearts are found?"

"Hank, I can't believe you! This is wrong, especially since the Misfits haven't given any sort of consent for this crap!" Wolverine snarled.

"And what if Pluto is making a mistake? Or what if the Misfits are unable to handle using the Keyblades to protect everyone? Logan, if the entire planet is at stake and innocent people such as Mr. Pryde may never be gotten back, then we can't risk so much and put blind faith on them!" Beast returned evenly.

"Hank, big risk or not, we should have destroyed this Command Materia like Tessa wanted to. Keeping it around is practically asking Fate to come bite us on the ass, and it's gonna be bad news and plenty of bad feelings," Logan rumbled.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but I daresay that an entire planet with billions and billions of lives at stake is worth far more than wounded pride and hurt feelings. The only reason you're being so stubborn is because you're sleeping around with a Joe ninja," Beast retorted acidly.

"And the only reason **you** want the Materia is so that you could hopefully see if you have magic and could be worthy enough to gain a Keyblade so that you can impress Storm and be her knight in shining armor like the hopeless lovesick idiot you're always acted around her! And should you be able to use your newfound magic to protect Evan and her and make yourself look better than Shipwreck in her eyes, she'll literally be falling to get in bed with your furry ass!" Wolverine snapped, and because this hit a bit too close for home, Hank's eyes flashed as he bared his teeth, removing his glasses and ready to physically pound Wolverine to the ground.

"That was low, Logan," growled Hank.

"Funny, you little jab at Mariko wasn't that much better," Logan shot back, hissing.

"What I wouldn't give to be General Hawk right now…" moaned Xavier to himself as he cradled his head in his hands while things then got rather ugly between Wolverine and Beast as the fight escaladed.

---

"**_YOU…DID…WHAT?_**" chorused a throng of shocked and disbelieving voices all around Lance as the geokinetic winced in his infirmary bed, feeling loads better after Bree and Doc helped treat him for his attacks earlier at the battle today but still bracing himself for some unpleasantness as he finished confessing to his team what exactly he did for Kitty before he lost consciousness.

Everyone was running the gamut of emotions from disbelief to denial to annoyance. Not only were all the Misfits and their Joe handlers there, but General Hawk and Pluto were in the medical ward as well. To be truthful, it originally started with the Joes and the mutants grilling a rather harried and irritated Disney dog back at the Misfit Manor, having a pretty good inkling for who exactly was behind Kitty's recent blessing of Elementa magic. That was until Lance, upon being lucid enough to sit up and talk, asked the Misfits and his guardians to come visit him so that he could explain and tell them how exactly Kitty got her magic.

Needless to say, this caused a bit of an uproar and arguing. It was going to be a _long_ night…

"You _surrendered_ your magic to Kitty Pryde, arguably one of the more ditzy and unstable X-Men of the group? You idiot, **_why_** did you do that? In case I need to remind your brain and your gonads, she isn't your girlfriend any more!" Beach Head snapped, cradling his temples underneath his green ski mask and feeling the migraine kick in two-fold.

"She needed to help save her family and the Metal Russkie. She couldn't use her powers on them without causing more trouble," Lance sighed, groaning and inwardly wincing as he crossed his arms over his chest defensively.

"Lance, there was no guarantee that it would work! And by giving it up, you would have been in bigger danger and would have risked losing everything by doing it! Hello, need I remind you that we can't fight as a team and prepare together if you're left high and dry?" Quicksilver groused.

"I still have the Keyblade, Pietro!" Lance wearily remonstrated, summoning his Steel Quartz Keyblade in his hands immediately and showing that it hadn't left him, "Since I needed it to seal Russkie's heart, I don't think this can leave me, so at least even though I gave up my magic temporarily, the Keyblade and samba still stays with me since I guess that whom I was originally assigned it to."

_That's one thing I am incredibly grateful for_, Simba muttered to himself in Lance's head, inwardly shuddering at the thought of being reassigned to Kitty. Despite how his opinion slightly changed about the X-Girl, he would still be incredibly sour if he was forced to leave Lance's side and follow a new master and wielder.

"But do you still have your magic over the Gaia Kingdom, Lance?" Whitelighter asked hesitantly, and Simba then turned to Avalanche before growling in affirmation, his voice echoing in Lance's mind, softly and without looming over Lance's consciousness.

_You do not need to fear that, Avalanche. I can still sense the forces of the Earth flowing through you and whatever you had before, you still hold your role as one of the Chosen of the Gaia Kingdom. If you didn't, I would not be able to sense anything from your heart. The Keyblade and I will always remain by your side, but even if the magic didn't, it has returned thankfully._

When Lance repeated what the Disney lion said to the audience, it eased the tension a bit, but not by much.

"He has a point," Bree mused as she took Lance's blood-pressure and was relieved to see that it was normal, "Maybe Keyblades and Althea's staff don't work in the same way as the Elementa magic do. And at least Kitty was able to help us fight and bring Peter back to normal."

"That's true," Fred admitted, showing some down-hearted penitence and compunction as he slumped in his seat, "I don't want Peter or any of the X-Men dead and their hearts taken, not after what we've seen with the Joes when Blackheart attacked and when Slade, Marluxia, and the Initiative killed all those Slayer girls. If anything, Lance deserves to be commended and rewarded for what he did."

"But it was still an incredibly foolish and asinine thing to do," Xi commented worriedly, "What if Kitty was unable to use her magic to fight? What if she accidentally miscast her attack upon us and other innocent people? And not to mention what if she didn't want the magic in the first place, and yet you still had Pluto force it upon her? Then you would have inadvertently dragged her into a war that she may not have been willing to fully participate and risk her life in, even if she has reason to fight due to her father losing his heart."

It was then that Lance lost his temper.

"What if, what if, what if!" Lance heatedly yelled, "What is everyone complaining about in the first place? _I did the right thing!_ I helped Kitty save Peter! I gave her a chance to fight for herself since Pluto didn't have anything left to give and because I wasn't in any condition to fight! It wasn't a disaster! It turned out better than any of us could have expected it to!"

"I'm going to have to agree with Lance here. What he did was impressive and for a good thing: to protect the other X-Men and help the Misfits combat the Heartless and the Thirteenth Order. **Exactly what Althea and the other Misfits had sworn to do with their Keyblades as an oath after the aftermath of Blackheart's invasion on the Pit**," Spirit broke in, annoyed and thoroughly irritated that some of the Misfits and Joes were being too unnecessarily hard on what should have been considered a noble act.

"He's right, you know. Avalanche, though a bit imprudent, did what I expect any other soldier in the battlefield to do for a fellow comrade or any ally during a war. To give your advantage to those who need it more," General Hawk said, and everyone turned to the Joe leader at this statement, not sure what to exactly feel about this.

Althea nodded as she said in support, "And it would help increase our chances at making sure no more Heartless would be able to do any more damage than we can fully prevent. Look, I admit that it was risky and Lance for all his good intentions was kind of thinking with his past history and romance he had with Kitty rather than common sense, but the main point is…I don't think having more and more people know how to use the Elementa magic is necessarily a bad thing. If anything, it could help us out in the long run."

"And we promised that we would watch out for the X-Men since they're more vulnerable in this fight against the Hellfire Heartless since they can't use their powers on them," Scarlet Witch commented worriedly, "If we want to keep them safe, then we need to even out the playing field and share the resources that we have to those who really need it. In other words, other mutants since they more likely to lose and be victims to the Inner Circle's Heartless since they absorb and get stronger from mutant energies or physical contact from anyone with an X-Gene."

"But…but it's not fair! Pluto chose **us** first!" Quinn protested angrily like a typical child being asked to share her favorite toy with another, and Blind Master turned to the Delgado Triplet with some disappointment.

"So you would rather keep the magic and let someone else suffer?" the ninja master asked rhetorically, "Is the magic worth more than the X-Men's lives? More than Multiple's life? More than all the other allies who would lay down **their** lives to protect us such as the League, the Titans, or the Ghostbusters?"

Quinn felt her face grow hot, ashamed, as Daria and Brittany gave each other thoughtful looks.

"I guess in the grand scheme of things, it's really not that important," Daria admitted.

"What's the point in having magic and Keyblades if everyone's heart was taken to begin with?" Quinn murmured with a sad look on her countenance.

"And other people have lost loved ones from the Heartless too," Roadblock said calmly, rhyming, "And we can't be everywhere at once and see the battle through. Ten Keyblades against an army of many won't get us very far in every possible brawl, but the more and more people who can cover us will prevent us from dropping the ball."

"That's right," Beach Head realized out loud, "Even with all of us, we still couldn't prevent those Organization bastards from being able to steal hearts."

"But…but then it lessens _our_ chances of winning and being able to get the Joes' hearts back along with all our other friends whose hearts were taken by the Heartless. In order for one of the X-Geeks to gain magic, _one of us has to give it up_," Fred moaned, starting to see the downside.

"Even considering that, I think it's still worth the risk if it means helping the X-Men," Cover Girl remarked.

"But what's strange is that only the magic seems to be able to be transferable," Lina said thoughtfully as she scratched Pluto's head, causing the hound to thump his leg in enjoyment, "If Lance told Pluto to help Kitty, you'd think he'd give both the magic and the Keyblade to her so that she could defend herself."

But Pluto gave an uncharacteristic frown as he barked negatively and shook his head, getting everyone's attention, all of them puzzled.

"Pluto?" Todd asked, blinking, "What're you sayin', yo? That you can't switch a Keyblade to someone else?"

Pluto barked happily, wagging his tail and nodding once, which actually brought some comfort to the other Joes and Misfits while General Hawk narrowed his eyes at the golden-furred canine. Regardless of what they've all been through, he was still very, very wary of the dog that was supposedly on their side.

"Is it because you don't want to, but you still have the power to do it, Pluto?" Hawk asked with a frown, which led to the Disney dog to shake his head before he barked negatively. Well, then logically, if Pluto didn't even have the ability to do such a thing, then that meant…

"Is it because you can't reassign the Keyblades?" Lance asked, puzzled and cocking his head to the side, "Because that's something you can't do, something that you don't really have an authority to do or something like that?"

Pluto smiled, his eyes shining and playful and exuberant, wagging his tail and giving a nodding and positive bark, which confirmed Avalanche's statement. Still…

"That's weird," Althea muttered, "I thought the Keyblades came from the mutt, so if he doesn't have the authority to reassign Keyblades or my scepter, then either it's something beyond his control or this loops back to what Bree said when the Keyblades don't necessarily work like that."

Low Light then asked, "Pluto, is the reassigning the magic permanent? Does that mean that if a Misfit willing gives up the magic to someone else, then they would never be able to use that Elementa magic ever again? That it'll be forever lost to 'em or something like that?"

Another negative bark, which surprisingly brought a general feeling of comfort and relief to the entire infirmary ward.

"Well, that's a good sign. That means even if you kids do willingly give the magic, it can't be permanently lost and that the Keyblades will stay with ya'll no matter what," Shipwreck said, scratching his bearded chin.

"And I have to agree with the idea," General Hawk said before he ordered gently, "Look, I'm not going to encourage you kids do it at every single chance you get and you need to all keep in mind that you can't save people if you handicap yourselves and get killed. **_Or worse_**. But what I am saying is that you use your brains and common sense to make sure that there is no other choice, that you've exhausted every option, and that you personally will not be in any danger enough to give the magic safely. And if anything, the fact that the Elementa magic will be put to good use and save other people's hearts will be enough to take the real sting out of this argument for it's not a bad thing to give up the magic if it can help other people."

"Fine!" grumbled Pietro, pouting, "**You** guys can give it up and share with whomever you want, but I'll get Lifeline and the other Joes' hearts by myself just fine! I'm not playing second fiddle to an X-Geek and sharing my magic with no one! I'm perfectly capable to use the wind magic without disappointing anybody!"

"Pietro…" began Lina, scolding, but Cover Girl placed a hand on her ward's shoulder to cease whatever admonishment the insect-female was about to go into.

"You can't force him. If he doesn't want to, he doesn't want to," the ex-model said with tired and exasperated understanding.

"But what about the X-Men?" Xi asked hesitantly, "They're not stupid, and chances are, they're still going to be enthralled about Shadowcat gaining light magic, and if we didn't know exactly how it was possible that Kitty gained her ability, then it's a given that the X-Men won't either."

"He's got a point," mused Brittany, "Should we tell them or not?"

"Maybe…maybe we should…" Justin said a bit softly, and it was incredibly daunting and scary when a good number of his teammates and Joes whirled on him in surprise.

"I don't think so, yo," Toad shot down gently, "This is just going to cause a lot of swelled heads and ego-problems and some of the X-Geeks saying that they're more worthy to use the magic than we are. And even **_I_** can see that this is gonna lead to a whole lot of fighting and arguing, yo."

"Well, it's not exactly that that worries me," Spirit said, "But what if the people we don't want learn about this and that Pluto can reassign the Elementa magic of people of his choosing? And you**_ know_** how well secrets are kept within the X-Men and the Misfits."

That was a foreboding thought, and everyone knew that it wasn't just the Organization and the Inner Circle that would get wind of this.

"Yikes," winced Quinn.

"You have a point," Roadblock said, not longer speaking in verse as he ticked off each predicament with a finger, "What if Cobra finds out exactly what Pluto can do and tries to kidnap the dog and force him to surrender the magic spells to some of their own like Xamot, Tomax, or Destro and the Baroness? The **last** thing we need is Cobra soldiers and mercenaries trying to cut us down with our own weapons. And what if the other enemies find out how Kitty got her magic through Lance?"

"And there's no end to that list of beings and people that would want to either use Pluto for their own gain or use this as a weakness and kill the Misfits so that none of them would be able to pass off their gifts to other people, giving us a big weakness to exploit. There's not only Cobra, but Eddington, the Jugglers who are working against us, the Initiative, Wolfram and Hart, the various enemies of the Justice League that aren't associated with Luthor, the Teen titans' enemies, Magneto…God, we'll have more enemies than we can handle! Hell, I'll be surprised if Frost doesn't try to extract information from our heads with her telepathy and see if we know anything about this!" Beach Head said with worry.

"I agree," Low Light said, "It would be too risky to tell the X-Men about this or risk sharing with others that the magic from the Misfits could be transferable. It'll be better if we keep this a secret and just pretend that we don't know any more "

"Now look who's keeping secrets," retorted Shipwreck angrily, frowning, "Charley made the same goddamned mistake when he didn't tell the X-Men and the kids about how the Hellfire Heartless could get stronger by absorbing mutant powers and how it makes them the perfect weapons against us! Had he just did that in the first place, the X-Men wouldn't have been caught off guard when Wolverine got infected by the Organization!"

Bree grimaced as she said, "As much as it shocks me to say this, I agree with Shipwreck. It's not a good idea to keep secrets now."

"But if it brings us unwanted attention and makes things worse for us and for fighting the Gathering of Twilight, then I'll agree and say that it would be better to remain safe than sorry. Therefore, I'm giving an order that no one else outside this room, not even the other Joes for fear of exploitation by any spies or the Inner Circle, should know of this. We'll keep this in mind in case all else fails and it'll help protect others, but until then, **not one word.** **_To anyone_**," General Hawk commanded sternly, and the look on his face was so staid and grave that no one felt like that they wanted to object. As much as they didn't like this, the risks were too great and heavy.

Everyone then automatically turned to Toad with deadpanned and commiserating gazes. The frog-mutant and ninja-in-training blinked as he panned all around the room before it clicked in his head why everyone was looking at him meaningfully.

"HEY, YO!" he shouted, "I'm not that bad! I can keep a secret when it counts!"

"Yeah right," Daria, Quinn, and Brittany scoffed with a restrained snigger which immediately ceased with an angry glare from Althea.

"Toad, face it: **_there's a reason_** why one of your positions in the Misfits is 'Team Blabbermouth'," Pietro commented with exasperated, sarcastic humor.

---

The next day, it was actually a bit more peaceful at the Mansion, though it was still not saying much as the general fights, explosions, chases, and various roughhousing still remained prevalent. Xi was being hounded by Logan after he was caught holding hands with Rina in the east gardens, Justin was still trying to talk to Jake who pointedly ignored him and shut himself in the hangar, Storm was trying to fry the life out of Shipwreck with her lightning, Trinity was chasing Jamie and threatening to "kiss the life out of him", and the Misfits and Joes all decided to remain in the Institute just for safety's sake (and the various Ghostbuster members were still testing the mysterious energy barrier around the Institute). Not to mention that a good number of the X-Men had resorted to spending as much time with the dog, Pluto, as they possibly could, and the Disney hound was no fool as he was starting to get a bit sick of the various attempts to be over-friendly and the never-ending stream of doggie treats as bribery to be on his good side.

To tell the truth, the hound was actually thinking that had all the X-Men hated him, it would have made his life a lot less complicated and guilt-ridden.

Though Piotr had fully recovered and regained consciousness in the infirmary, Beast (now sporting a black eye) still wished Colossus to remain under surveillance and a day or two of bed rest, which was perfect for the Russian X-Man anyway considering that he was constantly being fussed over and tended to by Kitty who frequently came to visit and keep her boyfriend company. Lance, who was well enough to leave the Pit, pretty much stayed out of it (due to being "persuaded" by Wanda, Spirit, and Simba). And like many of the other X-Men, Piotr was extremely pained for Kitty for the loss of her father, and Kitty was still grieving, but thankfully, the presence of each other's company did cheer them up more than a bit.

Althea, Todd, Fred (who was surprisingly helpful in choosing food and knowing what places in the U.S. made exquisite wedding cakes), and Mariko were in one of the sitting rooms going over the never-ending pile of wedding plans and catalogues as well as scheduling required meetings and appointments with the long list of people who were needed to make the this whole event even plausible to work. And with the numerous times they needed to additionally concentrate on fighting the Heartless and Organization Thirteen as well as their regular duties with the Joes and the allies made the two betrothed Misfits quite harried. Happy and anxious, but harried all the same.

_Slam!_

Wavedancer, Toad, Blob, and Jinx all looked up to see a rather peeved off Jean Grey slamming the door to the furnished living room, in a clear, disgruntled funk and irately stomping over to the table, fuming, before she wearily sank to an empty seat in the table. Fred looked like he certainly didn't want Jean to be here, but knowing that it wouldn't do any good to cause another fight, he just hid his face with a catalogue and concentrated on a picture.

"You OK, Jean?" Jinx asked, cocking her head to the side with a small smile.

"Gee, whatever gave you that idea?" griped Jean as she heatedly just stared at the veneer surface of the table before muttering, "Might as well drown in my continued disappointment and wallow in the fact that unlike you Misfits, not everyone gets the wonderful Prince Charming to sweep you off your feet."

"Lemme guess: you're mad at Scott?" Jinx asked.

"No…" muttered Jean hotly, and though she was normally never this rude and abrupt to an adult, she felt too incensed and irritated and disillusioned enough to not even care. Thankfully, the female Joe ninja didn't take it to offense as she smiled even more.

"Must've been some fight," Althea commented as she idly clicked in a few numbers for the sum of an invoice to ensure that they didn't cheat her out of the order of white tablecloths she ordered from Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

"Oh shut up and continue planning your wedding with Toad and leave me to wallow and fume in peace and being a single old maid for the rest of my life!" Jean muttered.

Althea then decided to play a little Devil's Advocate as she and Todd continued to look over their plans while Fred just remained coolly distant and kept his mouth shut while trying his best to look busy by looking over the various types of catalogues for cakes (and they were certainly going to need a **_big_** one for the reception).

"Why are you in such a rush to get married?" Althea asked, "Last time I checked, Scott never said specifically that he was ready for a lifetime commitment, and your parents haven't been pushing you from what I recall from Trinity's photocopies of your diary that they've been circulating around."

Jean wrathfully made a mental note to kill Daria, Quinn, and Brittany after she used the Yellow Materia to steal their magic and Keyblades first for the ultimate revenge against those three terrors. And she also considered getting Batman to help her since he rued being a favorite target of the Terror Triplets.

"I'm not in a rush!" Jean protested hotly, "But…but it's just irritating! After seeing Logan and Jinx and you and Toad being willing to dedicate your lives for each other, I thought that Scott would be just as willing! After everything we've been through, all the trials and obstacles we had to endure, I thought he loved me enough to be willing to do the same, after considering how long we've dated!"

Jean just continued to seethe a bit in silence until Althea broke in her thoughts.

"What does love have anything to do with marriage?" the Misfit leader asked.

Jean looked at Althea like she was insane before she blurted out, "Because…because it's mutually exclusive! If Scott loved me, then he would have already proposed! And I'm actually willing to want to commit my life to Scott, so if anything, I'm just disillusioned on just how much this entire relationship wasn't what I pictured right now!"

"So in other words, since he's not willing to commit, he doesn't love you and is planning to sleep behind your back and enjoy his life with say…oh, say Starfire? Rogue? Raven? Batgirl? Wonder Woman? Faith Lehane? Emma Frost?" Althea quipped, one eyebrow raised. OK, she was really speculating with that last one, but still…

"No, but the fact that he's not willing to commit just shows I'm not exactly a priority in his life, and that's what irritates me!"

"That is a load of bull, yo," snorted Todd, finally unable to keep hold of his tongue and blurting out his response before he could control himself. As much as he disliked Scott, he felt Jean was certainly being unfair to him. Jean felt her face burn as her temper flared.

"What?" she growled, her eyes narrowing, and Todd clarified it for the X-Girl.

"Jean, everyone knows Summers' crazy over you, ever since you guys first joined the Institute. Even when we were the Brotherhood, anyone could tell that you two were going ga-ga over each other and even when you were with Duncan, everyone knew that Cyclops really wanted to be with you, yo. Just cuz Summers' getting cold feet over a marriage commitment doesn't mean he won't be there for you like when your powers went haywire during your mental surge-whatchamacallit or when you went on a stealing spree - "

"That was Mesmero's doing, not mine!" Jean protested.

"…and Cyclops did everything he could to break you outta that brainwashing loop, or when you and Summers were kidnapped by Cobra while they were posing as Bayville High teachers and how even though Taryn was with you, he was still more worried about you and told Taryn that he would always care about or all the hundreds of other times that I can't recall where he's humanly tried to stick up for you…" Todd continued as if he didn't hear the telekinetic.

"All right, all right, **you have a point!**" snapped Jean before she sulked a bit in silence, pondering with some snubbed resentment, and continued, "But it's still not fair. Even if we love each other, Scott could at least show more of an indication that he cares. Every time I try to drop a hint, it just passes over his head because he's busy thinking about something else! Every time we try to have a little…private time to ourselves, it always gets interrupted by the other people here at the school! God, I just wish he wasn't so…so…"

"So faulty? Was more in tune with what you expect of him? Could automatically meet up your expectations?" Althea asked.

"Yes!" protested Jean. Todd then gave her a pitying look.

"You perfect, Red?" he asked.

"Of course I'm not!" she snapped.

"So why should Scott be?" Althea asked quietly as he opened a new ledger and starting taking notes on a new possible choice of a store that rented tuxedoes. Jean looked flushed before she tried to clarify, knowing exactly what Althea was trying to pull.

"It's not the same thing!" Jean heatedly said, "I'm not asking Scott to be perfect and I'm not asking him to be…to be…"

"You sure it's not the same thing?" Mariko asked as she looked up from a catalogue, "You're asking Scott to make a decision he isn't ready yet, and though you know better, you fear that his hesitation is troubling because it wasn't exactly what you pictured as your ideal romance with Scott, of how he would place you in front of everything else, of how he completely respects your needs and wants without any care of his own, and how with you, it's either _all-or-nothing_ because if it's not what you pictured to the exact letter, then it's not what you want from Scott."

"And if you're not willing to see that, then there's no way you and Summers are ready for marriage, yo. This isn't just about you, it also includes the guy too," Toad said.

Fred felt his face burn a bit; this was exactly why he was still so shy and nervous and unwilling to tell Dragonfly that he had feelings for her and that whether or not she would be much happier with Bobby. Because he was afraid of being inadequate to her, of what she wasn't looking for.

Althea then looked into Jean's shocked face before she delivered her point.

"The world and people aren't perfect, Jean," Althea said with rare seriousness and compassion for Jean, "Life isn't always like a storybook simply because you're an X-Man and you're a hero. Scott's not ready to be married yet, and if you had any consideration for him, you'd respect that. And if you don't come to terms with that, then you're going to be lonely and sad for a good portion of your life because instead of bringing you two closer, it'll just drive you both further away."

Jean felt her insides curdle defensively; as much as she wanted to retort back and heatedly shoot it down, as much as she didn't like what Althea said, she was bothered that it seemed to strike a chord in her. And Fred looked equally uncomfortable. Who'd have thought he could slightly relate to Jean's feelings on this one?

Suddenly, the Misfits' communicator rang out with Mainframe's voice who was monitoring for any Heartless activity at the Pit.

"Red alert! **_Red alert!_** This is Mainframe, come in! There have been two Heartless sighted at Bayville at the mall! Hellfire Heartless are at the Bayville Mall and attacking a Friends of Humanity support rally over at the grounds! Come in, Misfits! The Friends of Humanity are being attacked by the Heartless at the Bayville Mall!"

"Crap, they don't know when to give up?" griped Fred as he and the others rushed out to the main foyer in the Mansion where the other heroes were gathered and ready.

"We're coming too!" Jamie yelled bravely, but Scott shot it down harshly.

"Absolutely not! The last thing we need are your hearts being taken too!"

"Why not just let the Hellfire Heartless take the FOH _conardes_? It's no big loss!" Remy snapped, obviously not having a good feeling of helping the people who have made their lives a living hell.

Cyclops glared at Gambit before he sniped, "And with that attitude, it's a given you're not going too be much of a help either."

"At least Remy not in the doghouse because he too chicken and stubborn to his _fille_! What's the matter, _mon ami_? Still afraid to and stupid to not marry Jean because he no wanna be attached to the ball-and-chain?" the Cajun shot back, which caused a few rounds of snickering and a red-faced Scott looking as if he wanted to blast Remy into the wall.

"Yes, Scott…" Jean then prodded with a chipped, hard voice and narrowed green eyes, "I personally would **_love_** to hear you answer **_that_** question."

"**_Jean, not now!_**" snapped Scott uncharacteristically, already having enough and feeling that another petty and paltry argument over something this trivial wasn't what he needed. Jean's eyes flew wide open and looked completely outraged as if she was slapped in the face. Thankfully, she just glared daggers at Scott and bit her tongue.

"Well, we can take Kitty with us since she now knows magic, but who else can we take with us who can help maintain crowd control and make sure that they can easily and relatively escape any harm from the Hellfire Heartless?" asked Cover Girl.

"**_We'll_** go!" chimed in a good portion of the younger X-Men which consisted of Bobby, Ray, Remy, Amara, Roberto…and Hank, surprisingly. The Joes and the Misfits looked at the six with incredulous and suspicious looks while a few of the fellow X-Men just rolled their eyes or glowered at the impudence. Even Logan had to shoot Beast a withering glare; he thought that as an adult, Hank would know better.

"Uh…_why_ are you even volunteering?" Xi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No reason," Bobby lamely covered, grinning like an idiot and scratching his head. Realizing what a chary and dubious act that was, Gambit then managed to put on his best game face as he said with conviction.

"Cabin fever get a bit _insupportable_, no? And like we'd let you Misfit morons go in and have all the fun by screwing up, _mon ami_," Remy sniped back good-naturedly.

"Aaaahhhhh…" murmured the Joes and some of the Misfits in understanding, nodding, but a few such as Blind Master, Althea, and Wanda just continued staring at the X-Men. It was obvious that they didn't buy it.

---

"Oh my God…" breathed in Jean with a shuddering and quaking breath as she, Cyclops, Shadowcat, Wolverine, and Rogue teleported in with the Misfits and the Joes into Bayville Mall where they instantly were greeted with chaos. Complete with a screaming and out of control pandemonium of people fleeing, smashed windows, overturned benches and tables, and a small fire or two as a pair of Hellfire Heartless, hulking and mammoth enough to reach the second story of the shopping center, were roaring and attacking anything in sight.

The section of the mall where the two abominations already had a noticeable amount of floating, pink shining crystals as the hearts of those that had fallen and were killed, and regardless how many Bayville civilians fled to safety or for hiding, there were still a typical amount of people remaining where they were due to fear, foolishness, or being injured and shoved down to the ground during the stampede.

And that just made them easy targets to the black shafts of lightning or the physical touch of the Heartless' claws and magic as more and more men, women, and children wailed and yelled in pain before they faded into the void and left nothing but their hearts to rise and fade into oblivion for the Organization.

And naturally, the sight of the mutants and G.I. Joe did little to quell the commotion and panic as a good number of the spectators alongside the various police officers and mall guards fighting instantly rounded upon the newcomers.

"You mutants are the cause of this!" shrieked one middle-aged woman who was wearing a FOH T-shirt and immediately started pointing her finger at the incoming group of heroes.

"I should have known! Every time Heartless pop up, you freaks are involved in the middle of it!" yelled another man.

"I'm not even going to dignify that one with an answer!" Shipwreck growled as he took out his dual Eagle pistols as the other Misfits began attacking the Hellfire Heartless.

"This should stop 'em!" Blob yelled, "Gravira…Orbs of Force Crusher!"

"Gaia Earthquake Force Rush!" yelled Avalanche, bringing a hand to the ground and invoking a powerful explosion on the ground.

"**Give me strength!** Bambi, keep us covered!" Xi yelled, raising his green Rainforest Scale Keyblade over his head, summoning the Disney fawn to appear in a cloud of rose petals, and dancing and leaping on air, the deer littered the ground with clear and translucent mana orbs.

Meanwhile, some of the X-Men were trying to help the injured and the Friends of Humanity followers from getting hurt by helping them to safety and away from their position near the Heartless, and though while some were acquiescent to accept help from the X-Men, others weren't. Especially when Jean was stupefied to see Duncan Matthews, her old boyfriend when she was a student at Bayville High, among the group of bigots from the Friends of Humanity, wearing military regalia and having a beret and an black armband displaying the insignia of the FOH. Though now carrying weapons and appearing more bitter and menacing, he was still pretty much the blond athletic jock that Jean grew to despise.

Still, he and his followers were in grave danger.

"Duncan, get everyone out of here! Run! The Heartless will kill you and your men!" Jean tried, but to her shock, Duncan and a few of the men took out their guns and aimed it at Jean before firing at point blank range without a word. Jean gasped as she then used her telekinesis to make a shield, and though she kept the shrapnel from hitting her and the others, they still ricocheted and hit some of their own members and other innocent civilians nearby who were still trying to escape.

"**_Duncan, stop!_**" Jean cried out, but like typical idiots lost in violence, they kept shooting while Duncan spat at the X-Girl who was trying to protect herself and her allies while trying to warn them.

"Get lost, Jean! I'm through with trying to listen to a bitch like you! Kill her and any of the Joes and freaks along with her!" Duncan yelled, ordering his armed men to continue firing, solely concentrated on the mutants before them. Which was exactly how one of the Heartless managed to catch them off-guard as a cloud of black lightning struck a few of the FOH supporters, and with a frenzied scream, they perished, leaving nothing but glowing heart crystals.

"No!" Jean yelled, horrified.

"Aren't you going to help all these people?" snapped Scarlet Witch at a craven and spineless mall security guard who looked like he had eaten one too many donuts and was only several years away to the retirement age, "They're your fellow humans! They're hurt too!"

What the white-haired and portly hatemonger said next made Wanda's hair stand on end.

"Piss off, mutie whore! This is your problem, not mine! I'm outta here!" and with that, the guard ran off, not caring about anything else except saving his own skin and deciding that hiding among the fallen tables of the food court and hoping to remain unnoticed wasn't going to protect him for much longer.

"Coward!" shouted Daria.

"Jerk!" Quinn growled.

"You know, I'd call him a chicken, but then I'd be insulting all poultry everywhere," Brittany muttered with loathing as she continued clicking on her scanner as she and her fellow sisters raised a pink glowing hand at the two Heartless.

"Stopra…Time Freeze!" they called out in unison. Unfortunately, the Hellfire Heartless were indeed far more powerful than their past predecessors before them. Trinity only managed to freeze the one that was shooting black lightning everywhere.

"Every time I see this, a part of me becomes even more ashamed in the human race," Lina commented with a disgusted tone of voice at the fleeing mall security guard before she summoned her violin of ice and used her magic, crying out, "Blizzaga…Arctic Requiem!"

"I got them! Give me strength! Tinkerbell, heal all the people who've been injured!" Whitelighter yelled as his Keyblade began to glow in a yellow light before the miniature fairy shot out from its tip like a rocket and began bathing everyone with pixie dust, touching the various bodies and injuries of the Bayville civilians and curing them from their wounds in seconds. Still, the second Hellfire Heartless was managing to escape the time-freeze spell was reaching out with its stretchable arms and claws at the FOH group and succeeding in grabbing a few of them, killing them instantly.

"Ergh! I can't believe I'm gonna do this…" griped Wavedancer before she held aloft her white scepter and cried out, causing a blue flash of luminescence, "_Give me strength!_ Dumbo, save those creeps from the Friends of Humanity! Protect them from the Heartless!"

With that, the flying elephant rushed down and dove like a hawk before it managed to grab and safely carry out the only surviving member of the Friends of Humanity rally-group that didn't get his heart stolen, which unfortunately happened to be Duncan. And like all people in a panic, he absolutely freaked at the sight of a Disney character saving him.

"Put me down, you freak of nature!" screamed Duncan as he took out his gun, and to Wavedancer and Jean's horror, he shot point-blank into the elephant's forehead, emptying his clip and causing Dumbo to squeal as the metal entered his skull and blood poured down his face.

"You bastard!" Low Light gasped, white in the face, as the elephant shuddered before going limp.

"NO!" Wavedancer screamed as Dumbo relinquished his hold on Duncan Matthews and toppled like a stone, in near death, as Rogue flew up and caught the baby elephant from falling to his death.

"Aw, geez! **_You weigh a ton!_**" grunted Rogue as she did her best from preventing Dumbo from crashing to the ground as Tinkerbell, with a rare look of shock and revulsion on her face, flew up and touched Dumbo's head, right between the eyes, and with a soft chime of bells, Dumbo was fully healed and recovered though he was whining and wailing to himself at being shot as Rogue set the Disney summon down. Jean then tried to grab Duncan and stop his fall with her telekinesis, but before she could, the second Hellfire Heartless roared before it neatly snatched Duncan in the air and brought the young man to its face before the Heartless symbol on its chest began to glow.

"Oh God…" Scott gasped, looking like he was about to be sick as Duncan Matthews was encased in a red light, and screaming, Duncan went limp as his flesh actually melted away in disgusting blood and gore before his body disintegrated and vanished, leaving nothing more than a heart crystal as it ascended to the rooftops of the mall and disappeared.

"Lumiga Moonbeam Shower!" yelled Shadowcat, pointing her finger at the fiend and expecting an array of powerful beams of light to hail and rain down upon the entire food court, but to her shock and horror, nothing happened.

"Like, huh? What gives?" Kitty shrieked. She didn't understand what was happening. She didn't user her magic and there were plenty of mana orbs being absorbed by the other Misfits. What was wrong?

"Kitty's what's wrong? Why ain't ya' using your magic?" Rogue cried as she let loose with a painful shock missile from her glovatrix into the chest of the monster that killed Duncan.

"I can't! I don't know why! But…but it's like not there! I don't have the magic anymore!" Shadowcat sobbed, feeling at a loss. And then to make matters worse, Axel himself teleported in the middle of the fray, and with a click of his fingers, he caused the time-freeze cast on the Heartless by Trinity to fade away, leaving it free to terrorize the rest of the mall.

"CRAP!" yelled Daria, Quinn, and Brittany in unison as they drew out their pink Trichrona Keyblades.

"_Pfft!_ You sorry bunch of Misfits may be strong in your magic, but you're definitely not up to our standards," scoffed the Organization member as he tossed back his black hood, revealing his

"You!" snarled Shipwreck.

"Already forgot my name? I'm insulted, really. And here I thought we we're already turning to be the best of friends," Axel drawled as then sneered at Jean Grey who was standing side by side with Cyclops, and Scott was incredibly bothered and defensive, not liking the way the red-haired male was leering at his girlfriend.

"Who the hell are you?" Cyclops snarled before he let loose with an incredibly and intense beam of red, optic energy, but with a flurry of heat, Axel's two spiked chakram appeared in front of him and blocked the energy beam with barely any effort.

"My name's Axel," he drawled, absolutely loving this as Wolverine, Xi, Bambi, and Quicksilver blitzed him with claws, Keyblades, and furry head armed and ready, "Got it memorized?"

"You **_really_** need to get a new catch-phrase, Axel! Well, that and a good hairstylist to boot! Here's a tip you psycho: spiky-hair went out of style years ago along with the mullet and the punk-look!" Quicksilver snarled as he swung his Zephyr Keyblade at Axel's head while Logan and Xi struck forward, but sneering, Axel teleported away, leaving Bambi to accidentally strike past the position where the cloaked warrior once was and rammed his head into Pietro's stomach, leaving him winded. Wolverine's foot, likewise, missed and accidentally caught Xi full-force in the stomach, knocking him down.

"Ow…you got me and missed…Axel…ow…" Xi moaned.

"Who said I was aiming for **_him_**, bub?" Wolverine grinned impishly and without shame, "Still wanted to pay you back for trying to sneak off with Rina behind my back."

Xi gave Wolverine a dirty look from his position on the floor. Meanwhile, as Cyclops was trying to get a good moment to blast Axel again, both he and Jean suddenly felt themselves being surrounded by a wave of darkness as a vortex them opened up all around them, tearing into a wormhole.

"No!" Blind Master yelled and Fred, forgetting everything else, ran straight into the mass of black right before it completely sealed off, moving faster than he had ever done so before in his life.

"Blob!" Lina gasped as she tried to follow the Misfit into the vortex, but to her shock, the instant she went into the massive, swirling portal of darkness, she emerged right through it and appeared on the other side. It was as if Dragonfly went through a cloud of black smoke. Wherever Blob, Jean and Cyclops were, she couldn't reach them.

"FRED!" Dragonfly yelled as the other Misfits battled the two Hellfire Heartless as best as they could in the mall.

Meanwhile, Jean and Scott found themselves lost in a sea of inky night and obscurity, trapped in a dimensional plane where there couldn't get their bearings until Axel appeared, a spiked hoop of metal edged with flames and heat radiating and twirling in his gloved palms.

"Hey, why so glum?" Axel asked, startling the two mutants, "The darkness isn't really that bad when you get used to it."

"Rot in hell!" Cyclops snarled as he was about to fire and Jean then flung out a hand with a massive telekinetic shove, hoping to catch the Organization member of guard and strike him with full force, but to her horror, Axel rushed forward, dodging both the telekinetic shove and the optic energy before he shoved the Hellfire spore into the center of Cyclops' chest.

Scott groaned as he toppled forward, drastically changing as Jean, livid, tried to punch Axel, fighting in a fury before she opted for a more painful choice and tried to use her telepathy to shut down his brain. But to her shock, it didn't work; she couldn't sense any sort of consciousness in the warrior's head and his inner psyche was completely devoid of anything that she could use to render against him. Axel chuckled as he then flung a fire-covered chakram at her and Jean, remembering her training, ducked and rolled madly like Logan had taught her multiple times in the Danger Room. She felt the heat graze against her hair, but thankfully, she managed to avoid having her head sliced off as she stood in a defensive pose, fists out and ready, causing Axel to smile.

"You know, you're really cute when you're mad. Kinda glad I didn't make you into a Heartless. Wouldn't be the same and I've always wanted to see just how much of a little spitfire you are, Jean Grey," Axel sneered as he charged with both of his weapons in his hands, moving so swiftly that all Jean could do was create a bubble of force around her to protect herself from the damaging swipes of the sharp metal edges, but then to both of their surprise…

"Gravira Orbs of Force Crusher!" Blob yelled, and Axel cursed as he madly strafed to the side, avoiding the very attack of several powerful and crushing spheres of gravity striking and encompassing the very spot he was seconds ago before Blob solidly marched up from the shadows and drew out his Heavyweight Keyblade, frowning and panting heavily.

"You leave her alone!" he demanded angrily, and Jean wasn't sure exactly how to feel as she could sense with her telepathy that she and Blob were the only ones in the area right now.

"Hmph, didn't know you also had a thing for her," Axel remarked with a frown, and Blob shuddered. That may have been before in the past, but the only reason he was doing this was because…well…Dragonfly and the other Misfits would have wanted him to, to fulfill his oath.

"I don't," Blob emphasized, "But I'm not leaving here until you leave Summer and Jean alone, ya' pyro-wannabe!"

"May be harder than you think, Fatso, especially since your friend's now under our control," Axel sneered as he pointed to a vague and gigantic black mass of flesh and muscle where Cyclops once stood.

"Oh my God…" Jean whispered again as Cyclops now fully transformed into a Hellfire Heartless. Now, instead of the confident and wonderful leader she had grown to love and befriend, there was only a gangly, lanky black-skinned monster that could be best described as an emaciated corpse with black skin. The muscles, though defined, did little to cover the thin and withered frame and the joints made eerie clicking noises as they moved, along with the creature's arms being so abnormally long, the hands and claws were brushing limply against the floor. And along with the Heartless symbol on its chest, the monster additionally had another lone black-and-red sigil of Ansem where its eyes were supposed to be, right above a disembodied mouth full of rotten teeth.

"Aw…crap…" Blob muttered, his mind coming to the only curse he could think of. This wasn't good. And from the smile on Axel's face, it was certainly going to get much worse.

"Hey, why so glum with a capital-G?" quipped the fire-wielding Organization member, "If anything, I made the ol' stick in the mud a lot more sociable and fun now that he's a Heartless. And – oh yeah! I was supposed to give the One-Eye icky orders to kill the Misfit and take his heart while ol' Red here is to be spared…if it can be helped."

At this, Axel gave a perverted leer at Jean Grey while she was immediately thinking of dark thoughts to forcefully rip that smug bastard's lips off his face.

"Well, what're you waiting for, Cyclops? You're a Heartless now, so go get that fat Blob," Axel ordered.

"Enough with the fat jokes, ya' red-haired, chicken-stealin' fox!" retorted Fred defensively, now starting to get angry, but he didn't have much time to object some more as the Hellfire Heartless that was once Scott Summers now shrieked in an ungodly pitch as its one eye began to glow an unholy crimson red. With a powerful noise, a red beam of optic energy shot out and yelping and realizing that he wasn't fast enough to dodge it, Blob threw all cautions to the wind and he brought his Heavyweight across his body horizontally as a guard move instinctively, flinching and bracing himself for any pain.

To the Misfit's surprise, it thankfully worked. The red beam of light struck the bar of the dark-purple Keyblade and safely dispersed and ricocheted off the weapon harmlessly, leaving Blob safe for now. But he was still shocked.

"What the hell?" he gasped, "Even _Summers' Heartless _has optic blasts now? Aw, geez! Life's never easy, is it?"

"Meh, if anything, now that he's out of the way, the prick will keep you busy while I get to play around with his attractive flame here," Axel said without much concern.

"You…you…" but Jean was so mad that she just forgot saying anything witty and insulting as she then tried to use her telekinesis to hold Axel in place before attempting to crash every single vertebrae in his spinal column, being so furious and outraged that her face was matching the red tone of her hair, but to her dismay, Axel was proving too powerful for her mutant powers as he teleported behind and slashed forward with his hands.

Jean screamed as the two spiked chakram and hoops of metal sliced across her back, tearing through her polymer uniform and leaving nothing but deep, bloody gashes laced with seared, blackened skin before the pain became too much for her as she passed out, the last thing she could sense was the smell of cooked flesh. Axel grinned as he stepped forward to gather Jean in his arms; after all, the Superior never said he couldn't have a little fun should he want to, and after he was done, Jean Grey would make an excellent Hellfire Heartless and it would be a devastating blow to Professor Xavier.

But then he became surprised as Blob, managing to avoid the Heartless' optic blasts, charged forward, roaring and encased in a temporary invincible shade of purple as he swung wildly with his Heavyweight Keyblade.

"Ars Arcanum!" he yelled, and Axel actually flinched before he teleported before Blob could hack him to death, and Blob hurriedly gathered the X-Girl in his arms before he raised a hand at the Heartless in the distance.

"Gravira…Orbs of Force Crusher!" he yelled, but to his puzzled dismay, nothing happened.

"Oh no…" whispered Fred, shaking, but Axel easily voiced his fears as the red-haired male sneered.

"Hmph, look at that. Looks like you've used up all your inner strength to summon magic, and now the poor widdle Misfit doesn't even have enough mana in him to summon even a flicker of energy. And that fawn, Bambi, is _outside_ the vortex while you and Jean are trapped _inside_, so you can't recharge you gravity magic. Well, besides the abnormal amount of gravity that takes in effect from his body, anyway," snickered Axel as he reappeared above the obese mutant teenager, arms crossed over his chest and arrogantly smug. With that, he clicked his fingers and Blob was surrounded by a crackling wall of fire, the flames reaching the sky and encircling all around him and the unconscious Jean in his arms, her blood soaking into his hands. It was intensely unbearable, and the heat was hot enough to melt sand into liquid glass in second, hot enough to rival being trapped inside a volcano, and Fred wasn't sure how much longer he'd last as the walls began to inch toward shim, lessening the amount of space between him and the pillar of flames trapping him.

"You've got a choice, Fat-Boy!" Axel crowed, "If you give me Jean, I promise she won't die and that I'll let her live on as a Heartless! If you don't she can just be roasted to death along with you, and both of you won't be able to do much except die and be overcooked corpses for your friends to discover! And since you used up all your magic and not even a Keyblade can match up against both me and your transformed friend, you haven't gotten a hope!"

Fred froze, wide-eyed and looking like he was a deer caught in the headlights of an incoming semi. He had absolutely no idea how to get out of this, and the flames were getting closer and closer by the second.

"Wow, talk about blank with a capital-B. Guess they'll let anyone have a Keyblade nowadays…" snickered Axel.

Blob then knew he had to make a difficult choice. With that, he hugged Jean Grey closer to his body as he then begged in his mind urgently.

"Pluto…" Fred whispered, so surreptitiously that not even Axel could hear the Misfit's voice. Why not? It worked for Lance when he tried it…

For several seconds, there was nothing but the sounds of the flames licking away dangerously as they grew closer and closer to the two mutants and the roars of the Hellfire Heartless along with Axel's taunts.

"Better make a decision soon, Fat-Boy!" chuckled Axel, his voice magically echoing all around Blob, "Otherwise you're gonna be roasted with a capital-R and that little red-head here will die for nothing!"

"Pluto…please!" hissed Blob again, his hand tightening around the handle of his dark-purple Keyblade and shutting his eyes, already picturing how guilty he would feel and how a lot of the X-Men would blame him with anger and tears if Jean died and he didn't. He shut his eyes, and for a terrifying moment, he was scared that Pluto wouldn't or couldn't hear him.

That was when he heard the bark, and Blob nearly fell to his knees in surprise as he opened his eyes to see Pluto seated on his haunches a few feet in front of him with a cheerful expression on his face, wagging his tail which was sort of unsuitable for the gravity of the situation. But Fred was so intent on concentrating on protecting Jean and finding the words to say to Pluto that he didn't even recall that time actually stood still, as if he wasn't in the present but still dreaming.

"Pluto…please give me more stuff!" Blob begged, holding a limp Jean in his arms, "I know it's selfish, but just for one more time! Jean's hurt, and I ran out of magic to use! And my Keyblade's protective enough, but I can't fight against both Axel and Summers at the same time! Please, can't you give me something to stop this? I'm dying here!"

Pluto gave a commiserating look of pity, which made Blob all the more desperate to find something that could help them, help all of them.

"Pluto, please, I used up all my magic and I don't want to die and I don't want Jean to die! Please, can't you give me another gift or recharge my magic like Bambi? Please! I can't fight like this! That guy's stronger and faster than me!"

Pluto shook his head, giving a very dog-like groan of pity and remorse. Blob then knew he had no other choice, and remembering General Hawk's words and despite his issues with Jean and that he still harbored some resentment towards her, he then begged the dog in front of him.

"Then give Jean my magic!" Fred pleaded, "You did it for Lance and Kitty! Then do it for me and Jean! Give my magic and let her have a chance to defend herself!"

Pluto gave an odd noise as he looked at Blob with a mixture of shock, confusion ,and a _je-ne-sais-quoi_ expression of _are-you-insane?_, and Blob then hurriedly explained as the fires grew closer and closer.

"Pluto, I'm not doing this because I still have a crush on her!" Fred reorted, shutting his eyes and wishing his emotions weren't so damned complicated, "I just…I'm doing this because I don't want Jean and Summers dead, no matter how much I don't really like them! And I don't care if this is nuts! Jean's got a good heart too, even though she's a snob and a bit stuck-up! And…and…"

Blob swallowed uneasily, remembering his feelings for Dragonfly and regretting that he didn't do much to tell her how he felt, before he then managed to voice the one thing that had been nagging him for some time.

"I just don't want to watch someone die without being able to tell someone that they love 'em! Jean deserves a chance to fight for someone she cares about because the worst thing you can ever do to someone is let them and their hopes of finding someone they can spend the rest of their life with die and leave them all alone!"

Though it was awkwardly said, Pluto's eyes softened as he then slowly ambled up to Fred and Jean, his face showing nothing but touched empathy and concern as he brought his nose to Jean's forehead and nuzzled against it before he disappeared in Fred's mind and Blob was immediately snapped back to the present.

Then Jean Grey stirred before she slowly woke up, her eyes clearing to reveal that Blob was looking down on her, and though it wasn't intentional, she was instantly struck with the memories of how Blob kidnapped her because he was insecurely infatuated with her during their high school years, and it all came to her mind with the equivalent of a sledgehammer striking her skull, blunt, swift, and striking a chord of outrage and revulsion in her soul.

Jean then did the only thing that first came to her panicked mind. She let out a sharp scream before her hand flew out and slapped Blob hard across the face, leaving a red mark and causing the X-Girl's hands to immediately cry out and swell in pain as if she slapped a solid wall of steel. Jean winced; she forgot how unwise it was to hit someone with invulnerable skin.

Fred yelped and fought hard to control his temper as he gingerly held his stinging cheek and hollered, "**_JEAN! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR?_**"

"I…I thought you were kidnapping me…" Jean weakly explained, though it was a lame excuse and certainly didn't justify the slap as she hurriedly extracted herself from Blob's hands, ignoring the stinging pain of the cuts lacerating her exposed back.

And Fred was partly wondering why the hell he just didn't hand over Jean to Axel like what was originally requested.

"I did the **right** thing…" Fred had to lividly growl to himself in order to gain self-control over his urge to violently lash out, "I did the **right** thing…I did the **right** thing…I did the **right** thing…"

"I'm sorry! You can't blame me for thinking that! It was an accident!" snapped Jean as she then concentrated and let loose a furious amount of telekinetic force that shielded Blob and her as she extracted them with all her mental energy out of the pillar of fire before she fell to her hands and knees, exhausted and still severely injured.

"You're mine now, Axel!" Fred roared as he covered for Jean automatically, now no longer trapped in the fire and forcing the Organization member to go on the defensive as his chakram clashed with Fred's metal Keyblade, causing sparks to shower and fly out as the Hellfire Heartless tried to gang up on Blob from behind. Thankfully, Fred still had his Keyblade as he struck without holding back.

"Ars Arcanum!"

Jean was so woozy, she felt like she was going to pass out again as she grimly held the urge to vomit, her head pounding from the exertion of trying to safely drag herself and the massive Fred out of the cage of fire, and she wasn't sure if she could keep this up. But, then Scott would be…

And then, to Jean's surprise, she could see through the pain and her blurred vision a familiar four legged animal, and at first she thought she was clearly hallucinating until she head Pluto give a single soft bark of delight and felt his wet and bumpy tongue lick her cheek.

Well, unless illusion had realistic drool, then that meant…

"Pluto…Scott…he's a Heartless…"

Pluto cocked his head to the side as if saying, "And what exactly would you have me do?"

"Pluto…please…I…"

She choked before her nails dug into the ground (or lack of one) before she then pleaded her request to the dog that just looked at her with soft eyes.

"Pluto, I can't lose him. I **won't** lose him! Not when we already been through so much to realize that we love each other! I wished I wasn't so demanding! I wish I didn't fight with him over something so trivial! Please…teach me magic! Please! I don't care about anything else right now, not any future wedding, not being strong, not about the jealousy, not anything! **_But please let me save Scott!_**"

For a moment, time absolutely stood to a standstill, and Jean didn't know what she would do if the hound refused her request. Then, Pluto's eyes crinkled a bit as he smiled before his eyes began to glow a pure fiery red, and Jean gasped as the mark of Fira appeared on her forehead, glowing through the headband of her uniform.

Jean closed her eyes as a rather warm yet comforting aura of power began to flow and erupt within her, and it was so pleasant, like she was floating on a bed of snug air, but powerful and intense as well. Like…a pillar of fire. Erasing the pain in her back due to Axel's attacks. And she could actually sense this strange sensation taking control, guiding her mind and body so that cit was as if she knew exactly what to do as she turned to where Blob was valiantly yet slowly losing his ground while trying to fight both Axel and the Cyclops Heartless.

The words escaped her mouth before she could even comprehend what she was doing, the inner feeling ready to explode and escape in a frenzy.

"FIRA…!" she cried.

With that, Jean brought her hands together and made a steeple, her forefingers pointing outwards and touching together before Jean closed her eyes and concentrated hard. To her surprise, in her mind, she could actually see and hear the piercing yet majestic cry of a phoenix as the vision of a firebird soaring to the heavens with its head arched back appeared.

And with that, a small flame began to emerge from her fingertips and formed a sphere of blaze about the size of a marble, a ball of heat amid the darkness of the vortex.

"PHOENIX FLAME STRIKE!"

Screaming this, Jean inwardly prayed that this would set Scott free and help Blob as she pointed the ball of fire at the Heartless' back, and to her amazement, upon those words, the ball of heat erupted, sending a comet of fire which began to take shape of a giant firebird as large as a small compact car, complete with wings and a multi-feathered tail.

To tell the truth, Jean was eerily and uncomfortably reminded of the Phoenix Force Darkseid tried to harness when they battled so many months ago at Apokolips.

With a shrill and melodious cry, the phoenix rose into the air before it sped downwards like a hawk, causing both Axel and the Hellfire Heartless to stop on their assault on the poor, battered and bruised Blob and turn around to see the amazing sight.

"What the hell?" exclaimed Axel angrily, "**_A firebird?_**"

The monster experiment next to the robed soldier took no notice as it roared before firing several blasts of red optic energy at the phoenix, and for a moment, Jean was scared that the Heartless could effectively cancel out and neutralize her magic. But to the X-Girl's amazement, the fire attack had a mind of its own as it gracefully dodged and swerved each ray of energy, avoiding it altogether, and the Heartless was doomed from the start as the spirit of Fira descended down and struck the ogre head-on into its torso, causing a combustive attack of flame and scorching heat which spread out as a web of destructive magic everywhere around the vortex.

**_Kawhooooosh! KAFWOOOOM!_**

The Heartless howled as the flames ate away at the darkness and to everyone's surprise, as the experiment that was once Cyclops collapsed to the ground, weakened, the portal and wormhole to nowhere gave away, fading into thin air and revealing a tired Blob, Axel, Jean, and a transformed Heartless in the midst of an angry group of X-Men, Misfits, and Joes back at the mall. Jean's attack was not only effective at stopping the monster, it was also much more powerful than she intended as it caused the entire structure of Axel's vortex to shatter from the Elementa magic of the King, causing it to be destroyed.

"Damn it!" Axel cursed, knowing he could handle all of them at once, and disappeared in a black portal of darkness as Wavedancer aimed her white staff at the Heartless next to Blob and Jean.

"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!" cried Wavedancer, and the Cyclops Heartless tried to unsuccessfully blast and kill the Misfits a final time, but thankfully, the staff's power easily dwarfed the optic blasts as the pillar of light overwhelmed the entire food court…

**_Kashooom!_**

"Scott!" Jean cried out with relief as her unconscious boyfriend and field leader of the X-Men toppled out of the pillar of light as the white luminosity faded, his body slumping to the tiled floor and with it, his heart crystal. But then before anyone could move…

"Aquara Tigershark Tsunami!" Octavia yelled from her position at the mall's skylight above, and instantly, an immense and overwhelming tidal wave and wall of water came roaring out.

"Shit!" yelled Blind Master as a good portion of the heroes were swept away, unable to escape the waves of the miniature ocean inside a mall as the salty liquid knocked most of them off their feet, and a few such a s Dragonfly, Trinity, Low Light, Rogue, Whitelighter, Toad, Shadowcat, and Wavedancer managed to use their mutant abilities to escape the flash flood, the others weren't so lucky as Genie and Dumbo did their best to catch the other defenders from being rushed out into the parking lot of the mall outside. Falco Lombardi, meanwhile, was zooming downwards from his position and snatched the heart from the floor, but before he could even scan it…

"Hey!" he squawked as Jean telekinetically snatched the heart crystal from the avian's feathered wings and placed it on Scott's body where it disappeared into the mutant's limp form and faded inside, forming a yellow Keyhole.

"I got it!" gasped Whitelighter as he held his Healing Mercy and with a click, he sealed it.

"Damn it! You meddling, red-haired, sorry excuse of a - !" but what the rest of what Falco was going to say was violently cut off as he felt himself being telekinetically lifted up from mid-air and slammed against the wall, forming cracks in the concrete, before Jean continued pressing on the bird's body harder and harder with her mutant powers, her eyes blazing.

_Touch my boyfriend's heart again, you sorry avian bastard, and I'll physically rip your spinal cord from your brainstem before I shove it down your throat! I've put up with enough crap from the two of you and the Heartless, but come after Scott, and so help me, your feathered butt is mine! Have I made myself clear, Falco Lombardi?_ Jean practically thundered telepathically in the bird's mind, causing him to flinch, and Falco looked like he wanted to spit in Jean's face until Jean's voice grew more forceful, literally making the insides of his skull feel as if they were on fire.

**_Have I made myself clear?_** Jean coldly asked again, this time driving the point home with her mental probes, and though the bird was shielded, she could still cause him a fair amount of pain. With that, Falco gave a curt nod, and Jean telekinetically flung him through the mall's skylight, forcefully ramming him through the window and shattering the glass. Octavia, giving Jean a dirty look, followed her companion, and the battle was over, the two stranger disappearing from view altogether.

"Wow, what a day…" groaned Fred as Lina spat some healing silk on several of his burns, but Jean, feeling ashamed for her earlier behavior, went up to blob and meekly looked into his eyes, sincere and apologetic.

"Blob…I…" she started and then faltered. Damn ,this was going to be hard.

"I wanted to say that I'm sorry for how I reacted back there," the X-Man said with repentance, "You fought and protected me against the Heartless, and even though we made it out all right and I learned magic, I…I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you helping me. And I can't thank you enough for that, for helping me and helping Scott, and for that, I'm…I'm very grateful. You have no idea how much that means to me, to have Scott back and safe. Thank you for that. You have no idea how much it means to me."

Fred bit back a rueful grin; as much as it did kind of wound his pride, Jean did have good reasons to have some issues with him. And he did feel better doing the right thing, so he nodded, letting the female teen know that the apology was accepted.

"I think I have an idea…" Fred chuckled.

And the drama and situation after the battle was hardly any less unpleasant…

"The muties did this!" screamed a hysterical young woman whose boyfriend was one of the members of the Friends of Humanity whose heart was stolen from the Hellfire experiments in front of a news camera while she was being interviewed by Hector Ramirez, "They had the motive! They were here! They have a lot of those Justice League invaders and Charmed freaks to enchant those Heartless to attack us! They're in with those Organization freaks all along! **_They wanted the Heartless to kill us!_**"

The man who was the cowardly mall guard who ran and left the Misfits and X-Men to fight the skirmish howled rhetorically his testimony to another news-team to CNN, playing the outraged victim shtick for all it was worth, "Why aren't the police arresting those mutant freaks? I'll tell ya' why! It's a freakin' government conspiracy! Those mutie-loving Joes and their fascist pigs that they serve are doing everything they can to oppress us decent folk from doing what's right! How the hell can we be safe from the mutants and aliens and Slayers when even our President and his sorry lackeys bow down and kiss their assess?"

"If those X-Men and Misfits aren't behind the Heartless, then how come they suddenly show up each and every time those damn monsters from those Thirteenth Order goons attack us innocent folk? They're behind it all! It couldn't be any more plain!" yelled another man who wasn't part of the FOH but apparently a sideline sympathizer nonetheless.

"_Already, Graydon Creed has declared that this is an act of war sent by the X-Men and Misfits, and that the Friends of Humanity will be filing a mass civil lawsuit against both Xavier's Institute of the Gifted and G.I. Joe, and if you recall that Creed now has powerful backers from various influential people such as Takuma Zaizen and Wilson Fisk, this may very well be a lawsuit that cannot be dismissed lightly. But as accusations continue to spread and charges are continued to be filed against both the Misfits and the X-Men, one must wonder if indeed that there is a kernel of truth to the notion that the mutant teams are indeed the result and cause of all the chaos that involves the Heartless and the Thirteenth Order. And should that hold true, are we truly safe? Even with the so-called support of those that do not necessarily have the world's populace and well-being at heart? Angela Chen, reporting live from Bayville, Metropolis Edition 3 News_," the female reporter spoke professionally in her white Armani suit in her microphone, doing a direct live-feed to the city of Metropolis in front of the camera. And like most typical reporters, Angela had no problems twisting the truth a bit all in the name of sensationalism.

Needless to say this wasn't making any of the waterlogged and damp heroes feel any better.

"Oh, yeah, yo," spat Toad in disgust, "No need to mention that the FOH ran while **_we_** went into the thick of battle and not to mention Matthews tried to kill Dumbo when Dumbo saved his sorry butt!"

The baby elephant with the over-sized ears and frilly clown collar and hat angrily snorted through his trunk in agreement, a rare case when he did not vanish and disappear when the Heartless had been thoroughly exterminated.

"I am so tempted to give that reporter a piece of my mind," Jean growled, throwing a very dirty look at Angela Chen's back, "Or failing that, I'd like to erase her brain and replace her psyche with the mentality and behavior of a mangy dog. Unfortunately, I'd doubt I'd see much of a difference if I did _that_ anyway!"

Quicksilver gasped as he exclaimed in jest, "Oh wow! Little Miss Perfect? Actually having a homicidal and mean streak? Well, wonders will never cease! And I thought you being able to learn Elementa magic is in itself a miracle of God alone!"

"Can it, Pietro! I already had enough of arrogant idiots after that Organization guy named Axel tried to hit on me!" shot back the redhead with irritation as she stayed by the unconscious Scott's side, holding his hand, but after the harrowing experience, she could honestly say that she would rather deal with Pietro's antics for the next ten years than encounter the chakram-wielding for another minute.

Shipwreck's face darkened as the Joe sailor then said as he helped Lina and Justin tend to the injured Cyclops, "I'll personally hold him down while you can stomp the bastard's face in."

The X-Girl looked at Shipwreck in confusion until Hector clarified, "Axel's the son of a cloaked bitch that infected me and turned me into a Heartless like he just did with Scott. I've got…some issues with that red-haired creep too."

Jean didn't even know that, but then she realized how much other people had been infected by Organization Thirteen's games and she felt a bit ashamed. As painful as it would have been had she lost Scott, Althea and the Triplets would have been absolutely devastated at losing their father and their only (relatively) stable biological parent around.

"I'm sorry about that," Jean said softly.

"Don't be," Shipwreck said with a smile, squeezing her hand, "I turned out all right, and now, Scott's, like me, immune to having his heart stolen, so though it was cut and run for a moment, he's now resistant against anything the Heartless throw at him! Or…at least so far that we know of."

"Thanks, Shipwreck," Jean said, sardonic and deadpanned, and the bearded sailor grinned.

"Just being honest, Jean. No need to get snippy with me."

"Meh, that wasn't snippy, that was sarcasm. Snippy is when I'll take up your offer on Axel and while you'll hold that arrogant pyromaniac down, I'll get 'snippy' on his family jewels right before I rip 'em out and smash 'em."

The words were out of Jean's mouth before she even thought it, but to her surprise, it felt good to say that, to joke around, and considering how she nearly lost Scott's heart, she needed some humor. Shipwreck actually guffawed at the joke and so did a few of the other Misfits who were around her.

"OK, who are you and what have you done with the real Jean Grey? She usually isn't _this_ normal and feisty and entertaining," smirked Scarlet Witch.

"When it comes to Scott and my family and friends, everything's fair game," Jean grinned ruefully, "I have my bad side too, you know. And I'm not going to rest until I make Axel and the rest of the Thirteenth Order pay for screwing with all of us. And…I also won't rest until we get all those who lost their hearts back and save them. If Leomon's right about the Gathering to come, then we need to save all of their hearts. Even Duncan's."

This last statement was said with some sadness and regret; Jean knew that despite how much of a jerk and a bigot Duncan Matthews turned out to be, he certainly didn't deserve to suffer under the Heartless. Althea and the other Joes nodded in full agreement, smiling, while Toad and a few of the ex-Brotherhood members seemed a bit off-key with that idea.

"**_Including_** Duncan's, yo?" groaned Toad, and Roadblock had to tug on his son's ear a bit, tweaking it with some gentle reprimand though he knew the frog-teen didn't truly mean it.

"Including Duncan's, Toad, so try to follow the moral code," the African American Joe versed with a smile.

---

Axel grumpily brushed off the soot and charred ashes from his cloak as he reappeared in the Inner Circle's sanctum where all the various members of the Hellfire Club's prestigious leaders and the Thirteenth Order were presiding in.

"About forty seven hearts were taken from the attack in Bayville," Axel muttered in a subdued and somewhat embarrassed tone of voice, "And unfortunately enough, those lucky little mutant punks managed to beat me back again by the skin of their lousy, righteous teeth. Hmph, those X-Men and Misfits are actually a bit tougher than I thought, and that red-haired little vixen named Jean Grey additionally learned the King's magic. That was how she was able to get her boy-toy back by weakening him."

Selene narrowed her eyes in disbelief and worry as she hissed, "Another one?"

Blackheart turned his head to the Organization as he intoned gravely, "**_This is indeed worrisome, especially since more and more people and beings outside the pathetic band of Misfits are being proven worthy enough to wield and harness the various Kingdoms of Power and the Elementa forces. The various locations we select for the Harvest will be less and less fruitful should the number of people who can effectively destroy the Hellfire's experiments increase, my Lord._**"

"And what makes this even more troubling is that so far, Katherine Pryde and Jean Grey haven't be shown to manifest Keyblades of any sort, unlike the Misfits, so as a result, they would be more of a threat and hindrance to our operations," Harry Leland clarified while swirling his clear malt liquor over the ice cubes.

"Actually, it is perhaps for the better that there are less Keyblades," Slade said stonily, "Should the X-Men be the ones chosen to have the stronger hearts, then they will be much more difficult to deal with and exterminate at the Gathering and not to mention that unlike the army mutants, they will be less foolish and easily manipulated into our little chess games with them."

"Still, this is an unpleasant surprise, one of which can lead to grave consequences for our side. Unfortunately, since we no idea of how or why this is happening, we cannot actually risk exacerbating the situation and storming in without further analysis and investigate exactly what is going on," the Black King said at last, his mind coming to the decision instantly.

"That's right," grumbled Eddington, "We don't even know **_how_** those X-Brats are even gaining magic in the first place when all the Misfits have already been chosen and that mutt's out of powers to hand out!"

"I agree," Lord Imperial murmured, "Until we learn more, we cannot risk another huge confrontation with the X-Men and Misfits, especially since it will untie and attract unwanted attention from the other allies of those damned children and G.I. Joe."

Shaw additionally turned to Donald Pierce and Lex Luthor.

"How go your plans for the Ghostbusters and the Justice League?"

"Perfectly well," Luthor said assuredly with a smile as he savored the taste of the fine bourbon in his mouth, "General Black and General Eiling ensured me that not only will the Powers That Be will be unable to do anything against Wolfram and Hart, but once we're done, the Justice League will never be able to regain the world's trust again, making it even easier to pit that fool Waller against them. And I for one will enjoy relishing the look on Superman's face when he gets screwed over and that there is absolutely nothing he can do to get himself unstuck."

"You're **_so_** evil," grinned the White Rook as he marveled Luthor's cold and calculating drawl over his enjoyment of cutting down Superman and his teammates. Luthor smiled even more at the stroking of his ego as he sipped his drink.

"I know."

The Superior then turned his attention to Vexen as he then commanded, "We still have a dire need to gather more and more hearts for the Gathering and for Experiment 666, and logistically, many of the heroes will be so wary and on guard from anticipating other invasions from the Heartless in other cities and establishments that they would never another attack in the same city twice. This time, take several of the experiments from Hamilton has left in our dwindling reserves and go to the sewers underneath the town to the mutants who reside there below. That colony alone would be a boon of hearts to steal, and no matter what, they would be unable to fight and utilize their powers on the Hellfire Heartless. Vexen, eliminate the entire Morlock race."

"As you command, my Liege," Vexen said, bowing elegantly once, before he summoned his spiked shield in his hand and vanished.

**Author's Notes: Next Friday (I hope) check back as we deal with the Organization attacking the Morlock communities with the Hellfire Heartless, and this will truly be a bind as the Morlocks have zero defenses against the Hellfire experiments! Can the X-Men, Misfits, Joes, and a few allies help Evan (no, in this universe, he's not a Hellion; he wasn't recruited yet) defend the mutant community? And how will the Morlocks even trust topsiders when their lives are at stake! Don't miss the next exciting installment as another mutant gains blessings of the Elementa Kingdoms in "Spyke and the Morlock Massacre" and until then, I hope you all have thoroughly enjoyed this chapter! Again, I will always try to update once a week! Never fear!**


	23. Spyke and the Morlock Massacre

**CHAPTER 23: Spyke and the Morlock Massacre**

"Ow!" yelped Falco before he growled and griped under his breath, "Stupid, red-headed witch – yeow! Had to get all uppity – ow! Damn, stubborn, pig-headed – ack! By the Star Fox, I would have handed back Cyclops' heart if it wasn't – ow! The whore just _had_ to throw me through a glass ceiling and – **AAA! Damn it to Andross and back, THAT one hurt!** Octavia, why the hell couldn't you just use Curaga magic and heal me?"

Octavia just rolled her eyes, like she always had, as she continued using her fingernails to dig out the shards of glass that were still embedded in the flesh of Falco's back and head, which wasn't easy considering that she had to dig underneath the feathers and plumage to get at the smaller fragments embedding in his skin and body. And trying to extract them as a shirtless and bare-chested Falco grumpily seethed and fumed, lying on his stomach on the grass under the starry night sky, was not exactly a pleasant task in itself.

She just wasn't sure whether she or Falco had the rawer end of the deal.

"Because if I healed you, it wouldn't remove the pieces of glass that are still embedded in your hide to begin with," the octopus-woman stated without emotion as she managed to extract a sliver stuck into the skin, leaving a bloody welt as she pushed and pulled, "And as much as I would love to just get it over with and not listen to your whining, I don't want you to have sharp objects interfering with your fighting if I healed the skin and flesh over them. Thus why I need to manually pull them out, for in case you've forgotten, _magic only goes so far_. And I'd be doing a disservice to my oath as a Tigershark if I did anything less than my very best to care for my teammates."

Splurk!

This was a particularly gruesome popping noise as Falco yelped a loud curse when Octavia pulled a worrisome and large shard of glass from his rear end.

"Right now, you're doing a disservice to my _pride_!" snapped an embarrassed and flushed Falco before he griped, "Ugh, the next time I see that bitch from the X-Men, I'm going to rip every single strand of hair from her head before I throw _her_ through a window! Or better yet, I hope _her_ heart has a Talisman so that I'll definitely be happy that there'll be one less of a tight-lipped shrew in this world when I sacrifice her – oh who the flying Arwing am I kidding? There's no way a witch like _her_ would have a pure enough heart to have a Talisman, the rotten, overzealous tramp!"

"Stop being so melodramatic," sighed Octavia as he pulled out yet another sliver from the bird's bloody and tender back. For a minute, there was nothing but silence between the former Tigershark and the Cornerian pilot as the process was nearly finished. That is until Octavia spoke again.

"The Gathering grows closer…" she said as the finally picked out the last, bloody shard of glass with her fingernails before she summoned a bright glowing ball of yellow light, invoking a veil of leaves to caress Falco's body before healing him with a soft noise, "And we still don't have the Talismans. Not even _one_, despite the number of hearts that we have analyzed and seen being stolen by the Organization."

"And without them, we can't find the Sovereign and the Champion and not the mention the Holy Chalice," Falco said in a subdued manner, laced with choking frustration, as he put his shirt back on, "And right now, with this dumb planet full of billions and billions of hearts, even if the Heartless take everyone's hearts, the two of us won't be able to search through each and every one before the Organization gets to them first."

There was a general silence until Falco finished zipping up his jacked and cursed with malice, "**_Damn you, Leomon…_**"

"Falco - " began his female teammate with concern, wishing events didn't turn out this way, but the blue-feathered avian furiously cut her off as he continued irately.

"I don't care what it takes or how many people die and lose their hearts, but I'm not stopping until I find each and every one of those Talismans so that we can get everyone's hearts back! At least those who died so far when the Organization attacked London, Bayville, and Chicago can at least get their hearts back, but if we drop the fucking ball on this, they we all lose with no hope of fixing this! _NONE!_ And I'm not going to let my friends and family down! And not the King, especially!"

Octavia didn't say anything and looked lost until Falco, quivering with pain, knelt down on the grass next to Octavia and firmly grasped the Tigershark by the shoulders, being eye level with her and making his point.

"**_Promise me, Oct_.** Just promise me, all right. Even if I die or lose, I want you to promise me that you won't let anyone, not the Keyblades, not the Organization, and not even Leomon, from stopping us from finding the Sovereign and the Champion and the Talismans. Even if I'm not here, don't give in and let yourself get weak. Fox, Peppy, and Slippy are counting on you too. Please…just promise me right now that you won't let anything come in between you and what we need to do to get everyone's hearts back."

Octavia hesitated.

"Are you planning to die like some fool, Falco?" she asked quietly with some condemnation. Like Falco, she too had lost so many she had cared about due to the Heartless, and this wasn't something she would prefer to face alone.

Falco's dark eyes narrowed a bit, showing a haunted look, before he averted his gaze downwards. But his next words made the octopus-extraterrestrial look at him with conflicting pity and concern.

"More like I have nowhere else to go, Octavia. Unlike you, I'm not even sure I can go back to my family even if they do…get saved. So even if something does happen to me, at least you'd be all right and be able to see your fellow Tigersharks again. And at least I probably wouldn't be missed that - "

Octavia's fierce hug of sorrow and tenderness cut him off from continuing, that unspoken promise that the bird humanoid was looking for. It wasn't anything of a romantic nature, but rather…just one from a friend. And for once since Leomon's betrayal, Falco didn't feel so lonely after all.

---

Meanwhile, back at the Institute…

"Here you go," Jean said gently with high amounts of gratefulness that everything turned out fine as she handed a conscious Scott in the infirmary bed a tall Styrofoam glass with a straw in it, "Assorted berry and banana yogurt milkshake, your favorite. And before you ask, I had Roadblock instruct me in the kitchen, and we both sampled it so it's not one of my cooking disasters. So no, I'm not incompetent with a blender."

"Unlike Kitty…" snickered Jamie.

"Watch it, Jamie, or else I'm like gonna go 'Lumiga Moonbeam' on your little butt…" Kitty sniped good-naturedly from chair.

"Ah, ah, ah…if Pluto thought you had a pure heart to wield that Elementa magic, then you can't misuse it for petty fights. And need I remind you of the time you made the blender explode while making your prune-and-chocolate-and-avocado smoothie?" Multiple continued, grinning mischievously.

"Ugh, I wish you didn't. That was enough to make me queasy, especially since we cleaned up the kitchen for two hours and we still couldn't get the smell out of the cooking area for two weeks. And with my enhanced senses, that's not something in my favor. And I thought being able to detect where animals mark their territory in the wild was foul enough," Rina gruffly shot out, grimacing at the memories.

"Meanie!" Kitty said in a fit of rare immaturity, sticking her tongue out at X23.

"I wasn't going to say a thing, Jean," Scott chimed in to his girlfriend, teasing, "But thanks…it's good to be here, amongst everyone again. It's so easy to take for granted until I was told what happened and how I nearly killed Fred and Jean when I was infected with the Hellfire seeds."

"It is ironic, eh, comrade?" Piotr chuckled as he stood side by side Kitty in fresh civilian clothes, glad he no longer had to done a hospital gown and had to be confined in bed, "I become fully discharged from the infirmary for several hours, only to find you yourself getting admitted into the med ward. And if I recall what Hank said, you're going to be stuck here for the next two days for rest and observation. Hope you enjoy having bedsores, Scott."

"Har har…" drawled Scott as he noisily slurped.

"Still, it's extremely lucky that you're safe and all right, Scott," Jake said, smiling though his brown eyes were still troubled and worried, "Had Jean's magic been unable to break the vortex, the Misfits wouldn't have been able to cure you from your infection by Axel. And then your heart would be lost as well until kats above know when and if we can win the Gathering of Twilight."

That was indeed true, certainly a foreboding thought had that possibility happened. And despite the number of X-Men who argued heatedly against Scott for his views of the Yellow Materia (especially Tessa), none of them wanted Scott to be dead, and all were extremely glad that he was safe. After the long battle at Bayville Mall and after General Hawk and the Joes cleared up the events with the local enforcement squads and the police, Cyclops was hurriedly transported to the Institute's infirmary via the Mass Device (and Jean and the Misfits were partially relieved to see that the supposed energy shield around the X-Mansion still allowed them to teleport into the school). After around half an hour of tense waiting, Hank and Bree informed them all that Scott had regained consciousness and that all his scans were fully negative. Seeing that things were handled well, Hank allowed the now conscious and awake Scott to have all the other members of the X-Men and the New Mutants visit him for talk and to fill him in on what happened while Professor Xavier and Ororo went with the Misfits and the Joes over to the Pit to brief the other allied leaders about the recent attacks and deaths in Chicago and Bayville Mall. Plus, Lance and Spirit still needed to do some assigned KP duty as well for Lance's foolish act of mercy when he let Leomon escape during the first siege of the Institute (courtesy of the insistence of Beach Head).

In any case, most if not all the X-Men and the remaining staff were grateful for a chance to have the Misfits out of their hair and to spend some time alone in the infirmary with a recovering Scott in privacy free from the usual mix of explosions and drama and insanity.

Sam then hesitantly asked, "Scott, Peter…what was it like? Y'know, being a Heartless?"

Everyone shot Cannonball a look of incredulous disbelief and disturbed glares, but the Kentucky-bred teenager meekly held up his hands in defense, showing that it was simply an innocent question.

"Hey, I didn't mean anything by it or something! I'm just curious, that's all," Sam protested.

"_Morbidly_ curious, if I may point out…" Bobby drawled, rolling his eyes, "That's just a question you really shouldn't ask, Sam. What, are you actually looking forward to being infected by those Hellfire Heartless spores too?"

"Don't even joke about that, Slush-for-Brains!" snapped Tabitha as she slapped Bobby upside the head with her palm, invoking a cry of annoyed outrage at the blond X-Girl.

"Hey!" Iceman protested, "Why are you hitting **me**? Sam's the one who asked the dumb question!"

"Because I am!" snapped Tabitha as she smacked Bobby upside the head again.

Ignoring this side-bickering, Scott looked thoughtful as he drank his smoothie while Piotr's face became grave with unpleasant memories.

"It was…weird and unpleasant to say the least," the Russian X-Man admitted, "When that spore hit me, it felt like a hole was actually being drilled into my body, and my entire body was as if it was set on fire. Not even the time I was thrown into the lava-pits during the battle at Jump City when we fought Trigon and the Hellions felt as painful as having one of those spores inside me. And my heart…wow, I think the best way to put it is that it felt as if something sharp and cold was burrowing inside my soul, my essence, corrupting it."

"And afterwards, it felt like I was just falling into a dark pit with no way out," Scott added, shivering slightly, "I'm not sure how else to describe it, but I lost consciousness after a minute or two of transforming into the Heartless, probably around the same time I was under that Axel's control And during that, it was as if I was hurtling through a void of nothing but darkness as far as I could see, feeling like I was falling and falling without stopping and as if there was no end of it. I couldn't move, I couldn't control anything, and all I could process was that how cold and lonely and empty I felt, like I was a hollow shell."

"_Mein Gott…_" gulped Nightcrawler in German, looking ill.

This was met with silence, glum and apprehensive silence, and Sam was starting to look like he was regretting opening his big mouth. Kitty sniffed a bit as she wiped her eyes, recalling that her father was still missing and unless they won the Gathering to come, he would be as good as dead and trapped in a fate described by Piotr and Scott. Colossus, seeing this, gently wrapped his arms around Shadowcat's petite body and hugged her from behind comfortingly.

"It's all right, _Katya_," he murmured his pet name for Kitty before kissing her ear tenderly, "I'm still here and so are the rest of the X-Men. We won't be going anywhere without a fight, and all of us will see to it that we can get those who've died and your father back safely. I promise that, _Katya_."

"The Misfits _too_, you know," Jamie added in a bit grumpily, frowning.

"But one thing I don't get is that why was Jean able to use magic and Kitty wasn't?" Amara asked, "From what it sounded like, Jean was able to ask Pluto to give her magic, so that explains why she was able to do that firebird attack, but why did Kitty lose her magic? I thought it was like the Misfits. Once you gain magic and a Keyblade, it stays with you."

"You sure you had enough energy or something, Kitty? From what I remember from what Althea and the others told me, as long as you have plenty of magical energy and…what'd Genie call it – mana – then you should have been able to cast that spell ya' learned from Pluto," Rogue pointed out.

"I'm not sure," Shadowcat admitted, "I thought for sure I could still do it, and Bambi was around dropping all those like orbs to refill magic, but for some reason, I still couldn't totally do anything. That feeling was gone, no matter how many times I kept saying that incantation over and over again."

"So it _is_ temporary, then," Hank murmured to himself, scratching his chin before he spoke out, "Perhaps then that means that regardless of the situation, the Keyblades and the Elementa magic will continue to work solely for the Misfits since they were the Disney character's first choice. But if anything, it is heartening to see that Pluto was still willing to bless both Jean and Kitty with magic so that they could save Peter and Scott. That means the dog loves the X-Men as well and that he does care regardless of you kids being chosen or not."

"And I don't think he can give out the magic like that on a whim," Jubilee pointed out, "From what it sounds like, Pluto's only willing to give magic to those who have a good reason to, not necessarily because they have a stronger heart or because they're more pure. I think this just shows that we should trust Pluto's judgment because all this proves that he really does care and doesn't want anyone to suffer. I don't see any reason to believe why he won't help protect us along with the Misfits and G.I. Joe."

"Not enough if he favors the Misfits over us," grumbled Piotr, "He should also keep in mind that Kitty lost her father! Why give her a taste of magic if it's not permanent? I thought he has more than enough to hand out of everyone, so why the one-thing deal with only one X-Man or X-Woman?"

"Peter, love and compassion aren't a contest. You can't force Pluto to do something he doesn't wish to. Pluto has a good heart enough, so we should be thankful no one else died," Kurt said softly, starting to have second thoughts over this resentment towards the Misfits due to their magic and their Keyblades. Jean looked a bit sorrowful before she took Kitty's hand in her own and squeezed.

"Kitty…if anything, you need the magic more than I do. If it turns out that Pluto still can't hand out the magic to anyone, then you can take it. I…as long as I have Scott back, safe and sound, I don't care really anymore. Should any of the Misfits lose it, you can have it. You need it more than I do."

"Thanks, Jean," sniffed Kitty, touched. It was still so painful.

"How is your mother unit handling this tragedy?" Rina asked a bit awkwardly, and Kitty wiped her nose with her sleeve.

"She like took it upon herself to tell Donald Ramsey what happened to me Dad, and he was pretty much totally devastated. But my Mom stayed with Donald and she explained to him the whole situation as well as keeping him company and talking. She's coping, and she's helping my Dad's boyfriend to cope too at least. Hmph, it's kinda funny to like see them act nice to each other and give each other friendship during all this."

"That's good," Kurt murmured, "During times like these, we could use a little peace in the world, or at the very least, in our little corner of it."

"Yeah…" Kitty replied, but she looked a bit hesitant and embarrassed before she looked at Tessa who was seated next to Jake and Hank and asked slowly, "Like Tessa? Could you…try practicing with the Yellow Materia - "

"No," Tessa said coldly, frowning and already guessing what the valley girl was about to ask, but Kitty wouldn't have it as she pleaded.

"Please, I'm just saying try it out! Or better yet, if it turns out I need the magic and I don't have it, I can practice with it and totally try to use and learn harnessing the Yellow Materia myself! Oh please, Tessa, if you won't, then beg the Professor to let me try and - !"

"**_Kitty, no,_**" growled Tessa, and this earned her a few glares from Remy, Kitty, Scott, and Piotr. Wolverine, who has been silent, finally spoke out in his gruff voice.

"Half-Pint, as much as I gotta commiserate with you on losing your Pops, would your Pops really want to be saved by stealing magic that was supposed to belong to one of the Misfits anyway? Could you say your old man would be proud of you if that by saving him, you had to step over someone else to do it?"

The elder had a point, and Kitty became immediately ashamed, but one could tell that she still had rebellious streak inside her, unwilling to give up on this. Feeling sorry for Kitty, Kurt then pointed out, "_Ach!_ _Herr_ Logan, give Kitty a break! You can't blame her for wanting to do everything she can to rescue her father's heart!"

"And the Misfits stepped on **us** multiple times when they bugged us as the Brotherhood," Bobby pointed out with a grimace at the troubling memories, instantly annoyed.

"And maybe it would be for the better," Scott said with some concern, "I'm thankful for Blob protecting Jean and the Misfits for helping, I'm not arguing that. But Jean was able to use her magic to break through the vortex and put that Axel guy on the defensive a lot more efficiently that Blob ever could, even with a Keyblade. And that was just her first try! Maybe Kitty has a point that others could handle the magic better than Althea and her team ever could."

"Scott! Blob was fighting both you and Axel! You're not being fair in saying that! He was exhausted!" Jean scolded, and a few were rather surprised at how the telekinetic was defending Fred. Roberto turned to Wolverine quizzically.

"Actually, where is the Command Materia now, Wolverine?" Roberto asked.

"Chuck put it in a special vault in an underground chamber on the Danger Room, and before you kids try anything and try asking Tessa to try anything, the vault's made out of a combination of adamantium and a special substance so dense that not even the Half-Pint can phase through it. Add the fact that we were able to fortify it with it needing a hand scan, retina scan, and a secret password encrypted by Forge himself and a log that shows who's tried to access it last, none of you rugrats are even gonna be lucky at even cracking into it," Logan growled.

"And it needs the Professor's DNA as well for the scans, so please kittens, don't try anything foolish," Jake said wearily, and thankfully, that ended the questioning. Tessa looked especially relieved that it did.

"What about the lawsuit by the Friends of Humanity?" Forge asked worriedly at Jean and Wolverine, "Please tell me that they're not going to actually be stupid and crass enough to actually file something like that against the school! There's no way anyone or any judge would be dumb enough to think that the X-Men caused the Heartless attacks when the Organization's been attacking us!"

"Actually, the Professor got the papers served ta' him a few minutes ago before he and Storm left for the Pit," Rogue wearily groaned, depressed at how this was yet another blow to the X-Men, as she heavily rested her chin against the headrest of her chair, "I hafta admit that though I didn't exactly see the amount, it's gotta be big considering that that was the first time I saw the Professor cry while banging his head against his desk over and over without even a single drink. Even General Hawk had to wince when he looked at it."

"Yeesh…**that's** a bad sign if there ever was one," Tabitha admitted.

"**You're kidding me!** Oh this is just great! Score another way to screw our lives over and add on to our troubles!" Roberto griped.

Gambit drawled acidly, "Remy **_told_** you we should have waited until all the people in the Friends of Humanity rally had their hearts taken before coming in for the rescue, _mon ami_. Then we wouldn't be having to deal with this damned lawsuit."

"Remy, that's wrong, and you know it. We can't allow ourselves to sink in that position. That sounds something exactly like the Hellfire Club or the Hellions would do," Tessa scolded.

"But it's frustrating," Jean sighed, "We do the right thing, and people continue to hate us, and to accuse us and spread lies about how we're siding with the Heartless when the real villains such as Lex Luthor gets to run for President and be adored by the American public or the Inner Circle gets no repercussions for screwing over others such as H.I.V.E Academy or the Charmed Ones."

"Thank you, now I'm even **more** depressed," drawled Sam rather despondently.

"But still, on the upside, the Professor does have money to pay it. It's not like he penniless or anything right now," Bobby suggested hopefully, and from the amiable and accepting looks on the rest of the students' faces, it was painfully clear to any outsider that the X-Men had absolutely no idea of Xavier's financial troubles due the Hellfire Club's sneak attacks on his accounts. Still, Amara gave Bobby a condescending and exasperated glare.

"Bobby, quit trying to look on the bright side," the Nova Roman princess groaned.

---

While the X-Men were discussing the situation, down at the Morlock tunnels, while a few of the scavengers such as Façade, Beautiful Dreamer, Annalee, and Artie were busily helping set up dinner which consisted of various foodstuffs from the dumpsters of different restaurants and establishments on a large, rectangular straw mat, Callisto and the others were making repairs and various fixes to the sewer systems around their homes and tunnels while listening to a crude yet fully functional radio displaying the recent frenzy about the latest Heartless attack. Still despite the rank smells and the dim murkiness of the tunnels that plummeted to freezing temperatures in the winter and baked like an oven in the summer, it was home sweet home. None of the Morlocks would have preferred anywhere else. And today was actually a bit more cheerful. The scavengers reaped much more amounts of food than normal, and a good portion of it was from the dumpsters of five-star quality restaurants and establishments, much better than the normal fast food. They were literally going to have a feast for all.

The radio, though a bit static-filled, rang eerily and reverberated throughout the caverns underneath the city…

The male reporter spoke in a clear voice, "_Government officials from all over the world are in a state of panic as fear and mistrust against the members of the X-Men, Misfits, and G.I Joe continue to escalate, and despite continued assurances from the Justice League, the Teen Titans, and the Ghostbusters Incorporated, few have reason to entrust the metahuman-mutant-paranormal forces for the fate and protection of the entire planet. Henry Gyrich, Reverent William Stryker, and Wilson Fisk as well as many high-ranking businessmen and government officials have repeatedly stated that there will never be an end to the threat unless all invaders have been eliminated. Surprisingly, presidential candidate Lex Luthor has been pushing for ways to fight against the Heartless for the Humanitarian Party to quote "show the true strength of the human race in its ingenuity and independence" and thus, and sworn that Lexcorp will do all it can to find and develop a possible weapon to protect the United States and indeed, the world.. Though no confirmation has been made from any source, there are rumors that these 'Hellfire Heartless' are especially effective against any mutant who harnesses the X-Gene, having the ability given to them by the infamous Thirteenth Order to become stronger by absorbing any powers and attacks from any mutant…_"

"_That_ one's new…" Sunder blinked as he helped place another heavy piece of concrete up against a wall in order to divert the flow of the dirty runoff trickling on the ground, "Heartless can do that?"

"I dunno. It's pretty much topsider and flat-scan sensationalism if you ask me," grumbled Erg as he straightened out the tarp of one tent, making sure it was stretched tight and snug before calling out, "Hey, Spyke, a little light here!"

_Thwok!_

A medium-sized, jagged and pointed shard of bone flew out in the air and safely embedded itself into the rock wall next to the silver-haired mutant wearing the black eye-patch, bringing forth a considerable and comfortable amount of luminescence as the jutting point burst into a small amount of flame. It was like using a bone-version of a candle, really.

"Thanks," Erg grinned as Spyke revealed himself from the shadows, now drastically changed from the last time most if not all of the X-Men and Misfits had seen him from before. He no longer needed to don a shirt due to the fact that his entire torso and back formed a thick shell of brown bone that clung to his muscles like a second skin, and though flimsy-looking, it was extremely durable and hard as concrete. Even his arms and legs had hardened considerably from the inside-out, fortifying the natural bone-structure, and creating ready-made bone spikes perfect for causing damage in hand-to-hand combat or for firing at enemies from a distance.

Though he had changed dramatically and life in the sewers and seeing fellow mutants eat out of dumpsters and struggle for survival and the basic necessities such as warmth, medicine, clean water, Evan still had periods where one could see the fun-loving and playful side of his personality, a memory of his times with the X-Men, underneath his hard resolve and demeanor.

One Morlock named Ape, a rather hideous mutant who certainly had a simian-like appearance that emphasized his namesake, grumbled at the broadcast, "Still, it can't be all bad. The more Heartless attacks, the less topsiders will be around. All the better for us to see those bigots and hate-filled humans die off and leave us respectable Morlocks in peace. As long as it doesn't bother us, I couldn't care less if the Thirteenth Order kills every single topsider on the face of the planet."

"I agree," murmured Lucid, another Morlock, "If anything, the Organization and those Hellfire Heartless are doing us a big favor!"

There were several mutterings and soft conversations of full agreement, but Spyke shook his head and sighed, catching the attention of quite a few Morlocks in surprise.

"It's not _that_ much of good news," the former X-Man said as he started using a particularly long pole of bone he produced to clear away some soggy remains of litter, "Chances are that if the Heartless will attack witches, Slayers, aliens, the X-Men, the Misfits, and the Joes, who's to say that they won't come after us? After all, from what we've been told, a heart is a heart, no matter there it comes from, and these Heartless play for keeps."

"That's right," Scatty said with worry, trembling, as she and Torpid helped arrange some day-old vegetables thrown out of a local farmer's market, "And unlike the topsiders, we don't have any protection against the Heartless should they come down here. It doesn't sound like the Organization has any preference in choosing targets."

Torpid was about to sneak off a cherry tomato and pop it into her mouth when she heard that, and the girl's face fell, suddenly feeling as if she lost her appetite.

"Maybe we should have taken up Superman's offer…" mused Plague hesitantly, a misshapen skeleton of an old woman, as she looked from the quilt she was sowing from various rags she managed to scour and find in the sewers, but cringed a bit under Callisto's glare.

"_Absolutely not!_" the Morlock leader growled, and that settled the matter for no one, not even Spyke, was willing to argue against the female mutant brawler on that issue. What Plague had been referring to was that several months ago, Superman, Professor Xavier, Duke, Willow Rosenberg, Martian Manhunter, Storm, and Wolverine had earlier requested an informal meeting with Callisto to warn her about the Heartless threats, and though extremely hesitant and loathed to give any sort of audience, Callisto and a small escort of Morlocks complied. Though many if not all of the Morlocks were unwilling to listen to mutant "pets" and humans, some were even less likely to take advice from "freaks" and "outsiders" such as a witch and aliens (and yes, the irony was lost on them), but Callisto gave them her full attention.

Storm was rather shocked when she saw how far Evan's mutation had progressed, his entire body now covered with a hard and shiny bone-shell that actually formed artistically around his torso, head, and shoulders like a natural and spiked armor. Logan and Xavier were pained and sympathetic, but they didn't say anything, realizing that as long as Evan made his decision to stay and help the Morlocks, all they could do was respect and support his choice. And thankfully neither did the two Justice League members, the Joe, and the Scooby (all four of them had witnessed stranger things than Morlocks).

The seven heroes did their best to explain the basis of the Heartless and the Organization as well as possible ideas of a temporary leave from the sewers and into safer and more sanitary areas. Needless to say, this wasn't well-received and was met with many harsh words, accusations, scorn, and the seven leaving with bad-tempers without achieving much other than giving Callisto and Spyke information on what to expect in case of future attacks.

Superman and Martian Manhunter offered Callisto to give her and her Morlocks safe refuge at the Watchtower or with S.H.I.E.L.D where they would in no way be treated with scorn or disdain or have to worry about being feared. To their disappointment, they learned that if Morlocks were wary of humans and mutant pets, it was nothing compared to the loathing and mistrust of "non-Earthling invaders" for safety.

Willow offered to have the Watcher's Council house the Morlocks at the Slayer Academy in London, or at the very least, the red-haired witch offered to cast several protective spells on the sewer tunnels to magically enforce and prevent most intruders, though she admitted that she was not powerful enough to truly keep Heartless out if the Organization went full out. That one "running-of-the-mouth" slip earned her a lot of boos and hisses and a few scathing remarks of how the Morlocks believed that magic was beneath them and that should Willow do anything without their consent, they'd burn her at the stake right there and then.

Willow didn't want to tempt them.

And there's no point in saying how Xavier's offer to have the Morlocks stay at the Mansion or Duke's offer to have the Joes come and guard the sewers were greeted, and in the end, the seven guests left with Callisto glad to see the back of them and verbally retorting that in the future to not bother her clan ever again. Ororo begged Spyke to come back to the Mansion and stay with the X-Men, but Evan refused, and Ororo was forced to return home empty handed and morose.

"And if this end of the world, this Gathering of Twilight is going to come, then it'll mean that everyone is going to die. The topsiders **and** us," the Morlock named Piper realized, helping to move some bedding and make room for the children tonight. He was a tall and muscular yet odd-faced male with red hair, misshapen blue eyes, a snake-like set of nostrils in place of a nose, and a harelip along with furry hands that looked remarkable similar to that of a rat. Piper's mutant power was the ability to play his flute or pipe in order to telepathically command and control sewer animals such as the rats, the bats, and the crocodiles to do his bidding.

"And it's no skin off our noses, exactly how I told those aliens and that witch!" Callisto retorted with icy finality, "As long as we're safe in our home, we have no need to trouble ourselves with those matters with the Heartless and the Thirteenth Order! We're under the radar, Bayville has already attacked and the evil wouldn't bother harassing us, especially since the X-Men and those insane Joes above are already on guard of the city! This would be the _last_ place the Organization would strike again! And should this Gathering take place, at least we will all simply be left alone to die in peace, alone and forgotten, just as we had lived."

"Is our pride worth that much?" Plague snapped irritably, unwilling to let it go, "To just die and suffer rather than do whatever it takes to survive? And what about the young ones? I don't care much about a bunch of old bones like myself, but I would like it should the ones such as Torpid and Artie have a chance to have a better future."

The aforementioned Torpid and Artie gave each other worried looks silently. Whenever the grown-ups argued amongst themselves, it was indeed serious. And with the both of them having the inability to talk, they could only listen and sulk.

"Can we _please_ not talk about this?" Annalee scolded like a typical grandmother, "All this discussion about war and creatures of evil and darkness and losing hearts is enough to scare the children! Really now, how are we going to enjoy a good meal with all this talk of the end of the world?"

"Uh…maybe because of the fact that it really is gonna come?" Sunder drawled as he tried to surreptitiously sneak away a cold egg roll from the blanket spread, and like a maternal figure, Annalee gave the oversized mutant a good swift slap on his hand to prevent him from snacking before everyone else.

"Ow…" moaned Sunder, his pride wounded.

Artie, a pink-skinned child no more than twelve, eagerly made a small mirage shimmer in the air next to Sunder, his mutant powers displaying a translucent yet colored illusion of a laughing smiley-face, reminiscent of the symbol found in an Internet chat-room. Though mute, Artie certainly knew how to make his expressions known. Sunder gave him a playful dirty look.

"Oh, ya' think that's funny, do ya' you little punk?" Sunder growled before he picked up a silently squealing Artie and began to tickle him mercilessly in jest, "C'mere and I'll show ya' funny! Cootchie cootchie coo! Cootchie cootchie coo! Cootchie cootchie coo!"

Artie buckled and convulsed with mute giggles as Sunder continued to run his oversized and callused fingers up and down the adolescent's sides, causing most of the Morlocks around to smile at the scene. Though hostile to outsiders, they were nevertheless a family to each other. And Evan and Callisto both appreciated and encouraged that in the clan.

"I swear, there are times I don't know who's the bigger child: you or Artie?" scolded Annalee at Sunder as she rang a tin can on a string with a stick as a dinner bell, "And come on everyone! Dinner's ready! And I daresay we could all use a good meal!"  
"You don't have to tell us!" grinned Thornn as she, her sister Feral, and the other Morlocks ambled and gathered around the large banquet of leftover food, "We're starving! And this looks excellent! Thank you for dinner!"

"My, how primitive and yet warmly touching. Clearly, the Morlocks do follow a sort of a social pattern along with their clear underlying respect to the alpha-female. Curiouser and curiouser…" a cold yet somewhat stiff and erudite voice stated in a mild tone from behind, and it automatically set alarms in Spyke and Callisto's heads as they and a good portion of their soldiers and scouts leapt on their feet, the food instantly forgotten as the entire clan of Morlocks witnessed a vile and foreboding plume of black aura before a infamous figure in a black cloak with silver drawstrings and zippers stepped out of the portal.

"Oh no…" gasped Beautiful Dreamer, immediately recognizing what this meant as Spyke instantly decided to go for the offensive and fired a trolley of bony spears directly at the head, torso, and mid-section, sure kills, but to Evan's surprise, the hooded man showed a supernatural amount of dexterity, agility, and skill as he summoned a spiked and pointed shield of the deepest blue and expertly blocked each and every projectile.

Vexen chuckled lightly as he lifted off his hood, revealing his pale and sickly face along with his long mane of blond (almost whitish) hair to the sewer mutants.

"I'm insulted," he drawled, "Is this how you welcome and treat all guests?"

"You're no guest in our haven, and knowing how Organization Thirteen works, we won't let you leave here alive, you heartless sadist!" the Morlock named Healer growled, but Vexen smirked as he clicked his fingers.

"What the hell?" Callisto gasped as six large and towering hulking figures emerged from the shadows, and such a sight was enough to render even Sunder and Piper speechless with shock and dreaded bewilderment. They looked and seemed exactly like the monsters that attacked San Francisco during the siege against the Charmed Ones in San Francisco, with their muscled bodies, hard hides of black skin, yellow disembodied eyes and teeth, and the red-and-black symbol of the thorny crossed-out heart on their chests. Spyke cursed as he looked at Caliban for an explanation while immediately forming a series of fire-tipped bone spikes from his arms.

"Why the hell didn't you detect them?" Evan roared as the other Morlocks prepared for battle while a few of the lesser-brawlers such as Annalee, Tommie, and Beautiful Dreamer immediately grabbed some of the younger Morlock children and hurriedly escorted them towards the back. The albino, yellow-eyed mutant actually managed to display a look of pure horror instead of his usual stoic and stony demeanor (which was indeed a first and highlight the gravity of the situation).

"Caliban cannot sense them!" he hissed with the closest thing he could to pure fear, "These are Heartless! They are neither mutant nor human! Caliban cannot detect those who are neither living nor existing!"

"And these Hellfire Heartless _absorb_ mutant powers…" gasped Scaleface, hands to her mouth as it clicked into her mind from what she had heard from the reports on the radio and TV. Callisto and Evan also realized this as well, and it sent a sudden chill in the deepest pit of their stomach. Then that made these six giants the perfect assassins against them…

Vexen chuckled as he flicked a strand of blond hair from his face rather facetiously before he commanded the six, rumbling abominations standing by his side.

"Heartless, begin the purification…" he ordered, and that, the Heartless charged with claws and black lightning ready.

"Run, kids, _RUN!_ Don't look back!" Beautiful Dreamer screamed as she forcefully pushed Torpid and two other Morlock boys into the tunnels, encouraging them to save themselves before one Heartless struck her from behind with its claws and tore her body into two, having the female drop lifelessly to the floor before her form disappeared to reveal a glowing heart crystal. The boys cried and screamed as they fled, but Torpid, with tears in her eyes, managed to keep a sensible head as her mind raced wildly.

She couldn't run forever. And she couldn't use her mutation on the Heartless or even have a chance to get close enough to freeze Vexen without physical harm or without risk to herself. And none of the Morlocks had ever fought the Heartless before…

Making a decision and taking the choice that had the less amount of risk, though she was forbidden to go off on her own, Torpid took a deep and calming breath before she raced towards the closet tunnels that would take her towards the manholes close to the Xavier Institute…

---

"Uh…" Jamie said before he spoke on the intercom of the Mansion, seeing the sight in front of him, "You guys…there's a strange girl at the front gates of the Mansion, and surprisingly enough, I recognize her as one of the Morlocks."

"Torpid?" gasped Ray, looking upon the screen instantly, as he tore through the front doors and dashed to the gates of the Institute, and though it was quite a long and winding path from the X-Mansion to the barred entrance, the electrokinetic managed to sprint and dash to greet the shivering and terrified Torpid in about a minute, regardless that the teen should have known that Kurt would have simply teleported him there. The brown-haired girl with black, leather gloves covering her oversized hands and arms was truly scared, tearstains on her cheeks and her teeth on edge as she gripped the iron bars of the gates and kept shaking them as Ray entered the code on the touchpad to let her in.

"Torpid, what's wrong?" Ray asked as the girl just kept crying as she hugged Ray the minute the gates opened, clinging on tightly to one familiar face as the rest of the X-Men gathered around the Morlock, shocked and taken aback at how she was so distraught and on the surface. And Ray had a sinking feeling that it wasn't going to be good. Torpid wouldn't have ever dared to go expose herself out on the streets and leave the safety of the sewers unless it was truly dire.

Jubilee frowned, recalling how Tala framed Phoebe Halliwell back for the murder of her parents during the siege of the Nexus, as she whispered to Jean and Rina clandestinely, "Uh…is that the Morlock girl to begin with? How do we know it's not Mystique or another enemy disguised as an illusion?"

"Actually, that was indeed cautious and sharp thinking, Jubilee, but no, she is indeed the real thing. I can detect her scent, the odors of the sewer, trash, human waste, ammonia, as well as her natural body scent. Mystique would never be able to imitate such a thing," X23 pointed out, frowning.

"Same here, Firecracker. I know all the Morlocks' scents, especially Callisto's, and that girl's the real deal. And there's something else I smell too, something not natural…" Logan growled gruffly, who was close by enough to hear Jubilee's suspicion. Jean was doing her best to get a reading with her telepathic probes in the young mutant adolescent's mind when the images came to her, and she gasped.

"Oh my God…" she stammered, shuddering, "**Heartless!** Ray, everyone, Torpid left the sewers because the Organization sent Hellfire Heartless there! They're attacking the Morlocks right now! That's why she left! She wasn't safe and she wanted to find someone who could help them! They're in danger!"

"Oh no…" Ray whispered, looking absolutely sick and horrified, as Torpid gratefully nodded, glad the red-haired girl instantly got it.

"Heartless?" Tabitha gasped, shocked, "Attacking the Morlocks in the sewers?"

"Aw crap, there's no way they can win if they go against them and the Organization!" Rogue murmured, hands to her mouth. Being mutants and having not much experience with fighting the Heartless, the sewer mutants were easy kills, and with them, Evan would certainly fall as well, and no training his received from the Mansion would help prepare him for that.

Logan reacted briskly as he turned to Kurt and Forge, growling as he remembered that Xavier and Storm were still at the Pit with the meeting with the Joes, Misfits, and the other allies, and as such, they need to gather the Misfits immediately.

"Call the Pit! Damn it, tell them what's happening! Have 'em bring the Joes and Misfits and all the heroes they can spare for this!" Wolverine roared, and Forge nodded as Kurt teleported him to the Mansion where they could send an emergency message through the communication consoles.

"**_What?_** Why not all of us, _mon ami_?" Remy demanded angrily, and Hank realized why as he answered back for Wolverine.

"Because it could still be a trap, to distract the allies exactly like how we were first led away to Jump City while the Organization attacked the Pit when Wanda and Pietro gained their first magic and Keyblades! We cannot afford to send everyone down in the sewers at the same time! Not only would it be difficult for such a large group to fight for the Morlocks in confined spaces, but we cannot risk having everyone distracted from monitoring the rest of the world if there would be multiple Heartless attacks!" Beast answered.

"But we don't know our way down the tunnels or the sewers! We'll need to ask Torpid to lead us down there!" Jamie pointed out, but then Bezerker's eyes lit up as he spoke out hurriedly.

"No, don't send her down there! Torpid can't fight the Heartless, but I can go down instead! **Logan, send me down there!** I was a former Morlock, so I can guide us and the Misfits towards where Callisto is residing in! Let me go and keep Torpid here at the Mansion!" Ray exclaimed, and upon seeing the logic of this statement, Razor, Wolverine, and Beast nodded their consent. The red-and-yellow haired electrokinetic knelt down so that he was eye level with Torpid.

"Stay here with the other X-Men, all right, Torpid? It's gonna be rough, and you did the right thing. Not even Callisto would want the Morlocks to be sacrificed in turn for the clan's pride, so don't feel guilty about it, all right? Just stay here, all right? You'll be safe, and we'll bring them back! Don't worry, OK?" Ray asked. Torpid nodded, but he could still see the fear and dread in her eyes, knowing that he couldn't promise her that things would be all right.

---

"Scatter, you guys!" yelled Erg as he tried to blast one Hellfire Heartless with his power, removing his eye patch before letting loose a gigantic ultraviolet energy beam into the chest of one Hellfire Heartless as he covered for the Morlocks, Healer and Feral. Unfortunately, Scaleface's warnings did little to calm the Morlocks down as the blast from Erg's eye just disappeared into the fiend's chest with a shimmering effect before the Heartless grew and became even more vicious, actually growing in size.

"Damn, they're resistant! And I made them stronger!" yelled Erg as Scaleface, who was next to him, transformed into a hideous, large, deformed green lizard and charged at the Heartless with teeth and claws ready to rip the creature to shreds. Unfortunately, the female shapeshifter met a vicious end as she was blasted with black lightning, losing her heart instantly.

"And they're resistant to telepathy too!" cried Scatty, horrified that her mental probes weren't working either. Already, the Morlocks were suffering heavy damage and many hearts were peppering the entire area.

"Run, young ones!" Healer yelled as he tried to forcefully grab two terrified children and escort them into the maze of tunnels close-by, but unfortunately, as the elderly man rushed in plain view, one of the Heartless' chest began to glow a bright red before it shot out a shaft of black lightning at the trio.

"No!" screamed Callisto who was close by, gripping her hand tightly around the blade of her knife, as the senior Morlock died vain along with the two children, the elderly man howling before his body along with the two children. But as the two Heartless spread out while towards the main group while the other four Heartless awkwardly ambled and hurried their way into the various tunnels, a blue beam of sonic energy struck one of the approaching Heartless in the back, causing it to roar and falter before it whirled around angrily to see Cyborg, the Teen Titan, aiming his sonic cannon arm at the fiend, the end still smoking from it's discharge.

"Uh-uh, ya' Hellfire cronies! Y'all ain't taking any more hearts!" the brawny robotic teenager growled as the Misfits, the Joes, Beast Boy from the Teen Titans, Hawkgirl from the Justice League, Pluto (due to the insistence of Jean and Kitty), and the X-Men consisting of Jean, Colossus, Shadowcat, Bezerker, Storm, and Wolverine rushed out. And since Cyborg's sonic attacks were generated from his robotic body and not the X-Gene, they were damaging to the Heartless without powering it up the least bit.

"What are you people doing here?" snapped Scatty, hands on her hips and despite the situation, incredibly annoyed if not wary. Hawkgirl frowned as she resisted the urge to snap back as she answered as calmly and rationally as she could.

"We came to help! Torpid, one of the children from your clan, notified us of what was going on, and Mr. Crisp led us here!" the Thanagarian said.

"**_We don't need your help, invader!_**" snapped Callisto, but thankfully, the troupe of heroes ignored the Morlock leader as they charged. At the same time, Quicksilver finally got a good look at his former rival.

"Huh, Daniels?" blinked Quicksilver, for once at a lost for words, as he and the other Misfits and Joes took in finally how much the former X-Man had changed in front of them. Spyke looked up at the familiar voice and groaned, finally seeing his former enemy and still-ongoing rival in the sewers along with some of the X-Men and the Joes and Misfits.

"This is certainly terrific," Evan muttered to himself sarcastically, wondering why his parents couldn't be here while Fate was at it to make his humiliation and displeasure even more complete. That would certainly top Pietro as the last person he wanted to see down here while the Morlocks were fighting for their lives. Beside himself and not sure what to think, the silver-haired Misfit then came up with the only thing he could think of to say.

"Uh…you look…different," Pietro said weakly.

"**_Nice observation skill, dumbass!_**" snapped Evan with some hostility and bitter sarcasm, and considering his past excursions and feelings from before, who could blame Spyke for not exactly being welcoming to one of the few people who had always made his life a living hell?

"Hey, I can't exactly say the other words in my mind, Spike-Boy! That was the best one I could say for the moment!" retorted Pietro, already starting to get angry. Meanwhile, the battle was raging fierce as the mutants and allies of the Keyblades threw themselves and forced the two Heartless in front to back off from the Morlocks.

"Dude, watch out!" yelled Beast Boy as he transformed into a pterodactyl and swooped down before grabbing the Morlock, Caliban in his talons, narrowly avoiding the shafts of deadly and powerful black lightning from the black-skinned ogre.

"Er…thank you. Caliban is grateful," the Morlock blinked as he was set down to a safe distance, finding it kind of odd to be rescued by a Teen Titan. Of course, this set off Beast Boy in a rather joyous yet inappropriate mood of celebration, glad that he did something heroic and right.

"Oh yeah!" the green-furred boy cheered, dancing a jib and singing in a celebratory manner, unaware that in the middle of a battlefield was hardly the best time to be bragging, "Go, Beast Boy! It's your birthday! Go, Beast Boy! You da' man! You owe me big time, you owe big time, you owe me big time…!"

Not surprisingly, this distraction gave the Heartless another chance to shoot at Beast boy and Caliban, and the Teen Titan was completely unaware of the black energy snaking its way towards the hero and the Morlock…until Colossus in his armored metal form leapt right in front of the blast.

"Watch out, comrades!" Piotr yelled as the lightning struck his body, ricocheting off the steel surface, and Beast Boy looked like he was about to wet himself in horror, terrified that Colossus sacrificed himself to save him while he was foolishly goofing off. But to Garfield and Caliban's surprise, the Russian X-Man did not lose his heart, and all the Heartless' energy attack did was bounce harmlessly off Colossus' armor.

"How…?" hissed a confused Caliban, and Colossus grinned.

"My heart was sealed by a Keyblade after I was cured from my Infection, comrade! Since Shipwreck and the other Joes told me that they became immune once Althea and the other Misfits sealed their hearts, I figured this additionally means that I am also immune now! So no matter what, my heart can't be stolen by the Heartless! That's what saved you!" the muscular teenager grinned as Xi and Blob tackled the Heartless with their magic.

"Whoa, dude! That rocks!" Beast Boy marveled, and colossus couldn't help but rub it in.

"Now it is **your** turn to owe me, Beast Boy."

"Totally, dude! I owe you big time, I owe you big time, I owe you big time…" sane the Teen Titan, and despite the fact that the Morlock should have been grateful, he couldn't help but be a little annoyed.

"Caliban starting to think little Beast boy is _far_ more irritating than any Heartless," the snake-like mutant-skeleton grumbled.

"Trinity?" asked Lina breathlessly while the fight was raging fierce, but the Delgado Triplets all shook their heads as they scanned the experiments with their pink scanners, instantly finding nothing.

"Those Heartless are empty! They weren't made from anyone who was infected! In fact, our scanners show there are six of them running throughout the sewers underneath Bayville, but not a single one of them are positive that they were created from an infected human or mutant!" Daria reported over her communicators which was more than enough to encourage the outsiders of the sewers to let loose.

"Everyone, take them down!" Roadblock yelled as he threw a grenade while Hawkgirl skillfully flew upwards and avoided one Heartless' claws before she delivered her N'th metal mace into its skull, the head of her weapon sinking deep into the black flesh with a sickening squelch. Annalee, who was dying, managed to gasp out her message to Storm before her body disintegrated and her heart was swallowed by the infinite void of nothingness.

"Please…the children…they're all still in the tunnel networks…save them," the elderly Morlock rasped and she died, disappearing into thin air before Storm could even attempt anything to save them. Fighting back tears, Storm relayed the urgent factoid to the other heroes on her communicator.

"There are other Morlocks in the tunnels! Most of them are children and are defenseless against the Heartless! They are being pursued in the sewer networks by those abominations!" Ororo cried out.

"I'll get 'em!" Spyke yelled as he ran towards one large opening, not staying to think of a plan or ask for reinforcements to assist him, and groaning, Quicksilver raced after him, knowing that he was eventually going to regret this sooner or later.

"_Argh!_" Quicksilver griped as he ran after Evan, "Why is it I always have to save your sorry butt?"

Pluto rolled his eyes but raced after the Misfit speedster silently, traveling in energetic leaps and bounds, tailing after the two bickering teenagers.

Jean and Shadowcat nodded to each other before they aimed their attacks at one Heartless.

Jean concentrated hard and brought her hands together and made a steeple before pointing her conjoined forefingers as the opponent and cried out, "Fire Phoenix Flame Strike!"

Shadowcat raised a hand to the sky and called out immediately after Jean, "Lumiga Moonbeam Shower!"

But to their shock, absolutely nothing happened. That feeling and sudden euphoria of power was gone, vanished and leaving them with nothing, having the two X-Girls looking incredibly foolish.

"What the - ?" Jean blurted out in horrified and unpleasant surprise.

"Nothing's working! We still can't do magic, even though we haven't like done anything yet!" wailed Shadowcat as Genie rushed over their heads along with Tinkerbell, facing the Heartless head-on.

Meanwhile, things were starting to become a bit strained and tense as Pluto, Quicksilver and Spyke trudged through the tunnels, looking for other lost Morlock children.

"Spyke, will you wait up? You're not going to do anything good if you get yourself killed! And to think that I thought you actually _looking_ like a cockroach would make you a bit better in the brains department since your mutation got a jump start on the rest of your body and vital organs!" Pietro retorted.

Though Quicksilver didn't mean this as hurtful, not surprisingly, this was making things worse.

"Hey, leave me alone, Maximoff!" snarled Evan, already at his wits' end, "I didn't ask you to come here, and I sure as hell don't need you telling me what to do or make things worse for me than they already are!"

"Hey, I didn't ask to come here either, you know!" snapped back Quicksilver in return, "You think I actually **like** risking clogs to my delicate pores or having my uniform smell like God knows what's been flushed down here? The only reason I'm here is to make sure you don't screw up and need me to cover you as usual!"

"Oh yes, God forbid that the great and mighty Pietro Maximoff should attempt to risk his beauty and safety and actually do some dirty work! When it comes down to it, you're no different from when you were a lackey for Magneto and in the Brotherhood, still as whiny and self-centered as always! And to think I have to wonder why you think you're so special because you think you know better!" Evan growled with disdain and his voice completely oozing with malicious sarcasm.

That stung and Quicksilver didn't his best to hide the discomfort at the barbs hitting home as he snapped, "I _do_ know better! In case you've forgotten, Daniels,** I **have a Keyblade, you don't! ** I** have magic, you don't! **I've** faced the Heartless and had to endure seeing people die and fighting for my life while you just stayed here and hid away from all your responsibilities because you couldn't cut it as an X-Geek and selfishly ran out on your friends and family! I'm a hero now, not a Brotherhood bum and certainly not my father's lackey! And if anything, I'm just glad to finally see that I was right at the fact that you were always a hopeless loser who sunk at the bottom of the barrel when he became a Morlock!"

Spyke then grabbed Pietro by the collar of his uniform as slammed the albino against the metal wall of the sewer, and the move took Pietro by surprise so much, he just remained stunned and shocked as Evan sneered with contempt.

"You son of - ! You think you know what my life's like? You think I've had it easy? Let me tell you something Pietro: until you live here in the sewer and see how much the Morlocks suffer, how much they're deprived of everything you take for granted, how much they need me, **you don't know the first thing about being a hero!** I had to watch kids like Artie and Torpid go to bed hungry because it wasn't safe to go search for food while you just stayed in your warm home and raided whatever you wanted in the kitchen! I've seen an old Morlock die from cancer right in front of me, unable to go to a hospital and unable to take anything for the pain since we don't have medicines down here while you could just go to the Pit's infirmary whenever you felt like you needed help! And I've endured having the Morlocks depend on me to keep them safe and out of sight, knowing that even if we screw up once, the whole clan dies and it goes on my head! I take on the responsibility that I have to help the Morlocks fight for survival, for food, for water, for warmth and the few luxuries than can have second-hand from throwaways while other people take it for granted! I have my heart break each and every time I've seen them go without and wish that I could do more for them and seeing that day after day, night after night, a damned, never-ending cycle of living in filth and trash and having not much hope except hoping to live to see another day. And you call _me_ a 'loser' for wanting to fix this, to help change things? Just because you're with the Joes doesn't mean you're a hero! If anything, you're just a selfish punk who **thinks** he's a hero because the only true thing you care about is yourself! You haven't changed one bit, and if anything, had I been in charge, I would have been ashamed of the fact that you ever existed!"

Pietro didn't say anything, couldn't say anything. But thankfully, the two teenagers heard screaming of children in the distance, distracting and interrupting the verbal sparring immediately.

"The kids!" Evan gasped, instantly forgetting the serious altercation and arguing as he turned and dashed off towards the screaming and wailing and muted sounds of roaring and energy attacks, leaving a rather shell-shocked Quicksilver and Pluto in his wake. For a few seconds, Pietro just stood there dumbly and humiliated until he called out too late.

"I am **too** a hero, Daniels!" he half-whined, half-protested in an outraged voice before in inwardly pouted and fumed. Of all the things that Evan could have said, their previous outburst and argument hurt Pietro's pride the most.

"OK, fine!" he muttered as he deliberately stalked off the other way, away from the fighting and truly beside himself to even wish to fight alongside Evan after seeing how much of a prick he was. The nerve of him! But as he walked away and was appearing to be content to just let Spyke handle fighting the Morlocks on his own, an angry and loud snort from Pluto made him defensively halt in his tracks and whirl around.

"Hey, you heard him, flea-farm! He doesn't want my help, and I'm not gonna give it if he's gonna take potshots at me!" the Misfit speedster retorted.

Pluto growled a bit before he barked rather negatively in a scolding manner, as if to tell Pietro that he certainly knew better than to think that. However, like a stubborn child, Quicksilver just pouted and crossed his arms immaturely over his chest and trying his best to turn a deaf ear over the cries and shouts of the skirmish where Evan was heading. Pluto just stared, deadpanned, at the Misfit's back but made no noise.

"If he's going to be an ass and say he's not going to want my help, then I'm **not** going to help him!" Pietro said, embarrassed. It was then that a small voice inside Pietro's head, in the deepest corners of his brain that he usually tried his best to ignore, spoke to him out of pity and compassion. It wasn't the same voice that spoke to his mind when he first got his Keyblade and Aeroga magic, but rather, the voice of his inner self, his conscience.

_He's angry because his family and innocent Morlocks are in danger…and you weren't exactly helping all because you don't know when to keep your mouth shut._

"Hey, he had no right to say that about me, the immature, ungrateful jerk! Daniels is just mad because his life turned out so crappy, and he ended up looking like a messed-up porcupine reject from Pokémon. He's just jealous because I'm better than him now!" Pietro carried on, but his voice slightly wavering.

_And if you were horrible disfigured or mutated and had your sense of life shattered and realized that you would never be back to what had once been, you would be touchy and angry at the unfairness of it too. And you are far more overly concerned over your looks than Evan ever was, so if it's rough on him, it would be more than twice as rough on you. At least you can still pass as human appearance-wise. **He can't.**_

"Doesn't give him the right to say those things! He's beneath me, and he knows it!"

_He is not beneath you. He never was, and you know it. If anything, you two are equals, but there are times you feel he is certainly better than you. That's why it stings right now, doesn't it? What he just said right now…a good portion of it is true in some aspects, and that's what bothers you the most. The fact that you don't understand what he's going through and that you were running your mouth. It makes you ashamed of yourself, doesn't it?_

"Daniels could be grateful, you know!" Quicksilver muttered bitterly, "I'm risking my pedicure and my skin to go wading in human sewage, dirty water, and God knows what else to help him and the Morlocks only to have him accuse me of being no hero and a poser!"

_This is hardly a game or competition to keep track of who's better than whom. If you want to prove him wrong, you certainly know how to do it._

"Forget it! I'm not going to help him! He can go fight and get his heart taken and I wouldn't give a damn about it! He deserves it!"

_No one deserves that, Pietro. You wouldn't even wish that fate on your own father, Magneto._

There were a couple more precious and sparse moments of the albino Adonis wrestling with himself inwardly before he gave in.

"**_Damn you, you stupid conscience!_**" he screamed with ire at the top of his lungs to the ceiling. Pluto inwardly smirked, panting and laughing; he wondered how Jiminy Cricket would take that one had he been listening. The Misfit speedster gave the golden-furred hound the evil eye and ugliest grimace.

"Fine, give him the stupid magic since he could use it more. And on that note…_I hate you_," Quicksilver muttered hotly, giving Pluto the evil eye, before he sped off after Spyke. Pluto just closed his eyes and barked happily, glad and truly satisfied that Quicksilver was worthy of a Keyblade. Pietro raced ahead on his superhuman speed to see to his horror that Spyke was trying to protect Artie while firing volley after volley of fire-tipped bone spears at a group of three Hellfire Heartless, unfortunately making them stronger. And viewing this from the sidelines was the Organization member, Vexen, with a look of curious amusement on his face as he watched the two Morlocks

And from the fact that the air was filled with a dozen or two of heart crystals, Artie must have been the only Morlock able to escape certain death until Evan was able to show up and protect the adolescent.

"Strike Raid!" yelled Quicksilver, throwing his silver and white Zephyr Keyblade and actually hitting and hacking off several limbs and gaining the monsters' collective attention, thankful that he could take the focus off of Spyke for the moment.

"Daniels, get outta here! Go, I'll cover you!" yelled Pietro as he then flung his Keyblade out again while Evan nodded and grabbed Artie in his arms before rushing towards the nearest exit. Unfortunately, Vexen appeared right in front of Spyke before he could escape.

"Not this time…" the man drawled before he charged and swiped the sharp and serrated edge of his shield directly at Evan, hoping to cleave him in half, and thankfully, Spyke was able to narrowly dodge it by strafing madly. Quicksilver then tried to use his magic, invoking a silver shield of wind to protect all three of them.

"Aeroga Guardian Hurricane!" yelled Pietro, but to his horror, nothing came up. No fierce gusts of air, no protective magic summoning from out of nowhere, no comforting feeling that you would be safe inside a protective spell from the kingdom of wind. At first Pietro was confused. He didn't use his magic yet so his mana reserves were still near full capacity, and the only way he wouldn't be able to perform the spell again would be that only if…

Quicksilver's blood froze as he then remembered his last words to Pluto.

"Oh…**CRAP!**" bellowed Quicksilver upon the realization, "**_The one time I do something nice and it never fails to come back to bite me on the butt!_**"

And Vexen, to make matters worse, had his own form of magic as he jammed the tip of his shield on the ground.

"Watch out!" yelled Quicksilver as he zoomed by and snatched Evan and Artie from the path before a group of stalagmites made of ice erupted right from where the two Morlocks where only mere microseconds ago. Had the Misfit not grabbed them ,they would have been messily and horrifically impaled to death. But they were still surrounded by the three Hellfire Heartless…and Quicksilver was powerless, leaving them helpless.

Then a bark rang out as Pluto suddenly appeared next to Spyke's side as Pietro tried another Strike Raid tactic on a nearby Heartless.

"Huh? A dog?" blinked Evan, looking at Pluto's eyes.

With that, Pluto's eyes began to glow a light blue color before a beam of light hit Spyke's head right above his eyebrows.

Evan Daniels had absolutely no idea what on Earth was happening to him, but his defensive instincts lessened and relaxed as the Elementa sigil of the Blizzaga Kingdom appeared on his forehead, right between the spikes of the bony formation covering his cranium. He could feel it, a sudden yet brief period of something taking control of his body and fueling his desire to fight.

With that Spyke slowly braced himself, and though he had no idea why or how he knew, he braced himself in a fighting position and hunched over a bit, crossing his arms over his chest as he did everything in his willpower to create more spikes to protrude out from his body. The most he had ever dared to do before in his entire life, feeling the cold force welling inside him travel immediately and flowing like ice water from his heart to his bone shell.

"BLIZZAGA…"

Upon those words, Evan's entire bone shell has a soft shimmer surrounding it before what popped out of his body, primed and ready to fire, weren't the normal bone shafts but actually crystallized icicles. And what made it surprising was that each of the hundreds of miniature icicles had a small bright flame of cold, blue fire alight at each pointed tip.

Fiery spears of ice. Cold fire. An oxymoron to say the least.

"…ICICLE FIRESTORM FURY!"

With that, Evan arched back his body from his hunched form and let loose, causing his head to spin slightly from the exertion of energy and physical strength. To Vexen's horror and Quicksilver's amazement, over a hundred spears of ice emerged from Spyke's bone shell and shot out in a frenzy, and each jagged and sharpened projectile had its foremost tip bathed with a ball of cold ice-fire.

The three Hellfire Heartless didn't stand a chance as the jagged spikes of ice stabbed all of them, embedding their searing tips deep into the experiments' bodies, stabbing them all rather gruesomely and gorging right through them or sticking out of their flesh and searing their hides with freezer-burns. And to Quicksilver's further surprise, none of the icicles struck him; they magically hone din on anything that Evan regarded as an enemy. With a dying shriek, the Heartless all perished and evaporated into black smoke, toppling to their knees lifelessly and going slack.

"_Whoa…_" blinked Pietro in surprise while Pluto actually looked pleased with himself. Though the Misfit would never admit it, that was indeed an impressive display of magic, much more effective and offensive compared to Pietro's wind magic.

Vexen was absolutely livid as he rushed towards Spyke and Quicksilver and Pluto with the jagged and pointed end of his shield ready to strike and eviscerate into the two meddling mutants and the damned dog as well.

"You insolent little whelps - !" he snarled, but then two attacks from his blind spot struck first, saving a weakened and battered Evan and Pietro from certain and horrific injuries.

"Fira Crimson Whirlwind!" yelled Scarlet Witch.

"Gaia Earthquake Force Rush!" yelled Avalanche simultaneously.

Vexen immediately brought his shield up towards the incoming attacks of fire and earth, forgetting his previous assault on Spyke and Quicksilver. His shield, though strong, barely could cover him and withstand the intensity as he took the brunt of the combination full-force.

**_Kashoooom!_ WHOOSSH!**

Vexen cried out as he fell to one knee, his uniform now singed and smoking, his shield heavily cracked and fractured from the impact of the explosions of the Fira and Gaia Kingdoms. It was additionally effective in that Wanda's element was heavily damaging against Vexen's ice attacks. Seeing as how the battle was indeed over and sensing that all his experiments had been fully vanquished, Vexen teleported away.

As Evan and Pietro and Artie slowly and carefully made their way to the Morlocks' camp…

"Is…is it over?" panted Sunder as Tommie and Lucid did their best to help the gargantuan mutant from the various rubble piled on top of him, but considering his size and massive body weight, it was an extremely arduous task until Cyborg came up and actually slung Sunder's arm over his shoulder.

"Here, lemme help y'all with that. And yeah, it's over…for now at least," the Titan said amiably, and despite the past initial excursions, none of them, not even Callisto, could make a protest about being helped by a topsider pet. If anything, Tommie smiled despite the overwhelming sensation of grief in her stomach.

Some, however, weren't exactly being friendly to the X-Men and Joes and Misfits, and considering the magnitude of the devastation to their group, it was to be expected that much blame would come their way. Meanwhile, a movement from above caught Logan's sharp eye, but when he turned to the source, he wasn't that surprised to see two fleeting figures disappearing into the shadows along with now two very familiar scents he had grown to loathe.

"Falco and Octavia…" the feral and grizzled X-Man rumbled under his breath, now quite sure he wasn't seeing nor hearing things. And if those two had been here but had done absolutely nothing just stand by and watch the Morlocks hearts get taken, then they were just as responsible for the deaths as the Organization was. And God help them when Logan got his claws into them.

"Caliban, Spyke? Where are the others? Why aren't they with you? With either of you? Aren't there any more who managed to escape?" Callisto asked, blood running down one side of her head.

Caliban gave a look of pure grief through his snake-like and stony features, his eyes displaying pain, as he said, "There are no others, Callisto. The boy was only able to save Caliban. Without the Titan, Caliban would not have lived. And…"

The Morlock paused and took a steadying breath before he gave his report in broken, third-person English.

"Caliban knows. Artie, Caliban, Sunder, Tommie, Lucid, Spyke, and Callisto only survivors. All other Morlocks are dead. Caliban not sense them, Caliban not know where their hearts are. All are gone."

Callisto's arms fell to her sides limply. If all the other Morlocks had indeed perished, then that meant about two-hundred and seventeen of her clan was lost, and she had inadvertently failed them. Like any leader, Callisto knew each and every name and member of her family, and to realize that they were all dead was indeed a shocking and devastating blow.

Pietro, meanwhile, was shaking a rather puzzled and stunned Pluto in rage while screaming, literally grabbing the dog's collar and jiggling the hound's body back and forth so hard that one had to slightly fear that Pluto's head would fall off or at the very least receive brain damage.

"**DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN!**" Quicksilver screeched, his voice nearly going falsetto, as Cyborg and Blob had to literally pry his grip off the dog, "**NEVER AGAIN! _NOT EVER!_ YOU HEAR ME?**"

"What's his problem?" blinked Ray as he asked Scarlet Witch, "He acts like Pluto did something horrible to him."

"I don't even want to know. I've already had enough drama without needing more from my psychotic brother," the goth Misfit muttered, rolling her eyes as Cyborg and Blob did their best to prevent Pietro from reaching out and strangling the dog.

"So now what do we do? The Morlocks can't stay here, not when their home was destroyed like this," Colossus asked worriedly, and Roadblock blinked as his mind came up with one possible solution.

"We could take you to the Eloi," the machine gunner suggested.

"**_Absolutely no way in hell, topsider!_**"

This loud and forceful outburst of grief came from Callisto herself as the Morlock leader marched up to the Misfits, X-Men, and Joes, her face marred with rage. She then furiously jabbed a finger at Roadblock.

"There is no chance in any lifetime that we will entrust the safety of the Morlocks on the Eloi and insane soldiers from G.I. Joe! The last thing I want is that stoned-out-of-his-mind leader, Mole, a chance to rub this event in my face! And we don't need help from outsiders, especially _you_ lunatics of all people!" the female brawler snarled poisonously.

"Oh and like you and your Morlocks were doing such a fine and dandy job of protecting yourselves, despite how we all tried to warn you before with Superman and Xavier? You had no trouble getting killed without our help! So having us assisting you sewer-dwelling nimrods in staying out of the path of the Heartless couldn't be any more hitting bottom of the barrel!" snapped Beach Head without much pity in a biting and sarcastic tone, and Callisto looked as if she wanted to kill the Joe Ranger right then and there.

Spyke, however, after some deep thought, looked up and said, "What about the Xavier Institute? Would the Professor be willing to house all of the survivors and keep us safe? Would he be willing to house the Morlocks? Would he be willing? I'll do anything in return if he'll take them in."

Ororo looked relieved and joyful at this question, and she nodded, her eyes shining gratefully, saying, "Charles would not object. We would be more than happy to help, with anything. And without pay or anything we want of you. You do not need to do anything in return. All of you are welcome."

"And Torpid already likes it there. She was playing with Jamie, Lockheed, and Amara when we left, so if anything, the rest of you will be along with fellow mutants like yourselves," Bezerker said softly, trying to appease Callisto's anger. It didn't work much as the one-eyed, raven-haired woman whirled on Spyke with outraged betrayal.

"Daniels!" she cried out, but the former X-Man looked at Callisto with grief and sorrowful acceptance before he made his point across softly.

"I'm supposed to do what's best to help the Morlocks survive. How can we stay safe if there's no clan to protect? I don't want to see how many more are killed if we refuse again to trust those that may be the only hope we have of surviving the Gathering of Twilight."

"And they did come to help us even though we rejected and spat on their offer. That does kinda speak how sincere they really do want to protect and fight against the Thirteenth Order," Tommie said softly, joining in and seeing the logic of Spyke's reasoning.

That shut Callisto up, and though her face was flushed and she scowled, she crossed her arms and sulked in silence. Evan then turned to the heroes wearily, starting to feel the throbbing of his bruises now that his adrenaline was starting to wear off.

"Explain to us. Everything you can about what's going on with the Heartless and the Organization and these weird things with the Keyblades and the whole magic thing with the Misfits," Spyke requested, and as briefly as they could, Althea, Ororo, and Roadblock gave the watered-down summary about how Keyblades were tools specifically designed to fight the Heartless, how the Misfits (and now Spyke himself as well) were blessed by Pluto with the Keyblades and magic to help protect the world, and that even those many had died, there was a chance they could gain the hearts back if they won the Gathering of Twilight.

Jean and Shadowcat were frowning at Pluto, wondering why their magic didn't stick with them. Callisto, Spyke, and the remaining Morlocks turned and looked at Pluto with suspicion and surprise while Artie, like a typical child, forgot his tears and smiled before he dashed over and hugged the Disney character around his neck, and panting and laughing, Pluto licked the Morlock's cheek. Tommie wiped her eyes as she smiled.

"I don't think we can accuse a Disney character of hating mutants," the two-dimensional, rainbow-haired mutant sniffed, "And Artie's a good judge of character; he wouldn't be happy around something that makes him nervous. And Spyke has good judgment too. If he says we can trust the X-Men now, I'll follow it this time."

"And we have no other way to get everyone's hearts back," choked Lucid, hugging himself, and he was surprised that the blond medic named Bree hugged him comfortingly. She didn't act the least bit repulsed.

"We'll get them back. We'll fight or die trying. You're not the only ones who've lost people you love and care about; we know exactly what you're going through," Bree whispered.

Sunder then frowned before he then hesitantly asked, "I dunno…I mean, we're…grateful and everything, but we'd feel really out of place with the rich mutants and preppy school and stuff. Maybe…maybe we'd be more comfortable somewhere else, someone who'd be able to relate to us and all."

"Then the Eloi would probably be the best thing, considering that Mole used to be a former Morlock and he'd have no problem welcoming you. And the last thing the Eloi would do is make you feel uncomfortable," Brittany piped up.

Toad nodded eagerly as he said, "Yeah, yo! If you don't wanna hang out at Xavier's, then up over at the Eloi and the Outriders will be the safest and best place for you all to be, yo!"

"**_Hawkgirl, come in! Epsilon alert! Hawkgirl, come in! This is Batgirl! Come in! Repeat, we have an Epsilon alert!_**"

Barbara's voice through the Justice League communicator startled a good portion of people around the sewers (and Callisto was still suspicious that there would still be some sort of attack), but Shayera calmly held her communicator to her lips and spoke back with her own transmission.

"This is Hawkgirl. We just settled the Heartless crisis with the Morlocks. Come in," she spoke briefly, tersely, and to the point.

"_Good, because there's another crisis with the Hellfire experiments in Maine!_" Batgirl responded back, nearly losing her composure as she yelled back the emergency-call loudly enough for all in the sewers to hear, "_Mole from the Eloi transferred the call to Mainframe back at the Pit and to me and Mr. Terrific up here in the Watchtower! There's another Heartless attack! This time, it's over in Maine where the Eloi are residing! Repeat: the Heartless are attacking the Eloi colonies in Maine! The Flash, Raven from the Titans, and some of the Ghostbusters are already there trying to lessen the damage, but we could use the Keyblades for this one!_"

Cover Girl's eyes widened as she cursed, "Damn it! The Organization's really taking every advantage they can get! We can't keep this up if they do simultaneous raids!"

"And that would explain why none of the Morlocks were infected! They wanted to save that whammy when they attacked the Eloi!" Avalanche exclaimed in horror, automatically thinking of Willow. The other X-Men were just as alarmed, but Kitty and Jean didn't know exactly how to feel, given their less-than-pleasant history with the female plant-manipulator.

"Oh no…" murmured Daria, turning pale, "The Eloi will be sitting ducks! They can't use their mutant powers on the Hellfire Heartless too!"

"If it's not one thing, it's another," groaned Blind Master, not really looking forward to a second fight and skirmish to the Heartless considering how close and devastating this last battle had been. And in a way, it was slightly symbolic; in H.G. Wells, "The Time Machine", the Eloi and Morlock races were closely displayed as polar opposites, but unable to survive without one another. Thus, if the Heartless were attacking the Morlocks, this was Fate's way of being metaphorical that the Eloi mutants would additionally be struck down at the same time as well.

Callisto gave Wavedancer and the other Misfits a rather dirty look mixed with a twinge of smugness.

"**_You were saying?_**" she growled. Toad chuckled weakly as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head, making an idiotic smile with his yellow teeth.

"Uh…is it too late to qualify that last sentence, yo?" he asked.

**Author's Notes: Next Friday, check back as the Misfits, Joes, and X-Men carry on to rescue the Eloi despite after going through one harrowing battle! Even with the help of their allies, the Eloi are truly in a bind as Larxene infects Thorn and causes her own sort of havoc upon the peaceful mutant village. Can the Misfits help prevent this and cure Thorn before the entire community is depleted of all their hearts? You won't want to miss the appearance and involvement of one of Red Witch's OCs, Willow, in the chapter "Willow of the Wood", and until then, hope you all enjoyed this chapter!**


	24. Willow of the Wood

**Author's Notes: I do not own the characters of the Eloi and Willow for they are the respective property of the authoress, Red Witch, and I additionally do not own the characters from the anime series, "Shaman King" for they are the property of Hiroyuki Takei and VIZ Media. The only reason they are here is because they are a part of the new recruits for the Ghostbusters in Sparky Genocide's "Ghostbusters United" which is a universe I am slowly integrating into this universe. That said, sorry about the wait but I hope you do enjoy the chapter of…**

**CHAPTER 24: Willow of the Wood**

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…" chanted Raven calmly as she tried to encase one of the Hellfire Heartless with the forces of the telekinetic shadows, invoking her dark magic. But to the white-cloaked girl's surprise, the abomination sensed the presence of power magic and could see the shadows swirling on the dirt around its feet. With a snarl and a mad strafe to the right, the Heartless dodged the column of black aura before it could trap and encapsulate it. Raven quickly and mentally chastised herself for expect the behemoth to just stand still and be dumb as earlier experiments as she invoked a shield in front of her to protect herself from the blasts of black lightning from the fiend's chest.

And what made it even more difficult was that these Heartless were much stronger and proficient at brawling than her past run-ins, and thus, Raven couldn't solely expect to just use her telekinesis to trap them. She doubted she could even maintain a hold on them for more than a minute any more and her past two attempts to send them flying with blasts of her magic only caused them to falter and step back a bit. And add the fact that the Titan didn't forget that Heartless were immune to telepathy, and it made them even more dangerous than before.

She was just grateful that she didn't have the X-Gene or else she would truly be useless in this battle. Still, the fact that even with herself, Flash, and the four teenage shamans the Ghostbusters sent to lessen and maintain control could barely push them and that blond female from the Organization back was indeed troubling.

"Raven!" called out the Eloi, Ewe, a mutant who looked like a humanoid sheep, urgently as she and two other Eloi carried out several straw baskets sealed tightly with lids, "Use this! It's our homemade glue! Throw it on them! You might be able to slow them down!"

The Teen Titan nodded as she raised one hand at the casks while using her other hand to create yet another shield of shadows to block another shaft of lightning from the Heartless. Apparently, these ogres of darkness weren't going to just stand around and fire aimlessly; they were throwing everything they could without pause at them and the Eloi village. And Flash was grabbing everyone he could and depositing them into the Cavern, a gigantic and sheltered cave formed naturally in the stone mountain next to the waterfall, for safety.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…" Raven chanted again, popping off the lids of the caskets with a gentle push before she lifted each and every morsel of glue and sent it hurtling as a massive blob towards the enemy's heads.

_Splat!_

The black-skinned ogre roared as it was covered with sticky substance, and distracted, it howled and busied itself in rubbing the gunk from its face and line of vision.

Meanwhile, Mrs. S, a heavyset mutant woman with a gigantic rainbow beehive hairstyle was busily trying to telepathically give instructions to the Eloi who were fleeing and managing to make the jobs of the heroes easier by staying out of their way and lessening the number of targets in the battlefield.

Mrs. S commanded telepathically to all the Eloi, _Go! Run to the Cavern! Stay out of the way and don't use your mutant powers on the Hellfire Heartless! The Joes said that they get stronger with absorbing mutant powers! As chairwoman of the Emergency-Evacuation-Committee, the Cavern will be the safest place for you to stay out of harm's way! Go to the cavern and do not use your powers on the Heartless! Just grab the children and go!_

"Easier said than done, Mrs. S! We're too scattered! The Heartless took all of us by surprise!" yelled the Outrider, Big Tom, as the bald and muscular biker grabbed two children around the waist and carried them out of the path of the blasts of dark lightning one Hellfire Heartless was tossing wildly in all directions.

"Don't worry, we got the others! And the Joes and the Misfits are coming soon! Turns out that the Heartless were also attacking the Morlocks at the same time! They're a little busy right now!" yelled Big tom's wife, Lacey, as she and the Outrider, Hound Dog, drove on ancient but reliable Harley motorcycles and grabbed people as they dashed by and grabbed everyone they could while Thorn and the other Outriders did everything they could to help Flash and Raven incapacitate the monsters. But despite all their best efforts, the entire forest still boasted sorrowfully of multiple heart crystals from the mutants that died in the surprise attack.

Meanwhile, at another part of the of the Eloi village, the four new and novice Ghostbusters recruits were trying to stop one particular Hellfire Heartless along with a familiar female blond Organization member…

"Amidamaru!" Yoh Asakura yelled. A silver haired spirit of a samurai appeared next to the easy-going, brown haired teenager.

"Tokageroh!" Rio Umemiya yelled. A green-skinned ogre spirit bathed in purple fire and wearing a metal, ancient headband appeared next to the white-suited teenager.

"Corey!" Trey "Racer" Horohoro yelled, his affectionate nickname for his spirit, Kororo. A small, cute spirit of a dark-haired girl with a cherub-face and pink headband popped next to her friend.

"SPIRIT CONTROL!" all the three Shamans yelled, holding out their weapons.

Instantly, the three ghosts of the young men shrank into small spheres of flame before they disappeared into Yoh's katana, Trey's snowboard, and Rio's wooden bokken, powering up there blades and weapons significantly by almost ten-fold and bathing them with paranormal, magical fire and energy.

"Remember your training," called out Anna Kyoyama, a thirteen year-old girl with blond hair with a red kerchief tied atop her head and wearing a long string of prayer beads and an stern expression that literally screamed the word "slave-driver", "If you're worthy of calling yourselves future Shamans, then you better not screw this up or else I'm tripling your exercise regimens! Now go get her, you lazy louts! Don't just stand there! If she doesn't kill you, **I will** and then I'll let Quentin deal with your remains!"

"Heh heh…that's our Anna, always looking out for us," chuckled Yoh uneasily with a strained, toothy grin on his face before he and the other Ghostbusters charged.

"Oh please, like I'm supposed to be afraid of little kids," Larxene drawled as she sent the Heartless next to her to distract them, but surprisingly enough, the three spirit mediums and warriors attacked nonetheless and were actually giving a difficult fight for the experiment, slashing and attacking with their magical weapons. Yoh actually managed to break through the guard of the creature while Rio and Trey kept it busy before he jabbed ferociously at the Organization member. Yet she deftly avoided each thrust before she sent five of her daggers directly at Yoh who gasped and leapt to the side to dodge them.

Larxene then idly strolled over to one male named Herbert, a brain-damaged experimental mutate with gills who thought he was a goldfish that was shivering in a shallow pool of water, in an upright fetal position and hugging his knees to his chest.

"No Heartless…bad for goldfish…" whimpered Herbert, cowering and shivering and obviously in shock, "No Heartless…bad for goldfish…no Heartless, bad for - "

Slash!

Herbert gurgled, his throat horrifically cut as Larxene swiped one lone kunai across his windpipe, leaving him to topple backwards, dying as he bled in the pool, and before he could expire, with a nod of her head, the nearby Heartless ceased attacking for one second to extend a single arm and wrap its claws around Herbert's body before it desecrated the Eloi, leaving nothing but his pure heart which vanished as it rose into the air. The Shamans were horrified.

"Oh God…I'm going to be sick…" Trey quivered.

"NO!" cried Willow who helpless watched, while the Outrider named Claw was absolutely furious.

"**_You cold-hearted bitch!_**" the mutant roared as the bearded and husky man raised his gigantic right paw, his black claws ready to tear into the Organization member limb by limb. Larxene hardly looked bothered as Claw blitzed her, swinging his oversized hand at her head. The blond girl easily and quickly strafed to the side, yawning.

"Pathetic," she said simply, and snarling, Claw, trained in the martial arts thanks to Thorn, lashed out with several violent kicks followed by additional swipes with his claw and a left cross-punch. The soldier from the Thirteenth Order just easily continued to evade the assault easily, throwing snide comments all the meanwhile.

"Trite. Lame. Inadequate. Mediocre. Lacking. Woeful," she kept listing out the insults, deadpanned, as Claw was panting hard from exertion as he continued to try to pummel the enemy.

Larxene then decided to end this as she then summoned her yellow knives again and with a upwards movement of her arms, as quick as lightning, Claw didn't even utter a yell as the metal edges of the glowing kunai slashed vertically over his face and chest, leaving deep and ragged gashes that instantly spurted blood. It was all done within a matter of seconds before Larxene let loose a furious blast of lightning and sending Claw flying before one of the Hellfire Heartless easily dispatched Claw with a blast of dark lightning.

"_These_ are the powerful Outriders, the guardians and protectors of the Eloi? How boring. I've seen more exciting fights while seeing Marluxia deal with his thorny rosebushes in his flower gardens. But then again, what else to expect from a bunch of hippie mutants that never left the Sixties?" Larxene giggled dementedly as Claw's heart joined the other Eloi's in the sky, levitating as disappearing.

CRACK! Time almost seemed to stand still as Larxene tried to register how Anna, a mere thirteen year old, managed to swiftly appear right in front of her, defying her martial senses, and deliver a rather insulting slap to Larxene's face with her right hand, leaving a red mark. It was a rather nasty blow to Larxene's pride.

All the Shamans winced. Anna, though appearing frail and passive, was much stronger and dangerous than she let on.

"You…you…**_punched_** me!" shrieked Larxene, her voice being more shrill and raising an octave with each word, loud enough to cause the tops of the nearby trees to shiver slightly from the echo. Anna, surprisingly, didn't even crack a smile and maintained her stern and stony expression.

"No, I _slapped_ you…" she clarified in a way reminiscent of how a teacher would correct a student if he or she used the wrong pronunciation or grammar. Then Anna's left hand made a fist before striking out.

Pow!

"**_Now_** I punched you. Try to be more careful about your word choices, please. It does rather show poor education and ignorance," Anna said stoically as now Larxene had a red mark on her right side of her face where Anna's fist collided with her cheek. And the Organization female was absolutely livid as Anna simply used her martial skills to discreetly move back to the front of the Shaman line in a blink of an eye and as softly as a leaf falling from the tree.

"You know, deep down, I think we all saw that one coming, man," Rio admitted with a wry face.

"Like adding oil to a fire, my Elvis-loving friend," Tokageroh muttered, and one could see the spirit's face wincing from the fact that things were going to be predictably uglier.

"**_YOU'RE ALL DEAD!_**" roared Larxene as she flung all ten of her yellow thunder kunai as the four shamans below. But before any of them could connect…

"Aeroga Guardian Hurricane!" yelled Pietro's voice and thankfully, a gigantic bubble of silver wind picked up from nowhere and swirled around the battlefield, roaring and blowing madly enough to deflect Larxene's energy attacks as the Misfits, the Joes, and the X-Men (including Spyke) rushed out of nowhere thanks to the Mass Device.

"Take 'em out! Don't give them a chance! Stop that blond-haired sadist from continuing her advance! Misfits, take out the Heartless as quick as you can! X-Men, Joes, help the Eloi and follow the plan! No mutant powers can be used on the Hellfire drones and make sure that you don't fight alone!" Roadblock versed admirable as he let loose with a stream of bullets enhanced with holy water and magic from the Charmed Ones into the Heartless Trey and Rio were fighting against, causing it to stop and howl in pain at the bullets embedding into its face and torso. Bezerker, before he dashed out, knelt down next to Pluto.

"Pluto, can you give me magic?" the electrokinetic asked hurriedly.

Pluto gave him an offended and disbelieving look already, cocking his head in confusion and making a puzzled grunt, but unfortunately, Ray took that as an agreement.

"Thanks! I'll owe you a dog biscuit for this!" Bezerker said gratefully as he rushed off. The golden furred canine inwardly winced; Ray was going to be in for some disappointment.

"Well, hello!" Rio said in a smooth and pathetically suave voice as he wiggled his eyes at Jean and Shadowcat, "Would any of you lovely ladies like to go out me, the fabulous Rio, future and famous Shaman and Ghostbuster?"

"We have boyfriends," they muttered flatly with deadpanned expressions and obvious signs of annoyance. Rio grimaced and blushed but didn't say anything further upon seeing that the X-Girls weren't in the mood. And Colossus looked especially annoyed.

"Uh…how is it that we're able to understand him considering that we speak different languages?" blinked Colossus, but Anna rolled her eyes as she explained in a no-nonsense, annoyed sort of voice.

"Paige Halliwell cast a spell on all the Ghostbusters so that no matter what language we speak, it shall clearly be understandable to whoever we communicate to, regardless of the barriers. In other words, it was a simple language charm to help ease the obstacles of communication."

"Give me strength!" Toad yelled, summoning Genie, as Larxene continued hurling shafts of lightning, "Genie, stop her from hurting everyone, yo!"

The Disney spellcaster followed this wonderfully, though in a rather unorthodox manner to say the least…

"Ha! Pcah! Wow! Ooh! Close one! Yah! How d'ya them apples?" Genie crowed as he returned each lightning strike with a swing with a tennis racket, infuriating Larxene to no ends, "Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, eat your hearts out!"

"_Eeeney, Meeney, Minney, Moe!_" cheered a line of Genie doppelgangers from the sidelines, complete with (disturbingly) blue and yellow cheerleading outfits and miniskirts, blond wigs, and blue and yellow pom-poms, "_Go, Genie! Go, go, go!_"

Spyke raised one eyebrow at this while he made more fire-tipped bone shafts to throw at Larxene, asking Jean, "Is Toad's Genie guy **always** like this?"

"Pretty much," admitted Jean as she helped shield several Eloi from Larxene's thunder with her telekinesis, allowing them to escape into the trees.

"Ha ha! Is **that** the best you can do?" Genie teased mercilessly as he stuck out his tongue and razzed Larxene. The Organization female then smirked evilly as she then summoned back all her then throwing daggers in between her fingers and crossed her arms over her chest. A gigantic shaft of lightning emerged from the apex of her crossed arms before it flew out at Genie, and though he tried to deflect it, it was much, _much_ more powerful than he anticipated.

KABOOOOM! Genie was sent flying backwards, mowing down a line of trees in his wake as he crashed through them and collided back first into the nearby stone mountain, forming a noticeable crater and completely charred and covered with soot, his tennis racket now magically transformed into ashes.

"Owwwww…" Genie groaned.

"You'd think he'd know better than to say **that** to taunt the enemy with," groaned Daria, holding her head.

"It does kind of rank to the same place as the phrase, '_things can't get any worse_'," admitted Quinn, shaking hers a bit in commiseration.

"Memo to selves: phenomenal cosmic powers doesn't equal brains," Brittany muttered, typing a few commands with her scanner as she analyzed Larxene's latest attack so that they could look on any potential weaknesses in the near future.

"Oh shut up! Genie!" cried Todd, after snapped at Trinity, worriedly before he snarled at Larxene, brandishing his orange and green Amphibionian Keyblade at Larxene. The foot-soldier from the Thirteenth Order readied herself, thinking that Toad was foolishly going to attack her with his thunder magic again.

"Still wanting another chance to prove how much of a bumbling idiot you are, wart farm?" the girl sneered.

"Actually, I don't. I was just tryin' to get your attention, yo," smirked Toad, and Larxene registered too late that it was a mere distraction as she felt Bambi ram his head into her back, causing her to crash to the ground from her levitated position in the air. And this left Xi and Blob free to attack.

"Woodra Leafblight Revolution!"

"Gravira Orbs of Force Crusher!"

Larxene managed to narrowly escape the assault by teleporting out of the way right before a circle of swirling, glowing leaves surrounding several crushing purple bursts of crippling gravitational forces hammered down from above her.

Thorn the Eloi Outrider then turned his good, brown eye to his daughter and commanded her as Lacey, Hound Dog, and Mrs. S all combined their mutant powers to help the Shaman Ghostbusters help against the fight with Larxene, "Willow, go with the other children and Mole! Run to the caverns! You'll be safe there!"

"No!" Willow snapped back as she continued to invoke more and more of the plants to grow and offer some sort of blockade to stall the Heartless, and since it did not directly touch the experiments, the monsters couldn't absorb any energy from the girl's mutant powers. Thorn was livid as he brutally grabbed Willow by her upper arms, teeth clenched.

"Get your butt back to the Cavern or else I'll - AAAAAA!"

With that, Thorn toppled forward, hissing in pain and unable to do anything other than go into a fetal position in agony, and as he fell, Willow to her horror, saw that Larxene was standing right behind her father, smirking.

"Wow, pretty easy to sneak up from behind and infect him, wasn't it?" she asked rhetorically as the Hellfire spore she pushed into the Outrider leader's body began its work, and Thorn screamed as the darkness began to eat him from the inside out.

"You - !" Willow gasped, tears in her eyes, as she tried to summon some roots to rip Larxene from where she stood, but the blond nymph drew out her kunai again, ready to stab the plant-manipulator. Upon seeing this, the Flash immediately dashed in with his speed and snatched Willow before Larxene could blast her.

"Stop!" cried Willow as she then began to hit Wally into putting her down, "Go back! Get my Dad! He's hurting! **Go back!** Put me down and get my Dad!"

"He's been – ow!" the Justice League member yelped as Willow's fist connected with his chin before he forcefully grabbed Willow's wrists to keep her under control, "Will you stop? We can't help your father! He's been infected! He's turning into a Heartless now!"

"I'll try to cure him now before it can grow!" Wavedancer yelled as she pointed her scepter as the Ghostbusters thankfully distracted Larxene as they blitzed her with a fury of sword jabs and ghostly attacks, "Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!"

Thorn didn't even notice the energy engulfing him as he continued to be racked with pain while the ten Elementa sigils and the trinity of white formed by the crown, Heartless, and Nobody symbols as the Outrider disappeared in the illumination.

Kawhooom!

"Yeah, snookums!" cheered Toad, "You totally…nailed…him?"

Apparently, Toad's celebration was a bit premature as the light faded to reveal that Thorn was still gruesomely transforming into a Hellfire Heartless, his skin now turning black and his eyes now glowing yellow as he hoarse yells became more animalistic and guttural. Wavedancer was stunned as she turned to the Triplets who were still scanning with their pink, handheld scanners.

"What's going on? He hadn't fully transformed yet! Why didn't the staff kill the spore in his body then? It should be weak enough for me to do it!" Althea asked, troubled.

"Because it doesn't work like that!" Brittany said hurriedly as she saw that the energy readings from the seed deep inside Thorn's body was increasing exponentially on her meters, "The Heartless spores don't seem to be vulnerable to your staff until the Heartless is fully formed! And weakened! In other words, until the person infected is fully transformed and has been weakened enough is the only time when your staff seems to work to bring the person back to normal!"

"Another limitation of magic…" groaned Blind Master upon hearing this on his communicator as he deftly tried to hack off one Heartless' extended arm with his katana, unfortunately having the metal cleave it only partway.

"Things can't ever be easy for us, can they?" Spirit sighed before he fired a crossbow shaft loaded with a plastic-explosive arrowhead with remarkable accuracy into the left eye of one of the Heartless. The steel arrow exploded in a bright flash and a gory mess as the Heartless squealed in pain at its eyeball being reduced to a charred, ragged flesh wound. But after a few seconds, the injury sealed up and vanished, leaving the monster's head as good as new.

"Of course it would heal itself," grumbled Cover Girl as she helped two Eloi children from being trapped from nearby burning rubble, "_Why not?_ Everything else about the Heartless seem to be difficult, what's one more hurdle?"

And then Thorn himself showed his full metamorphosis.

"Oh no…" Mole gasped, feeling nauseous as the urge to vomit increased.

"**_Dad!_**" screamed Willow, as Thorn the Outrider now fully transformed into one of the Inner Circle's infected experiments. The mutant was now fully grown into a lumbering giant, as tall as a three-story building with yellow, lifeless beady eyes and a pair of horns on top of its head that were surprisingly made from thorny branches of wood. But what was most noticeable about the Hellfire Heartless was that its body was completely consisting of green plants and lichen. With a thick, broad chest and gargantuan arms and legs, the upright monster was composed of various flora from mold, bog, and moss to hardier ones such as ivy, beech, oak, and pine. The creature's arms and legs consisted of gnarled and twisted wooden roots, laced with various, multicolored toadstools, and the exposed roots at the end were dry and sharp, perfect for trampling and ripping victims to pieces. And on the center of its chest was the infamous black-and-red Heartless insignia.

"Whoa, it's like a Heartless version of the comic-character, Swamp-Thing," quipped Pietro.

"Quicksilver, shut up!" screamed Willow in rage before she screamed to the Heartless that was once her father and cried out, "Dad, stop! **_PLEASE!_** It's us, the Eloi, your family! Don't you remember us?"

Shadowcat, seeing how that this was eerily reminiscent of when Colossus got infected, yelled urgently, "Willow, stop! He won't remember! He's under like the Thirteenth Order's control now!"

"Well, get to work you useless Outrider," drawled Larxene impatiently with a fierce flick of her head, "Get the rest of those loser hippies."

With a guttural and animalistic snarl, the Hellfire Heartless charged, its forearms and claws raised and ready towards the Misfits, X-Men, Joes, and Willow. Thankfully, the Ghostbusters intervened admirably…

"Not to worry!" Yoh yelled as he managed to actually hack off one of the plant-Heartless' limbs, leaving a jagged and splintered with his flaming katana, bathed in ghost fire, "Our attacks don't empower it! If anything, our Shaman and Spirit Forms actually **hurt** it!"

Unfortunately, this seemed to be a perfect case for Murphy's Law to intervene as the abomination that was once the Eloi Outrider then snarled as it raised its arms upwards to the sky, and at once, the various plethora of multicolored toadstools that were growing on its wooden arms began to release clouds and clouds of black fog that consisted of microscopic spores and dust. And it soon became painfully clear that the mushrooms on the Heartless' body weren't just for decoration.

Trey, Rio, and Yoh all screamed as the cloud of toadstool spores engulfed them faster than they eye could blink, and they fell to their knees, in complete and unbearable pain, dropping their swords and snowboard. Alarmed and thankfully incorporeal enough so that the magical attacks did not effect them in the slightest, the spirits Amidamaru, Corey, and Tokageroh emerged from the dropped weapons at the instant their partners felt pain.

Corey kept whimpering and making high-pitched cooing noises of worry as Tokageroh's eyes went wide as he tried to shake Rio with his green, scaly claws, shouting, "Rio, man? What is happening?"

"Can't…breathe…" Rio choked, his eyes watering and his lungs feeling as if they were on fire, his nerves screaming and his head feeling so fuzzy as if stuffed with cotton. The pompadour-toting young man was literally suffocating.

"So weak…can't…move…" Trey gasped, the lack of oxygen threatening to cause him to pass out, his muscles twitching as they were beginning to show the symptoms of death-spasms. Yoh, meanwhile, couldn't even say anything as he writhed and squirmed on the ground, the spores now attaching to his skin and raising bloody and bleeding welts around the size of quarters. It was clear that the dust from the Heartless was not only painful to inhale but painful to even touch.

And unfortunately, the clouds were spreading, wafting out towards the other Eloi and the heroes. Not that they would allow the Heartless to give it a chance.

"Oh no, you don't!" snarled the Flash as he impressively ran into a wide circle all around the area where the spores were dispersing and traveling on air, and due to the centrifugal forces of turning counter-clockwise, the clouds shuddered before they swirled and gathered around the center of the cyclone the Justice League member was creating.

Willow was about to run off into the middle of the battlefield when Avalanche grabbed her by the arm gently, as if he could read the girl's mind on what she was about to do. Pluto, who was quietly and inconspicuously observing this scene, stood next to the Misfit.

"Willow, don't. Get to safety," Avalanche said, but Willow, understandably, was already sick of being told what to do.

"I'm not leaving my father!" she snapped, her eyes blazing.

"You can't do anything here! Just go where it's safe! That what Thorn would have wanted!" Avalanche tried to pester, but the Eloi wasn't giving in as she wrenched her arm out of Lance's hand.

"And I can't do anything if I'm hiding while Thorn's changed into…into that thing so I might as well do something constructive! At least I'm not going to stand by and let this go on! This is my home! I'm fighting too! I'm not going to just helplessly stand by and watch!" Willow growled.

"Willow…" began Avalanche.

The green-haired girl then growled, "If my father dies, I'm never going to forgive myself **or you** for that matter if you don't get the hell out of my way. Need I remind you how you felt when your parent Spirit was infected, if I recall correctly? Did **you** listen to what the adults said and went to go hide?"

That hit home, and Avalanche was stunned, long enough for Willow to easily sidestep him and rush into battle. Pluto gave the Misfit earth-mover a look of disbelieving irritation and exasperation that said somewhere along the lines of "_And you just let her go off?_". Lance grimaced at the dog's groans.

"I really couldn't think of a way to argue against that, Pluto…" Lance admitted. The Disney hound snorted with irritation.

"I have an idea! This should help!" Storm yelled as she flew into the air and her eyes began to glow white as the skies above began to darken and thunder before torrents and torrents of water fell from the heavens, a sudden downpour of raindrop and precipitation. Hard, endless, and effective. An expert of the wonders of flora and nature, Ororo knew that pollen and air-borne microbes no matter how prevalent could not sufficiently persist in mist, fog, and moisture. In fact, rain actually purified air; the minute after a good rainfall made the atmosphere seem fresh and clean.

And thankfully, magic or not, the pollen and dust melted away and splattered uselessly to the dirt and mud below, erasing the dark and noxious clouds almost instantly.

"It's working! It's working!" cheered Xi. Anidamaru gratefully turned to the figure of the X-Woman above.

"Thank you, Ms. Monroe. We are in your debt," the samurai spirit murmured and Corey and Tokageroh nodded. Any being that helped their Shaman partner earned much respect and good feelings in their eyes.

"Give me strength! Tinkerbell, please! Help the Ghostbusters! They're hurt!" cried Whitelighter, raising his Keyblade, and with a burst of yellow dust, the pixie came out before heading towards the three weakened teenagers.

And to Larxene's horror, Ororo then invoked arctic winds which were actually slowing down all three of the Hellfire Heartless.

"Hey, no fair!" whined Bezerker, "How come **_Storm's powers_** can affect the Heartless?"

"Because the Heartless can't absorb any mutant energy from her if she indirectly causes the rain, cold and winds! It's not something absolute like lightning!" exclaimed Quinn hurriedly as she scanned the plant-monster only to find to her surprise that the energy of the artic winds generated by Ororo were ephemeral and indirect enough to not give the Hellfire spore any additional power ups.

"It's ethereal enough so that though it's generated by her X-Gene, the Heartless can't absorb any possible energy from it! And since its temperatures are freezing, this makes it particularly damaging against the Heartless because it's a plant!" Daria said over her communicator.

Bezerker felt like he was getting a headache as he moaned before firing a series of acid pellets from his glovatrix into the head of another Heartless, "Geez, with all these exceptions to direct and indirect mutant attacks, we need a list of what we can't use against the Heartless!"

"Uh, who's to say we _don't_?" drawled Brittany dryly as she was actually writing an electronic note on her scanner, adding the entry "Storm's rain and wind generation" under a digital list titled "**_Mutant Powers That Can Be Used on HH_**". Humorously enough, along with such notes as "Wanda's hexbolts on ground" and "Jean's TK to throw objects", one entry boasted "Toad's BO (not sure yet; may try it out later)".

Larxene then had enough as she flung three of her daggers at Storm, and Ororo screamed as she was unable to avoid it as the blades sunk into her thigh, shoulder, and left breast excruciatingly. In complete distress and suffering, she toppled from the sky and it was only the intervention of Dumbo that preventing her from breaking her neck.

"Auntie O!" yelled Spyke worriedly as he, Wolverine, and Shipwreck rushed to the fallen form of the X-Woman as Jean, Bezerker, Shadowcat, Dragonfly, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch combined their efforts against Larxene and the Hellfire Heartless.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…" chanted Raven as she covered two heavy and thick tree trunks with her telekinesis and using them like cymbals, brutally slammed them against one of the black skinned creatures, crushing it with a sickening noise and sandwiching it together between the cylinders of hard wood. And because Raven wasn't letting up, she managed to hold it still long enough for the Misfits to make their move.

"Blizzaga Arctic Requiem!" Dragonfly chanted, and with that, the Heartless was frozen solid, allowing the Maximoff twins to act together.

"Give me strength! Mushu…" Scarlet Witch called out, and upon hearing his name, the red and diminutive dragon popped out in a grand flare of red flames and black ashes from her Vengeful Blaze as he perched on top of Wanda's head.

"I'll handle this! Let's see how ya' like a bit of dragon fire, wise-guy!" Mushu cheered as he let loose a burst of red, searing flame while Quicksilver launched back his arm holding his white and silver Zephyr.

"Strike Raid!" and with that, the Keyblade and dragon-magic combined to become a red, whirling disc which immediately and neatly decapitated the Heartless, but to their shock, a heart came out the minute the Heartless expired. Meanwhile, the three aforementioned X-Men decided to give Larxene a taste of their glovatrixes.

"Fire!" Jean yelled as she, Shadowcat, and Bezerker let loose a devastating trinity of Semtex missiles, slicer missiles, and acid pellets, but the blond girl easily deflected it with several shafts of lightning. Feeling that she had enough and that the powerless X-Men and the nearby willow would be easy enough targets, to everyone's horror, the member of the thirteenth Order create a magical bubble, a prison, in which she vindictively and evilly sealed off the Heartless that was once Thorn along with Jean, Kitty, Willow, and Ray.

"I think I'll let you and the X-Men have some time alone with your dear old man, Eloi," snickered Larxene.

"No! Kitty!" yelled Colossus as he tried to rush forward and punch his way through, but it was strong and sent painful vibrations of energy through his fist.

"Not a problem! We'll just unlock it!" yelled Wavedancer as she raised her white staff at the field, but then the last remaining Heartless and Larxene attacked, sending a combination of dark lightning and kunai everywhere across a wide berth and sending everyone to duck for cover.

"You'd think I'd make it **_that_** easy for you army brats?" she snapped as the Heartless then raised its arms and sent a devastating cloud of energy to engulf its surrounding area, and though Raven and Genie were able to deflect most of it, unfortunately, a good number of Eloi and Wolverine got hit. Though the Eloi lost their hearts, Logan did not.

"Damn…gotta thank the Misfits for locking my heart," Wolverine muttered as he grabbed Mrs. S from being hit while Beach Head and Roadblock let loose at the Heartless with a rocket launcher and Marvin's machine gun.

"And she's not giving us an inch to spare! We can't get close to where they are! Jean and the other X-Men are still trapped with Thorn's Heartless! And _they_ don't have magic to defend themselves with!" Dragonfly gulped.

"No! Damn you, Rockhead, save them! **_Please!_** Save Kitty! You have a Keyblade! **_Use it!_**" Colossus cried in desperation as he, Pluto, and Lance were safely ducking behind the cover of a large tree trunk, unwilling to do nothing while Kitty was in danger. Avalanche shook his head as he used his magic to send a devastating blast of earth magic at the other Hellfire Heartless.

"_Gaia Earthquake Force Rush!_ And I can't go out there, X-Geek! If I get hit, my heart gets stolen too! We can't unlock the barrier if we're not in front of it! And Simba's busy helping the rest of the Eloi!" Avalanche pointed out heatedly, the Steel Quartz in his hand. Piotr blinked as he realized the truth of this along with the other important fact. Piotr's heart was sealed when he got infected, so the Heartless' attacks wouldn't have an effect on him.

"Then let me try! My heart's locked so I **can't** lose my heart! Lance, give me your Keyblade and I'll go rescue Kitty myself! **Please, let me try!**" begged Colossus. Blinking at the request, Lance shook his head.

"I don't think it'll work - "

"**_Just try it!_**" snapped Colossus, now frantic, and shocked at the tone, Lance reluctantly nodded as he held out the Steel Quartz to the Russian X-Man to take.

_I give this **willingly**_, thought Lance, putting emphasis on the word, "willingly", but to Piotr's shock, the instant he grasped Lance's Keyblade in his palms, before he could dash out with it, the weapon vanished in a plethora of brown sparks and went right back into Avalanche's hands.

"Damn it!" cursed Colossus as he went out with Wolverine and dashed forward towards battle with the Joes. Avalanche, desperate, turned to Pluto who was next to him.

"Pluto, Kitty's trapped in there and we can't get to her! Please, give her the magic again! You did it before! Take my magic and give it to Kitty!" the Misfit begged. Pluto glared at Lance, narrowing his eyes, and snorting bad-naturedly.

"C'mon, please! Why won't you? You already did it for Kitty before!" Lance yelled, now starting to lose his temper. Pluto continued glowering at Lance as if to say "_that's-the-point_". Then out of further hopelessness and desolation, Avalanche tried one last tactic.

"How about Willow, then? If you're willing, can you give my magic to her? Can you give my magic to Willow?"

Pluto blinked; that was unexpected. Plus, unlike the X-Men, Pluto was hesitant because he didn't know Willow that well. It was dangerous to give a gift of the Elementa Kingdom to those who weren't ready for it. Lance pleaded, actually clasping his hands in front of the dog and begging.

"Please, she needs help too, and if you won't give it to Kitty, then give it to Willow! Just one time, I promise! I don't want her to lose her father like Kitty! And you didn't want me to lose Spirit when he got infected by the Heartless! Then give it to Willow! Please! **I'll give it up!** Just give it to save her and the other X-Geeks! Just this one time, I promise!"

There was a tense pause, and Avalanche was so sure the canine was going to refuse him again as shafts of lightning whizzed by precariously overhead until…Pluto's eyes went wide and began to glow a pure emerald green.

At the same time, back at the force-field where Jean, Shadowcat, Willow, and Bezerker were trapped with the Heartless…

"OK, now's my turn!" Bezerker cheered, remembering his original request to Pluto, as he got into an attacking pose and flung out a hand at the Heartless, calling out, "Thundaga Destroy the Heartless Attack!"

Nothing happened.

Blinking and not sure he said it right, Ray called out a bit more forcefully, "**_Thundaga Destroy the Heartless Attack!_**"

Nothing happened.

"Maybe…" Ray then said a bit in desperation before he tried another phrase, "Fira Waste All the Heartless!"

Nothing happened.

"Uh…" Ray thought wildly, trying to think of what other magical element would additionally suit him and represent his powers, "Uh…Gravity Nuke-the-Ugly-Bad-Guys!"

"It's 'Gravira', not 'Gravity', you nimrod!" snapped Blob as he overhead this as he then used his magic on the other Heartless outside the force-field, recharged by Bambi and calling out, "Gravira Orbs of Force Crusher!"

The Heartless was unable to avoid it and it screeched before it had every bone in its body broken and crushed into useless torn pulp, allowing Althea and Justin to act.

"Aquara Water Dragon!"

"Lumiga…Mark of the Sun!"

The Heartless finally died as the beam of light and the current of water tore completely through it and ripped it apart into messy pieces before it died. And this time, it did not release a heart as it expired.

"Oh yeah! OK, **_Gravira_** Nuke-the-Ugly-Bad-Guys!" Bezerker cheered.

Nothing happened.

"Uh…what exactly is Ray doing?" blinked Willow as Kitty and Jean both loaded their glovatrixes.

"You know, this is almost **too** painful to watch," remarked Jean with a deadpanned grimace as she and Shadowcat kept firing from their glovatrixes, only to have the creature of darkness was almost unfazed by the explosives. Then Willow suddenly felt dizzy and faint as she fell to her knees, clutching a hand to her head.

"Oh…wow…" Willow could only murmur in shock as the symbol of the Woodra Kingdom appeared on her forehead, shining on her brown skin.

"Willow, your forehead! It's like glowing!" gasped Shadowcat, hands to her mouth and realizing what this meant. And though she was amazed and happy for Willow, Jean could sense a bit of frustration and anger inside Kitty with her telepathy, and thankfully, the redhead didn't call Kitty on it. And she also didn't call on Bezerker's emotions considering the electrokinetic was inwardly heated considering **he** actually asked Pluto for magic first. Willow, however, showed no indication that she heard the X-Girl as she slowly rose to her feet, her eyes glazed and lifeless and not showing she was fully of her own mind and accord. Though no voice was guiding her and she felt foreign, the surge of power and aura inside her was wonderful, comforting…and begging to be released to save her father and make that Organization witch pay.

"WOODRA…" chanted Willow, her face slack and relaxed as she raised her right hand above her head, and to Jean, Kitty, and Ray's amazement, a faint outline of pink sparks of light and pollen swirled around her palm, growing stronger and stronger until it formed an actual gigantic flower bud around her hand, with pink petals and light green leaves at its base.

"FLOWER…"

"Holy!" Ray could only utter as Willow then concentrated, aiming the bud at the Heartless and Larxene in front of her, and instantly, the petals of the flower opened up, blossoming, to reveal a ball of green energy, growing larger in brightness and intensity with each second, the air humming with power.

It was then that Willow cut loose.

"CANNON!" she finished with a scream, and with a crackling explosion, the ball of green wood magic shot out from her hand and rocketed towards the swamp-Heartless like a bullet, a swirling and destructive orb of force as it literally tore through the air with a rumbling noise and invoked a trail of dust and heat in its wake. The plant-Heartless was unable to avoid it; it came so fast.

SHOOOM!

With a howl, the green orb tore and shot cleanly though the Heartless and actually ripped through the other side of its body as the energy ball embedded into its chest and traveled through and out of its back before continuing on its trajectory, smashing through the energy barrier and actually making direct headway towards the hooded, kunai-wielding soldier herself.

"Whoa!" Blob gasped, "Look at that thing fly!"

Larxene turned around too late to even think of blocking it with her magic as Willow's attack got within her sights.

"Oh…**DAMN!**" finished Larxene on a high, frantic note, and understandably, her yellow throwing knives wouldn't really offer much protection against a gigantic and magical sphere of Elementa magic that was larger than her head. With that, she teleported safely out of its path as the green orb of wood magic rocketed past her and whizzed into the heavens above as Willow toppled to her knees, dazed and weakened. Jean and Kitty helped her up.

"Whoa…that felt…weird," she confessed as Daria then scanned Thorn for some good news.

"Wavedancer, he's weak enough! Now you can change him back!" the Delgado Triplet sister yelled out with encouragement.

"GET CLEAR!" Wavedancer cried out, and likewise, everyone hurriedly complied (with Flash grabbing Willow, Bezerker, Jean and Kitty out of the way) as the raven-haired Misfit pointed her white staff at the recovering Heartless and said, "Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!"

The boggy and plant-covered experiment snarled and writhed as it succumbed to the pillar of light while the trinity of symbols of the crown, Heartless, and Nobody along with the ten Elementa kingdom insignias appeared in a blink of an eye…

KAWHOOM!

"Whoa! Gnarly!" Hepcat could only blurt out in shock as the white light erupted and seared into the former Hellfire Heartless before it slowly lessened and faded away, allowing the shocked survivors and fighters to see an unconscious Thorn drop from his levitated position in the air and with it, the Heartless spore and his heart.

Pop!

With a loud noise, the grayish and disgusting experimental seed cracked open before releasing a vile plume of smoke and disintegrated into ashes. But before any of the heroes could move for the Heartless, a livid and absolutely pissed-off Larxene teleported into their line of fire instantly, her blue eyes narrowed and her pink lips bared out into a snarl.

"You little punks and meddling twits are really starting to _annoy_ me!" she growled as she brought out her ten yellow kunai with a flourish, each dagger between her gloved fingers, "And I don't need Heartless to deal with you losers!"

With that, Larxene snarled as she flung all her daggers at once, bringing forth gigantic shafts of lightning all around the field and actually causing noticeable explosions of the earth and land all around them as the magical energy and lethal projectiles shot past them. They barely had even enough time to dodge, and despite their best attempts, some were unable to escape the attacks. Not only did the thunder magic travel faster than they could blink, but the daggers additionally flew like bullets and each one that struck a target would automatically teleport back into Larxene's hands, leaving her an infinite supply of ammunition.

"AAAA!" yelled Quicksilver, Whitelighter, and Dragonfly in agony as they fell victim to Larxene's thunder and kunai, seriously injured but thankfully still alive. Pietro and Justin both were brutally stabbed by several knives, two deep in the thigh of Pietro's leg and one embedded in the back of Justin, near the shoulder blade. Lina, unable to fly off, tried to use her wings as a shield in front of her before one thunder blast struck her with full force, and though durable, the insect-girl was unable to full deflect the attack and she was sent flying and crashing to the ground, unconscious and singed. And upon sensing that its master was hurt and senseless, Lina's Icewing Keyblade vanished in thin air with a plethora of sky-blue ice crystals.

"Kids!" shouted Bree as she, Beach Head, and Cover Girl rushed over to the injured Misfits while the other Joes, heroes, and Disney summons did their best to just turn around and blast Larxene right back. Blind Master led the strike by flinging a plethora of razor-sharp shuriken at the Organization warrior while Yoh, Trey, and Rio led charged with their swords, board, and spirits. Spyke readied a considerable number of fire-tipped bone shafts before he hurled them at the opponent.

"Holy shoot, this broad's really sadistic! She's not holding back and her attacks are stronger than the first time we've tangled with her!" yelled Low Light as he transformed into stone with his mutation, thankfully having the electricity bounce or graze him without much damage, before he yelled over his communicator, "Watch out for her daggers! They can cut through anything, steel, stone, or metal! Trust me, I've experienced it the hard way! **_Watch out for her daggers!_**"

"Damn it!" cursed Colossus as he blanked out and did his best to dodge the lightning and projectiles whizzing narrowly past his head, "That means my steel form can't fully stop her daggers! And metal conducts lightning! Even in my **_armored_** form, I'll get hurt!"

"Actually, shouldn't it be thunder that she's throwing at us and not lightning?" Daria commented rather idly, narrowly ducking shafts of yellow energy, as if she wasn't trying to fight for her safety but rather discussing this at a tea party.

"She has a point," joined in Brittany, "'Thundaga' is thunder magic, and yet thunder is actually the acoustic sound waves generated during a storm before the actual flashes of lightning. But what we see here is clearly _lightning_ and **_not_** thunder."

"But technically, if you were to classify it, thunder and lightning are synonymous, so you really can't have one without the other, so it does make sense that we'd be dealing with lightning. Plus, you really can't put sound waves as an element whereas lightning actually seems more reasonable to place with water and fire as Elementa magic," mused Quinn.

"**_WILL YOU THREE QUIT WAXING PHILOSOPHICAL AND FIGHT? THIS IS NOT A GOOD TIME RIGHT NOW!_**" bellowed the Flash, Anna, Shipwreck, and Wavedancer in unison, and Wavedancer's eyes was actually twitching with extreme irritation when she yelled this.

"Okay, okay, geeze, hold your horses!" snapped the Triplets in return hotly.

"At least mutant powers hurt her!" snarled Scarlet Witch as she cast a powerful hex-blast from her fingers and managed to divert some of the shafts of lightning from striking their targets, missing them by a comfortable berth.

"This should help!" cried out Jean as she invoked a telekinetic shield along with Raven, managing to reflect many of the shafts and blocking the kunai from hitting them, but unfortunately, even together, the X-Girl and the Titan could only come to a standstill and stall Larxene. Apparently, she was much, _much_ stronger than she looked.

"Back off, you psycho-chick!" Trey roared as he, Yoh, and Rio blitzed Larxene. Trey and Corey together rained down sharp and deadly shafts of ice from the snowboard. Strafing ever so slightly, Larxene snarled as she aimed another shaft of lightning at the teenager, but thankfully, he deflected it with his snowboard.

Rio was actually scoffing as he swung his wooden sword at Larxene's head before using several of his martial skills, following the sword swipe with a push kick and knee dash, blatantly insulting, "Right now, you are certainly the first girl in my entire personal history in which I wouldn't ask out in a million years! And _that's_ certainly saying something!"

Willow then cried out as she looked at her father's body in the distance, still being precariously close in the middle of the violent skirmish, "Wait, what's that glowing thing that came out of my father? Why isn't he waking up?"

"That glowing thing is like his heart, Willow!" yelled Kitty as she grabbed the said Eloi and phased them through a damaging shaft of thunder energy, "And he's not waking up because his heart's separated from his body, and he's just been a Hellfire Heartless! Not only does it totally knock a guy out, but we need to bring his heart back to him or else he'll like totally die!"

Upon hearing this, Willow foolishly then abandoned all pretense and caution as she ran out into the battle, her feet light on the earth and dirt, as she dashed towards her unconscious father, intent on getting his heart back.

"Willow, stop! What the hell are you doing? Get back here!" the Eloi named Lacey commanded as she spotted what the teenager was doing, but Willow ignored her as she dashed forward. Until two strange figures leapt in front of her…

"I think you better listen to your friend, Flower-Power," Falco said unsympathetically as he blocked Willow's path to her father's body, arms crossed over his chest while the octopus-woman named Octavia reached down and picked up Thorn's heart with one hand before she started probing it.

"That's my Dad's heart!" Willow could only blurt out with rage. Falco gave her a hard glare.

"And if it's a Talisman, we'll take it," he said simply. Willow's reflexes were good. Her foot went flying towards Falco's gut even before she could even process the movement in her mind, but not surprisingly, the blue-feathered avian adroitly leapt backwards and avoided it. The Flash, being the only one free enough to help, immediately dashed towards the pair and with his speed, struck Octavia hard in the back, sending her flying with a surprised scream of pain and causing her to drop Thorn's heart. But before the Justice League member could grab the pink, glowing crystal, a laser blast struck his right kneecap and shattered it horrifically, invoking charred gory flesh and blood.

"**_Augh!_** **_Goddamn it to hell!_**" Wally yelled in agony, his eyes stinging with pain, as he toppled and fell to the ground with Falco still pointing his laser pistol at the speedster, the mouth smoking from the discharge.

"Oh quit whining, it's just a flesh wound," Falco smirked as the Flash held his injured leg, hissing, and unable to run, "By the way, just because you're faster than most eyes can spot you doesn't mean you're faster than _mine_. And – hey!"

The falcon humanoid squawked this as he and Octavia suddenly found themselves wrapped and snared by a plethora of vines generated by a very wrathful and enraged Willow as Blind Master, Shipwreck, and Low Light finally managed to dodge all of Larxene's lightning attacks and make headway to help the injured Flash and give some painful payback to the two lackeys.

"Word of advice, you feathered asshole: don't leave yourself wide open next time!" growled Willow, manipulating the green tendrils to squeeze Falco's body until his head popped off. But she was surprised when Falco's body began to glow in orange flame, building higher and higher and covering him completely. And to Willow's horror, they completely incinerated the plants holding him.

"Fire bird!" Falco cried out, rocketing forward with his wings outstretched, aiming directly at the plant girl, and letting out a short scream, Willow ducked and rolled to the side and though she thankfully avoided the brunt of the attack, she still got badly burned on her shoulder. Falco smirked back, positioned right behind the Eloi.

"And here's a word of advice, whore-for-all: you're not that powerful – whoa!"

The avian ended his bragging abruptly as Willow surprisingly rushed at the bird with a fist ready and had Falco not twisted his body to the side, her knuckles would have made contact with his cheek, and deciding it was best to not be lenient, Falco brutally sucker punched Willow in the soft part of her stomach, leaving her breathless as she crumpled to the floor. Deciding to make his point, the bird knelt down and grabbed a handful of Willow's green hair and yanked her head up, ignoring her whimpering, as he looked directly into her eyes.

"Nice, but you're still too slow. And let me make this clear to you, girl. We're not your enemies, but I'll have no problem hurting you if you get in my way again," Falco drawled condescendingly as he pulled harder on Willow's hair.

"Let go off her, you oversized chicken!" snarled the Eloi Hound Dog as he, Shadowcat and Hepcat charged with fists and teeth ready. Hound Dog looked especially murderous as if he wanted to bite Falco's arm off. Falco cursed; this may be a bit difficult. Meanwhile, thanks to Falco attacking Willow, Octavia managed to get a good portion of the vines off her body in order to free herself. But then bullets whizzed over her head and past her body as Shipwreck ran towards her, firing with his dual Eagle pistols at the Tigershark.

"Aquara Tigershark Tsunami!" Octavia commanded, ducking and narrowly evading the metal pellets as she got on her knees and slammed her palms to the ground, instantly invoking a gigantic tidal wave of aquamarine-colored sea-water, this time one big enough to wipe out and devastate the entire Eloi village.

"Oh crap!" the Joe sailor gulped as he was swept away in the water, struggling to break and swim towards the surface, as Raven and Jean both used their telekinesis to encapsulate all the surviving Eloi and the hero defenders with telekinetic bubbles, both deciding that the Eloi's welfare was much more important that their houses and belongings. Still, as the tidal wave of water crashed and completely wiped out much of the tents and huts on the nearby trees, knocking the wooden structures over, of the mutant clan, not even Jean and Raven had that much power to rescue everyone. Thankfully, Genie picked up the slack wonderfully.

"_Just sit right back and we'll tell a tale, a tale of a fateful trip…_" Genie sang a very familiar TV ditty, dressed in a yellow rain-jacket and hat, magically teleporting all the people Raven and Jean were unable to get to on a giant wooden dingy and paddling with a giant oar, "_That started from this tropic shore aboard this tiny ship…_"

"Uh…okay, **this** is new," blinked Colossus. Mole however, was looking at the blue-colored djinn with a scrutinizing eye before it hit him why the Genie looked so familiar.

"Hey, doesn't he look a lot like the Genie from the Disney's '_Aladdin_' movie?" the Eloi leader remarked.

"Yes," Beach Head, Cover Girl, and Spirit all sighed in unison, deadpanned. To tell the truth, the amazement of people first recognizing the Summons as Disney characters was starting to get a _little_ tiring. Meanwhile, Ewe was openly weeping as she surveyed the destruction of the Eloi village.

"Our homes…" she sobbed, "the Cavern, our belongings, the children have nowhere to go…"

Mole rubbed her shoulder, trying to comfort the sheep-humanoid as he whispered, "There, there, Ewe. We'll rebuild again. Lives are more important than our homes."

Meanwhile, Hound Dog, Hepcat and Shadowcat were attacking Falco with a three-pronged brawl of fists and kicks. Falco was starting to feel the heat as Shadowcat let loose with two successive roundhouse kicks, clipping the end of his beak while Hepcat actually hissed and did an impressive combination of a palm-strike, elbow jab, and uppercut. The avian decided to go for the defensive as Hound Dog leapt to tackle him.

"Reflega!" Falco squawked, and instantly, the magical shield surrounded the blue humanoid and created a sphere of force, which Hound Dog accidentally triggered when he slammed against it, causing it to shatter and send magical shrapnel everywhere.

"AAAAA!" yelled Hepcat and Kitty as they were caught full-blast from the magic spell, and overcome with pain, the two Eloi and the one X-Girl toppled over, unconscious. At the same time, glad she managed to get herself some respite, Octavia made a break for Thorn's heart crystal, but several sharp shrunken struck the pink object and the momentum of the collision caused it to ricochet and go flying out of Octavia's reach. The octopus-female turned to see that Low Light and Blind Master had thankfully avoided being swept away from the last water attack thank to Jean's shields and were doing their best to beat the Tigershark to the punch. Blind Master sprinted directly for the crystal while Low Light, now transformed into solid steel, took a mighty leap and aimed a hammer punch directly at Octavia. The octopus-humanoid narrowly avoided having her skull bashed in as she dashed forward with a powerful bound and actually managed to ran her elbow directly at Blind Master in mid-air. The Joe ninja effectively blocked this strike, but it cost him his attention to the heart crystal as Octavia them used Gabriel's body as leverage to propel herself forward and beat Blind Master to the punch, snatching the heart into her hands and leaping out of physical harm. But as Blind Master and Low Light then reached for additional steel ninja stars and the sniper rifle, but Falco was faster.

"Aeroga Shadow Phantasm!" roared the Cornerian pilot as he sped directly from behind. The two Joes didn't even have a chance as the falcon's protective burst of harsh, cutting winds knocked them directly in their backs with enough force to leave them stunned on the dirt. Falco scoffed as he landed next to Octavia; as much as he disliked them, he didn't want them dead. And now that she had a clear chance to probe Thorn's heart fully, the Tigershark sighed and shook her head, the look of disappointment on her face saying it all.

Meanwhile, a bruised and indomitable Willow still managed to shakily rise to her feet while holding her aching stomach with one hand, murder in her eyes.

"Give my Dad's - !" she was about to threaten, but to her surprise, Octavia tossed it back to the Eloi girl, the poor and traumatized girl nearly dropping it as she caught it, amazed and confused.

"It's no Talisman," Octavia said gently, "It's of no use to us, so you can keep it to give back to your father."

She then turned to where Larxene was still giving it as good as she got to the heroes all around her, throwing endless daggers and shafts of powerful lighting, and the female then turned to the blue-feathered bird beside her.

"They need help," Octavia prodded softly, and Falco gave his friend a _what-the-hell-are-you-smoking_ sort of expression.

"Do we have to?" he muttered in a petulant and reluctant fashion, and the Tigershark shot him a look that clearly said that there would be no argument over this. The falcon groaned, rolling his eyes, but decided that deep down, the sooner this was done, the better and faster he'd get it over with.

"Aeroga Shadow Phantasm!"

"Aquara Tigershark Tsunami!"

In a brilliant display of teamwork, the bird became nothing more than a blur, the winds encapsulating him making him a sleek image of a streak of silver while Octavia's tidal wave surged and swirled around him, frothing and churning with enough force to destroy a mountain. And together, the column of wind and water descended down upon the field. Wolverine and the others saw this coming, and Logan smirked, his claws still drawn.

"Hey Blondie, look behind you," he gruffly drawled, and the Organization female simply scoffed as she readied a particularly devastating ball of thunder magic in his hands, showing that that would be the last thing she would do in this case.

"Nice try, X-Man, but I'm not falling for the oldest trick in the book."

"Suit yourself," chimed in Wavedancer with a big smile, and everyone had to admit that it was certainly more than satisfying as Falco struck Larxene with full-force in the back, taking her completely by surprise as the combined attack hit. She screamed, loud and piercingly as the force of the water and the wind speared her directly into the ground and crushed her, face-first into the dirt and subjecting her to an overwhelming and devastating weight as she was driven into the ground for several seconds. When it subsided, Falco merely leapt backwards and acrobatically landed on his feet as Larxene gingerly extracted herself from the two-feet deep crater she formed when she was slammed into it. Larxene bared her teeth and shot Falco and Octavia a look of pure hate.

"Still interested in fighting us as well?" Falco drawled. Larxene, now seriously injured, just ground her teeth as she realized that she was now no longer in much of a high position to continue the battle.

"Another time, you lucky little creeps," she hissed as she teleported away. The other heroes, however, looked at the two agents with a mixture of wonderment, suspicion, and resentment. Jean especially looked like she wanted to take the nearest tree trunk and telekinetically slam it on top of the avian's head.

"You helped us? Why?" Bree asked, blinking. Octavia looked a bit saddened.

"We're not your enemies. The Heartless and Organization are," she replied, and with a huge leap and before anyone could stop them, they soared over the mountain and vanished from sight. Scarlet Witch just narrowed her eyes in thought.

"Just what are they playing? First they fight us, then they don't and actually help us…just whose side are they on really?" the goth Misfit murmured to herself.

"Ugh…is it just me or are the Organization, and Falco and Octavia being more brutal in their attacks?" coughed Shipwreck as he spit out some water from his lungs. Cover Girl gave Hector a rather baleful look.

"No, it's just you, sailor," Courtney muttered sarcastically as she helped the injured Lacey, acting as a lean-to for the Eloi as support while she carried her to where Bree and Tinkerbell were healing everyone they could. The Disney fairy was the most helpful as she could bathe everyone with her pixie dust in a matter of seconds.

"Thanks Tink," chuckled the Flash weakly as the fairy, with a set of chiming noises, touched his shot knee and made it as good as new. Heck, the red-clad speedster believed the knee was actually better than before; it certainly felt like it. Willow, cradling Thorn's heart to her chest, just wept with a combination of disbelief and gratitude that things were all right now as she knelt next to the prone form of her father. To her amazement, the pink crystal of the heart levitated out of her hands and into the middle of Thorn's chest of its own free will.

"What on Earth?" gasped Mrs. S as a green keyhole of light formed from various sparkling, miniature essences that gathered around Thorn's chest, like butterflies, and in response. Xi's slim Rainforest Scale Keyblade began to vibrate softly in his claws as a green luminescence surrounded his weapon. Bambi, who was next to the lizard-Misfit, closed his eyes and bleated happily and adoringly.

"_Bah-ah-ah-ah-ah!_"

"I know, Bambi," smiled Xi as he raised his Rainforest Scale in both hands and pointed the tip at Thorn. Instantly, a thin beam of sparkling green light emerged and traveled elegantly from Xi's Keyblade and into Thorn's chest directly into the keyhole. There was a loud and comforting click, as if everything would be all right from now on, and the keyhole faded, vanishing.

"Whoa! How the dilly-o did you do that whole shindig, man?" Hepcat marveled as Tinkerbell finished healing him.

"I'm not sure…just…following my heart, I guess," Xi smirked, invoking a groan of people all around him for the intentional pun.

"So…is it over?" Hound Dog asked as Bree held an icepack to his throbbing head.

"Looks like it," Mrs. S admitted wearily, forcing herself to not give in the urge to break down as she looked at their flooded and devastated campground, complete with overturned dirt, fallen trees, crushed huts, and evidence of massive flooding everywhere, before the woman continued, "But everything's ruined…and so many of the Eloi had their hearts taken. At least over five hundred beings I've grown familiar in sensing their respective psyches are no longer with us. I can't sense them anywhere!"

"And you wanted the surviving Morlocks to move **here**?" Spyke asked the Misfits with deadpanned sarcasm before his face grew serious, "We can't have the Eloi stay here either, though. It's too risky, and there may be another attack by the Organization Thirteen. If you want my opinion, if that crazy bimbo with the lightning daggers wanted to come back here again to get the rest of the Eloi's hearts, she would do it and it would be difficult to stop her. And this time, the Eloi may not be so lucky."

"Then they gotta go to a place where the Organization can't get to 'em," Logan muttered, obviously worried, and chewing on a cigar stub.  
"I guess we'll just need to pack up what we need and leave then," Mole sighed, "We'll stay at the Pit. From what General Hawk told us, at least it's shielded. And until then…we'll have no choice. If what the Joes have told us about the Heartless is true, then there's no other choice we have about getting our families hearts back except that if we win the Gathering of Twilight. We **have** to fight."

This sent a wave of terror in the normally pacifistic community of mutants.

"No, Mole," Ewe trembled, holding a child close to her, "We can't fight. It goes against what the Eloi stand for, why we created this community! We can't fight, we just cannot!"

"Darlin', this is the end of the world we're talking about. You can't stand on the sidelines forever. You either adapt or you die, simple as that. There's no other way around it…and two of your Outriders died trying to make sure the rest of you live. Choosing to not do anything and let someone else fight won't work anymore and it'll be an insult to those who fight to protect all of ya'," Logan returned, but one could tell he said it in the gentlest and most compassionate tone he could ever make. Ewe shivered but Wolverine's words struck home in her and the other close-by Eloi, especially Willow as she realized that she nearly lost her father in this invasion.

Wolverine was right. They had to fight. And Willow decided that magic or not, she would stand side by side with the Misfits and fight to get her family's hearts back or die trying. It was the least she could do. The Eloi always believed in helping friends and family. And Pluto, sensing this, felt much better about choosing Willow due to Lance's insistence as he nuzzled against the girl, cheering her up a bit. He mentally decided to remember that in the future, Lance may be brash and quick to action, but he wasn't stupid.

"And don't think I haven't forgotten how much you three screwed this fight up and allowed yourselves to be disgracefully beaten by a single opponent," Anna said with quiet yet hidden anger and stern disapproval as she gave a positively testicle-shrinking look to her Ghostbuster teammates, "The instant we get back to our headquarters in New York, I shall see to it that you are all subjected to an even _stricter_ regimen of meditation, exercise, and dieting. And I doubt that any of you three morons shall have any problem with that since you all have no real say in the matter to begin with…at least not if you wish to hone your skills and prove your worth in the Shaman King tournament."

Yoh, Rio, and Trey all groaned inwardly while their three spirits, Amidamaru, Tokageroh, and Corey all grimaced and felt the ever-popular anime sign of a sweat-drop building on their foreheads humorously like in the cartoons. Beach Head couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and smirk.

"Damn…I like your attitude, little girl," the Joe Ranger marveled.

---

"Wow…" murmured Willow as she and Lance walked outside the cafeteria where all of the surviving Eloi were eating a huge dinner cooked by Roadblock and B.A. and Fred later that night as she surveyed the Joe grounds, "Is the Pit always this…disorganized?"

Disorganized didn't even begin to cover it. Once it was settled that the remaining Eloi would live temporarily at the Pit due to the shielding and protection it offered from the Heartless, the Joes took it upon themselves to feed the depleted clan and give them sanctuary. But the Eloi never imagined that the army base would be this messy with useless auto and tank parts strewn around dry, brown patches of grass, several buildings with charred holes from various explosions, and noticeable potholes and ditches in the ground everywhere from where Blackheart had last struck along with his Hellfire horde. The whole army base was showing signs of falling apart and the beginnings of disarray. Lance nodded with some displeasure as he and Willow sat down on some overturned and empty oil cans from the motor pool.

"It's because General Eddington had the Jugglers cut half of the Joes' funding, and as such, things are a little tight considering that we don't have a lot of money as before for maintenance and motor fuel and other less priority stuff as compared to food, medicine, ammunition, and electricity. But it's not that bad though; the Joes and the Misfits are chipping in everything they can and everyone's doing his or her part. Don't think we don't have enough to have you Eloi and that we can't take you in. Besides, Trinity's gonna use their molecular regenerator soon from their vault of inventions to rebuild any damage caused from the daily explosions here. It's not so bad as it seems, really. Just…takes some getting used to," Lance admitted.

"But it's going to get worse, isn't it? The Gathering, trying to get our friends' hearts back, my family and those who died, the Organization…it's going to get worse, isn't it?" Willow said with a touch of sadness, and deciding not to lie to her, Avalanche nodded. Still, despite surviving, Willow felt cold and just wanted to be held, really while in his mind, Lance decided it was best to not tell her how exactly she gained her magic.

Perhaps when the time was ready…

"GET BACK HERE, YOU FURBALL, FLEA-TOTING, DISNEY-COPYRIGHT, LEOMON-CLONE!" hollered a rather hoarse and rage-filled voice.

Willow and Lance then turned to see the Disney lion, Simba, running and dashing merrily with a familiar battered teddy bear in his jowls and with a naughty and playful expression in his ember eyes as and hysterical and apoplectic Beach Head, frothing at the mouth, pursued after the animal, swearing vengeance.

"**_SIMBA!_** Come back here and give back Sergeant Snuffles or else there's going to be a new fur-rug on the black market! I'll skin you myself, you dumb – oh God! He's drooling over it! **He's drooling all over Sergeant Snuffles!**" screamed Wayne, being more and more panicked. In fact, it actually looked at if the Joe Ranger was close to getting a stroke.

_I am merely doing this to irritate you enough as retaliation for punishing Lance with KP duty for simply doing the right thing by letting Leomon go_, sniffed Simba dismissively, his voice telepathically echoing in Avalanche's mind, and the Misfit couldn't help but chuckle.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you! You're gonna be a dead Disney character, you hear me? **DEAD!**" roared Beach Head.

"You can't kill him, Beach Head," called out Spirit, "He's needed to help fight the Heartless, and Simba's one of the few allies who can actually damage the creatures."

"Fine, then I'll hold him down and shave him bald! Or I'll send HIM to the barracks to do nothing but KP duty! You'll be lucky to even see daylight again if you don't bring back - !"

General Hawk this time interrupted the Ranger's tirade.

"Beach Head, you can't give a lion KP duty because an animal doesn't have the ability to peel potatoes or hold a mop or wash dishes," the Joe leader groaned wearily, "And considering that lions can weigh up to the hundreds and how I'd doubt you can outrun and overtake Simba, you'll never be able to grab hold of him and shave him bald. Just let it go. You know he's doing this to annoy you for how hard you're being on Avalanche."

"Yeah, man! Just mellow out and go with the flow!" the Eloi Hepcat chuckled from the sidelines.

"I'll mellow out when I'm dead! I'll let it go when that dumb lion's skinned and decorating my room as a fur-rug for the floor!" snarled Beach Head as he then decided to chase after Simba while wielding an axe (not that Simba could be in any real danger, mind you). Simba just merrily trotted away, deliberately aggravating Beach Head to no ends.

Willow and Avalanche couldn't help but chuckle at this scene, and after the horror of losing so many Eloi to the Heartless and to the Thirteenth Order, the laugh, though half-hearted, felt a bit elated.

"You're very lucky to have Simba and gifts to help fight this war. I just wish that I could do more to help get the Eloi back at the Gathering," Willow said after a while, and Lance's face grew a bit solemn.

"It's…not that great," the geokinetic confessed, memories of what they all had endured and the fear of the unknown terrors to come gripping his soul, "The fate of the world is resting on us, and even though we have people in the League and the Titans and the Joes helping out, there's no guarantee that we can win and get everyone else's hearts back. It's scary sometimes, to know that so many people are depending on you and that no matter how hard we try, the Hellfire Club seems to always be two steps ahead of us."

Willow blinked before her face softened as she edged closer to Lance, though the warning signs were lost on the Misfit as Lance droned on a bit.

"It also gets frustrating because we keep training and training, endless sessions with Storm Shadow or obstacle course races and exercises one after the other. I mean, we literally dedicate half the day every day to try out our magic, and now with the X-Geeks willing to offer their Danger Room to us for additional practice, it's gotten to the point where even the Triplets are exhausted and wondering if having the Keyblades are really worth it if it taxes us **_this_** much."

Willow leaned in closer.

"It's funny," sighed Lance, "At first, it seemed pretty cool to have a Keyblade and magic and be able to do something in this whole war, but now the more and more we fight and see people lose their hearts, it's like we're starting to see that it's not that - "

Lance then ceased what he was saying when the green-haired Eloi brushed her lips against his, and for a moment, the Misfits shivered with emotion as Willow kissed him. But instead of welcoming in the feeling, Lance only felt…unfulfilled and dissatisfied. Before the girl could drape her arms around his neck, Avalanche broke the kiss and forcefully pushed Willow away, images of Kitty coming to mind (though he wished he didn't).

"Willow, no…" Lance murmured, his look showing some remorse and apologetics, but firm. The Eloi blinked before she gently wrapped her fingers around Lance's wrists and tried to lean closer again.

"Lance…you're not seeing anyone," she tried to reason, wishing he could hold her, "And I need a friend…"

"**Willow, no!**" barked Avalanche, this time starting to get a bit angry, and the tone of annoyance brought the plant-manipulating Eloi to a screeching halt as she looked at him, wide-eyed and stunned, allowing Lance to extract his hands from Willow's before he got up and walked away towards Beach Head who was screaming himself hoarse for help due to the fact that Simba was sitting on top of him and pinning him down to the ground. Before he left fully, the Misfit turned and addressed Willow, scolding uncharacteristically.

"I'll be there for you as a friend and an ally, but **not** as a roll in the hay," Lance said sternly, "And I don't need this right now."

With that he left, leaving Willow squirming inwardly with a mixture of shame, embarrassment, outrage, anger…and sorrow. A noise behind her caused her to turn and see a sad yet concerned Pluto looking at Willow with troubled eyes, thumping his tail on the grass and cocking his head slightly to the left. It was clear that he witnessed the entire thing, and though she had no idea why, Willow suddenly realized that she inconsiderately went past Lance's boundaries.

"I just did something very stupid, didn't I?" Willow asked quietly, her voice hoarse. Pluto just made a sympathetic dog-groan while rolling his eyes, his tail still thumping against the grass. Strong heart or not, Willow clearly had some growing up to do…

---

"Experiments number 341 to 350 have all failed, including the one Heartless I created from infecting the outrider, Thorn," Larxene muttered, drenched, sore, and obviously in a foul and cheated mood, fuming, as she nursed her cheeks where the spirit medium, Anna, had struck her. Obviously, she had let her guard down around the Ghostbusters' new recruits because she saw them as non-Keyblade wielders and mere human (though spiritual) children, thus not being difficult foes.

The blond Nobody inwardly swore that she wouldn't make that same mistake again. And clearly, as both Vexen and Larxene arrived into the Inner Circle's sanctum through the portals of darkness they created, the Superior seemed a bit disappointed that Larxene allowed herself to be brought to a stalemate so easily.

"You allowed yourself to be weakened and brought to a standstill by one lone Justice League warrior, one Teen Titan, and four insignificant children who occasionally connect with the ghostly realms of purgatory and heaven. That is **_not_** very assuring, my Savage Nymph, though I do concede that you had willingly stayed to allow yourself to push yourself to the limits the instant the Misfits and X-Men and G.I. Joe settled through with the Hellfire Heartless. Though lacking, you were able to give those heroes quite a bit of enough trouble."

"And if we had just killed the Misfits and those damned Joes _in the first place_, we would have _this_ much resistance during the Harvest!" snapped Larxene, but instantly she regretted the words leaving her mouth as the Superior's eyes narrowed and his features darkened into a scowl that could surpass even Batman's. And he was instantly in front of her, his voice arctic, before he growled while bringing out his weapon of choice and having its bathing crimson glow precariously near Larxene's face.

"Are you perhaps blaming me for your failure, Larxene?" the number one leader of the Organization growled without mercy, indicating that he would have no problem killing her should the situation call for it. After all, **no one** was completely expendable. Larxene managed to maintain her belligerent frown on her face, but her defiant blue eyes showed fear and begrudging respect.

"No, my Superior. Never," she said soullessly, and though certainly indicating that the subordinate watch herself in the future by narrowing his eyes so that they were mere slits, the Superior nodded his satisfaction at the answer. With a whine, the weapon disappeared, and Larxene was spared, and the young, blonde female had to control herself from falling to her knees.

"You are also forgetting that as long as those Misfits work in our favors with their Keyblades, then it would be more fortuitous for our cause to let those fools continue to kill the mindless drones we keep sending to gather hearts for us," Vexen stated rather condescendingly towards the blond female, instantly earning a dirty look.

Lord Imperial then stated rather diplomatically, "Vexen and your Superior are correct, Larxene. It would do no good to continually attempt to outright face and attack the Misfits and X-Men head-on, especially since they have powerful allies and we would suffer considerable and possible losses on our side. If you yourself had trouble killing the mutant children and only a portion of their allies, imagine how much more difficult it would be should all the heroes bond together as one massive strike. Simply confronting them directly and blasting everything that moves will not serve us will in _Operation Kingdom Hearts_."

"I agree," Slade murmured behind his lifeless mask, "Until we find a moment where we can deal with the Keyblade wielders and those damned servants of the King, we can wait and observe their weaknesses and strengths and just let those fools think they have a chance of winning the Gathering."

"And what of those who carry the Talismans?" Harry Leland asked at last, "Is there any progress as to who are the three that carry them? Which hearts the Talismans reside in?"

"**_Unfortunately, no,_**" Blackheart answered back, "**_The Fountain of the Oracle still cannot fully detect the three Talismans of Twilight for there are shielded and nigh undetectable. Even the eyes of our Heartless are unable to spot them, so none of the attacks we have performed so far on the planet would have been yielding any positive results other than harvesting more hearts for the Door. It shall take time before we will even be able to penetrate the shields and locate even one…_**"

"Our next target to gather more hearts will not be easy, however," Selene said with careful contemplation, "The Amazons are no pushovers. Even in ancient history, they are _beyond_ mere mutants and mortals, and the clan boasts protection from the Ancient Gods of Greece. Granted, their entire society shall receive plentiful hearts stronger than what we've collected so far. But this next strike shall be dangerous."

"That is true," murmured Luxord as he idly flicked his card between his hands, "But I daresay that I am certainly up for that game of hearts. After all, the Amazons may indeed find the sight of a suave yet sophisticated gambler somewhat intriguing."

Donald Pierce sneered, "You're more than welcome to try it, but I might want to tell you that the Amazons of Paradise Isle are the most misandrist, overly violent, and backwards pack of man-haters in the existence of Earth! The instant you show yourself on their land, they'll trample you down, rip your nuts off, string your headless corpse on a pike, and then ask questions later! They don't take kindly with outsiders…**especially** those of the opposite sex. In other words, it's suicide for any hostile man to go there willingly for plans of attacking and conquering."

"Not to worry and concern yourselves about your safety," the Superior smiled, "For I have finally decided on the **_perfect_** subject to send for that particular mission once our reserves are replenished…"

The leader of Organization Thirteen turned and leered at Demyx who was suddenly starting to get very, very nervous.

"Uh…heh, heh…what're you looking at me for?" Demyx gulped.

**Author's Notes: "Flower Cannon" was actually an attack I got from Lillymon in the TV series, "Digimon" and I felt it would be an effective spell to use in this universe for Willow! And check back next week for the chapter "Tabitha the Amazonian Bombshell", folks! Things take it a bit slow as Tabitha talks with Wonder Woman over her mother and being part of a broken family, but the peace will hardly last long! The X-Men and the Misfits are going to Paradise Isle, but due to the Amazons' zero-tolerance policy of men, can they help prevent the island from dying, or will the entire female populace be doomed? And yes, we will all pity Demyx a little bit (not that I won't have fun with this one!)**

**Demyx: I don't like where this is going!**

**Quiet you! Until next week, read and review! Constructive criticism welcome!**


	25. Tabitha the Amazonian Bombshell

**Author's Notes: I apologize so much for updating so late on Friday! This chapter took so much out of me and I had a good chunk of real life come to bite me on the butt. But, I hope you all enjoy this extra-long chapter, even though I'm updating late on Saturday instead of Friday. Also, the character Ted Griffin is not my own, but the creative property of an OC created by my fellow friend and KH fanatic, Theodore Hawkwood, who has been graciously been brought into this story with his permission. That said, enjoy the chapter of… **

**CHAPTER 25: Tabitha the Amazonian Bombshell**

"You have absolutely no right, Xavier!"

The Professor mentally sighed, already deciding to lose count of the number of times Callisto had versed that sentiment or some variation of it within the past hour of discussion with he and the other allied leaders. Along with himself and the one-eyed female mutant were Logan, Ororo, Giles, Quentin, Jenny Calendar, Superman, Roadblock, Beach Head, and Robin and Bumblebee from the Teen Titans. But admirably, the mentor and founder of the X-Men did not lose his composure or temper.

"If anything, you and the other people involved with fighting the Heartless should just leave me and my clan alone since the whole reasoning behind the massacre of my people, my kinsmen, is due to the faults of you, the League, the Joes, and the Ghostbusters! You **let** this happen!"

Professor Xavier also lost count of the number of times Callisto said **_that_** as well.

"Hey, you can't blame us for this one, Callisto!" growled Wolverine, understandably unable to hold in his growing frustration and irritation, "We warned you that you and the other Morlocks would be targets! We tried to get you to leave and find a more reinforced place to protect yourselves, we tried to reason with ya', and yet you just turned it down because of your idiotic pride!"

"You have absolutely no right to blame Charles for this!" Ororo said heatedly, "You should be grateful of his generosity of staying here at the Institute! We have everything you need that you could never have in the sewers! Clean water, fresh air, enough food to feed everyone, and warm beds! There is no reason to think that things have gotten worse! And it was not Charles' fault that the Organization attacked you!"

"If you ask me, you got a pretty sweet deal," versed Roadblock with simmering restraint, "Being here with other mutants and living here at the Institute instead of the sewers will help all of you heal. And right now during this end times of Earth, we need to start making truces, not standing around and blaming each other with accusations and excuses."

"I do not accept charity, especially from topsiders, and at cost to our dignity! We will not lower ourselves and allow us to get complacent and fat like mutant pets like the Misfits or the X-Men! If anything, we're not your guests but your pity causes!" Callisto growled.

"You know what? Maybe the Heartless should have taken all of you because then we wouldn't have to listen to this bullshit and have you off that big mouth of yours!" Beach Head snarled, fuming.

"Callisto, Beach Head, please, fighting amongst ourselves isn't going to get us anywhere!" Bumblebee spoke out sternly, hands on her hips, before she turned to the Morlock leader and said in a even voice, "Callisto, I understand that you and the others are grieving from the massacre down in the sewers, but please believe us! We are helping you because it's the right thing, because we don't want your people to be wiped out, because we want to protect everyone from the Heartless! Organization Thirteen is going to be a threat that will destroy all of us if we don't pull together!"

"None of us could have ever predicted when the Heartless would attack the sewers. None of us could have prepared ourselves for the Morlock Massacre," Jenny Calendar said softly, her brown eyes showing stern but sympathetic emotion. The raven-haired leader scoffed at the liaison from the Powers That Be.

"Oh really? Then why didn't you warn us that these…Hellfire Heartless are especially lethal against mutants? Why didn't you inform us that the soldiers of the Thirteenth Order get stronger and can absorb mutant powers? Spyke told me how the Eloi were warned ahead of time about the dangers of using their powers against the Heartless, so it's blatantly obvious that you've known that little factoid for quite a while. Care to explain why you didn't tell us of the same warnings?"

Jenny blinked; she had a point. It wasn't that they didn't care, but that they neglected to get around to it. And in retrospect, Callisto was right to be angry at the fact that they were never told.

"Gee, maybe because of the fact that you told us to not bother you! After the way you spat on our offers, it was clearly obvious how you were going to react if we tried again!" Wayne snapped, unwilling to express any guilt over something that was clearly by the fault of hers.

"And the rest of the Ghostbusters, the League, the Titans, and the X-Men and Misfits have other duties as well. It is incredibly selfish to expect us to watch over you and think that we have plenty of free time to just sit around and dawdle while we tend to other matters and crises of the globe," Giles interjected with disdain and affront.

"Now look who's making excuses?" Callisto groused with malicious bitterness, sneering.

"OK, you know what? You've got some serious gratitude problems, you little - !" Beach Head exploded while Logan ground his teeth so hard against each other that they were starting to throb.

"No…" Superman sighed wearily before speaking out in a strong voice of conviction and regret, "Callisto's right. We **did** fail her and the Morlocks. We **are** partly to blame as well."

"What?" blinked Jenny.

"I beg your pardon?" Giles asked as his voice was cold, dropping several degrees.

"ARE YOU GODDAMNED KIDDING ME?" snarled Beach Head, in outraged disbelief that Superman was taking Callisto's side. Quentin, ever so stoic, just frowned his disapproval and disagreement at the Kryptonian.

"I…am?" Callisto couldn't have been more stunned in her entire life as she blinked her good eye. All her life as a Morlock and leader of her sewer family, she had always expected hostility, insincerity, and the darkest of the human heart. To hear Superman (_Superman_ of all people) admitting his shortcomings and actually agreeing with her instead of sternly reprimanding her with an "it's your own fault" was nothing short of an unexpected kick to the teeth.

Superman ignored the looks he was receiving, and the Justice League member gave Callisto a sincere and sorrowful look of sympathy. And the Morlock mutant found no reason to think that he was lying as the extraterrestrial spoke.

"Even though we have other duties to protect others, you are right that it in no way excuses us," Superman said with honesty and authenticity, troubled and humbling himself before the Morlock leader and showing that in no way he thought he was better than her, "We should have tried harder to protect you, regardless of what you said or how you refused us. We shouldn't have given up simply because you said 'no'. And I am sorry that we didn't try harder, that we didn't help you more or tried to at least continue to warn you of the Heartless being especially powerful against you. Please, even though you don't have reasons to, forgive us so that you can give us a chance to work with you and show that we have no reason to lie to you that we will fight to get all the Morlocks' hearts back."

There was only silence as Callisto continued to just look blankly at Superman with something skin to puzzlement and hesitation, but at the very least, it wasn't hostility and hatred.

Superman then extended a hand out to the Morlock while speaking in a hopeful voice, "I know you have reasons to mistrust us, more than a lot of beings here on this planet, but you never really had a chance to see who we are and that not aliens, humans, paranormals, and mutants are the same as the ones that persecuted and looked down on you simply for existing. Trust me, with this group of defenders, we'd be the last ones to look down on others on how they're different. But is it really so bad to side with us and help team with us against this threat, not only for our sakes but the sake of this planet? We've never shown you that we are people who can't be confided in. After all, we all live here and this will destroy all of us, the world learned to appreciate so much. We can't afford to be divided now."

"I swear, Supes needs to get a damned Emmy for '_Best Sappiest After-School Special_' when this is all over with," grumbled Beach Head to Wolverine who shot him a warning look to keep quiet. Jenny Calendar then spoke softly, and her part reminded Quentin why she was chosen to be the peacekeeper for the Ghostbusters' behalf during the allied meetings.

"We're not contesting that you change your ways or alter your family when this is all over, Callisto. We understand that you wish to return to the sewers, that you and the other Morlocks have a lot to swallow right now, and that this may be hard for you to accept help because you're not sure how or whether or not there is a string attached. I assure you that once the Heartless threat is taken care of, we will let you be to return to where you feel is your home for none of us have the right to define where you should live. We're not like that. But please Callisto, don't think of this as charity, but rather, a way for us to join together so that when the Gathering comes, we can plan and fight together against the true enemy. But we need your help and input to what's the best way for you and your clan as well as how you can help us fight at the final battle which may be sooner than any of us think," the woman said softly.

Callisto looked like she was on the knife's edge, teetering between remaining stubborn or giving in. she had never been so conflicted before such as this. Professor Xavier then wheeled up to her, grave but kind and compassionate, as he addressed the woman in front of him.

"Regardless of our different viewpoints, I know you cannot disagree with the notion that we are all on the same side and that we want everyone to be safe. And from your hesitation to argue, you know we have a point. Please stay, not only for our sakes and for the Morlocks, but for the whole world. And regardless of how much disillusioned and your lack of faith in humanity, I know that you wouldn't want this entire planet to die," Professor X said softly.

There were several moments of tense silence before Callisto cursed under her breath and frowned even more, her good eyes disapproving, but to their relief, she gave the leaders at the meeting the briefest of nods. Professor Xavier sighed with gratitude. At least now things would be a little smoother.

"And at least now you and the other Morlocks are safe," Karen pointed out with a content smile, "Because the whole school is shielded, at least none of the Heartless and the Thirteenth Order can attack here."

"And speaking of which…" Quentin said stonily as he folded his arms across his broad chest and gave his report, "My teams back the New York finished fully scanning the barrier that erected around your school when the Slayers and Danny Phantom ran into that Organization member that was spotted sneaking around your property. There is definitely nothing malicious about it, and the magical protection is powerful, something that not even our magical users can probe easily. And it's the same Elementa energy signature that shields the G.I. Joe Pit. Three guesses who was behind reinforcing the Institute, and the first two don't count."

"Leomon…" murmured Roadblock and Xavier in unison, and the dhampir nodded.

"It should have been obvious when you think about it," Robin admitted, "If he was the only who helped keep the Pit from being vulnerable to the Hellfire Heartless since they're empowered by mutant powers and energies, then it would make sense that he would do the same thing for the X-Men considering that they would be especially weak against the Organization's experiments."

"Regardless, we still needed to make sure," Giles sighed, taking off his glasses and rubbing the lenses, "That's why it took us so long. With the various run-ins we've had with the King's agents before, we cannot fully trust and depend on this strange magic until we thoroughly made sure that there wasn't some back-door or hidden, dark use for it, so to speak. Needless to say, we cannot find anything suspicious that would indicate it otherwise, so it is safe and it shall help in the future. If anything, despite our initial reservations on the lion, I cannot help but admit that he is quite sincere in this act."

"But what exactly is he trying to achieve?" Roadblock rhymed, frowning, "Is he helping because he wishes to protect us or because this is another attempt to deceive?"

"It could be because he is sincerely sorry about how he used us before in the past and that he is on our side in fighting the Heartless," Karen stoutly retorted, already feeling irritated that they had discussed this many times at length before. Robin shook his head.

"Or…maybe he wants to make sure that whoever contains the Talismans doesn't fall victim to the Heartless and that Leomon is able to keep them safe long enough for him to steal it so that he can complete his mission to find this Sovereign and Champion, whoever they are," the Titan leader said with deep suspicion.

"Unfortunately, we have no idea for certain, and until then, all we can do is wait and fight while things unfortunately get worse and worse," Storm said with glum pessimism, "From the last battle we had witnessed over in the Eloi's village in Maine, things are becoming more and more brutal and violent as our situation becomes direr."

"In others words, things can get even worse," Quentin grumbled.

"With the Organization, Hellfire Club, and the Heartless involved, I don't doubt that," Jenny said.

Meanwhile, the teenage X-Men were discussing the turn of recent events in Cerebro's room downstairs in the lower levels of the X-Mansion. Cyclops, now fully discharged from the infirmary and recovered from his infection, decided that from now on, all X-Men gatherings would be held in the quarters that housed Cerebro to ensure that none of their conversations would be eavesdropped upon. Spyke himself was included into these group sessions since Jean and Scott both felt that despite him being a Morlock, he would always be an X-Man to them. And no one disagreed with that sentiment.

Evan was comfortable enough to be back at the X-Mansion (and Ororo herself was especially pleased), and it was nice to meet new people, especially Rina, Tessa, and Jake Clawson (Evan was a fan of the "SWAT Kats" cartoon as well when he was younger). Once everyone was settled, the X-Men that were sent to accompany the Misfits to help protect the Morlocks and the Eloi recounted the events they witnessed along with Spyke adding in his own version of the events when he and Quicksilver rescued and protected Artie from the Organization member.

The X-Men were stunned to hear all this when it was finished.

"So let me get this straight: **both** you and Willow got magic from Pluto?" blinked Scott.

"Yeah…and it's…weird," Evan admitted, "Though it doesn't feel it's there anymore, it was…wow, it felt awesome. More awesome than doing killer skateboarding moves at a national tournament with Tony Hawk. It felt like…I'm not sure how to put it, but it felt like something inside me was unlocked and that it was a part of my soul that I never knew existed before came roaring out inside me. And the cool thing is, it helped me save Artie. Just…not the others."

Spyke had a rare look of sorrow on his face, and everyone could see how much the former X-Man was blaming himself for the Morlocks getting their hearts stolen, and Rogue did her best to avoid getting pricked by the thorny barbs on his armor as she rubbed Evan's shoulder as an act of comfort.

"We'll get 'em back, Evan," she said with determination, "So don't blame yourself. You did the best you could. And we're not gonna sit this one out!"

"Thanks…and I have to admit, even though I still plan on going back to the sewers with the other Morlocks once this is all over with, I'm glad to be back. I kinda missed it, missed all you guys, actually," Spyke admitted with a smile. Many of the surrounding mutants wholeheartedly agreed. Bezerker was sort of moping a bit.

"But I don't understand why Pluto gave the magic to Willow," Ray said in a dazed and cheated sort of voice, "I mean, I actually asked the dumb mutt before we went against the Heartless in Maine, and yet he didn't give it to me! I specifically asked him and yet he just goes around and gives it to Willow! What gives? I thought Pluto wanted to help us!"

"And the funny thing is that Pluto doesn't know Willow, not as much as he does with most of us. So why would he favor a stranger over an X-Man or anyone else who was fighting along the battle like the Flash or Raven? He knows the members of the Justice League and the Titans much better than any of the Eloi! So why favor her?" Kurt wondered out loud.

"Actually, I'm still in shock in Willow is considered to be 'pure of heart' enough to wield that wood magic," Jean admitted. Certainly, she knew that Willow was perhaps a nice girl somewhat, but she was certainly too much of a promiscuous being with no real sense of romantic loyalty to anyone. To tell the truth, it was sort of like comparing the Pope to a prostitute (the better choice was fairly obvious).

"And the magic is only a one-time deal from the sound of it," Roberto murmured, thinking hard, "I mean, we already had Jean and Kitty try the magic again when they were underneath Bayville in the sewers, and they obviously had enough energy reserves to do the magic since they didn't use it before or needed to be recharged by Bambi. So if they couldn't summon that Fira and Lumiga magic from before, then it'll be doubtful that they can do it now."

"If you ask me, I think I am beginning to see the pattern," Rina said, getting everyone's attention, "It may not be just only due to strength of heart, but perhaps also whether or not it is the appropriate situation and whether or not there is a good reason to give the magic."

"What do you mean, Rina?" Jubilee asked.

X23 then pointed it out as she said, "It seems so logical now that I can think about it that I am rather embarrassed that I did not arrive to the conclusion sooner. Kitty got the light magic from a Misfit because she wanted to save Peter from being killed and because he was infected with a Heartless spore. Jean gained the fire magic from Pluto only when she needed it to save Scott and protect Fred, but not before because there was no need for her to have any additional assistance against the Heartless. Evan needed the magic because he desired to protect the Morlocks from being completely annihilated and because he wished to save Artie from being killed by that Organization member. And Willow needed the magic because she wished to save her father, otherwise she would not have willingly tried to fight in the battle even though she knew that she would be more than useless in such a fight against a Hellfire Heartless. In other words - "

"It's not just the strength of heart that's needed," exclaimed Piotr, "There needs to be a reason **why** the person needs the magic! To save someone!"

"Exactly," nodded Rina.

"So Pluto doesn't just hand out the magic on a whim. There needs to be a good and noble reason why he has ta' hand it to someone," Sam said, understanding now.

"And that's probably why you didn't get any of the Misfits' magic, Ray," Amara said, "It's because unlike Willow, there was no real reason why you needed the magic more. You didn't have anyone you cared about in danger, so that's why Pluto didn't transfer anything from the Misfits to you."

Evan's head perked up as he blinked. Transfer magic from the Misfits? **_That_** was a new one…

"But…but we **do** have a reason!" Ray protested, "Without it, we'll all be helpless! The Hellfire Heartless are actually stronger than before, and we're more vulnerable than anyone else! At least the Titans, Slayers, and League can use their powers, but we _can't_! And we need to protect ourselves too!"

"And the Misfits don't have any more of a reason to have the Keyblades and Elementa magic," Bobby groaned, but Sam, ever the calm peacekeeper and devil's advocate, shook his head.

"That may not exactly be true, Bobby," the Kentucky teen sighed, "After all, the Misfits promised that they would do whatever it takes to get back the Joes' hearts because they lost people they cared about, and that's probably why the Keyblades and the Elementa magic is staying with them, because they swore they would do whatever it takes to bring them back. It's kinda a good reason if ya' think about it."

"And just because we want to help defend this planet doesn't mean that we have to necessarily go on the front lines," Jamie piped up, "We can still help out in this battle by at least fighting the Organization members, even though we'd be in a support role. Just because we don't have Keyblades doesn't mean we're less vital. We're already superheroes."

"But what about my Dad?" Kitty choked, sniffing as she wiped her nose on her sleeve, the memories spring up and becoming more and more painful each time, "What about the fact that I can't get him back? What about the fact that it tears me up inside that I can't do anything to help save him? That I have to trust the Misfits to get him back, even though a good portion of me is screaming that may be the stupidest choice I can ever like make? You don't know what it's like, Jamie! Like God, I wish Pluto never gave me one of the Misfits' magic in the first place! Because that's like totally more cruel to only get it once and not getting another chance as to like not having it ever!"

There was an uncomfortable pause as Colossus rubbed Kitty's trembling back, comforting her as he hugged the valley girl. Scott's voice then spoke out hesitantly.

"It doesn't **have** to be temporary…" Cyclops murmured, and they all (except Evan) knew what he meant by that.

Tessa actually bared her teeth; she was so sick of this by now. With narrowed eyes behind her red cybernetic glasses, she hissed poisonously, at her rope's end, "Mr. Summers, **enough is enough**. What part of the word 'no' did you not understand the past three or four times we discussed this?"

"And what part of 'the Misfits are the delivery boys' did _you_ not understand?" Bobby retorted, making Sage's face almost as scarlet as she glasses. Evan raised a hand before another argument could break out.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa…what's all this about transferring the Misfits' magic? Anyone care to fill me in on this? I have absolutely no idea what's going on, and I've been living in the sewers, so anyone care to spill?"

With that, thankfully as a needed respite to calm down, the other X-Men and New Mutants explained to Spyke about Pluto, about how the magic and Keyblades could be transferred if stronger hearts were chosen to bear them, how the Hellfire club actually preferred the Misfits to wield them because they would be easily manipulated, and of course, the Yellow Materia and how it would work. When he finished hearing all this, Spyke was shocked and stunned.

"Whoa…so that explains it," he murmured dumbly.

"Please don't tell anyone," begged Forge, "We may need this in case the Misfits screw up or do something bogue with their magic! Or if they really are being manipulated by the Hellfire Club, then we'll be able to stop it and put a monkey wrench into the Organization's plans! I know it sounds whacked and crazy, but it wouldn't hurt to just save it in case we need it!"

"Actually, this explains a lot…because when I got my magic, I just remembered that Pietro **couldn't**…" Evan murmured, blinking and recalling how much Quicksilver was screaming and throwing a hysterical fit when he accompanied Evan to go fight Vexen and save Artie.

"_Quoi?_ Remy not sure he got that one," blinked Gambit, and Spyke hurriedly explained how he saw Quicksilver try to use his wind magic and how nothing had happened while Pluto mysteriously managed to bless him with the power from the Blizzaga kingdom. This, if anything, made the X-Men a bit more excited and hopeful. Ray slapped his forehead in frustration.

"Of course! I remember now that Pietro was strangling Pluto and screaming at him to never do something to him again, and at first, I had no idea what he was talking about! But Spyke's story just cinched it! Pluto must have transferred his magic from Pietro to Evan! That's why Evan got it and how Quicksilver became powerless! It's because he lost his powers and Pluto decided that Evan was the better choice! Pluto must actually then be able to change his mind on who gets to use what!" he blurted out.

"But…why would Pluto suddenly just give Pietro's magic to Evan then only to take it back and give it to Quicksilver again?" Piotr asked, confused, "Because Spyke said that he couldn't use any of the magic in Maine and yet Maximoff definitely had the magic when he helped fight for the Eloi!"

"Maybe because Evan needed it more because he needed to save Artie," Jamie mused.

"And let's face it, Evan definitely has a purer heart," Scott added, "You have an X-Man who's willing to live in the sewers and forsake everything he has to protect them because they need him as opposed to a egotistical, selfish, and vain pretty boy who used to be one of Magneto's lackeys and in the Brotherhood. Call me crazy, but it's clear who had the stronger heart."

"But it seems to again only be a one-time thing," Jean sighed, "Even with the strength of heart issue settled, Pluto seems to love the Misfits well enough as much as he does with us, and none of us will get that magic unless if the situation calls for it."

"Yeah, call me crazy, but I don't think any of us want to lose someone we care about just so that we can gain magic. Like I said Scooter, just accept it. Some of us have no problem with the Misfits being the ones to do all this work and bearing all this really cruddy responsibility," Tabitha pointed out.

"Not exactly, Tabby," Evan said with some remorse and hesitating disagreement, "I…some of us need the magic more too. I think I can agree with Scott and Jean when they said that it's unfair for the Misfits to have all this magic and that we have to solely depend on them and not protest against it and follow them like good soldiers."

This made a few pleased that Evan was getting it, and other horrified that Evan was being selfish.

"Not you too!" groaned Tessa, wondering if it was possible to kick one's self.

"Evan, the Misfits need the magic too! They had it first and they lost some of the Joes, their own friends and they promised that they would help fight to get everyone back!" Jubilee protested.

"And what about me? I need to help get the Morlocks' hearts back, Jubes. I saw them die, and if we lose them, then I can't ever live with that, saying good-bye and not being able to do a damn thing for the people who grew to be my second family, who took me in and showed me how that despite how little they had, they still took me in and helped me. I **have** to repay that back, not just for me but for them. And frankly, though I am grateful that the Misfits are helping us, I don't want to trust the Morlocks' fate on them. It too risky, and I really don't think that the Misfits are the best candidates to have this Elementa magic and Keyblades if people's lives are on the line. And if Pluto didn't think that other people that were better than the Misfits, then he wouldn't give out the magic to us and other people in the first place."

"See?" Remy pointed out to Sam, Tessa, Tabitha, Rogue, Jubilee, Jamie, and Kurt, "Even _Spyke_ can see how this is a bad idea to think that leaving everything to the Misfits' is a bad idea! Why can't you?"

"Maybe because of the fact that the Misfits have yet to screw up and perhaps due to the fact that it sounds completely mean and ungrateful for us considering that we don't have the right to decide who gets what!" Jamie snapped.

"And perhaps since Pluto is the one who handed out the powers in the first place, perhaps it would seem much more polite and logical to trust his judgment! There's a reason why he favors the Misfits so much, and until then, you need to learn to respect it!" Tessa retorted with controlled fury.

"In other words, trust a dog over your own team?" Forge retorted.

"No offense, but Pluto is an _animal_, not a human being who definitely knows better…uh, present company excluded," Scott backtracked at the last minute when he saw the glares given to him by Hank and Jake.

"Oh dear, this shall be a long night," Hank groaned, rubbing his eyes wearily as the arguments and heated discussions continued.

"And to think that we have enough on our plates with the Heartless and the Organization," sighed Jake, rolling his eyes and wondering if a long night's sleep could get rid of his headache.

Meanwhile, right after the tiring and aggravating meeting with Callisto, Wolverine was resting rather heavily against one of the large and comfortable sofas in the mansion's main living room, feeling the need to be alone.

"Logan-san…" murmured a soft voice as he felt a hand touch his shoulder, and Wolverine relaxed as he took in Jinx's scent of jasmine and Japanese silk as he turned to see Mariko behind him, wearing nice civilian clothing and a concerned expression on her face.

"Need some company?" the Joe ninja said, and Logan grinned wordlessly as he simply positioned himself horizontally across the couch, opening his arms wide a bit, speaking volumes. Giggling a bit, Jinx couldn't resist the unspoken invitation as she lay on the couch and cuddled against Wolverine's chest, feeling his strong arms envelope her. For several minutes, the grizzled X-Man and the young Joe enjoyed the relative peace as they just enjoyed the hugging and intimate touch, with Jinx playing with Logan's fingers and Logan running his callused fingers softly across Jinx's back.

If it wasn't for the occasional screaming and thuds of a fight upstairs, it would have been considered a perfect moment at the Institute for the two betrothed adults.

Kapaff!

"Hey, what is this?" gasped the Morlock Lucid as Logan and Mariko barely registered Torpid and Artie gleefully cackling silently to themselves as they dashed off for a hiding place in the Mansion before the adults went after their hides for the shaving cream bombs.

"I'M GONNA **KILL **THOSE TWO TWERPS!" roared Sunder as he, Tommie, Caliban, and Lucid were on the warpath, the three mutants now covered with multicolored foam that was reminiscent of the psychedelic colors of the Seventies. Apparently, the two Morlock children were learning the art of pranking quite well…

"Reason why Caliban's life sucks number three-thousand, five-hundred, and six-and-a-half," grumbled the snake-like mutant, "Caliban told you that staying with the X-Men was a bad idea! Caliban knows, Caliban always knows - "

"Caliban, shut up!" chorused Tommie, Sunder, and Lucid in unison, snapping irately before continuing with their mission to hunt down the two little troublemakers.

"So, how did the meeting with Callisto go?" Mariko asked.

"Don't ask," groaned Logan, "But if anything…though Callisto isn't fully willing to place all her trust in us and the friends we've made and she's made it clear that once the Morlocks' hearts are gained back, she will take all of them back to the sewers, she's willing to fight. Granted, a part of me can see that she's been backed into a corner and that she hasn't got a lot of options left so she resent that, resents that she's helpless and that she can't do more to help the Morlocks. But at least Big Red and the others managed to get through with her somewhat, so if she's able to adjust to living here at the school, then it'll be all right."

Wolverine then asked softly as he squeezed Mariko closed to his body, "How's Willow and the other Eloi doing?"

The Joe chuckled half-heartedly, feeling that some good news would do everyone's spirits a bit well as he reported, "Willow's doing fine. She's been spending most of her time in the infirmary, however, watching Thorn and making sure that he's eating and resting as Doc prescribed to him. However, since Willow is now thoroughly adamant in fighting and helping the other Misfits fight the Heartless, she's helping train alongside the other Slayers who come by regularly for exercises at the Pit. She's even made friends with Vi, Caridad, and Rona. And not only that, Hepcat, Mole, and Hound Dog are encouraging some of the surviving Eloi who are willing to train alongside Giles, Faith, and Wood's instruction to help prepare them for battle. And Bree and Doc are helping Mrs. S and Lacey teach some of the others in medical assistance and emergency medicine to help lessen the pressure off them and help spread out the infirmary duties a bit. And Ewe and several others are starting vegetable gardens to help with the food rations and are helping B.A. with the cooking. In fact, **all **the Eloi are being helpful, even though General Hawk told them over ten times that they were the Joes' guests and are not obligated to do anything but recuperate and rest after the attack on their home. Still, if anything, Mole told Hawk and us that the Eloi wish to repay a debt for us letting them stay at the Pit and this was the only way they knew how. And Psyche-Out said that after seeing so much of their community being devastated, this was the only way they could help heal and to not stop them from doing something that would make them feel better."

Mariko then sensed that her fiancé's body was tense, hardened, and eerily quiet, as if burdened with something. Though she couldn't put her finger on it, it was there and her ninja senses could feel that it was taking a minuscule but apparent toll on him.

"Logan-san, are you sure you're all right? Is there something you wish to talk about?" the Joe ninja tried softly again. Wolverine's fingers froze ever so slightly before they continued stroking Jinx's body, though his mind immediately flashed to the Yellow Materia and how the X-Men were secretly keeping it. As much as he had his reservations and slight guilt at the general lack of faith and unease of the Misfits being chosen to wield destructive weapons, surely it would be better to ignore the wishes of the team and just tell her? After all, it would be better right?

"Nah, nothing's wrong. Just burned out."

"Are you sure? Because I'm here if you need me, Logan."

A pause.

"Yeah I'm sure."

Right.

At the same time, Shipwreck was irately dragging his said triplet daughters away from the doorway to Cerebro's quarters and leading them back upstairs to the main floor of the Institute.

"Dad! What's the big deal? It was all harmless eavesdropping!" Quinn whined as their bearded Joe father led Trinity forcefully through the doorway by dragging them by their ears or by gripping their arms.

"Not that we _could_ anyway," grumbled Brittany as Hector relinquished his hold on her ear and she rubbed the stinging flesh resentfully, in a foul mood that her father spoiled her fun.

"I know. No matter how hard we tried, we can't get any readings or successfully drill through the walls to Cerebro to catch in on their conversations. And I have to admit, the electronic scrambles the Professor put all over the lining of the walls do a **really** thorough job of interfering with our electronic bugs," Daria muttered, pouting and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Ah, forget that a bit, kids. How would you like to do something for your old Pops?" Shipwreck asked with a wide grin, the kind one wears when a brainstorm hits enough to bring a lot of satisfaction.

The Triplets gave Shipwreck a close look of scrutiny.

"And what's in it for us?" grinned Daria with a cunning look as she, Quinn, and Brittany made the ever-so-subtle rubbing of their thumbs against their fingers, a sign to cough up something monetary.

Shipwreck looked irritated as he retorted, "How about the satisfaction of knowing you helped out your old man?"

"We'd rather have money," chirped the Triplets rather smarmily. The Joe moaned as he cradled his head.

"Either I raised you three badly or too well," Shipwreck griped before conceding, "Fine a hundred bucks each for what I need to ask you."

"Deal. So what'll it be, Pops?" the three girl geniuses asked.

"I need you to try to find a way to help Evan and Stormy…" Shipwreck said in a serious tone. His daughters just blinked; _that_ was a new one…

---

Following the meetings was actually a pleasant respite of several days. Though many of the heroes were justifiably tense and wary of the peace, knowing that it wouldn't last long, it was actually well-needed and relaxing and definitely cheered up people's spirits a bit. And though it was in the back of everyone's minds, no one tried to give too much thought on how long until the next round of deaths and destruction.

Despite the explosions and fighting and general wackiness that generally associates with Xavier's Institute for the Gifted, many of the students and the Misfits (who were visiting, much to Scott's annoyance) could admit that it was a preferable day considering that no Heartless was a good thing.

However, it wasn't preferable for all the X-Men, unfortunately…

Tabitha Smith was sulking up in her bedroom where she and Amara roomed together, snacked and read fashion magazines, shared gossip and painted fingernails, danced to music, and more often than not, severely punished any eavesdropper or practical joker (mainly Bobby) with physical force or torture by extreme-makeover and make-up.

Pluto, meanwhile, was trying to escape several of the X-Men, noticeably Kitty, Ray, and Bobby, from being mollycoddled and insincerely bribed with doggie treats and tummy rubs. Granted, the attention was pleasant at times, but the hound was no fool in guessing the real reason why some of the X-Men were being so insistently close with him. At grating times like these, Pluto was starting to irately wish he had the ability to speak so that he could tell them off.

So imagine Tabitha's surprise as she suddenly was jostled from her thoughts as a golden-furred canine barreled into her room and dove underneath her bed, fluidly squeezing into the crawlspace before disappearing in the shadows underneath. Before Boom-Boom could defensively snap that she wanted to be left alone, her three aforementioned teammates arrived at the door, carrying an odd assortment of doggie toys and boxes of jerky and treats.

"Like, have you totally seen Pluto anywhere?" Kitty asked, squeezing a rubber squeak-toy for good measure. Tabitha decided it was best to play dumb, though she really had no idea why, especially since she instantly felt a bit guilty about lying to them.

"Nah, haven't seen him," Tabitha shrugged, and to her relief, the three accepted that response as they hurriedly tore out of her bedroom doorway, eager to find the dog and smother him with affection and hopefully getting into his good graces.

"Pluto!" called Ray, "Hey, you dumb mutt, come over here so we can be nice to you!"

And yes, the electrokinetic's words were lost on him.

"Don't run away! We've got lots to stuff for you!" Bobby's voice echoed in the hallway as they dashed off. After half a minute of relative silence, the dog slowly crawled out from underneath the bed before giving Tabitha a grateful but curious look.

"Eh, not exactly in the mood of having more people hanging out in my room right now when I really don't want to be bothered," Tabitha tried to comment off-handedly but one could tell that she was slightly pained from the sad look in her eyes, and to her surprise, Pluto whined a bit before he leapt up from the floor and jumped on Tabitha's bed. Tabitha, though she had no idea why, decided it took less energy to give in and just stroked the dog's head, scratching the fur behind his ear.

For several minutes, Pluto breathed noisily as he enjoyed the feeling of the blond teenager gently but pleasantly running her fingernails through his coarse and short fur, and the fact that even his presence was a bit of a comfort was enough to have Tabitha qualify that previous statement about wanting to be alone. Still, the Disney canine was a bit surprised to hear a slight sniffle and looked up to see that Tabitha was glumly staring off in space, her eyes shining and a bit wet.

"Excuse me, Ms. Smith," a regal and demurely voice spoke from her doorway, and Tabitha was once again snapped back to the present to see a rather uncomfortable and hesitant Wonder Woman standing a bit in the doorway to the X-Girl's bedroom.

"I apologize for the intrusion, but I am a bit lost here. We were just dismissed from the meeting with your Professor and the other adults, and I was just wondering where the ladies restroom is so that I can wash up. Apparently, **one** of your teammates is starting to become quite irritating with his or her pranks," Diana said with a touch of annoyed exasperation as she held up a hand that was now completely smeared with indelible silver spray-paint from an inconspicuous doorknob (and Diana had to berate herself mentally for getting caught in that one). Tabitha wiped her eyes and tried to cover her feelings with a smile.

"Oh yeah, Jamie and the Triplets are trying to teach the two Morlock shrimps, Artie and Torpid, to be genius pranksters," Tabitha chuckled, "Bathroom's down the hall, make a left and it'll be the second door on your right."

Wonder Woman then saw that the X-Girl was pained a bit, and though she certainly didn't really wish to get involved and intrude on someone else's privacy, it did sort of plunk a few strings in her heart when she witnessed that. At first, Diana was about to go ahead and walk away, but she cursed, one hand on the doorway and part of her body hidden out of sight from the doorframe. She felt a bit guilty. It wasn't the Amazon way, to ignore a fellow female's plight, to not try to help.

No, she needs to be alone right now. The last thing Tabitha would want would be an adult to try to be meddling and make her even more guarded and unwilling to open up. Tabitha wouldn't want to talk with anyone.

A voice spoke in her head, _And was that how you felt the moments after you were banished from your island, from your homeland? Did you feel better shutting yourself and isolating yourself a bit and kept to yourself during those several days and nights when your brooded over how Hippolyta, your own mother, banished you for trying to save the Amazons from Faust? Did you feel better then? And do you feel better know?_

By the Gods…

"Are you all right, Ms. Smith?" Wonder Woman asked softly as she gently and delicately sat at the foot of Tabitha's bed, hesitant and perhaps a bit unsure if she was truly being officious and prying, "Would you like to talk about it? And I can assure you that unlike some of the Misfits or X-Men, I do not reveal secrets."

There was a long pause, and at first, Wonder Woman wasn't sure if she should leave the room and that whether or not she offended Boom-Boom.

"Promise?"

"I swear, by the blessings of the Gods," Wonder Woman smiled, her blue eyes truthful and sincere, as she crossed one arm over her chest as a sign of an oath, on her honor as an Amazon and a child of Paradise Isle. Tabitha smiled a bit, her defenses slipping a bit, before she tossed cautions to the winds as she held out an open letter next to her bed on the nightstand. The Justice Leaguer looked at it only to discover that it was a notification letter from a Betty Ford clinic.

"My mom's not doing so well, just to sum up what all those stuffy doctors and administrators are saying," Boom-Boom stated wearily, "At first, she seemed like she was doing better with her detox and recovery, but then she had a major relapse…and then some. Apparently, she somehow managed to score some malt liquor and beer from an outside source, and though I have no idea how they managed to sneak it in, she got more and more hooked until she got caught. Now she's pretty much back to where she started."

"Your mother…she is an alcoholic," Diana murmured sadly, understanding. Though she had only been in the human world for a relatively short time, she witnessed the dark and depraved sides of the mortal society, the senseless violence, the bigotry, hatred, hypocrisy, and of course, the tantalizing allure and helpless cravings of substance abuse.

"It frustrates you, doesn't it?" Wonder Woman said quietly, "You thought she was doing better, and instead, she willingly gives up everything just to have a little satisfaction and pleasure, causing you to not only worry but wonder why she could be so short-sighted and foolish for doing such an apparently destructive act."

"Yeah, something like that," Tabitha murmured though there were definitely a few more details as to why it was bugging her so much. It took her a while to find the words before she then confessed.

"I guess it's sort of hard because it reminds me that I come from a broken family, that my parents are way beyond dysfunctional and unhealthy, and it's a pretty harsh reality to remember that. To remember that my Dad only cared about me so that he could use my powers to steal and rob stuff for him. That my Mom's good deep down, but she's weak and obviously can't take care of herself, so I'm pretty much left by myself."

A pause before Tabitha sniffed.

"I swear, sometimes, parents are so stupid!" she griped.

"I can relate to that sentiment, Ms. Smith," Wonder Woman said, holding her head with one hand while propping her elbow on her knee, in deep thought. All this talk with Tabitha and her mother was so painfully reminiscent of her current troubles with her mother, the Queen of the Amazons. She was so much in deep thought that she didn't realize she was cupping her face with the hand that was soiled with spray-paint.

"Because you got unfairly banished because you broke the laws of your Amazon chicks and brought the other men of the Justice League to help out? The time when Faust invaded your island and turned all your friends and your mother to stone?" Tabitha asked. With the X-Men being close allies to the Justice League, it was only natural that a few stories would be shared, with Wally and Supergirl being the biggest blabbermouths.

"Well, that and a few other things," admitted Diana, "But yes, I was incredibly torn about the entire exile by my own mother, and indeed, I had a period of dark days and bitterness at how the Fates were against me and Queen Hippolyta. It was…difficult. I tried to be understanding and realized that I could not argue that I broke the most sacred laws of my people and that my mother had no choice, but…I could not help but feel mad. I did not wish to and tried to convince myself that it was for the best, and that it was no one else's fault but my own for forcing her into that position. But…I could not deny that I was angry and that I thought my mother was being incredibly short-sighted."

"I would too," Tabitha said with some sympathy, "It wasn't fair, especially when you and the rest of the League saved everybody in the end. Are you…well, have they let you come back yet? After all, it's been a long time."

"No, I am still exiled."

"You're kidding! So they're not letting up?" Tabitha gasped.

"No, and they would not listen for me to even warn them about the Heartless and the threat caused by the Thirteenth Order. Apparently, because it is a 'mortal' problem, they will not listen to my attempts to warn them or ask if they would be willing to help the Earth against the Gathering to come."

"Wow, that…that stinks! And it's so bogue! It just sucks! I can't believe that!"

"Unfair or not, I must agree to those rules and accept the exile. There is nothing more I can do, really."

"Do you…do you regret coming out and joining the League? Do you regret doing what you did and leaving your home and the other Amazons?"

Diana smiled a bit as she emphasized, "Of course not, Ms. Smith. I have made many friends and…acquaintances, some more interesting than others, and of course, I do…perhaps hope that someday, Batman and I shall perhaps grow close."

"Call me Tabitha. And wow, really? You and the Batman? Wow! That's…weird, but really, go for it! Maybe it's a good thing that the Bats doesn't know that Roberto and Jamie here at the Institute started a Batman fan-club. They just got Torpid and Artie from the Morlocks to join as the newest members yesterday," Tabitha giggled. Diana shot the X-Man a mischievous look.

"Actually, perhaps we **should**. Anything that annoys him may be just the thing to knock some sense into that thick skull of his and provide some humor would be highly welcome. I swear, that man can be so stubborn."

"Wow, you've got a naughty streak."

"I daresay that it is most likely that you, the X-Men, and the Misfits have been rather bad influences," returned the Amazon with a wry smile. They both laughed, feeling closer a bit from confiding in each other, but as bad luck would have it, Wonder Woman's communicator rang out.

"Wonder Woman, this is J'onn. We have news of another detection of Heartless here on Earth…" Martian Manhunter's voice rang through the communicator, and Diana felt a feeling of dread hit her stomach. The way J'onn faltered, the way his normally calm voice had a tinge of solemn remorse to it, even through the mechanical speakers, was not assuring in the slightest. Even Tabitha and Pluto could pick it up, and Pluto had a look of sadness on his normally cheerful face, his ears and tail drooping as he whined. Tabitha spoke loudly enough to be heard by the Martian through her friend's transmission.

"Martian Manhunter, where are the Heartless?" Tabitha asked.

There was a short pause before J'onn murmured, "They have been detected in the isle of Themyscria, the homeland of the Amazons. Diana, I'm sorry."

Tabitha blinked before it hit her why the term was so familiar to her, and the mutant teenager turned to Wonder Woman with wide eyes of surprise.

"_Themyscria?_" she gasped, her body numb, "Wonder Woman, then isn't that your - "

"My home, my birthplace, my family…my mother," Princess Diana said with the closest to a whimper, her face stark-white with horror as her finger clenched around the Justice League communicator.

---

"Remy gotta admit…this is a big-assed ship," Gambit couldn't help but remark as he and a few selected X-Men were traveling along with the Misfits and Joes and a few soldiers on a gigantic steel Naval aircraft supercarrier, the type of war battleship used to deploy and act as a landing dock for helicopters, planes, and military jets. He, Cyclops, Colossus, Jean, Rogue, Shadowcat, Boom-Boom, and Magma were the selected X-Men chosen to accompany them along with the Misfits and the Joes.

"Well, I can understand why we're here, and the Joes. But…why are Bumblebee, Starfire, Raven, and the Charmed Ones here?" Colossus asked Althea. And indeed, what the Russian X-Man said was true; all three of the Titans and the Halliwell sisters (dressed in black Ghostbuster uniforms) were watching the sea along with Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl and quietly conversing with each other. The other male and senior members of the Justice League were there as well. Wavedancer sighed, knowing that this wouldn't be received well.

"Because we needed more allies and powerful beings to help accompany me, Wanda, Lina, and the Triplets to Themiscrya to help fight for the Amazons and help convince them to join the battle if the Gathering of Twilight shows up," the Misfit leader said wearily, bracing herself for the argument. She mentally chastised herself for not telling the X-Boys about this and how she only told the Professor and the X-Girls (Professor Xavier, to be fair, didn't like the idea either).

Gambit blinked as he tried to clarify with a befuddled expression, his black and red eyes oddly wide and crinkled, as he asked, "_Quoi?_ But…but why only you six Misfits? Remy don't get it. Aren't we all going? Aren't all the Misfits going with their Keyblades and magic?"

"No…only the girls," Jean answered, wincing, and this made Gambit, Cyclops, and Colossus incredibly outraged.

"**_WHAT?_**" they roared as one, and Jean sighed, rolling her eyes, as she tried to reason with them with Wavedancer and the Joes' decisions.

"Themiscrya is a land based on the ancient Greek culture that only allows women to live, rule and be in power, so as such, they're exactly not going to be receptive if all of us came and tried to fight the Heartless along with them. It's one of the most ancient and upheld laws of their world and culture: _no men can step foot on Themiscrya_. That's why we're going with the Misfit girls, because they'll have less issues with us because we're all female even though we're outsiders."

"And it would be risky to just ignore that law," Rogue murmured, rubbing her arms, "Not only will it insult the other Amazons, but ta' just pop up with men might make them even madder. They might even attack _us_ because we brought men with us, and then we'll really be up the creek without a paddle because we'll be fighting **both** the Heartless and the Amazons! It'll be like a slap in the face if Wonder Woman and us show up a second time and bring men along, even though Wonder Woman knows better."

"We can defend ourselves, _cherie_!" protested Remy hotly, his eyes blazing and wondering why the hell she was going along with this thoroughly moronic idea.

"Yeah, but then this might be the very thing that could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. If we brought all the male Misfits and you guys along with us, not only would it be irresponsible for endangering you when the Amazons try to kill you for being outsider males, but it'll be the one thing that will convince them to not listen to us. They're already stubborn when Wonder Woman tried to warn them before. If we bring everyone, this might be pushing it…not that I would mind if my darling brother got his butt kicked by the Amazons," Scarlet Witch pointed out, adding that last remark with a sly grin.

"Gee, nice to know you cared," drawled Quicksilver with a sarcastic drawl, frowning.

"So let me get this straight…" hissed Cyclops, feeling incredibly irritated and forcing himself to remain calm, his face turning red, "Rather than risk a little broken pride and because you don't want to offend them, you are willing to endanger yourselves and undercut your chances to dealing with the Heartless as well as curing someone infected by only having **_a portion _**of the Misfits' magic and Keyblades there?"

"Which is like why we're going with our glovatrixes," Kitty reminded Scott, one hand on her hip, as she nodded to Rogue, Jean, Boom-Boom, and Magma, all of them in uniform and the X-Girls bringing their multicolored handheld weapons, "And Storm'll be with us too along with the Disney summons. And you can't get much more power than the Titans and the Charmed Ones. Look, I know you guys totally don't like this - "

"You're right, we don't, _Katya_," Piotr said brusquely, glaring accusingly at Wavedancer, "Why didn't you tell us this before we got on the ship and were briefed about what was going on in the Mansion?"

"Because we'd knew you'd put up a fuss and an argument the whole way, and we can't afford to waste any time while the Heartless are attacking the Amazons," Althea retorted.

"Waste time? Are you kidding Remy, _femme_? It's only been five minutes since J'onn warned Wonder Woman about it, and considering how we had to get briefed and how Xavier and Wolverine told us who could go and who could stay and we had to suit up, that's **_record time_**, _mon ami_!" Gambit snapped.

"And a good number of Heartless could be there already and killed a good number of Amazons," Magma said worriedly, "Five minutes could make all the difference."

Cyclops looked at the other male Misfits and groaned, "Please tell me you guys aren't seriously going along with this crap!"

The Misfits wearily looked at the X-Men's field leader, showing that they too had their reservations on this issue and that in this case, they fully agreed with the male members of the X-Men.

"To be fair, we don't like it either, Summers," Blob groaned, muttering darkly and folding his arms across his chest, "I mean, yeah, I may not be the brightest of the bunch, but even I can see that only having the magic of fire, water, time, and ice ain't gonna be as effective as bringing the whole lot of us. And I think saving the Amazons is far more important than men coming to their home."

"See, even Blob can see what a stupid…wow," blinked Scott before he rubbed his temples and then explained to everyone's confusion, "I'm sorry, but the fact that I just realized I agreed with Blob is giving me a headache."

"You have our deepest sympathy, Scott," Jean drawled coldly with a voice that could be considered _anything but_ sympathetic.

Xi turned to the girls as he said, "Logically, it **is** foolish. It is far better to bring all of us to the island, and a little wounded pride and getting the Amazons angry is far less worse than not being enough to deal with the Heartless and whatever Organization member was sent there to cause such chaos."

"Yeah, I mean, what's the worst that the Amazons could do to us?" snorted Pietro, "So they'll just kick us out again and send us off the island after we deal with the Heartless. Big deal! Hey if you ask my opinion, we should have just ignored them! Don't you remember what the Flash said when they saved the Amazons' bacon the first time? Even though her high and mighty mother-Queen slept with that Hades god and even though Wonder Woman saved all of them, they banished her for breaking just one stupid little rule: _thou shalt not bring carriers of the Y-chromosome to our estrogen-filled home_! If you ask me, they should have been _left_ in stone when Faust invaded them!"

"Quicksilver, that's mean…" scolded Justin in a tired voice. Quicksilver just ignored Whitelighter's reprimand.

"Remy's gotta actually agree with the hummingbird on that one," grumbled Gambit, and Rogue swatted her Cajun boyfriend on the arm for that remark.

"Fer cryin' out loud, Swamp-Rat, no one deserves to get their hearts taken away by the Heartless! And the last thing we need is the Thirteenth Order gaining more hearts and ruining more lives and doing whatever it takes to get them an edge for this whole Gathering hoo-hah!"

"And here we are…" murmured Avalanche as the island came into view.

"Whoa…" blinked Fred as he looked upon the scene.

"Yeah, like, whoa…" was all Shadowcat could say as well as they took in the view of Paradise Island. It was indeed a beautiful place, gigantic and impressive even from the far distance, a colossal haven that could easily rival the population of New York City. And it was certainly exquisite; Ororo, Amara and Jean could detect faint scents of hyssop, laurel, and all sorts of flowery aromas that made it seem more welcoming and peaceful. The entire atoll was actually levitating a bit over the dark-blue waters of the ocean, hovered aloft and held in place with powerful magic blessed by the Greek and Roman gods, with cascades of crystal-clear waterfalls pouring out in rivers from infinite pools. And surprisingly enough, it was surrounded by a series of smaller chunks of populated land and orbiting around the mainland like a planet's moon. And each and every space of the realm was lush and tropical with all sorts of green vegetation surrounding the noticeable metropolis of buildings and coliseums of white marble and carved stone, many alight with the hearth fires of cooking and various activities.

It was truly a haven blessed by the gods.

If it wasn't for the various flocks of multicolored birds screaming alarm cries above as they scattered from trees along with the faint but discernable animalistic roars of the Heartless, the cries and clanging of swords of warfare, and explosions of black lightning.

"They need help," Wonder Woman said, her voice trembling ever so slightly that hardly anyone except Batman, Wavedancer, and Blind Master could detect the note of dread. But it was to be expected, really. Regardless of her past dealings with the Amazons, Wonder Woman truly loved and cared for her sisters and mother.

"Actually, why can we see it? I thought since Themyscria was in the middle between the Aegean and the Mediterranean Sea and so close to human populations, they would try to be a little more clandestine in their appearance," Bree pointed out.

"It's because the magic had inexplicably faltered for some reason and all the cloaking spells that had been cast around our homeland had been disintegrating, fading and weakening. It had been doing as such for the past several months, but it was only a week or so ago that the magic had fully failed and as such, the entire land of the Amazons has been made fully visible for the whole world to witness," Green Lantern explained.

"I think I know why…" Phoebe said, her eyes closed as she could sense something familiar surrounding the entire land mass, "The magic from the Greek Gods that had been draped around Wonder woman's home is strong, but it's being hindered by a familiar Earth magic, one that is very suspiciously similar to the unique energy signature of the Nexus, the same one that used to reside under our home in San Francisco. That's probably how they managed to get through the protection magic as well so that it could leave the whole region free for the Heartless to attack."

"The Nex-Us?" Starfire blinked. But if the magic of the Nexus was being utilized, then that meant that…

"The Organization's behind this…" groaned the Flash, realizing that this was just another way for the Inner Circle and the Thirteenth Order to make their lives more difficult. And now they weren't just striking against solely the X-Men, Misfits, and Joes. They were going to go after any potential hero and causing them grievance in any way they can. And attacking the Amazons was perhaps the best way to stick it to Wonder Woman.

"Those _gamdhym rektolpaf drog'quicherbards_!" swore Starfire in Tamaranean, her emerald eyes glowing brightly with fury, and though no one knew what that insult meant, they easily surmised that it was hardly pleasant and proper.

Raven then added as she fingered her white cloak, "And it's getting bad for the Amazons in the sense that they're appearing more hostile to the outside world, and during these times of mistrust when Luthor's Humanitarian party along with the Purifiers and Friends of Humanity, Queen Hippolyta and her country are being regarded as hostile threats. I just overheard the Joe named Beach Head saying that ever since the cloaking has failed the island, they've been receiving reports here in Europe of how various ships have been making attempts to land on the island, only to be ferociously attacked by the Amazons' defenses. Even passing by tankers and military naval ships who have tried to maintain a respect of the boundaries and that use the Mediterranean Ocean and waters for travel and surveillance have been attacked just because they were within range."

"So in other words, the Amazons aren't really helping their case either," groaned Phoebe.

"To be fair, they are afraid of outsiders, Phoebe. Granted, they should resort to such violent tactics, but it's to be understandable," Superman said wearily.

"That's why we have so many representatives from various armies of different nations here with us. Not only will we go to help defend the Amazons, but also to help Queen Hippolyta establish a cease-fire of some sort with the neighboring countries. We have plenty of pissed military groups who declare these acts of war, and these are countries from Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Turkey, to even Israel, Egypt and Jordan. General Hawk's trying to calm them down now," Cover Girl said.

"Ah, I wondering why there were so many various soldiers here on the carrier that I don't recognize from G.I. Joe," Hawkgirl remarked as she eyed the strange coalition of arguing representatives from various and varied militia groups of different countries with Hawk trying to convince them to give the women defenders a chance. Some, unfortunately, were incredibly stubborn.

"They sent some of their Amazons to enforce an air strike on one of our battleships!" roared a soldier from Albania, "They fired on us first and we were merely passing by! They have no right to be given a chance for negotiations!"

"These women shall be threats to us if they are not dealt with! They attacked us first, so we have the right to retaliate and seek retribution!" growled another from Crete.

"Still, if you fight them, you will suffer heavy losses on both sides. Just give us this one chance to make peace because it may save you thousands in repairs and hundreds of lives if we can come to a passive and diplomatic negotiation. And I know that regardless of what your culture, it would be the preferable option to go through the route of least possible resistance! So if you do wish for that, then give this a chance and let our liaisons try to help the Amazons see the error of this. That is all we ask: just one chance," General Hawk said in a strong and calm voice, using a voice-translation charm cast by Paige to help make his voice become magically understood to all the representatives regardless of the barriers. There was a rueful but contemplative silence before one of the representatives from Israel, a tall and youthful young man with tan skin, dark hair and surprisingly with a Canadian accent spoke in perfect English.

"Very well, then. Do what you must, if it can lead to a definite cease-fire and prevent future conflicts. But our superiors shall probably allow only one chance, so for God's sake, make this count, General Hawk," the Israeli remarked with a solemn face. Hawk nodded, grateful that they had a respite for now. Still, others were greatly suspicious, especially of the mutants and the witches and the extraterrestrials.

One soldier from the Palestinian National Authority spoke irritably in Arabic, "This is insane. We're hoping to establish peace with violent Amazon women while at the same time expecting to work together with mutant freaks, invaders from other planets, and servants of Satan! How can we even trust powerful beings?"

"You know, I can perfectly understand you! Get this into your ignorant head: Wiccans are **good** witches!" snapped Paige Halliwell, hands on her hips. Thanks to the language charm, she could comprehend exactly what the militant was saying and likewise for the PNA soldier. The Palestinian was shocked before he composed himself.

"I suggest you to mind your own business and do you supposed job of making those Amazons listen to reason if they can comprehend the meaning of the word. In my organization, we don't take that sort of attitude!" the man snapped.

"Well guess what? I'm _not_ in your group so I don't really have to give much of a damn about what you think!" Paige growled, not backing down.

"Witch."

"Jerk."

"Whore!"

"Ass!"

"Enough," the Israeli commanded sternly as he thrust a hand in between Paige and the Palestinian, breaking the fight, "We need to concentrate on the situation at hand. We don't need any more fighting."

Looking as if he wanted to argue, the Palestinian soldier just nodded curtly at the wisdom of the Israeli's words and marched off. The Charmed One looked at the referee with a mixture of disbelief and exasperation.

"I'm perfectly capable of defending myself," she stated, annoyed.

"I never said otherwise, Ms. Halliwell. I simply said that now is not the time for more fighting, and I doubt you can argue anything wrong with that," the man said with a smug grin, but certainly not condescending. Paige realized he was right, and she felt slightly heated but embarrassed as she regarded up from head to toe. Lean build, not overly muscled, sort of cute, had traces of a Canadian accent…

"What's your name?" Paige asked, curious, and the Israeli offered a hand.

"Ted. Ted Griffin."

Paige took the hand and shook it gently with a sardonic expression on her face before she replied, "Nice to meet you. And my name is - "

"Paige Halliwell. There's no need for you to say it. The whole world has seen the news conference you and your sisters gave along with the vampire slayers in San Francisco after the siege with the Heartless in the city, miss."

Curt, brief, to the point, and polite.

"I keep forgetting that me and my sisters are famous," Paige murmured.

"More like _infamous_," Ted replied with a touch of a sarcastic drawl of his own.

"Are you flirting with me?"

"Depends. Is it working?"

"No, but I'll give you credit for the nice try anyway," Paige said with an amused smirk.

"Damn."

Meanwhile, Shipwreck was predictably pestering Wonder Woman (and to everyone's worry, he was oblivious that Diana was not in the mood for badgering)…

"So, just outta curiosity, Wonder Woman," Shipwreck asked with a lewd grin, "do they hate men because they're lesbians or because of the whole abstained-from-sex-for-a-warrior's-life thing? And if they are lesbians, could some of them actually be bi-"

Wonder Woman didn't even let Shipwreck finish his sentence as she held out a fist, growling, "Mr. Delgado, let me remind you that the restraining order I have on you still stands as of now…and I **have** diplomatic immunity to ensure I will not be held accountable for my actions should you even try my patience."

Shipwreck weakly chuckled; he couldn't back away fast enough.

"Oh, leave him alone! From the way you dress, it's perfectly obvious that parading yourself around shipwreck would be like throwing a bone to a starving dog!" Ororo snapped at the Justice League member.

A lot of the Misfits, Joes, and X-Men on board winced; they hadn't forgotten when the mutants and G.I. Joe first visited the Watchtower, Diana and Ororo got into the mother-of-all-catfights which led to Wonder Woman getting a black eye and Storm needing a new uniform and a cast for her broken arm. And ever since then, Ororo made a point to avoid Diana whenever possible and made sure to not even acknowledge her unless absolutely necessary.

"Storm…" sniffed Wonder Woman, her voice professional but icy.

"Wonder Woman…" the X-Man wind-rider returned evenly, but just as cold and distant.

After several stony moments of silence, some of the elders breathed an inward sigh of relief, thinking that there would be no fierce and ugly arguments, name-calling, and veiled threats…

"So this is your home, Themyscria. How…quaint…" Ororo noted with a mocking tone of boredom as she turned to the view, and the raven-haired Amazon felt a vein twitch in her forehead before she placed a hold on her temper.

"Yes, it is, Ms. Monroe. Now you shall probably see true women of the finest who can proudly and actually take the title of being a goddess as opposed to those who delude themselves," the Amazonian princess said with a smudge of smugness. One of Storm's hands clenched into a fist.

No such luck, apparently.

"I suppose after dealing with you, it is only natural in seeing that even the impressive Amazons would have one or two prodigal females in their family," Storm commented.

"I do hope that you watch that mouth of yours, Ms. Monroe. Unless being an X-Man has made you forgotten simply courtesy and that being a shrew and a disgrace to female empowerment won't help in this crisis," returned Diana.

"And **I** certainly hope that you remember that being an Amazon does not give you the authority to speak for all mortal women. You are not always right, as so evidenced by your banishment by your own mother…" Ororo said with a hint of anger.

Wonder Woman actually whirled on Storm, her blue eyes narrowed and could have killed Storm right there and then as she hissed with venomous sarcasm, one hand on her lasso, "It would really be such a shame should the Heartless get to you as well. But then again, I shan't cry so much if it _does_ happen."

"And I would have to shudder at how much more unbearable your battle-axe of a mother is after meeting her less-than-stunning outcast of a daughter!" snapped back Storm with bared teeth. Immediately overhead, black clouds began to coalesce as thunder boomed across the sky.

"Bloody hell," blinked Ted, and due to the harshness of the hidden yet dangerous malice, the Palestinian militant representative actually forgot his reservations with Israel as he whispered Ted back in a wry and hushed murmur.

"By Allah, _these_ two could make _our_ conflict seem tame."

"We better go then. We can't waste any more time," Wavedancer said as the other Misfits summoned their partners. The soldiers saw Dumbo, Tinkerbell, Bambi, Genie, Mushu, and Simba appear on deck, though several such as Simba and Bambi were reluctant to go.

"No, go with them. If you want to help us, then follow our orders and help Wavedancer, Scarlet Witch, and Dragonfly along with our friends and defend them with your fullest extent against the Heartless and Organization Thirteen," Xi commanded softly, and the deer fawn whined softly as he rubbed his head against Xi's chest, but it became apparent that he would follow the orders to the utmost letter. Meanwhile, Todd was clandestinely whispering something to Pluto before the dog nodded.

"Let's go then. Paige, orb all of us there," commanded Cover Girl as she and the other chosen outsiders along with Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl gathered into a circle and joined hands.

"Be careful," growled Wolverine, and they all nodded before they dematerialized and orbed in a soft cloud of bluish-white sparks and soft holy essences before Paige teleported them into the middle of Themyscria. Ted murmured something under his breath.

"Huh? What did you just say?" blinked Shipwreck. Ted gave Shipwreck an unreadable look.

"I merely said a prayer in Hebrew: _God help them all_," the Canadian Israeli replied.

---

"No, Hellene!" yelled Donna Troy, but it was too late as the dark-haired Amazon was brutally torn to pieces by a Hellfire Heartless' claws, almost cleaving her in half and invoking lots of gore and blood. But as the woman fell, her body disintegrated and left nothing more than a shining crystallized heart, glowing softly in the air as it slowly but surely began to rise into the sky, higher and higher. Donna, a mere young Amazon who could certainly classify as a teenager in appearance and had brown eyes and dark-brown rather than black hair, but who could literally be pictured as a dead ringer for Princess Diana in a younger form, screamed with rage as she grabbed a nearby spear and flew in the air like a rocket. With a snarl, Donna tried to stab the offending Heartless in the head, but with a powerful swat, the fiend saw the blitz coming and powerfully struck the girl, forcing her to crash on the ground hard.

Stunned, Donna could only whimper as the Heartless ogre moved in for the kill, but thankfully, a huge form struck the Heartless hard in the head from its blind spot, moving so fast that she was almost as fast as the speed of light.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" roared Wonder Woman as she shoved the Heartless out of the way, sending it flying only to come crashing against one of the marble bathhouses. The other heroes followed suit, charging. Dumbo and Mushu actually became quite effective as the baby elephant soared over the battlefield with Mushu riding on his snout and delivering an endless rainfall of baby fire pellets, like a fire rainstorm of sorts, hammering against the three Hellfire Heartless that were tearing up the island.

"Diana?" gasped Donna before she fiercely hugged Wonder Woman, crying, "You came back! You came back!"

"Where's mother? Where's the Queen?" Diana asked as Wavedancer struck with her magical attack, surrounding the Titan Bumblebee as Karen flew with her yellow stingers glowing and crackling with yellow energy.

"Aquara Water Dragon!" cried out Althea, and with that, the stream of clear water in the shape of a horned serpent came roaring out of thin air and encircled protectively around Karen before both she and the water attack struck one Heartless fully in the back between the shoulder blades, causing a mild explosion. But though painful, the Heartless only fell to its knees for a few seconds before getting right back up again.

"She's in the royal palace, but hurry! That's where most of the Heartless are attacking!" Donna replied, unconsciously rubbing her dirty white tunic which had been ripped during the skirmish.

"Whoa, so who's the girl?" Boom-Boom asked as she came up to Wonder Woman.

"This is Donna, my…younger sister," Wonder Woman said with a shy smile.

"I thought like all the Amazons could be considered your sister," blinked Shadowcat, cocking her head to the side in confusion.

"She is more so than all of them," Diana smiled mysteriously.

Meanwhile, the Organization member named Demyx was trying his best to avoid and parry the numerous attacks from swords, spears, axes, and various maces and halberds from a circle of Amazons trying to surround and cut him down. And they were being led by Phillipus, the captain of the Amazonian guard.

"Kill him, Sisters!" screamed Phillipus as she charged along with seven others, all of them trying to stab him. Demyx, a bit perturbed and lost, took out a white note-card from his sleeve and blankly read it while using his blue and elegantly formed sitar in his other hand to naturally parry the sword of one Amazon as if it was nothing at all.

"Let's see…" murmured Demyx as he quoted one of the bullet-points of the card printed out for him out loud, quoting the instruction, "If the Amazons are showing surprising resistance, use aggression to liberate their hearts and thin out their ranks'. Right, did they pick the wrong guy for this job…"

With that, Demyx expertly twirled his musical instrument so that it laid out horizontally against his hands before he began playing a symphony of high-pitched and fluid-like notes, as ethereal as the dew and morning mist, before with each strum of his notes created doppelgangers and clones of humanoid shapes, surrounding the entire field.

"Dance Water, Dance!" laughed Demyx, and as one, the clones set themselves upon the Amazons, clobbering and painfully assaulting them mercilessly with powerful strikes, punches, and the occasional attempt at drowning.

"Blizzaga Arctic Requiem! Try tasting my music, you creep!" Dragonfly said as the streams of ice energy engulfed the field, but to her surprise, though it froze the statues, it did not render them immobile. If anything, some of them grew bigger and more powerful as they continued to attack the Amazons.

"What in Hera's name are you doing, outsider?" screamed one Amazon as she vainly blocked a sharp pointed fist of one clone of ice with her metal shield.

"Huh? It's didn't work!" gasped Lina.

"That's your fatal mistake, bug-girl!" laughed Demyx as he strummed his sitar, "Ice has little effect on **my** element!"

Lina then said something quite unladylike and out of character under her breath as more and more water clones came out on the field. Piper blasted one clone apart with her magic, causing it to combust with a flick of her hands, as she then realized why.

"It's because ice is pretty much frozen water!" the brown-haired witch gasped, "Though you could freeze his clones, you can't visibly destroy them! In magic, similar elements cannot fully destroy each other, only just bring it to a standstill or empower it!"

"In other words, you just added his water with _more_ water!" groaned Paige before she and Rogue stuck at once.

"Kerosene missiles, away!" yelled the Southern belle as she loaded her glovatrix and fired several large fluid-filled capsules, each equipped with toy rocket engines, a design that Razor called "crude but cheap to make and incredibly effective". And kerosene was a flammable, non-polar liquid that didn't mix with water as the payload exploded and splattered over a good portion of the water homunculi on the battlefield. Rogue turn to Paige.

"It's all yours, sugah!" Rogue grinned as she then flew off to grab a heavy and incredibly thick coliseum stone pillar that had been knocked down during the Heartless' rampage, ready to use the gigantic post as a club as the Charmed One aimed a hand at a nearby hearth that was still burning red-hot.

"Embers and coals!" she commanded, and with a soft noise and a flurry of Whitelighter auras, the red-hot ashes and fiery rocks were engulfed with blue sparks before, to the Wiccan's command, she telekinetically orbed them in the gigantic puddle of kerosene that was surrounding the drones. With a roar, the liquid ignited at the touch of the heat and over half of the army of water replicas perished as they literally melted away in fire.

"Good move, Paige!" Dragonfly gasped before she flew up towards one Heartless with her Icewing, "But that Organization member is still creating more of them! And now we know that my magic and probably Wavedancer's are useless against his clones!"

"Memo to self: be sure to tell Superman '**_we-told-you-so_**' the next time we see him!" yelled Brittany as she recalled how she and her sisters actually discussed this particular issue before Whitelighter got his powers from Pluto right before…and how Superman easily dismissed it as trivial.

"Not a problem! My powers can at least lower them! Fira Crimson Whirlwind!" cried out Scarlet Witch as she made two fireballs with her hands and twirled around majestically before a cyclone of flames and searing heat engulfed the water clones, evaporating them instantly.

"Hey! No fair!" protested Demyx as he then consulted his card again, narrowly avoiding a gigantic blast of emerald energy thrown at him by Starfire from up above by simply teleporting out of the way and reappearing into another section at a safe distance from the other heroes.

"Hmmmm…let's see. 'If the meddling heroes from the side of the Keyblade come, quit standing around like an imbecile and infect one of the mutants with the spore given to you by Cadmus'. Okay that sounds – hey! I'm **not** an imbecile!" Demyx protested, finally realizing what the card had just basically insulted him with.

Wonder Woman's sensitive hearing picked up this one word, however, and she stopped, temporarily puzzled and bewildered.

"Cadmus? What in Hera's name is Cadmus?" she murmured to herself.

Apparently, Demyx had unknowingly given the heroes another clue. And knowing the superior, the leader of the group was going to be absolutely livid when he found out…

With that, Demyx took out the grayish spore from his sleeve before he teleported next to Amara who was too busy to notice him as she hurled fireballs at the clones until it was too late for the X-Girl to do anything about it as the Organization member shoved the spore into her back.

Magma shrieked in pain before she collapsed to the ground in convulsions, crying and sobbing in excruciating agony, before Demyx continued to play his sitar next to her, summoning more clones.

"No!" gasped Jean, hands to her mouth, "Amara!"

But it was too late as the screaming wails on their friend slowly died and faded from the girl's throat, only to be replaced with a sort of eerie and melodious humming, like a female muse as the infected Amara Aquilla now was fully revealed in her Heartless form. In a nutshell, Amara was transformed into a female horned demon made entirely out of hardened lava and wielding a long spear of stone with its tip blazing of fire. Though the outside of its skin was black and hardened molten rock, there were cracks running all over the surface throughout, glowing bright orange from the magma underneath, similar to Amara's molten form when she encased herself in flame-mode with her mutant powers. And around the Heartless' curved hips was an actual long skirt made ingeniously of streams of fire. But the eyes were lifeless yellow orbs and the mouth was a haughty flat line of fire visible through the blackened face, a sneer really. And perched in between the horns was a grotesque and misshapen crown of gray granite, giving her an abnormal look of royalty. And that damned humming was coming from the Heartless itself as the red-and-black symbol on the she-demon's chest was glowing rhythmically amid its bosom.

"Let's see…" Demyx muttered as he read his card again, "When you have gained a Heartless through an infected mutant, order the newly acquired Heartless to attack his or her own teammates'. Well, that sounds – HEY!"

The mullet wielding robed being narrowly pulled back as Phoebe Halliwell tried to run him through with her broadsword, and instead of stabbing Demyx, all she did was cut his note-card in half before it disintegrated into ashes once the Charmed One destroyed it.

"Now that's just rude!" sniffed Demyx as he played his sitar again, "Dance Water, Dance! Move to the beat and beat that Charmed One into submission!"

"Rude? You haven't seen rude yet, you creep!" Wavedancer snarled as she raised a hand, and foolishly thinking that Wavedancer was going to use her magic on him, Demyx wagged a finger as Phoebe did her best to destroy the clones along with Starfire and Hawkgirl and the other Amazons.

"Uh uh uh…" he laughed, "Remember: my element's water too, so you can't hurt me, Misfit-girl!"

"Yeah, but you're forgetting my mutant power, jerkwad…" grinned Althea as she suddenly used her mutant hydrokinesis to control and will the water clones to fall apart of form gigantic spheres of water all around, ready to be hurled at any opponent of her choosing. And since Demyx's clones were not as powerful as Octavia's tidal wave, it made the control much, much easier for Wavedancer.

"And unlike the Hellfire Heartless, you're not immune to mutant powers and energies," Althea said snidely. Demyx's green eyes widened as he realized that was a big oversight he had failed to see as a dangerous weakness. And with that, Wavedancer used her mutant ability to trap Demyx in a column of water before she sent him flying and tossed him hard to the ground, nearly crushing him.

"**_MOMMY!_**" Demyx screamed falsetto. His childish scream of fear was heard throughout the whole island.

The fighting actually was brought to a slight standstill as all the Amazons, witches, Titans, Joes, and mutants looked at Demyx with something akin to disbelieving shock, a perfect example for the Japanese anime sign of the mother-of-all-sweatdrops to appear on top of their heads. The member of the Thirteenth Order then realized what he just accidentally blurted out to his fear.

"Uh…I mean – OW!" he tried to cover, but the damage was done.

"Too late, we heard you!" teased Quinn wickedly.

"I **really** can't tell if this kook is acting or actually being this pathetic," Bree commented in a daze, her eye twitching.

"Figures that there's one in _every_ group," Cover Girl muttered, rolling her eyes, as she took aim with her laser rifle and fired again, "And apparently, Organization Thirteen is no different."

"Ow…that hurt…" Demyx whined, holding his bruised shoulder, as the water subsided.

WHAM!

Obviously, the marble pillar was very useful as well as any weapon as Rogue grunted and heaved it at the distracted Organization member and with a resounding crash, it landed on top of Demyx and actually crushed him, with the only thing noticeable and viewable from his pinned body underneath the rock column was his booted feet.

"Ow…now it hurts even **more**…" groaned Demyx as he teleported into the air, soggy and battered before he issued a command to the Heartless once Magma, saying, "Well don't just stand there! Get 'em, get 'em, get 'em!"

And with that, Demyx disappeared as the lava Heartless then summoned geysers and geysers of lava to erupt from various locations in Themyscira, causing many buildings to topple and blacken from the heat as well as injuring many Amazons.

Then a Hellfire Heartless actually managed to beat a path directly to Queen Hippolyta before it fired a black bolt of dangerous lightning, ready to steal the Amazon Queen's heart.

"No, you don't!" yelled Cover Girl with a snarl and before anyone could do anything, before the black lightning could strike Queen Hippolyta, both she and Bree got right in front of the fallen woman and both Joes took the brunt of the attack head-on with a furious explosion. They feel, burned, but still alive and surprisingly enough ,their hearts still intact and in their bodies.

"Oh…wow…I don't think I'll be trying that ever again…" panted Courtney as Tinkerbell healed the burns on her body. Wonder Woman fell to her knees, joyous and grateful, openly weeping.

"Oh, thank Hera, thank Hera…" Diana sobbed.

Meanwhile, at a loss, Tabitha didn't know what to do until she suddenly felt dizzy and fell to one knee, grabbing hold of a nearby chunk of marble to steady herself before she somehow felt a familiar and smaller body of fur press against her, whimpering and barking. And the oddest part was that even though Tabitha knew he was back at the ship, she didn't acknowledge that she was mentally being contacted by Pluto in her mind via astral projection.

"Pluto…please, help me…help me save Amara!" Tabitha pleaded.

Pluto made a soft noise as he continued nuzzling his head against Tabitha's cheek, and the X-Girl continued to beg, knowing that unless more magic was available or that if the boys back on the ships were willing to go into Paradise Isle, Wonder Woman and her Amazon sisters would be badly decimated.

"Please!" Tabitha begged, distraught and nearly frantic as she placed her hands on Pluto's shoulders and cried out, "Not just for Amara, but for Wonder Woman too! Those are her sisters and friends that are getting taken, and even though she's banished, she still wants to fight for those snobs! Hell, I don't care if you don't give it to me, but give it to someone who can save all of us and the Amazons! Give to Jean or Kitty again since they know how to do it! **Please!** I know I don't have a pure heart and all but…we…need…help?"

Boom-Boom's voice then trailed off and slowly died with a whimper as she then realized that in the middle of her plea, the Disney hound was actually smiling and panting happily as his pupils turned a deep purple. And like clockwork, the blond bomb-maker felt a good portion of her free will and consciousness become lost in those endless yet comforting orbs of light as the magical sigil of Gravira appeared in the middle of Boom-Boom's forehead.

---

Back at the carrier battleship…

"Whoa…" Toad groaned, holding a hand to his head and feeling very lightheaded before he fell to his knees, dizzy and feeling something leave him, rendering the frog-mutant with a sensation of emptiness.

"Toad! You OK, buddy?" Blob gasped as he and the other male Misfits gathered around their friend. Thankfully, everyone else was so intent of watching the battle over at Paradise Island or conversing with each other that few noticed the slight disturbance. Superman, Roadblock, General Hawk, Wolverine, and Low Light looked a bit worried (though for different reasons), while Batman, Cyclops and Gambit looked a bit…curious.

"Are you all right? What happened?" Xi asked, one corner of his mouth barely moving surreptitiously as he looked at his teammate and friend with widened yellow eyes of concern. Toad had to wait for the feeling to subside in several seconds before he opened his eyes.

"I think…yo, I think something left me for a little bit…" blinked the frog-like ninja-in-training before he smiled, glad that in some indirect way, help was coming before he grinned at Pluto, who was in front of him. Pluto just barked happily.

---

Boom-Boom then slowly stood up, the magical blessings of the King and of the gravity kingdom flowing through her.

"GRAVIRA…!"

With that, her entire body began to glow purple as all the Amazons and the heroes felt the air all around them tremble and grow thick, heavy and as if it was about to rent their very atmosphere into half.

"What on Earth?" gasped Bumblebee as she saw Boom-Boom, but for Phoebe, it came to her instantly as she guessed it.

"Boom-Boom knows magic now! Everyone, scatter! Scatter! We can't get caught in the crossfire!" the middle Halliwell yelled and instantly, Jean and Raven used their telekinesis to get everyone who couldn't fly out of the way while Paige grabbed Phoebe, Althea, and Piper and orbed instantly. Tabitha literally didn't take much notice as she brought her hands close together and concentrated to the best of her ability, sweat beading her forehead.

"BLACK HOLE…"

The female Heartless actually smirked as it twirled its staff and summoned up a bubbling circle of lava to protect her with.

"…CHERRY-BOMBS!" yelled Boom-Boom, her finishing word ringing throughout the last as there was a faint rumbling of something powerful tearing through space and time, like the boom of thunder, but it soon became much, much louder.

"Goddess! It's deafening!" Storm cried out as she covered her ears, suddenly stinging. And indeed, around a hundred or so of purple orbs and energy spheres about the size of a golf ball instantly surrounded the lava monster before they crackled and flashed simultaneously, growing wider and wider until each sphere formed an actual miniature black hole, a swirling purple vortex large enough for one to stick their fist through it. And with a powerful rumble, all the diminutive black holes tore the lava abomination and the three Hellfire Heartless to pieces, causing the three empty creatures to be messily ripped to shreds in all directions while the female monstrosity screamed as her lava was sucked into the endless abyss, leaving her drained and her spear, unable to withstand the pull of gravity from all around, shattered to pieces.

"Al…" drawled Daria suggestively as she looked at its weakened state through her scanner, and Wavedancer got the hint as she took out her white staff.

"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!" the Misfit leader cried out, and with a flash and the ten sigils of the Elementa kingdoms…

_Kabooom!_

"She's back! Amara's back!" cried Jean as Amara toppled to the ground, cured, back to her human form, and unconscious along with her heart and the Hellfire Heartless pod which disintegrated upon contact with outside air. Unfortunately…

"I'll take that!" crowed Falco as she snatched Magma's heart and began probing it.

"You creep!" growled Tabitha, now being propped up by Rogue and Donna from using so much of her energy to cast the magic spell, but Falco sighed as he fully looked into it, seeing that it was just a normal heart. With a casual fling of his arm, the avian tossed the heart back to Tabitha who managed to weakly catch it.

"Keep it. It's useless," Falco muttered, and before anyone could try to stop him, he leapt high into the sky and vanished among the clouds. And Scarlet Witch gasped as she saw that her Vengeful Blaze Keyblade was beginning to vibrate softly as a red keyhole formed on Amara's chest.

"Quick! Seal her heart, Wanda!" cried Tabitha as the heart crystal in her hands flew softly and slowly into the air in a graceful arc before settling down into the Nova Roman's body and with a flash and a click, the keyhole of fire in Magma locked and disintegrated, vanishing.

The battle was over.

Queen Hippolyta managed to compose herself, showing herself to the X-Men, Misfits, Joes, Titans, the Charmed Ones, and Hawkgirl that she was a slightly older Amazon with long blond hair, wearing an elegant white robe of Greek descent and a golden crown and bracelets along with some jewelry.

"What is the damage?" she asked in a fearful voice.

One of the Amazonian Oracles, a slender and beautiful blond-haired woman by the name of Menalippe, was trying her best to not cry as she finished looking into her holy cistern and reported, "My Queen…oh by Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera. One hundred and three of our loyal sisters are all gone, banished from this mortal coil. Oh, oh, oh!"

Menalippe couldn't even finish her report as she uncharacteristically broke down and began sobbing. Normally Amazons prided themselves on being blessed by the Gods and not giving in to the weaknesses of flesh and negative emotions such as jealousy, despair, and grief, ranking them true warriors and people of iron wills. But really, after this and loosing so many women in one blow, not a single Amazon could escape the harsh and paralyzing grip of grief. Even Queen Hippolyta's face sagged with sadness, making her much older than normally as the weight was starting to take its toll on her proverbial shoulders.

Another Amazon Oracle named Penelope spoke for her comrade as she said in a clear voice, "Hellene, Myrhha, Timandra, Epione, Mnemosyne and countless others. Oh by Hear, all of them had their hearts separated from them before our very eyes."

"Hera help us," Phillipus sniffed, her throat hoarse and constricted.

Donna was actually weeping, her face in her hands, as she choked, "Our sisters…our strongest warriors, they're all dead. Oh Hera help us, they all died."

"It's not as hopeless as you think. We can still have a chance to get their hearts back," Wanda said, and it was here that the amazons finally noticed that they were amid the company of the exiled Wonder Woman and strange woman who were most certainly not Amazons.

"Diana…" gasped Hippolyta.

"What are you doing back here?" Phillipus demanded angrily.

"And why are you here? We most certainly did not grant amnesty to you for coming into our hallowed home as our guests," growled a Amazon named Artemis.

"We came because we could help you against the Heartless," Lina confessed, "Wonder Woman got the notification that Paradise Isle was being invaded, and so she thought that if she brought us, we could help you, especially since you wouldn't want the guys waiting on the ship - "

"'Guys'? You mean men? You have **men** waiting on the outskirts of the island? You deliberately led outsider males to our motherland's location?" roared Euboea.

"Oops," gulped Dragonfly as she covered her mouth with one hand. She didn't mean to say it; it just slipped out. This, if anything, made the Amazons madder.

"How could you do this to us, Diana? And for a second time?" roared one Amazon.

"I did not wish for you to perish," Wonder Woman tried to reason softly, but her fellow female immortals would not hear of it.

"You were supposed to be exiled, Diana! And instead, you just continue to bring ruin into our home and land! I should have known that you and your troublesome and annoying Justice League were the cause of this! If anything, you and your associations with the outside world caused this!" Menalippe snapped.

"Diana…I thought you understood. But clearly, I was mistaken and underestimated your foolhardiness…" Hippolyta said with a sad voice of disappointment, sending the Justice Leaguer to new depths of remorse and guilt.

Boom-Boom, starting to grow more and more livid at how unfairly the Amazons were treating one of their own, finally had enough as she stepped forward and sharply shouted through the tirade.

"Hippolyta, why don't you and your Amazons shut the hell up? It's not Wonder Woman's fault for this happening and the Heartless attacking the island! **_It's yours!_**"

"I beg your pardon?" gasped Hippolyta, white in the face.

"You heard me the first time!" yelled Boom-Boom, "It's not Princess Diana's fault that Paradise Isle got trashed! It's yours for not wanting to be involved in the war and trying to ignore what's happening to the rest of Earth because you think that because you're all powerful Amazons blessed by the Gods and we're just lowly and backwards societies of the human race, then you have a right to ignore our plight and not help out because it doesn't concern you! And it's because you didn't pay attention when Diana tried to warn you that you got royally hosed in the first place, pun intended!"

"Friend Boom-Boom, stop. This shall surely not help…" Starfire tried to placate with a hand on Tabitha's shoulder.

"No, Starfire!" Tabitha snapped, causing the Tamaranean to back off meekly, "Amara was nearly killed, Wonder Woman only did the right thing, and yet we're getting flack for this when we get enough of blame back home in Bayville! And I'm not just gonna stand here and let these prudes accuse any of us! It's high time somebody told this stuck-up, pompous bleach-blonde the real story and knocks her down from her high horse a couple of pegs! And frankly, I got a lot of ammunition!"

Tabitha then whirled on the Amazons with a steely eye that could make Batman proud before she cut loose, not holding back any verbal punches.

"If you can't get it in your head that the Heartless and the Organization will destroy everyone regardless of who they are and that this is everyone's fight, and that following your laws isn't going to protect you from the end of the world, then you sure as hell aren't a Queen by any right! A Queen serves her people, and ignoring the Heartless because they're a 'man problem' and dismissing Wonder Woman's warning wasn't a service! You're just a hypocritical, cold-hearted witch who's as much as a tyrant as Faust and Hades! Because I know for a fact that banishing your own daughter and siding with the law over her is something **they'd** do! Rather than blaming us, you should take the high road and do what's right and start by helping to find ways to stop this so that it doesn't happen again! Blaming us won't get your Amazons back, and frankly, after the way you're behaving, I'm not sure I'd want to bother!" Boom-Boom growled.

There was a deathly (emphasis on the word) silence as all the female Defenders, the Amazons, and Queen Hippolyta were staring at Boom-Boom like she was the Devil herself (and even THAT would have been considered less shocking due to their past history with the paranormal and spiritual). Wonder Woman, on the other hand, was cradling her hand in her hands, completely mortified, and praying for Zeus to strike herself down with lightning right there and then. After all, death would probably be _less_ humiliating for Princess Diana than going through this very moment right now with Tabitha.

"For some reason, this sounds especially painful," Piper grimaced, recalling how she treated Batman and General Hawk when they tried to warn her and her sisters about the Heartless and the Inner Circle back for the battle of the Nexus in San Francisco. Phoebe and Paige grinned as they held Piper's hands, flanking on either side of the brunette.

"Maybe then it may not be so hopeless to reach out and get through the Amazons…" Phoebe murmured optimistically.

"You **might** want to clarify that last sentence, Phoebes," gulped Paige as she saw than some of the Amazon's faces were turning crimson with rage.

The women warriors were absolutely furious as Phillipus marched forward with her halberd, growling, "Such insolence! My Queen, let my sisters and I punish this foul-mouthed harlot for even having the gall to address you in this manner!"

"How dare you! We'll have your tongue, you wench!" shrieked Niobe, the Amazonian scribe.

Admirably (and to Diana's further mortification), Tabitha just stood up straighter and placed a hand on her hip, as if daring the other Amazons to even try, her muscles tensed and ready in case they should try something. The X-Girl showed absolutely no fear in her eyes, despite the fact that she was facing over twenty Amazons.

"Go ahead and try it," growled Tabitha, "I've fought Magneto, Cobra, Sentinels, the Friends of Humanity, Heartless, the Turok-Han, Trigon, Parademons on Apokolips, Darkseid's Female Furies, and now Organization Thirteen's lackeys. You honestly think I can't take **you** on in a fair fight, bitch? And if anything, I'm not sorry at all for saying like it is! And your Queen gal knows it's the truth! It's totally unfair to blame Wonder Woman for this when the blame fall mostly on you stuck-up snobs! If anything, you should be **_thanking_** Wonder Woman for choosing to break the rules again so that she could help save your sorry, ungrateful butts! If she's willing to break _your_ laws again just to help save your bacon _a second time_, then it sure as hell says who the real backwards people around here are!"

_Funny, out of all the possible ways I had imagined my death, death by embarrassment was **not** one of them_, Wonder Woman groaned in her mind, digging her fingers into her scalp and hoping that if Zeus wouldn't strike her down, then perhaps Hades would be willing to have the Earth swallow Diana up whole this very second.

"I shall gut you and put your head on a spike as a warning, you insolent dog!" growled Phillipus.

"I wouldn't attempt it if I were you," Cover Girl said, and the Joe's voice had a touch of warning to it as she, Bree, the X-Girls, the female Misfits and Teen Titans, Hawkgirl, and the Charmed Ones gathered protectively around Boom-Boom.

"Do not interfere, outsider! You and your clan have absolutely nothing to say that can make us change our minds on this issue!" Phillipus threatened with a growl.

"And need we remind you that you owe us another debt," Bree said with uncharacteristic steel and fire, "We saved your Queen's life, remember? Unless if hurting people who risk their lives to save yours is naturally common in Amazon culture too."

"If you do not move, we shall attack and kill all of you as well for even agreeing with this loud-mouthed wench!" snapped an Amazon named Iphthime.

"Try it, and the gloves come off, ya' muscle-headed tramp," Rogue growled as she tugged off one of her gloves, ready to absorb any Amazon that would dare to try physically attacking Boom-Boom or any of her teammates. And after such a grueling battle with Demyx and the Heartless, she really wasn't in the mood for any more crap (not that one can blame Rogue in this situation).

Storm's voice was now fierce and powerful, something that was rare for the usually gentle and pacifistic African woman as she spoke with anger, "We may be outsiders, but it speaks volumes when even outsiders have more respect for your own sister than you. We did nothing but regard the rules of your clan and arrived to save you from the Heartless and Organization Thirteen despite knowing how you would feel, but instead, all you do is accuse us of endangering your way of life. Instead of shaming Wonder Woman for breaking your laws and imperiling the Amazons, **you** should **be** ashamed of not seeing that she is actually **saving** the Amazons' way of life and being more loyal to defending Themyscria than all of you combined. Rules and the importance of your status-quo are meaningless when **_lives are at stake_**, and the fact that Diana can see this makes her many times more noble, wise, and admirable than any of you!"

This was just the day for endless surprises as Wonder Woman actually stopped and blinked dumbly at the X-Woman. Out of all the female warriors in the group, Storm was absolutely the _last_ person in the world she would picture coming to her defense.

"Then you leave us no - !" began Phillipus, but then Queen Hippolyta's face became stern as she addressed her command to the Amazons.

"Sisters, stand down!" Though surprised, the Amazons all agreed as the Queen looked at all of the gathered friends of her daughter, her face blank.

Queen Hippolyta then finally spoke, her voice strong as if coming to a decision.

"Is what my daughter said true? Can you truly bring back our fallen sisters from the dead? Is there any reason for hope in this dark time? Speak now and freely, Keyblade wielders of the Misfits. **Please.**"

Knowing that this was indeed a pivotal moment, Althea shot her triplet sisters a look to not say anything insulting as she knelt down on one knee and laid out her white scepter flat on the earth, as a sign of a promise and swearing on one's own weapon to uphold it, a little cultural act she learned while ninja training with Storm Shadow. Wavedancer hoped that such a sign was additionally universal to the Amazons as well. Upon seeing this, Wanda, Lina, and the Triplets faltered and paused a bit before with a soft gleam of red, sky-blue, and pink luminescence, they followed suit with their leader and knelt down and laid out their Keyblades flat on the ground.

The Amazons' leader had her face soften a bit when she witnessed this.

"If there is a way, we'll do it," Althea answered truthfully, "We don't know if our source who told us this is truthful or not, but we have lost our own friends and allies too from the Heartless, and if there's a way to bring them back, we won't stop until we find and achieve it. You have our word, your Majesty: we promise that if we manage to defeat the Heartless and Organization Thirteen and that if there is a way, we'll get the Amazons' hearts back."

"Other people have fallen victim and gotten their hearts stolen too," Dragonfly added softly, "We're fighting for the whole world, Queen Hippolyta, and we won't turn away a chance to save your Amazons. They're innocents too, just like our friends."

"This Gathering of Twilight event? It's bad, isn't it?" Donna asked, worriedly curious and piping up with unconventional rudeness, and a few Amazons nearby angrily shushed her. But Scarlet Witch turned to the relatively teenage Amazon and nodded.

"It's bad. If we lose, this probably means the end of the _whole planet_. That means our home and your home will be destroyed along with a bunch of others. Heck, it'll probably mean the end of the whole universe as well. Our planet, the whole solar system, the universe, everything. But…like Wonder Woman said, we can't do this alone," Wanda said, noting that her words were striking home as the Amazons' faces melted away to understanding and comprehension.

"Besides, if we lose, at least we'll join up with them, wherever they are," Daria chirped.

"TRINITY!" exclaimed all the outsider heroes in anger, and Althea had to wince and grit her teeth as she counted to ten under her breath, swearing that she could restrain herself from wringing Daria's neck for that blatantly honest remark. But the fair-haired Queen took no indication that she was insulted; if anything, though intruders, the females that came with her daughter showed genuine and heartfelt nobility.

"You would truly do that for us, for my tribe?" Hippolyta whispered, still a bit unsure, and the heroes alongside the female Misfits nodded.

"You can trust them, Mother. The Elementa magic and these weapons called the Keyblades would not have been given to the Misfits if they were not sincere. But if we are to truly be Amazons, then we cannot turn a blind eye to this plight. Not even Hera and the Gods would approve," Wonder Woman said softly in a jaded tone, and though Jean and Shadowcat showed slight signs of resentment at the praise for the Misfits, they thankfully didn't say anything. After several seconds of contemplation, the Amazon queen smiled softly and nodded, her eyes brimming but encouraged.

"Then we shall fight with you. You will not bear this burden alone," she said, shocking and startling all the fierce and battle-driven women around her.

"My Queen? But…but…" blurted out Phillipus in surprise, struck dumb for once, but the regal Hippolyta shook her head and spoke in a clear and determined voice.

"We **must** fight. If anything, we must regain our honor and do whatever it takes to ensure that our sisters are brought back from the Underworld. And though outsiders, they still were brought here be my daughter because she truly believes they can help, that they are true humans of heart and faith, and two of the strange people from this G.I. Joe have risked their lives to save mine. I cannot turn a blind eye to such altruism. Diana speaks the truth. Not even Hera would approve of it. Nor would the Gods approve of us leaving the fighting for others to regain our own flesh and blood, something that would dishonor our names and our fallen sisters. That is not why the Gods have blessed us. That is not the Amazon way."

There were a few murmurs of agreement as many of the women saw the wisdom in those words. The regal woman then spoke with authority and simmering honed steel in her voice, and quite a few of the outsider heroes could very much see where Diana had gotten her iron will from.

"Our land has been soiled, our home had been brutally attacked and damaged. This will not stand. We will fight. We will make the Organization pay for their blatant callousness and disregard to our ways, to our race. My fellow Amazons? Are we not women blessed by the Gods? Would they want us to remain broken? Would they wish for us to remain out of this fight when people have invaded our home, mocked our heritage, and killed our sisters?"

"NO!" bellowed all the Amazons in the ruins, and one could actually feel the heat of the air all around them increasing by several degrees as their battle aura and anger increased at their Queen's words.

"Shall we fight?"

"YES!"

"Shall we strike fear into our enemies?"

"_YES!_"

"Shall we show them the might of the true Amazon glory and help our new friends?"

"**_YES!_**" bellowed all the Amazons as they all completely lost it and cheered to the heavens, and Queen Hippolyta turned to the group of heroes with a determined expression and smile.

"Whenever and wherever this Gathering of Twilight is, you shall not fight alone. I have spoken, and we will be one of your fiercest allies. The Heartless and this Thirteenth Order shall not remain safe in the shadows once we help you. Each and every one of my Amazons shall follow and fight alongside you. We shall gladly leave our home at the eleventh hour to come and give you assistance in any way we can as well as search for any answers regarding these strange threats, and all I ask is that you help us find a way to avenge and bring back my fellow sisters," the Queen said, and the Misfits, Joes, X-Men, Titans, and Charmed Ones nodded with eager heart.

The queen then turned to Wonder Woman who still did not utter a single word and was still pretty much in puzzled astonishment from seeing what had just occurred, her mind in convoluted circles in trying to figure out how it progressed from absolute doom and humiliation to outright support and good tidings of hope and assistance for the future war. The older Amazon gently went up to Diana and took her numb hands in her own, whispering softly.

"Your friend is also right in that I am a fool," Hippolyta whispered, her eyes brimming with shame and guilt at how she and her daughter have lost many months together when they could have happy, "Can you ever forgive me for exiling you, for siding with the law over my own daughter, my little bundle of sun and stars?"

"Of course, Mother," gasped Diana, shocked that her matriarch would ever think that her own daughter that she had raised since birth couldn't forgive her, and seeing that, Queen Hippolyta gently hugged Wonder Woman before she wiped her eyes and regained her composure.

"I would love to have a talk with you over tea after your friends and our allies report back to the men waiting outside our ocean's borders of Themyscria. And you may tell them that I am willing to discuss a reasonable treaty to ensure that none of their ships shall suffer from the island's magic and perhaps establish a treaty of peace if they can agree to not make any attempts to board our home with my permission. And…perhaps you may stay a while if you wish it so," Hippolyta whispered.

It was going to be the closest thing to a "I revoke your banishment and you are no longer an exile".

Wonder Woman managed a shaky smile, despite the feelings of euphoria and disbelief running through her frazzled brain. Maybe…things would be all right after all.

"Is Amara gonna be OK, Bree?" Rogue asked worriedly as Amara was covered up to her neck with a fine wool blanket provided by Donna , and the Joe medic nodded.

"Her vital signs are good, and when we get her back into the Institute, she'll just need one or two days of rest before she'll be back to her old self again."

"That is good," Starfire exhaled with relief, "Perhaps as she is recovering, I can make Friend Magma some of my delicious Tamaranean glork, a simply glorious and fabulous substance that shall surely cure her ailment and give her much needed nourishment and energy!"

"Why don't we save that for later?" Bumblebee uneasily chuckled as she shook her head, placing a hand on Starfire's shoulder in order to dissuade her. Meanwhile, Trinity was telling Donna more about life of being a Misfit and their current mission to help fight against the Heartless, and Donna especially loved the summons Mushu and Dumbo as she tickled and petted them

"Oh by the Gods!" marveled Donna, her brown eyes wide with delight, "Your lives sound so enchanting and wonderful and truly have a noble cause and give you a wonderful sense of purpose and being! I just…"

She paused before speaking in a softer and wistful voice.

"I just wish I could see what it was like along with Princess Diana, that I could see and experience what life outside my island would be like."

"Hey, who knows? Maybe someday, you will. We'll be glad to show you around and teach you how to be one of us," giggled Quinn, and Wonder Woman overheard that statement with her enhanced hearing.

"OVER MY DEAD BODY YOU WILL!" shouted Diana, causing the four girls to erupt with mirth and gleeful laughter. Boom-Boom then turned to a rather shaken yet somewhat collected Wonder Woman who was going through a gamut of emotions, the strongest of which were gratitude, shock, surprise, and thoughts of whether she should strangle the blond bomb-pyromanaic in front of her.

"You OK, Wonder Woman?" Tabitha asked with a mischievous smile, cocking her head.

That had to be the stupidest question that Diana could have ever been asked in this situation. And the desire to scream in Boom-Boom's face slightly intensified as Wonder Woman looked into the X-Girl's unfazed face, as if insulting, screaming and reprimanding the Queen of the Amazons was the most natural thing in the world. Thankfully, the Justice League female had the foresight to take several deep breaths and exhaled as therapeutically as she could before she was clear-headed enough to answer Boom-Boom.

"I…must say that that was quite a speech," Wonder Woman had to admit as last. Boom-Boom's smile grew even wider.

"Eh, us girls have to stick together. It just got in my craw that your mother and sisters were really being unfair in how they were treating you when they broke some of the rules themselves. I hate it when people act all high and mighty like that," the bomb-maker replied.

Wonder Woman managed to say, "Still, as much as it was effective, you certainly could have addressed my mother is less harsher and unorthodox means, Boom-Boom."

"Meh, I've always been one to say what's on my mind and not hold back. But I hope it wasn't too awkward for you."

"Oh it was," Princess Diana finally said as she then grabbed the collar of Tabitha's X-uniform and brought the teenage close to her face with one arm so that the two females were eye level before making her point home in a strong voice, "And though it worked to our advantage and at least my sisters are now willing to help us…**_Don't. Ever. Do. That. Again._**"

Tabitha looked a bit taken aback at the serious and resentful look in Diana's blue eyes before she gave a half-baleful and half-resentful look, one reminiscent of how a petulant but annoyed teenager apologizes to his or her parents. Boom-Boom then muttered, "Fine."

The Amazon released her hold on the X-Man, and Boom-Boom sulked off, muttering under her breath, but then Diana spoke again.

"And Tabitha?"

"What?" the blond adolescent asked a bit bad-naturedly, expecting yet another lecture or grown-up talk of condescending reasons why and how Tabitha made a mistake today. But the Justice Leaguer's next answer surprised even her.

"Thank you."

Tabitha blinked, her brain trying to process the possibility that she misheard the woman, before all she could do was utter a puzzled, "Huh?"

The raven-haired Amazon smiled slightly, more embarrassed that anything, as she clarified in a hesitant voice, "I wished to thank you, Boom-Boom. Even though it was absolutely humiliating for myself and my pride, you had the courage to stand up and defend me, regardless of whether or not you knew you are not physically capable of fighting a horde of Amazon women. You spoke the truth are told my mother the words not to insult…er, _demean_ her necessarily, but to show her the horrors about our current Heartless situation, something I never had the courage and nerve to do. You expressed anger at something I had trouble convincing myself that was of no fault but my own, that I deserved to be banished, and as such, you stood by and argued for my honor and pride and past actions. You showed me…"

Wonder Woman paused before her smile grew a bit.

"You showed me that sometimes, it's not the end of the world to break a few rules."

Boom-Boom couldn't help but giggle as she wryly commented with cheek, "Hey, speaking as one who _lives_ to break the rules, I can tell you that I've done enough to bring the end of the universe, and thankfully nothing's happened yet."

"Still…thank you. It would be rude of me to not acknowledge that however misguided your actions against my mother and sisters were and how uncomfortable of a position it placed me in, you did it because you genuinely wished to defend me. That sort of loyalty is… unconventional, but very much appreciated. So, again, I thank you."

"Meh, like I said, us girls gotta stick together," Tabitha chuckled, and with that, the X-Girl left with Pluto barking happily at her heels and tailing her, as she left to see how Amara was doing while Bree tended to the unconscious Nova Roman princess. Hawkgirl slowly went up to Wonder Woman's side as they watched the X-Girls and the Misfit girls interact (and argue, predictably enough).

"It didn't turn out too badly," Shayera commented as Jean and Kitty started chasing down Trinity, the two X-Girls now completely covered with green slime from an experimental slime-missile from the Triplets' glovatrixes, "At least now your fellow Amazons have revoked your banishment and agreed to help with fighting in the Gathering. And…you reconciled at last with your mother."

There was a sad note in Hawkgirl's voice when she said that, but Princess Diana knew better than to pry, allowing her friend to have some privacy and not ask any questions.

"Hm, it's strange. The more I think about it, the more I see that Clark is right," Wonder Woman said with warmth, "Though extremely annoying and destructive and wild, the X-Men and Misfits are good friends who do grow on you when given a chance. Though foolhardy, immature, and certainly…interesting, I am glad that they are with us. But by Hera, I do not know whether or not I wish to hug them or kill them after all this."

Kersplatt!

"**_My hair!_**" screeched Piper Halliwell loudly enough to cause everyone within a thirty-foot radius to wince.

"Wow, pink and orange are so not your colors, Piper!" cackled Quinn as the Charmed witch ran after them, covered with paint from the missiles Trinity fired, shouting threats and curses that would in no way win her any "Mother of the Year" awards. Phoebe and Paige chased after their eldest sister, trying to keep her from committing homicide.

"Piper, stop!" yelled Phoebe, failing to hide her laughter, "You can't vanquish them since they're not demons!"

"I beg to differ on that one! These three are Satan-incarnate in triplicate! **_Die, die, die, die, die!_**" the Halliwell leader screeched as she continued pursuing them along with Jean and Shadowcat.

"I'll choose the latter option," Hawkgirl replied brusquely to Diana, earning a look of exasperated mirth from her teammate as the Thanagarian continued, "If anything, the only thing I see about the X-Men and the Misfits is that they need to come with labels which quote, '_Warning: any acquaintanceship with any member of these mutant teams will result in, but are not limited to: stress, insanity, explosions, destruction, and your social life and dignity to be damaged beyond repair_'."

"Trinity, come back here with my stingers!" yelled Bumblebee as she, Piper and the X-Girls barreled after the Delgado triplets whom were dodging blasts from Jean and Kitty with their glovatrixes and hurled potion bottles from the Wiccan.

"I must admit that it would have saved us a lot of trouble had we known **that** before we met them," admitted the Amazon princess as several detonations tore through the air amid the screaming and maniacal laughter of Daria, Quinn, and Brittany.

---

Teleporting back into the headquarters of Castle Oblivion, Demyx was literally panting and clutching his chest while heaving with fear from being narrowly close to death and a rather painful pummeling by the Keyblade wielders. The other Organization members just looked on stonily with hidden amusement as he literally stumbled and collapsed on the white marble floor, a shaking and traumatized wreck. Despite their inability to show a full extent of emotions, Demyx was quite the exemplary case of absolute terror and "_I-can't-believe-I-survived_" terror.

Xaldin and Luxord, however, couldn't help but express their glee and enjoyment at the schadenfreude. Payback was certainly sweet, and hopefully this would curb Demyx's smart-aleck remarks in the future.

"Oh dear," Luxord drawled with one could classify as mock pity, "My poor Demyx, whatever is the matter? Surely a powerful and influential Nobody such as yourself could have nary any trouble at wooing over and dealing with mere Amazon women?"

Xaldin couldn't help but drawl with a cat-like smile as he chuckled, "Demyx, are you telling us that despite all the reinforcements and blessings of the Heartless and darkness, you still allowed yourself to be beaten by mere women? And not even all the Misfits and the Keyblades were there to stop you this time, so you surely must have had a lesser strain on your brawling."

"**_Mere women?_**" choked Demyx is disbelief, his eye twitching, "I was nearly killed and neutered by them! Those Amazons are absolute **_psychos_**! And the X-Men and Misfits weren't exactly easy-pickings either! The Misfit leader, Wavedancer, is **really** brutal when she wants to be! My magic's useless to her mutant powers!"

"Aw, did the poor, widdle Demyx get his widdle butt kicked by a single ninja-girl? Did the widdle Wavedancer make the widdle Demyx cry for Mommy? Oh wait, never mind! **She did!**" Axel chimed in, playing the annoying baby-speak for all it was worth before he, Luxord, and Xaldin let loose a loud burst of guffawing.

"Hey, it's not funny!" protested Demyx, "I barely escaped with my life!"

Not surprisingly, Luxord, Xaldin, and Axel continued to laugh and banter at the Melodious Nocturne's misfortune.

"Not so funny when the shoes on the other foot, is it, my inadequate little musician?" Luxord cackled. But a deep cough from the Superior easily quelled out the mirth and hilarity as the number one member of the Organization addressed the prostrate, sitar-wielding disgrace that was still flat on the floor.

"I expect better results the next time I send you out for a mission to gain additional hearts for the Door, Demyx," the Superior said sternly with displeased irritation, "Larxene, Axel, Vexen, and Xaldin have all done well in actually holding their own against such heroes, and I will not tolerate any weaknesses in the order. The next time you face the X-Men and the Misfits, you had better be willing to use every single area of your expertise if you wish to become complete again. Is that clear?"

A whimper and a nod from the still panting Demyx satisfied the leader enough.

"Still, it is not a complete loss," mused Zexion, "About a hundred and three hearts have been acquired through the siege in Paradise Isle, and the women of Themyscria are particular pure and strong in such life forces, much more potent that the ones we have gained from the Morlocks and the Eloi."

Lexaeus smiled as he held up one heart stolen from Paradise Isle, enjoying the feel of its ideal and unnatural strength and vitality that could have only come from the Greek gods of myth and ancient history, pointing out, "Such beauty and impressive power. A single Amazon's heart is worth more than ten mere hearts we collected from humans. Selene of the Hellfire Club is right to point out that that reward was well worth the risk. And of course, anything that causes pain to the allies of the Justice League is absolutely fine with Luthor as well."

"But the Keyblades wielders and those that have allied along with them are beginning to become a bit troublesome, my Liege. Our efforts for the Door and the Harvest will continue to be hindered should these heroes increase their attempts to meddle in our affairs," Marluxia pointed out.

"I agree, my Assassin," the Superior then smiled wickedly underneath his hood, "Perhaps now is the time we implemented Luthor's plans for the Justice League and temporarily cease our efforts to collect more hearts for now. After all, the Justice League is one of our more troublesome opponents for the Gathering yet, and it would serve us well in the future to cut them down as well as achieve some string-pulling…"

**Author's Notes: this chapter was easily the longest yet for this story, and I'm so burned out! So instead of updating next week and because I wish to get back to the "updating on Fridays" schedule, I will take next Friday off and update the next chapter on October 6th, just to get over my exhaustion and to get my mind together,.**

**Fictives: It was never together to begin with.**

**Quiet you. Anyway, on the next chapter, a few X-Men go up to the Watchtower to visit the Justice League, but trouble comes along in many forms with Razor still trying to adjust to his new isolation away from Justin and with Jamie and Trinity sneaking along for the ride to the headquarters. But that'll be nothing compared to the trouble of the Heartless as Luxord invades their sanctuary and he along with Donald Pierce set off a chain reaction of events that wil forever stain the name of the League. Don't miss ths next chapter titled "Razor's Watchtower Woes" and until October 6ht, read and enjoy! Constructive criticisms welcome!**


	26. Razor’s Watchtower Woes

**CHAPTER 26: Razor's Watchtower Woes**

Space.

An endless frontier with limitless possibilities of exploration and wonder and discovery. Though it certainly wasn't the final medium to study about and there were more attempts by Earthlings to probe and investigate it fully, it was a beautiful and unknown realm, full of exciting and dangerous variables. An infinite black cloak of planets, galaxies, and stars.

And Earth with its moon orbiting around the globe was just only one of the planets teeming with life, beautiful and deceptively serene. And the gigantic metallic structure of the Watchtower , though foreign and certainly a bit intimidating, was just as impressive and grand from the view they could all see as a lone, black spaceship tore through the emptiness and zoomed towards the Justice League's base.

It was certainly an impressive vehicle. The carrier was similar to the design of the Javelin spaceships that the League themselves began to use for travel, except it was significantly different and modified so that in a pinch, it could house all the X-Men, both the adults and the teenagers, comfortably and could withstand more damage as well. The outside was sleek black, but on the wings, top, and the front hull were the infamous symbols of the imposed "X" inside a circle, the yellow emblems of the X-Men displaying proudly for anyone to identify the occupants from the outside. The metal was highly polished with a specialized, reinforced polymer Forge had designed, and the entire armor was constructed of specialized adamantium reinforced with supple amounts of the same alien alloy that the Aquain was made from (Forge again was able to clone and create the metal of the exact same atomic structure with Trinity's help and their molecular regenerator). And of course, the internal workings of the spaceship were just as impressive, with advanced circuitry, computerized technology and command consoles that had to be five years ahead of the mainstream, remarkable weapons and cloaking implements (both scientific _and_ magical), and a secure and stabilized energy core made entirely of antimatter courtesy of Forge to power up everything cleanly and efficiently, guaranteed to last years and years without fail.

And of course, to Wolverine's insistence, they even had a special hidden fridge and mini-bar with cold beer (not that in any way were any of the students foolish enough to try to sneak one out) in the cockpit of the spacecraft and lambskin seats and covers on each and every seat inside. As Forge said, they might as well make space travel comfortable.

This was indeed the X-Men's newest baby, the project made possible by the plans of the spaceship provided by Trinity of the Misfits, and it was the brainchild of Forge, Hank, Razor, and all the New Mutants as they all spent months and months building, calibrating, testing, and putting together from scratch as an extracurricular class project for many months.

Predictably, Jake, Forge, and Hank were all having the times of their lives testing their newest acquisition out on its first trip to outer space, all of them in their X-Men uniforms.

"Far out!" Forge cheered, lost in euphoria and trying to still get used that the X-Men's first official spaceship was a complete success, "This is so bad, wicked even! Oh wow, am I glad we decided to be the first ones to fly this baby to the max!"

"Just try not to go completely overboard while you are having fun, and remember that we are on important business with the Justice League, Forge," Professor X said, though he had troubling hiding the smile and laughter in his voice as he sat in a specialized seat that housed and secured his wheelchair perfectly with magnetic fixtures as well as a safety harness. He could understand the excitement and glee of trying out their very own personal spacecraft first and being high on the elation on flying it (especially before Bobby or Kitty could try to sneak their chance at the first opportunity). Though they could always try relying on the Joes' Mass Device for transportation, it was still practical and wonderful if the X-Men had extra modes to get to their destinations. And since the Misfits had their spaceship, it was only fair if the X-Men had theirs. Superman and Green Lantern wished to have a private meeting with Xavier over the upcoming Mutant Registration Bill along with how such political movements could effectively be termed for metahumans as well, so it was a perfect time for Xavier, Jake, Hank, and Forge to try flying their finished spaceship to the Watchtower. And Razor and Beast all checked everything twice over before determining it was extremely safe to use.

As dire as the Heartless crisis was, the heroes couldn't ignore the other lesser threats and emergencies all over the world as well. There were other enemies to deal with besides the Thirteenth Order.

Beast, in the meantime, was talking to the League member, Mr. Terrific, over the communications plasma-monitor from his seat at the spaceship's cockpit, pleased to see that their craft could effectively and accurately connect with any encrypted transmission frequency of their choosing and make contact without even the slightest static interference.

"Beast, you and the other X-Men are all clear for landing in the docking bay," Mr. Terrific said with genial friendliness.

"Understood. Contact and arrival shall be in five minutes. Beast, over and out," the blue furred X-Man replied as he ended the link and the screen, grinning from ear to ear and showing his canine teeth as he continued, "I daresay that our spaceship is a complete success, Charles."

"And the steering is a breeze along with maneuvering the guidance mechanisms. It should be simply enough to even take commands from one of the kittens back at the Mansion provided that we give them enough training so that in any emergency, they should be proficient enough to fly this baby," Razor grinned.

"Not Kitty and Bobby and Tabitha, however," Forge said impishly with a smile, causing the other three adults to chuckle. After all, if those three wrecked havoc by simply driving a car, it would be disastrous to let them handle a spaceship. Though Razor was the only one who still couldn't be horrified by any insane driving attempts after flying in a jet as a SWAT Kat for so many years (and hence why he was still needed as a driving instructor).

"I take it we have a name for our newest rocket ship?" Professor X asked. Beast, Forge, and Razor all shared a look before they smiled back the mentor.

"We decided to christen this spaceship with the name, '_X-Hyperdrive_'. It's the grooviest name we came up with yet, but Jake and Hank both agreed that the thing fits for this bad baby!" Forge said. The Professor mulled over it, rolling the syllables several times; he had to admit that the X-Hyperdrive was a good enough name.

"And this is indeed a wonderful time to try out the X-Hyperdrive considering that it is a relief to get out of the X-Mansion and go someplace else far, far from the kids and the fighting and for a simply change of scenery, however brief," Hank said as he idly clicked several keys on the computer controls.

"Plus, Ororo did not mind staying in the Mansion since she took it upon herself to ensure that Callisto and the other Morlocks are comfortable while trying to convince Evan to come out and tell his parents what happened and the reasons why he left to go live in the sewers," Xavier said with a touch of solemn graveness.

"They don't know?" blinked Jake.

Beast sighed and shook his head as he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, wearily replying, "No, Mr. and Mrs. Daniels never discovered that Spyke's mutation progressed and became uncontrollable, resulting in his current appearance and that he ran away to live with the Morlocks underneath the city in the sewers. In fact, Ororo…slightly misled her sister and brother-in-law with a cover story that Evan left the Institute in the wilderness somewhere in the Midwest and using his powers to help underprivileged people."

"And though it wasn't technically lying, that's why Ororo is trying to spend as much time with Evan as she can, to help convince him that it would be best to explain to his parents the situation and what he did. Unfortunately, Spyke is understandably reluctant and unwilling due to the fact that he is quite fearful of his parents' reactions and not to mention that the fact that his aunt would be blamed even though she only lied to protect him and that the decision to go to the sewers was mostly his own," Professor Xavier said with care.

"I see…" Jake could only reply, though now he was worried about Storm now along with her nephew.

"How's Amara doing actually?" Forge said, recalling that the New Mutant was still in the infirmary after her Heartless Infection on Themyscria. Hard to imagine that the fateful attack on the Amazons by the Organization was only two days ago…

"She is recuperating nicely and almost back to full strength. In fact, she is already complaining about being bored and wanting to leave the infirmary, and I had to…_encourage_ her to not leave the medical ward due to the fact that she needs rest via warnings to confiscate her glovatrix as well as should she disobey my orders, I'd have Bree sedate her. Though I never meant it, Amara was thankfully not willing to tempt me. Right now, she and Tabitha are having fun just conversing and watching videos together before we left. And I daresay that the normal fighting and chaos that comes whenever the Misfits and the Joes arrive to visit us at our humble abode are rather helping her stay in the infirmary and use her near-death experience as an excuse to get away from the destructive arguments. "

"And leaving us a perfect opportunity to go visit the Justice League and entrust Ororo and Logan to keep the students and the Mansion…somewhat intact," Xavier said with some rare sneaky humor.

"You do know that Storm and the Badger aren't stupid and that you're going to have them swearing vengeance eventually for all the times you conveniently leave whenever the Misfits and Joes come to visit and avoid whatever ruckus and disasters happen," Jake drawled, but secretly enjoying the fact that Logan was being put through some incredible stress. Xavier made a semi-mocking expression of faux petulance.

"It _is_ the lesser painful option," the wheelchair-bound chuckled, causing some laughter…until Forge had to unintentionally ruin the moment.

"And something tells me that the Professor's not the only one that could use a groovy break from the Mansion as well, huh, Jake?" Forge asked, turning to the kat, but one could see that there was some concern and worry in the inventor's eyes along with the playful spite. Jake felt the fur on his back and his neck stand on end defensively, his hackles raised, as he did his best to remain neutrally calm and focused his narrowed eyes on the steering mechanisms as he carefully guided the spaceship. He prayed he wouldn't lose his temper as the Professor and Beast fell silent, with the Professor wrestling with whether or not to intervene.

"I don't know what you mean, Forge," Jake said quietly. Forge looked sympathetic as he carried on.

"Jake, look, we all know that you and Justin still care about each other, but everyone, especially Jean and Scott are worried -"

"Of course we care about each other. The kitten and I are allies," the kat said without emotion as he gently eased down the thruster-engines of the rocket. They were getting closer to the Watchtower now and it wouldn't do any good to increase the acceleration, but to the furry kat, he wished it was closer so he could get out and avoid this conversation.

"Jake, man…everyone can see you regret breaking up with Justin. And Justin's - "

"Going through puppy-dog love, so to speak, and nothing more. I broke things off because it was better for the both of us," Jake said, clenching his teeth together and his tail flickering back and forth agitatedly. The Professor then decided to speak up.

"Forge, please, don't pry," he chided, but the argument was starting to build as Forge's voice rose a bit with disbelief.

"'_Better for the both of you_'?" snorted Forge as he recited that quote, "Bull, fool that you are. You've been avoiding Justin ever since you broke things off with him, the Triplets and Al have been telling all of us that Justin's been blaming himself for you giving him the cold shoulder, so it's pretty clear that and yet Jean's able to sense you still have a lot of worry and guilt over this whole thing! And we're worried because it's been eating away at you, that's all. Everyone can see that. Even Wolverine's worried about you, and -"

"Forge, just drop it," Jake interrupted as smoothly and emotionally detached as he could, but there was a tight and painful clench in his gut now that the memories surfaced.

"Jake, man…just talk to us. If something's wrong, let us know. Everyone just wants to help."

The vision of Justin dying in front of Jake's very eyes along with Blind Master, Allo, and Chance blaming and condemning him swam to his consciousness suddenly, nearly causing him to jerk at the controls in guilt and swerving and nearly crashing directly into the Watchtower as he was within its direct vicinity of its hangar bay as it flew into the opening tunnel.

"Forge, please…just be quiet and let me drive," Jake tried again, but his voice this time was on edge.

"Maybe I should try piloting this, Razor…" Beast offered, hoping to diffuse the argument (and not have Jake crash the X-Hyperdrive and kill all of them while he was at it), but Forge foolishly wasn't letting this drop.

"Jake, c'mon," protested Forge dumbly, "You really expect us to believe that you got over Justin and don't want him anymore? Especially since you were willing to prove yourself to the Joes and the Dinosaucers and how Justin gave you a rare chance to talk to Chance's spirit again at his own expense?"

The guilt intensified close to the kat's snapping point as he lost his temper, jerkily and awkwardly piloting the X-Men's spaceship in a wobbly fashion out of the entry point and into the gigantic hangar bay, causing a few of the human staffers in their purple and silver uniforms along with Superman and Green Lantern to look at the X-Men's arrival with a little worry.

"Mind your own damned business!" snarled Jake, now starting to become more and more furious.

Forge looked a bit shocked that the kat was blowing up, so he tried to placate by saying, "Jake, we're just concerned, that's all. There's no need for you to blow up, and none of us really had any issues over you being -"

"Damn it to hellcats, if you don't keep that mouth of yours shut - !" Jake snarled as he awkwardly landed the X-Hyperdrive with a clumsy thud and clinging noise, nearly forcing the craft to tip a bit and clip its right wing. Thank goodness it did not damage. Professor Xavier looked especially relieved that they had stopped, and Beast muttered a "thank-you" prayer at the sky while turning off the rocket engines and thrusters. Jake, glad they had landed, quickly and agitatedly unbuckled his harness and got up from his seat, not caring if he needed to adjust from getting used to walking after blasting and flying through space. He didn't even bother to finish his threat as he walked towards the exit. But before he managed to make his way through, the Professor reached out and gently grabbed Razor's paw.

"Jake…" Xavier said with concern and he just left it unsaid as he squeezed the humanoid's hand and let go. Jake's eyes softened a bit and he nodded before the hatch opened with a hiss of pressurized air and slowly walked towards the opening. Forge looked like he was going to at least argue again, but Hank placed a gargantuan blue paw on the inventor's shoulder before whispering sagely.

"Don't make this worse than it already is."

Once all four of the X-Men had been able to get back on solid ground and leave the docked spaceship, Xavier was warmly greeted by Superman and Green Lantern.

"I hope everything is all right," the Kryptonian murmured, cocking his head to the side in concern and puzzlement.

"We had some…turbulence," covered Hank a bit hurriedly with a cough as he glanced at the sullen look on Razor's face before he asked, "Where are the other founders of the League? Didn't they wish to come to the meeting as well?"

"We're really being stretched tight," John Stewart said in his deep voice, "There are still a lot of crises we have to watch out here on Earth and in the neighboring galaxies, and even Supergirl and good portion of the new recruits we've gotten to help the League out are out on missions, so it'll just be us for this meeting."

But before any of the group could leave for discussion, Mr. Terrific's voice rang out on the intercom to the hangar bay, surprising the six heroes.

"Superman, Green Lantern, X-Men…" he warned but with a hint of amusement, "I think you have some stowaways on your spaceship. The scanners of the Watchtower can detect and identify four life forms inside the cargo bay of your vehicle. And they're human adolescents…"

Superman narrowed his eyes before he used his speed and zoomed towards the open hatch of the X-Hyperdrive faster than the human eye could blink, and there were several seconds of scuffling followed by a loud "HEY!" from Daria. Professor X and the others realized who it was immediately.

"Oh no…"groaned Forge, covering his eyes with his hands and a bit embarrassed as Superman smugly brought out a struggling Daria, Quinn, and Brittany Delgado of the Misfits along with Jamie from the New Mutants, all of them dressed in their battle uniforms. Despite the intrusion, Superman couldn't stop smiling as he gathered all four of the kids in his arms like luggage, with the three girls and the one boy trying vainly to squirm out.

"Ack! Daria, get your hand off my butt!" Multiple squealed.

"Oops. It was an accident. Really." The tone in her voice, however, indicated it was anything but.

"Dare I ask what you four are doing here? And Trinity, for that matter, do the Joe handlers and your sister know that you snuck aboard while they were visiting the Institute?" Professor Xavier asked sternly, frowning and making a steeple as she brought his hands together and rested them against the arms of his wheelchair. Superman unceremoniously dumped the four children on the floor and Quinn answered a bit mulishly and smarmily as she dusted her rear end.

"Hey, we helped Jake and the others design your X-Hyperdrive, and if it wasn't for us, you wouldn't even get to where you are at this point with your designs, so we get to go on its first flight with as much right as the others!" Quinn snapped.

Brittany then said uneasily with embarrassment, scratching her head, "And well…heh heh, the others would know where we went when we come back. And besides, not only would the adults and our sis be glad for us to be out of their hair for a little bit, but we're not being completely irresponsible. After all, we're with you and the Justice League."

"And why are you here, Mr. Maddrox?" Green Lantern growled, arms crossed over his chest. Jamie chuckled, a bit nervous under the harsh glare of the former Marine.

"I kind of went along for the ride…" he tried to joke, but predictably, that made it worse as John exploded.

"OF ALL THE ASININE AND IDIOTIC STUNTS YOU KIDS HAD TO PULL!" he roared, causing Trinity and Multiple to humorously dash out of the reprimand's direct path and hide behind Jake Clawson, though it was to be expected in a way considering that Jake would most likely be the one to argue for their defense. Jake, a bit stunned, still protectively gathered them behind his back as John Stewart let loose.

"YOU KIDS THINK THIS IS FUNNY? THE LAST THING WE NEED IS YOU FOUR LITTLE MONSTERS TO CAUSE EVEN MORE CHAOS AND DESTRUCTION IN YOUR LITTLE RAMPAGES LIKE THE LAST TIME YOU VISITED THE WATCHTOWER! IF YOU FOUR TERRORS EVEN THINK THAT WE'LL LET YOU GO OFF ON YOUR OWN AND WRECK THIS PLACE AGAIN, YOU'VE GOT ANOTHER - !"

"Let them stay," Jake said softly. That stopped the tirade.

"What?" growled Green Lantern, already envisioning the disasters of what would happen if Multiple and Trinity were allowed to remain on the Watchtower, especially since he knew how out of control the Delgado Triplets especially could be.

"I'll watch them. I'll vouch for them. If Trinity and Multiple do anything, then I'll gladly accept the blame. But since they're already here, you might as well just let them come with us to the Watchtower," the kat said softly, but sincerely despite putting his tail on the line. Trinity looked a bit suspicious, but Multiple was especially worried. He didn't want Jake, one of the people he respected and cared for the most, to get punished for his antics.

Superman prodded, "They're already here, and they'll put up a fight if you try to teleport them back to the Institute so we might as well. They'll know better than to cause trouble this time, won't you, Trinity?"

Superman added these last three words with a pointed glare, his eyes actually flashing red with his heat vision (though he would never use it on the three girls and any ally other than scare tactics, as Booster Gold and Blue Beetle could attest). Trinity nodded, making the most convincing Bambi eyes and angelic smiles on their faces, not that it fooled anyone for a minute. Jamie clung protectively to Jake's waist, a bit scared that he may inadvertently get Jake's honorary membership in the Justice League revoked because of this. John looked like he was going to explode before he deflated and pointed at Razor.

"If they do anything to cause trouble, it falls on you ultimately along with the Professor," Green Lantern said strongly without compromise. The Professor and Razor both nodded, and the party left to walk towards the meeting room (with Hank pushing the Professor's wheelchair), with Razor staying behind in the hangar bay with the Triplets and Jamie.

"You didn't need to do that, Jake," Jamie said with some guilt, but Jake knelt down and hugged Jamie a bit before chuckling under his breath and ruffling Multiple's hair with one paw.

"Hey, I may be just an instructor, but I always said I'd watch out for you kids, whether they be a Misfit or an X-Man. And I know that deep down, you're someone who has a good heart and who would make the X-Men proud to have a warrior like you. Like I said, I don't regret believing in the good in you. And you too, Trinity."

Daria, Quinn, and Brittany just glared at Jake as he addressed them.

"Funny, you pretty much said the same thing about Whitelighter," Daria said coldly, and it was amazing that for a twelve year-old, she could sound incredibly disapproving and arctic and emotionally detached like any adult. Jake's eyes clouded with guilt as he averted he gave to the side a bit.

"How is he?" he asked softly.

"I'm surprised you care after you dumped him and broke his heart like that, especially since he never deserved it. Plus if you weren't so busy trying to avoid him, you'd find out yourself," Quinn retorted with acid before she and Daria left stiffly, their backs straight and their strides hurried. Brittany, however, showed that she wasn't completely like her other sisters as she answered back softly with a resigned look.

"He still cares about you, you know. And he's been holding it in on how much it's been hurting him. Knowing Whitelighter, if it came to it, he'd even be willing to give up his - "

Brittany stopped herself as if realizing what she was about to blurt out, and before Jake or Jamie could ask the girl what she was about to say, Brittany did an about face and left, and confused but deciding to drop it, the two X-Men followed and caught up with the group as Superman and Green Lantern were explaining to Xavier, Forge, and Hank about their future operations by expanding their organization.

"Whoa, you've gotten even a cowboy and a gypsy to fight and help us protect the Earth from the Heartless? That is so sick!" marveled Forge in awed praise as they passed by a short haired young woman in a while blouse and a green skirt and a cowboy with a white hat, several guns strapped to his sides, and wearing a blue uniform while covering his face with a red bandanna. Both the new Leaguers, Gypsy and Vigilante, nodded and smiled at the X-Men and three Misfit visitors as they passed by.

"And it is additionally amazing that the Justice League has been able to find human staff to assist you and maintaining the Watchtower despite these times of tension and anti-superhuman sentiments," Hank marveled as ordinary helpers, ranging from janitors to technicians, all wearing purple and silver uniforms, greeted them all warmly without the slightest hint of fear or repugnance. Superman smiled.

"Despite the popularity of the Friends of Humanity and the Purity, we have been able to make many friends and gain the trust of willing volunteers of the human populace to assist us in any way possible, as well as being paid hefty salaries, medical benefits, and are insured for whatever malady that would befall them. And actually, they are a big help in helping us with the smaller concerns and allowing us to worry less about maintaining our base and planning to fight against the Heartless," the alien said.

"That is good," Professor Xavier said, "Then perhaps there is some hope in the coming Gathering of Twilight as well as peace between all races of Earthlings on the planet should we be able to win this."

"I beg to differ, dear Xavier. After all, avarice, vice, and fear can always be found in the darkest of men's hearts…" echoed a cold voice all around them, vibrating and reverberating eerily in the metal hallways and floors of each and every level of the gigantic space station. Trinity's eyes all went wide with shock and unpleasant surprise; the three Misfits recognized the voice at once.

"The Organization! They're here!" they cried out in unison, immediately causing Superman, Green Lantern, and the other heroes to go on full alert, their instincts kicking in. Green Lantern spoke on his communicator link that was placed in his left ear.

"Batgirl, we've been infiltrated!" he roared.

"_But…that's impossible! Nothing's showing up on the screens for any portion of the Watchtower!_" Batgirl gasped, relaying her message back on the tiny speaker as she hurriedly clicked the commands at her console to activate the security defenses and seal all the openings and windows of their headquarters with plates of reinforced steel. Unfortunately, Barbara spoke too soon as gigantic cards appeared out of nowhere, rising from the floor, all of them shiny and consisting of metal while proudly displaying the symbol of the Organization and the Nobody on the backs. And moving on their own accord, the cards swirled and traveled with incredible speed, almost too fast for anyone to spot them.

"Hey, what in tarnation?" Vigilante yelped as the cards swirled around him and the other members of the Justice League and a few of the staff, forming circular prisons of sharp metal. Though some such as the female Dr. Light, Stargirl, and Blue Beetle, using a helicopter attachment from his backpack, managed to avoid being closed off by the strange implements by flying and levitating off the ground, others weren't so lucky. And before they could all do anything, in a matter of several seconds, the cards parted their lines to show that the fellow Leaguers and staff had completely disappeared. Like a magician's vanishing act, a significant portion of the Justice League Unlimited were gone, trapped in pockets of time where they could not be reached and ultimately, be forced out of battle. And after this depletion of heroes, a plume of smoke appeared to reveal the white haired Gambler and manipulator of time as Luxord, number Ten of the Organization Thirteen, stepped forward.

"You!" growled Green Lantern. And now, only a _portion_ of the League and their new recruits was available to defend the Watchtower…

"I thought it'd be best if we just skip the formalities…" Luxord drawled in his sophisticated, accented voice, smug and eerily charming in some manner.

Superman, deciding now would be best to not be formal, yelled a single command, "Subdue him!"

Instantly, as a well-oiled and coordinated team, he, Green Lantern, and the few remaining members of the League's newest recruits flew forward, ready to pummel the goateed, slick man before he had another chance to attack them. Luxord hardly seemed worried as he clicked his fingers, and out of the blue, five gigantic Hellfire Heartless appeared and started attacking with extendable limbs and black lightning. And that wasn't including the numerous cards that were appearing from thin air and flying out in various directions, making it incredibly difficult to try attacking the experiments of darkness and trying to avoid being decapitated.

"Yeow! This guy plays for keeps!" Green Lantern yelped as he blasted one card to pieces, while Black Canary used her sonic scream on another hailstorm of cards, only to find to her horror that they weren't as effective. There was no question about it; like the Heartless, the Organization members were getting more and more powerful and brutal in their attacks. To make matters worse, as Multiple and Razor were fighting, Luxord then managed to send Jake flying with a casual flick of the flat side of a card before marching up to the young mutant teenager.

"You jerk!" Multiple growled as he aimed his glovatrix at Luxord, but then the goateed man simply picked up Multiple by the throat and lifted him off his feet, dangling him off the floor and causing Jamie to struggle and gasp for air, his neck feeling like it was going to snap. Luxord then directly went for the kill as he summoned out the fleshy grey oval, pulsating and alive, in his gloved hand before shoving the spore into the center of Jamie's chest before dropping him callously back to the floor.

Jamie cradled into a fetal position and screamed, long and hard, wailing before his eyes began to glow an unnatural yellow and the seed of darkness corrupted his body and heart from the inside as his skin shriveled and his body began to wither with a disgusting contract

Upon the sight, Razor could only murmur, "Oh damn it all to hellcats…"

"NO!" screamed Daria, Quinn, and Brittany as Jamie had completely been abolished as a mutant adolescent, and instead, had been brutally transfigured into a horned, Heartless imp, cackling maniacally. To best characterize it, Multiple was now a black-skinned, brawny, short gremlin with the red-and-black Heartless symbol on the front of his chest and on the back of his hands, artistically structured around his claws like protective gloves. Adding to the two horned curved around the sides of his heads like a ram were slit, yellow eyes, small but curved black claws, and a demented, vulpine smile of tiny, wicked, pointed teeth, this Heartless was like a gremlin. And the way it was gleefully giggling like a psychotic, hyperactive child in a disembodied octave was enough to send shivers down the spines of the Triplets themselves. Luxord chuckled merrily.

"Mr. Maddrox, now is the time to show your hands…" he ordered.

"Oh please, like you'd have any advantage by infecting one kid, you sick bastard! You've only got one new Hellfire Heartless along with your posse against the entire League!" growled Booster Gold, inflamed and wanting to make the Organization member pay for breaking and entering as well as attacking a mutant child. But to Michael's surprise, the Heartless gremlin that was once Jamie simply punched his palm, and before they knew it, he multiplied into an army of drones, all of them gleefully cackling like insane drones. Blue Beetle, who was next to Booster, gulped, while Razor surreptitiously fired a tracking beacon with his glovatrix on the original clone he thought was still the initial Heartless before he lost track of it.

"Uh…correction: he's got a whole **army** of new Hellfire Heartless!" the masked, blue-clad inventor gaped as he readied himself in a martial stance.

Superman did his best to resist the urge to wrap his hands around Michael's throat as he hissed with great restraint, "Next time, **_please_** be careful what you say in the future."

"Oh please, do you honestly think I don't anticipate any future hands you Justice League have?" drawled Luxord as he idly flicked a pack of playing cards in his hands as more and more Heartless gremlin-clones appeared, "There was a reason I chose to infect the child called Multiple with the Heartless spore. After all, any man worth his cards must know how to look and plan his moves ahead…"

"And don't think we didn't either! All for one…!" Daria began.

"And one for all!" finished Quinn and Brittany in unison.

"TRINITY LIMIT!" they cried out, bringing their Trichrona Keyblades together, and with a gigantic flash of pink light, a good portion of the cards and some of the Heartless clones along with Jamie were blasted back or disintegrated. Unfortunately, it still wasn't enough to kill any of the original Hellfire Heartless as well as cause any significant damage to Luxord as he expertly brought out five cards within his gloved hands.

"How disappointing," he sneered, "And I thought that you X-Men and Misfits could actually attempt to bluff your way out of certain doom."

The Triplets just beamed at Luxord, and damn if those toothy grins didn't cause his face to freeze as a slight prick of discomfort and suspicion arose in his being. Whenever children smiled knowingly like that, especially _these_ children, it couldn't have been good.

"_Bluff?_ Please, we Misfits don't bluff," scoffed Daria, "When we say you're screwed, we make sure we have what we need to back it up."

"Aquara Water Dragon!"

"Fira Crimson Whirlwind!"

Luxord cursed as he teleported away at the last minute as the water dragon and wave of flame (miraculously not canceling each other out) as they rushed past the spot where the Organization warrior resided only seconds ago and past the Justice League fighters before they struck a group of three Heartless. Though two of them barely managed to escape, the third did not and it screamed as it arched back and let the current of water crush its chest completely while the fire engulfed its limbs and head and caused its skin and flesh to melt away before it disintegrated with a final howl.

"Yo Joe!" roared Roadblock as he and the other Joes, Misfits, and the selected X-Men consisting of Cyclops, Jean, Gambit, Rogue, Wolverine, Colossus, and Shadowcat leapt into the fray along with the remaining members of the League, attacking with their magic and mutant powers and firearms, taking care on using careful precision on the Heartless. And with them…

"Jay, help me snare one of these suckers!" Quentin Blud from the Ghostbusters yelled as he shot at one of the Hellfire Heartless with his proton gun while Agent Jay, an African-American liaison of the Men in Black turned new recruit for the paranormal organization, helped the dhampir with his own proton cannon. With two streams of dangerous, nuclear energy snaking around the ogre, it was easy to trap it and lasso it with the searing plasma, causing it to stand still and writhe. This was the perfect time for Dragonfly to act with her Icewing Keyblade.

"Sonic Blade!" she yelled, and like a lightning bolt of arctic energy, the insect-girl rushed by, leaving a frozen sky-blue trail of ice crystals in her wake as she propelled herself with her wings to barrel forward with her weapon and effectively rushed straight into the monster's chest.

Pwaccchhhaaacccckkkk!

With a sickening noise, the trapped and immobile Heartless was sliced neatly in half and fell apart, cleaved before disintegrating…and revealing a pink heart crystal which fluttered and rose a bit towards the ceiling. Dragonfly ascended towards it and actually managed to grab it in hopes to save it, but to her surprise, it disappeared in her hands and vanished into the void.

"I don't get it…they're still releasing hearts," she murmured. Meanwhile, Agent Jay smiled in a rather braggart manner as he put on his black shades over his eyes, patting himself on the back.

"Damn, I make this look good," he said with overblown assurance.

"Shut it, Jay," grumbled Quentin as he helped alongside with the other Ghostbuster recruit he brought with him when Xavier sent his telepathic distress signal. Danny Phantom was remarkably quite effective as he let loose with a vicious volley of ectoplasmic energy blasts on one Hellfire Heartless from above, peppering it like a hailstorm of energy projectiles and allowing some of the heroes to add in to the fray as the Heartless became shoved into the defensive.

"Is anyone hurt? Did anyone get their hearts taken yet?" Danny asked worriedly, focusing his green eyes on a new League member named Obsidian, in which the black clad metahuman cloaked in shadows shook his head.

"None so far, thankfully! But…why only three of you? Aren't there any other Ghostbusters? A good portion of the League disappeared because of those blasted cards!" Obsidian asked with dire urgency.

"Well, in between the recruiting and stopping Wolfram and Hart's influences which have been surprisingly prevalent as of late, this is all we could spare, really," Danny shrugged as he manipulated his body to form a hole in the center of his torso to allow a shaft of black lightning fired at him to pass through harmlessly from one pushy Heartless. Meanwhile, Whitelighter rushed over to Razor who was still in pain from being battered by Luxord.

"Razor, are you all right?" he asked, Tinkerbell next to his head, while Simba and Stargirl both teamed up and combined the lion's Proud Roar with a blast of blinding and harsh light from Stargirl's staff. Jake decided it was best to ignore his decision to isolate himself from Whitelighter for now. Jamie's life was in the balance, and he promised that he would watch out for Jamie.

"No, Whitelighter, I'm not! Forget about me! Multiple's been transformed into a Heartless! Those smaller and strange Heartless drones that are scampering all over used to be the kitten! Help him!" the kat yelled over his communicator before he fired a bola missile at one group of Heartless, snaring them together. Wavedancer shrugged as she took out her white staff while Toad and Xi effectively battled it out with their Keyblades, jabbing and hacking away at any Heartless or Hellfire claws left and right while Xi summoned Bambi for additional backup in magic.

"Not a problem! We'll just cure him! Destiny Heartlock Kingdom Reform!" she cried out, and with a flash, the ten sigils and the gigantic pillar of white luminescence engulfed the Heartless clones that were once Jamie…

KAWHOOM!

Unfortunately, to the Misfits' shock, the clones just screamed and disappeared while still more and more copies and duplicates continued to appear, replicating themselves at an unnatural pace and actually forming portals of darkness on their own as they ran, scurried, or walked through walls, floors and ceilings using their newfound powers, traveling and spreading everywhere alongside the Justice League's base like an uncontrollable virus.

"Oh dear Lord, they're spreading!" yelled a white-haired woman named Ice as she continued to freeze Heartless everywhere she could see and reach, not allowing them to destroy anything they touched while the continuous and never-ending stream of creatures continued to spread in every nook and cranny of the space station.

"Uh…Superman? Green Lantern? I think you better hurry before these things fill up the whole Watchtower! Ugh, back off you ugly turd!" Batgirl yelled over her communicator link in the computer rooms while she used her chair to painfully whack one Jamie-Heartless replica from getting too close while Mr. Terrific kicked and threw several with his judo skills. Apparently, they had been able to infiltrate their quarters as well.

"So, exactly what was that you were saying about us specifically destroying the Watchtower, Mr. Lantern?" Brittany couldn't help but remark snidely, to which Green Lantern replied back by growling three words with clenched teeth.

"**_Don't. Push. It._**"

"But why didn't my staff cure Multiple? It should have worked, and he's fully transformed, so the time's right!" yelped Althea as she dodged a painful stream of black lightning.

"It's because you have to do it on the original clone!" groaned Quinn as she analyzed the sea of doppelgangers, "You can't use the staff on the copy! To really cure Multiple, you need to break the original because that's the one with the Hellfire Heartless spore! All the other clones are carbon copies, but they don't have the spore so your staff won't cure them!"

"Of course. Things never are that easy for us," groaned Spirit as he cocked his wrist and skillfully threw his Bowie knife into the eye of one Hellfire monster, causing it to howl in pain as the metal blade sunk into its eye socket.

Althea gave something akin to a horrified grimace as she looked around the sea of doubles and blurted out in dread, "I can't use my staff on all of them! And we don't know which one is the real Jamie!"

"No need! I managed to place a tracer on the real and original Heartless that used to be the kitten with my glovatrix! If you can locate the signal, it'll lead you right to him!" Razor yelled as he ran up to Wavedancer and Trinity.

"Got it!" gasped Daria with several clicks on her scanner and getting a positive pinpoint, "The original Heartless in the hangar bay where we landed!"

"Let's go then. Everyone else, stay here and help the League! Trinity, Razor, come with me to help cure Jamie!" Wavedancer commanded, but Whitelighter, who was next to Jake, shook his head furiously.

"I'm coming too!"

"You'll just get in the way, Moore, so quit being stupid and stay here!" snapped Razor, baring his fangs, and partly snapping at Whitelighter because he was inflamed that he wanted to come and defy orders, but also because to do so would endanger himself (and after his nightmares, it was the _last_ thing Jake wanted).

"Go!" Althea commanded as Trinity shot Justin an apologetic look before they used their teleporter watches to disappear along with Wavedancer and Razor. Whitelighter looked hurt and concerned before he shared a look with Tinkerbell who was now perched on his shoulder. She nodded. Blind Master saw this and cursed, having a good inkling what Whitelighter was plotting to do.

"Don't you dare!" snarled the Joe ninja, grabbing Whitelighter roughly by the arm, "So help me, Justin, if you even try it, I'll -"

But to his anger, Whitelighter mouthed an apology before he orbed himself and his Disney summon out of his grasp. Blind Master cursed as he tore and leapt across the fray with his ninja senses and his katana ready, swearing that he would be calm enough to not shake Justin and scream at him once he got hold on him. Meanwhile, a few of the X-Men were using their mutant powers on Luxord directly while the Professor gave them telepathic input and potential pitfalls of the battle via his telepathy.

"So, you a gambling man, _mon ami_?" snarled Gambit as he expertly flicked out five cards each in both of his fists, the strips of cardboard pinned between each curled finger starting to glow dangerously pink as the potential energy changed into kinetic, "Then let's see how well your pair does against Remy's straight flushes! And Remy know that no one beat this Cajun at cards!"

With that, Gambit flung all then cards with amazing dexterity, and Luxord, sensing the danger, immediately summoned two gigantic cards in front of him to shield his body from the energy attack. But the cloaked man was rudely surprised when all the ten energy cards, once striking his magical objects, caused such a terrific explosion that he was sent stumbling backward from his levitated position by several feet.

Apparently, the X-Men especially were no pushovers.

"You play the game well, vermin! But I daresay that the avarice and cunning of a gambler far outweighs the miserable luck of a alley rat!" growled Luxord before he snapped his fingers and created a set of five gigantic cards with razor-sharp edges to go flying about in spiraling movements and tail-spinning circles, like facing the blades of five propellers. And like trying to face and dodge the razor sharp edges of propellers, Gambit was precariously close to getting his head and body parts lopped off.

"_Mon dieu!_" gasped Gambit as he adroitly leapt backwards and used his metal bo staff to knock aide or block the metal cards. But with the five sharp objects surrounding him and leaving little space for him to sidestep, it would only be a matter of time. But before Remy could fall prey, one of the new Justice League's recruits, a blue-skinned, strapping man with the appearance of a demon and holding on tightly to a flying trident, swooped down and grabbed the X-Man firmly around the waist with one arm.

"Don't worry, I got you!" Blue Devil yelled as he rocketed out of harm's way with Gambit in tow. Gambit couldn't help but blink dumbly at the sight of the hero. Blue Devil, understandably, rolled his eyes.

"_Yes_, I'm a hero, and _yes_, I really do look like this," he drawled with some dry humor.

"Actually, Remy think that you really need to meet a friend of his," quipped Gambit, thinking instantly of Nightcrawler, "And thanks for the save, _mon ami_."

"Don't thank me, yet, Cajun," gulped Blue Devil as Luxord flung several cards directly at the two, but thankfully, this allowed him to be somewhat distracted…

"And I daresay that you're incredibly stupid for attackin' an alley rat who's got a girlfriend strong enough ta' do **this**!" yelled a Southern voice from behind, and a split second later, not even enough time for Luxord to register the voice, he was painfully rammed from behind and sent flying only to come to a crushing stop to the nearest metal wall, leaving a deep impression. But miraculously, there was no blood, and the Organization solider simply brushed off the dust off his black cloak as he narrowed his blue eyes in fury to see Rogue flying towards him with a gigantic steel bar she managed to rip out from the rubble formed when the Hellfire Heartless attacked. It was the bar that she used as a makeshift baseball bat to strike her opponent with, and though he couldn't be killed in such a manner, Luxord was now incredibly annoyed from being attacked so rudely from behind.

"How foolish," he chided himself as he flung a gigantic six-sided die at Rogue, the cube-shaped object flying and rocketing towards the Southern mutant like a cannonball, but thankfully, the X-Girl was able to swerve madly and dodge it, "I should have anticipated that."

"Yeah, well it looks like you're out of luck anticipating our moves now, asswipe!" growled Green Arrow as he fired a bomb arrow at Luxord (who deflected it easily with a mere card acting as a shield). The bearded man smiled smugly, which made Cyclops' eyes widen as a possibility hit him, and he turned to Jean.

"Something's wrong…" he said with conviction, "Tell the Professor and Superman there's something weird about this. Organization Thirteen wouldn't do this attack right in our faces unless he has something else planned. This whole attack is fishy unless - "

"He's distracting us for a reason!" exclaimed Jean as she realized it as well, "But why and where? Whatever he's planning, it could be **_anywhere_** on Earth except the Institute and the Pit!"

---

Meanwhile, the White Bishop, Donald Pierce, teleported into the center of the reactor core room of the Watchtower in a plume of black aura with the fellow Organization member, Lexaeus, the strapping man in the black cloak holding out his black, yellow, and red tomahawk in his gloved hand. And their sudden appearance startled the human personnel who were doing their best to maintain and keep the room and main core of the operations safe and secure.

Had Jean known that the two were several floors below them in the very same vicinity, she wouldn't have said her last statement.

The chambers that safely contained the nuclear power core and mainframe servers of the entire computer network were indeed the most valued and vital section in the entire Watchtower base. Not only did it house their power supply, but the terminals and servers connected with every terminal and console throughout the headquarters, from the communicator and monitors to the teleporter pad and Mass Device that was maintained by Mr. Terrific to even the simple wireless Internet services provided by the Watchtowers encrypted signal.

And of course, the room itself was fortified with the top-of-the-line security, implementations and safeguarding technology that had to be at least ten years ahead of Earth's time and all being meticulously analyzed by Batman, Mr. Terrific, Batgirl, and Martian Manhunter on a thorough basis. Not only were their security pads with voice recognition devices, retina devices, and hand-scanner screens to detect DNA and the existence of a pulse, Superman had Raven from the Titans, Dr. Fate, Dr. Strange, Jason Blood, Willow Rosenberg, Giles, and Zatanna all cast massive amounts of protection spells and force-field wards on the console room to protect it magically as well.

But unfortunately, even with all these safeguards, it still wasn't enough to keep the Organization out. And unlike the X-Mansion and the Pit, Leomon never shielded the Watchtower.

"The Organization!" gasped one female brunette in her purple and silver staff uniform as Pierce calmly pressed a button on his cyborg-bionic arm to release a magnetic pulse to disable and short-circuit all the security cameras and channels that were in the core room, thus ensuring that no one would be able to hone in on the intrusion until it was too late. And since not even Professor X's telepathy could break through their mental shields, they were practically nonexistent to any mind-reader.

"Get the hell out!" yelled one male employee, quivering inside but valiantly remaining courageous to the very end, standing in front of the room and blocking Lexaeus and Pierce's paths. Lexaeus raised his arm a bit to brandish his weapon in the light of the room, the edges glinting dangerously.

"We'll give you a chance to run for your lives…" he said in a stony drawl, suggesting that the six members of human resources would take the easier path and get out of their way. The four men and two women looked at each other before they came to a unanimous and what could only be considered a brash but noble decision.

"CHARGE!" the six normal humans roared as they blitzed the Organization member and the mutant together as a single unit, and one man actually managed to pick up a swivel chair while his co-worker picked up a fire extinguisher to use as a club. But before the six members of the League's staff could fully get close, Pierce simply activated the machine gun component of his arm and fired a volley of armor-piercing bullets into the crowd without the slightest hesitation.

_Budda budda budda budda budda!_

"We could have used their hearts, Pierce," Lexaeus said with a bit of hindsight as he stonily watched the six bullet-ridden and gory corpses slump to the floor, already forming pools of blood to mix with the pieces of flesh and skin that went flying out. The Inner Circle member shrugged with no more concern as if swatting an annoying fly at the now unrecognizable dead bodies.

"The hearts of flat-lines are useless anyway…" Pierce shrugged as he began typing at one of the keyboards of the consoles of the mainframe, relaying on his communication-link back to Luthor while inserting in a specialized portable drive consisting of an unorthodox yet effective combination of alien nanotechnology, black magic, and advanced hacking software into one of the console's ports.

"I'm in…" Pierce said as the drive managed to make its way through the secure system and its defenses without a hitch while making sure that anyone else logged in on the network would be frozen and locked out indefinitely.

"Excellent," Luthor's voice said smugly over the transmission, "Now to put the technology the Hellfire Club and I have acquired from Cadmus to good use…"

---

"Okay, we're here!" Quinn yelled as she, Daria, Brittany, Althea, and Jake teleported into the hangar bay where all the League's Javelin's and the X-Men's X-Hyperdrive resided in the gigantic metal holding, "This is where Jamie is!"

A sea of inhuman growls greeted her, and the five looked all around to see that to their shock and dread, there wasn't one Heartless waiting for them. A massive throng of short Hellfire gremlins with beady yellow eyes were advancing all around them, claws and teeth ready to rip them to pieces and steal their hearts.

"Oh, damn it to hellcats!" Jake cursed as he readied his glovatrix.

"Thank you, Lord. Things can't ever be easy in this universe, can they?" Wavedancer muttered sarcastically under her breath as the homicidal and vicious pack stampeded…

"Agh!" Green Arrow cried out in pain as several of Luxord's cards pinned him against the wall, and enraged, Black Canary tried to use her sonic scream on the goateed man, only to find that she was unable to fully knock him back as he dodged her attack before flying towards her with cards ready to slice her head off.

"I win," he sneered.

Luxord apparently spoke too soon as he painfully was caught unaware as the Disney deer, Bambi, leapt out of nowhere and at the last minute, rammed his furry head directly into the soldier's stomach, knocking the wind out of him and stopping the attack on Black Canary. The blonde woman didn't know whether she should feel grateful or embarrassed that a Disney character rescued her as Luxord snarled murderously at the animal that was protectively in front of Black Canary, head lowered and frowning.

"You servants of the King are beginning to thoroughly annoy me!" Luxord growled as he summoned several dice to hurl at Bambi and Black Canary and crush them to death until Green Lantern encased the black-robed antagonist inside a green bubble with his power ring.

"I don't think so, chump…" growled back John, but to his slight surprise and taken back, Luxord simply slashed at the spherical cell entrapping him with the edges of his cards, and like a soap bubble, the green energy force-field popped and disappeared into harmless pieces.

"Did you really think that clichéd two pair would hold against my full house?" Luxord chuckled as he summoned five gigantic metal cards and sent them flying at Green Lantern who easily dodged him, but because the Organization member was so distracted, it allowed Danny Phantom to turn somewhat intangible and throw himself into the man's body.

"Of course not! We're not that stupid! Green Lantern was just keeping you busy so that I could posses you!" the silver-haired teenager specter bragged as Luxord hissed in pain and clasped his hands to his temples, writing and jerking his body wildly and uncontrollably as Danny Phantom continued to try to stall the Organization member, fusing himself into the opponent's psyche. Meanwhile, Green Arrow was still pinned to the wall by the sharp metal blades.

"Can somebody get me out of here?" he hollered as Black Canary and Bambi rushed over. Dinah tried to grab one mammoth card and yank it out, but it was wedged in tight, and she accidentally brushed her palm against the keen edge and severely cut her hand, causing a bleeding deep gash and for Dinah to swear a foul oath. And if her sonic screams did break those cards before, then they certainly wouldn't work now. Bambi then bleated before he did another unexpected but amazing feature.

"Bah-ah-ah-ah!" the deer fawn said adoringly before he turned around, leaned forward, and kicked sharply with his hind legs, rapping his cloven hoofs onto the metal card. To Black Canary and Green Arrow's amazement, the deep's hind kick completely shattered the card and caused it to collapse into serrated and jagged pieces on the ground, as if someone took a hammer to a pane of glass.

"Whoa…" blinked Black Canary. For a small baby animal, Bambi's head and hooves were deceptively strong, and with several more strikes, Green Arrow fell to the floor, bruised and with minor cuts, but at least free and all the cards holding him kicked and smashed to pieces. The masked archer chuckled as he scratched the deer's head.

"Thanks. Owe ya' one, you little scamp."

"No matter how many times people tell me about the Misfits, I'm still trying to get around the fact that we were helped by a Disney character of all things," blinked Dinah as she helped Oliver up. Meanwhile, Danny Phantom was unceremoniously thrown backwards and away from Luxord, only to come crashing to the floor with a painful thud.

"Danny? What happened?" Jay asked as he shot at Luxord with his proton gun with one hand while helping Danny up with the other. The half-ghost superhero shook his head in surprise and astonishment.

"I couldn't posses him! I don't know why, but whoever this Organization dude is, I can't control him with my ghost-powers! He's not normal! It's like…he's almost empty inside and thus, it's impossible for me to manipulate something that's not there!"

"No problem! He can still feel the wrong end of my fist! Prepare to get a can of Whoop-Ass, Card-Man!" growled Booster Gold as he flew towards Luxord with his flight ring.

"The type that's one-hundred percent mercy-free, I might add, chump!" Blue Beetle quipped as he fired with a laser pistol. Luxord didn't seem so piqued as he snapped his fingers, and with a cloud of white smoke, both Booster Gold and Blue Beetle were magically transformed into gigantic playing cards, stuck in frozen, painted positions of floating slabs of metal. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on whom you asked), they were still able to talk.

"Wow, we're playing cards now," blinked Michael.

"You know…this isn't so bad really. At least it gives us a new perspective whenever we play poker from now on. And it could be worse," Ted admitted. Booster, true to his form, forgot the precariousness of their situation.

"Actually, just think of it! Justice League playing cards! Think of all the merchandising we can do with this, Beetle! We'd make millions! I mean, who else wouldn't want playing cards displaying the mighty heroes of the Justice League? We'd be famous!"

"We're already famous, genius."

"Well…even more famous! Just think of how popular these things would be, with me as the Ace…no, wait! The King card!"

"You mean 'Queen', Booster," snickered Blue Beetle.

"At least I wouldn't be the Joker. That's obviously **your** role," bantered Booster shamelessly.

"There go two of the League's classic examples of attention deficit disorder," muttered the Leaguer member named Vibe as he generated a powerful sonic boom to knock aside a storm of cards from eviscerating them.

"Please remind me to strangle whoever was the idiot who nominated and sponsored their memberships," Ice groaned as she created another wall of frozen water to block and shield her friends and teammates from the being struck by a Heartless' claws.

Obsidian quipped, "You would probably need to get in line behind Batman if anything for _that_ one."

Luxord then decided to see how the battle in docking quarters of the Watchtower was faring as he teleported in a moment to the star-craft storage area to see that Trinity, Razor, and Wavedancer were fighting as best as they could, with Trinity using another instance of their Keyblade attack, Trinity Limit, and Wavedancer managing to save up enough mana energy to summon another Water Dragon. The kat, in the interim, was firing missiles from his glovatrix. Obviously, the X-Man was the only one who wasn't blessed with the King's magical legacy.

Luxord grinned; then the kat would be an easy kill…if he was isolated and alone.

With a snap of his fingers, Wavedancer could only utter a shout of surprise as a flurry of cards surrounded her and caused her to disappear from space and time, just like Luxord had done before with the other members of the Justice League.

"No!" cried out Trinity. Now there was no way to cure Jamie, but the gambler wasn't finished yet as he snapped his fingers again, and with three puffs of smoke, Daria, Quinn, and Brittany were all magically transformed into three, six-sided, beige-colored die, each of them having their faces painted realistically on one side. Now they were useless in battle as well.

"What the fur and paw?" gasped Jake as he looked up. Luxord smiled as he summoned three cards before flinging them at the furry ex-SWAT Kat.

"A game of chance and time and the odds are quite stacked against you. I daresay, Mr. Clawson, care to wager your heart in this simple contest of luck?" he teased mercilessly, as one of the cards deeply sliced into Jake's back as he tried to dodge it, causing the kat to yowl. Jake fell to his paws and knees in agony and crippling pain, feeling the blood soak his uniform immediately as the Heartless began to close in. Thankfully…

"Lumiga…Mark of the Sun!" yelled Justin, and Luxord was caught by surprise at the magical attack of light struck him in the back, thoroughly stunning him temporarily, while Tinkerbell and Whitelighter rushed towards the fallen Razor. Justin swallowed the urge to throw up as he effectively hacked away at the Heartless with his Healing Mercy while Tinkerbell touched the wound of Jake's back and healed it before she perked her head up at one Heartless gremlin in the distance, sensing something with her magic. Without a word, she rushed towards that Heartless before bathing it with her pixie dust, causing it to glitter.

Meanwhile, Justin knelt next to Jake worriedly, and the kat, when his vision began to clear thanks to the Disney fairy's healing, became angry when he saw that Justin showed up when told not to.

"I thought I told you to stay where it's safe!" growled Razor.

"I was worried! You nearly got killed! And besides, there's no one else here!" protested Whitelighter. Razor didn't answer as he grabbed the teenager by the shoulders and yanked him out of the path of the incoming cards as Luxord, now recovered from Whitelighter's attack, was fuming from his aerial position in the sky at them. Jake cursed; they were both in danger now.

"I believe you were not invited to this duel, you lout," growled Luxord as he summoned another pack of cards, and before they could envelop them both, Justin shoved Jake out of the way until he was trapped in an unbreakable prison of cards. Whitelighter, fearful, then tried to hack his way through, but his Keyblade didn't make a single dent.

"Oh no…" groaned Whitelighter, now realizing that he got in over his head now that he was separated from battle. Razor could have echoed that same sentiment (though he was more worried about Jamie and Justin's safety than his own) as he then resorted to his karate skills to push and throw the clones away from him. Luxord smiled at last; the mutant fool failed to see that it was useless…

But then Luxord was stunned as the multiple Heartless surrounding Razor did not gain any energy as the kat continued to use his glovatrix and martial skills to blast and toss aside any foe that got too close for comfort as he tried to make his way through to the original Jamie-Heartless. And despite the actual physical contact of Jake's fists, feet, and clawed paws grabbing, punching, and kicking, none of the Heartless were unable to rip the kat to pieces nor become stronger from absorbing the X-Man's…

Luxord cursed as it came to him.

"The furry wretch _has_ no X-Gene!" he snarled at his oversight as he summoned two razor-sharp cards in his hands like twin swords, ready to fly and use his metal weapons to quarter the anthropomorphic animal. But thankfully, even in dice form, Trinity came to the rescue.

Wham!

"Leave Razor alone, you big meanie!" Daria snapped as she rammed a pointy end of her transfigured body into the spot of Luxord's back right between the shoulder blades. It hurt a lot more than it looked. In fact, the Organization was surprised that it actually felt like a wrecking ball being slammed right into him on the account that Daria sent his pitching forward. Catching himself and landing on his hands and knees, Luxord turned with murderous blue eyes and growled, ready to crush her, but then Brittany struck next.

"You big jerk!" Brittany called out as she literally bounced up and down on Luxord's back in the sprawled position, actually threatening to flatten him to the ground. And it was hardly pleasant, though certainly a lot more humiliating.

"Bloody hell! Get off!" roared Luxord as the mutant adolescent kept jumping up and down on his body rather painfully, threatening to flatten him into a pancake (and he knew that Demyx and Axel would never let him hear the end of that embarrassing predicament). He teleported away only to reappear behind the two girls ready to hack them to pieces with additional cards…only to foolishly not take into account that Quinn would attack from his blind spot, like a true disciple of Storm Shadow and Blind Master.

"You big…poop-head!" Quinn yelled as she collided into the bearded gambler, causing him to falter and vainly attempt to block the assault at the last minute, forgetting temporarily his attack on Daria and Brittany. The two girls looked at Quinn with something akin to disdainful exasperation and disbelief.

"'_Poop-head_'? **_THAT'S_** the best you could come up with?" both Daria and Brittany exclaimed as the joined in the fray with their sister.

"Hey, we've been turned to dice and we can't use our Keyblades and our time magic! Forgive me if I can't come up with devastating insults!" Quinn snapped as they chased Luxord while he kept fruitlessly teleporting to gain some distance while the three large dice tailed after him, not even giving him a few seconds of respite.

Meanwhile, Whitelighter was desperately trying to orb out of his prison with just as much luck as the other heroes from the Justice League. He still was unable to find a way out, and whimpering, the teen took several deep breaths to calm himself. After all, as the other instructors advised him over and over again, panicking (which was a tendency of his) wasn't going to get him anywhere out of sticky situations.

Feeling helpless and not sure what else to do, Justin clasped his hands together, shut his eyes, and pleaded to the thin emptiness he was confined in, "Pluto, please!"

There were several seconds of silence, and for a moment, Whitelighter was scared that the canine couldn't reach him.

"Pluto, please! Help me and my friends, please!" Justin begged again.

Just then, a loud bark of affirmation brought him out of his reverie, and startled, Whitelighter yelped and stumbled backwards, falling on his butt, and nearly hyperventilating as Pluto, sitting on his haunches, panted and laughed at the sight of the nerve-wracked Misfit. Regardless, Whitelighter was so relieved to see the Disney hound that he didn't even stop to think of how absurd it was to have him here if the dog was supposed to be back at the shielded G.I. Joe Pit.

"Pluto, please, help me get out of here! I'm stuck and the others are in trouble!"

Pluto gave Justin a look of regret as he softly moaned and shook his head, letting the boy know that he couldn't do that. Justin was beside himself with shock and hurt.

"Pluto, please! Why? I can't fight if I'm trapped, and the League and Jake's out there! Please! Why can't you? Don't you have the power to do it? Can't you save all of us?"

Pluto's look then grew a bit stern, as if offended, before he shook his head again, as if to say, _I can't do everything for you._

Justin then realized that there was thing he could do, and unlike the others, he certainly "Then…can you help Jake at least? Can you give him my magic? I can't use it in here, and I used up all my reserves, but Jake can use it to save Jamie!"

Pluto now raised one eyebrow; he didn't know whether to be amused or worried. And like Willow and Evan, Pluto didn't have much of a chance to see the strength in Jake's heart, and as a dog, he naturally would have reservations on some basic, primal instinct on helping a cat. And add the fact that the Misfit was blatantly still having a puppy-dog loyalty to Jake, so to speak…

Whitelighter just carried on, "Pluto, please! I know everyone tells me that I'm stupid for it, but I want to help Jake! I'm not doing this because I still have feelings for him - "

Pluto snorted loudly. He could see the lie in **that** one, and ashamed but still adamant, Justin faltered before continuing in his argument.

"All right, fine. I **do** still care about him, but I also care about the League and X-Men too. And Jake's lost so much from leaving his home and losing Chance that it won't be fair to him or the other X-Men if he can't help Jamie! He cares for him a lot, much more that most of the X-Men because Jamie stood by him in Megakat City! Please, Pluto, take my magic and give it to Jake! Please, I'm begging you! I'll willingly give it up!"

There was silence as Pluto averted his gaze and pondered, and Whitelighter went on his hands and knees, truly desperate.

"Pluto, there's nothing wrong with giving someone a chance to save their friends. And I don't want Jake to suffer and go through that pain again…even if it's not with me. Please…please! I give it up for Jake! I'll give it up to save my friends and the League! Please! If you gave it to Willow for Lance, then there's no reason why you shouldn't…"

Whitelighter then trailed off as Pluto, with a look of resignation but still smiling with compassion nonetheless, as his pupils began to glow a bright and intense red. Justin could have sobbed with relief.

Back at the battle in the sealed hangar bay, Razor was panting heavily. He wasn't so sure how much longer he could keep this up, and Luxord was pleased to see the fatigued kat fall to his knees in exhaustion after firing a smoke missile to distract the crowd and earn him a bit of respite as he wearily rolled to the safe distance. It wouldn't be much longer now…

Luxord froze when he then finally noticed that through the brown fur, the X-Man's forehead was glowing the infamous sigil of the Fira Kingdom, bathing a good portion of the vicinity around him with ruby-red illumination, the blessings of fire magic.

"No…" Luxord cursed with disbelief as Razor wearily stood up, feeling suddenly empowered.

"FIRA…" yelled Jake, extending out his glovatrix at the small Heartless that contained the real Jamie Maddrox, and to his surprise, a thin beam of fire formed and elongated across the back of his paw and formed a crossbow piece, a curved shape of a Hun bow burning and remaining in air until it was a good five feet across his paw. Though consisting of red and orange heat and flames, it didn't singe Razor in the slightest. And at first, the X-Man was confused on what the strange curved bar of fire magic was to do until he could detect the thin but glowing threat of flame, like a red-hot piece of piano wire, threaded from tip to tip of the shaft and it came instantly to mind what the magic was doing.

"Holy kats!" blinked Razor, "This is like a fire version of the crossbow attachment for our glovatrixes!"

"As much as we appreciate being amazed Razor…!" yelled Quinn.

"…could you please do us all a favor…!" continued Brittany.

"…and use your dumb magic **_while you still have a chance!_**" finished Daria as she and her sisters continued pummeling Luxord for all they were worth in their dice forms. To be fair, though the Organization member was extremely powerful, it was difficult to kill them and focus on attacking Razor while three large dice were thwacking him rather painfully on all sides, not even giving him a chance to get his bearings. The brown-furred kat then instinctively pulled at the string, amazed that the heat didn't scorch his claws and fingertips as he pulled.

"SWAT ARROW…" he continued the incantation, not knowing how he knew the words, but as if something deep inside him was telling him exactly what to say.

To his amazement, as he pulled, a gigantic arrow of fire appeared, growing in length the further the ex-SWAT Kat pulled on the drawstring, feeling it tighten and grow taut, until his reflexes and muscles, from years of firearm training as an Enforcer and vigilante, told him to stop. The arrow consisted of a thick shaft of solidified flame and a wicked, pointed arrowhead the size of his fist at the tip, glowing intensely in red and orange. Tinkerbell immediately rushed at the kat and said something in a bunch of incomprehensible chimes and tinkling of bells as she furiously pointed at one Heartless in the rear of the army. At first, Jake was confused until he noticed that out of all the Heartless in the room, this one was glowing and covered with glittering dust, shining like stars. But if that Heartless was the only one that was marked, then that meant…

"That's Jamie, isn't it?" Jake asked hurriedly, his heart pounding. Tinkerbell nodded.

Feeling it was now or never, Razor narrowed his eyes, squinting, as he located the only Heartless drone glowing in Tinkerbell's pixie dust and aimed carefully.

He only had one chance. And the rapid movement of the target and the other clones blitzing him in front and ready to rip him to shreds wasn't helping lessen the pressure of the dire situation.

"…AWAY!" the kat roared as he instinctively aimed for the center of the Heartless' chest and fired at Jamie, timing it so that as the Heartless tried to instinctively scurry away, he was fall directly in path of the projectile. The glowing Heartless screamed as the arrow blazed and tore through all its copies, as if following and magically homing in on the correct target due to the strength of Jake's heart, before it gorged right through its chest.

**_Kaaaasssshhhhhiiiippppp!_** Luxord was incredibly angered as the first and primary Hellfire Heartless droid, now singed and leaving a gaping, scorched hole through its chest, shuddered and fell to its hands and knees as all its clones and replicas screamed and disappeared like smoke, fading into thin air. And this enabled Falco to strike from behind before Luxord could do anything…

"Aeroga Shadow Phantasm!" the avian roared, hitting Luxord and causing him to weaken his hold on the time magic that he cast on Trinity, Whitelighter, and Wavedancer, and with a flash, they were all brought back to the present and in the hangar bay, and the Delgado Triplets were now human and fully capable of using their magic and Keyblades.

"Al!" Brittany cried, pointing at the remaining Heartless.

"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!" cried Wavedancer, pointing her staff at the weakened Heartless glowing in the telltale pixie dust from Tinkerbell. She inwardly prayed this was the right one; she only had enough strength for one last energy exertion. To her horror, the destabilized imp, sensing the danger, was about to make a break for it, but Trinity thankfully recharged enough of their internal mana thanks to the allotted time of staying in dice format (not that they were grateful for being stuck in those states).

"Stopra…Time Freeze!" the three girls all chanted, and with the ominous sound of a clack tick and a flash of link light, the original Heartless clone and all the others surrounding it was absolutely frozen and stuck in temporal stasis as the ten signs of the Elementa Kingdoms followed by the white trinity of the three finishes engulfed the room, but particularly one target entirely…

KAWHOOM!

At the same time, Falco was using his laser pistol on Luxord, giving the Organization member a hard time before Luxord hollered in absolute pain, startling everyone and getting the heroes' attention as the bearded gambler collapsed to his side, his back now sporting a massive and lethal cleave that actually sliced through his flesh and cloak from his right shoulder to his left rib-cage as Blind Master, finally able to reach the hangar bay, pointed his katana at the Organization's member's face.

"You win this hand," sneered Luxord despite his pain, and before Blind Master could stab him, he disappeared. Falco coolly regarded the heroes suspiciously looking at him until a cough from behind caused them to swivel around to see a rather reserved Octavia holding a lone heart crystal in her green-skinned hands. The Delgado Triplets gasped in realization.

"That's Jamie's! Give it back!" they cried out in anger, and Octavia regarded them with a sad look.

"It wasn't a Talisman. I checked it. Your Multiple's heart has no use for us," she said softly, and with a simply lob, she tossed it back at the prone and unconscious form of Jamie, lying on his back on the metal floor, and like magic, the heart faded into his chest before a blue keyhole formed and Althea, to her surprise, felt her scepter quiver and tremble in reaction. The Misfit leader raised her white staff in her hands and pointed it at Jamie's body, and with that, a beam of dark blue light shot out and entered the keyhole on Jamie's body. With a click, Multiple's heart was sealed. Razor, mad out of his mind with worry and concern, ran over and rushed down to Jamie, picking up the adolescent in his arms before breathing a sigh of relief at seeing Multiple's chest move up and down slowly in a breathing rhythm while feeling a faint heartbeat.

He nodded to the group; Jamie would be all right. Justin made a move to walk towards Razor until Blind Master furiously grabbed Whitelighter by the back of the Misfit's collar, jerking him to a standstill.

"Just what the hell were you thinking? You could have been killed for doing something that stupid and going against orders! And all for **_him_**?" he whispered with all the ferocity and livid wrath he could muster under his breath. Justin looked ashamed as he stared down at his feet. He couldn't think of an excuse, and Jake felt a pang of guilt at seeing this.

Meanwhile, back above with the Joes and the X-Men…

"NOW!" commanded Black Canary as she, Vibe, Danny Phantom, and Simba all roared in unison, the quartet combining Dinah's sonic screams, Vibe's sound waves, Danny's Ghost Wail, and Simba's Proud Roar against the Hellfire Heartless. The experiment didn't even have much of a chance, and thankfully, none of those attacks were generated by an X-Gene.

KABOOM!

The combined sonic wave was absolutely devastating as it tore into the Heartless and sent it flying across the hall before it was rent apart into shreds of bloody flesh and disintegrated into a cloud of dark smoke and evil aura.

"That's the last one down!" Danny yelled, "There's no more! All the Heartless are gone!"

"And our friends are back!" exclaimed Blue Devil as Luxord's spells wore off, and the cards reappeared only to bring back Vigilante, Gypsy, and all the other members of the Justice League that the enemy had incapacitated earlier.

"Even the clones have like totally disappeared!" Shadowcat breathed with relief, already tired and weary. But then, to everyone's confusion, the Watchtower began to rumble, as if something big, powerful, and destructive was building up in energy, as if activated.

"Superman! The nuclear gun! It's been activated! **And we can't stop it!** The computers are ignoring all our commands to override the system!" Mr. Terrific exclaimed with horror over the monitor. Superman and Green Lantern shared a look of pure grief, fear, and dismayed terror.

"But that's impossible! We never activated it! And no one else can gain access to the main nuclear weapon!" John swore. Superman then blinked as it came to him and remembering what Xavier and Jean just warned him about their suspicions earlier ago, but Wolverine voiced it first.

"Damn it! The Organization! This whole thing was a distraction!" Logan cursed.

---

"Mission completed. They'll never be able to stop it now," Pierce said gleefully as the Watchtower's most prominent and most destructive weapon began to whine as the nuclear reactors sent massive amounts of energy at the colossal firearm, aiming at the intended target of the United States capital.

"Excellent," Lexaeus said simply as he touched Pierce's shoulder and teleported the both of them away.

---

"It's aiming at Washington D.C! Oh my God! The Watchtower's nuclear gun! **_It going to fire at Washington D.C!_**" screamed Daria in fright as she looked at her scanner, only to see that the pre-destined coordinated and settings of the Watchtower's weapons sent a cold chill of ice down her spine. Falco cursed as he looked with wide eyes of horror at an ashen-faced Octavia.

All those people and innocent lives…

"Shit!" the blue-feathered falcon cursed as both he and the Tigershark summoned a portal and flew into it before the stunned crowd could stop them. Within seconds, both Falco and Octavia were magically brought to the United States capital, hidden amid the cheery blossom trees of the national parks before Falco and Octavia both slammed their hands flat on the ground.

"In the name of the Aeroga Kingdom…" whispered Falco, clenching his eyes tight as he invoked every ounce of internal strength and willpower into the magic. His entire body within a moment began to shine in a silvery aura.

"In the name of the Aquara Kingdom…" prayed Octavia, though she was deeply terrified, as she began to glow in a deep blue luminescence, and together, the magic of the two Elementa Kingdoms spread quickly throughout the city as it emerged from the one thought on both of the warriors' minds.

_Please let us have enough to stop the blast…_

---

Washington D.C. didn't have a chance. The nuclear gun discharged.

It was swift. Instantaneous. And as it thundered down from the heavens…angels wept.

---

_Please let us have enough to stop the blast…_

_Please let us have enough to stop the blast…_

_Please let us have enough to stop the -_

There was a gigantic flash of light.

---

Back at the Watchtower in Earth's lower orbit…

"Oh sweet mother of Jesus…" Agent Jay swore with remorse and sorrow as he looked at the screens showing the destruction. His mother, a fervent Christian, would have taken her hand to his ear for that one lapse of using the Lord's name in vain, but due to circumstances, it would have easily been understandable. Whitelighter orbed himself and the other back to their family (with Jake carrying an unconscious and bruised Multiple in his arms like a baby) only to see the gruesome scene.

"All those people…" Danny sniffed, his eyes prickling and his stomach turning to ice. This was indeed the first time he had witnessed a butchery and carnage in such a manner; not even his time in the Ghostbusters and in Amity Park would have prepared him for such a sight.

Indeed, it was much too brutal and intense for a teenager to see, or rather any sentient human with a conscience to see. To everyone's collective horror (though a few such as Batman, Quentin, and Question did their best to not display much emotion), they viewed on the aftermath of the capital of the United States. Now, a good portion of Washington D.C. was nothing more than a smoldering crater, a noticeable black dot on the topographical screen displaying the layout of the suburban and metropolis area in Washington D.C. and the state of Virginia, smoking and harshly condemning to the various founders of the League as a reminder of their failure. Though thankfully it somehow left the White House unscathed, it was still devastating. National landmarks of founding and significant history had been reduced to charred hunks of rock, metal, and ashes in seconds, and the Washington Monument was painfully broken in half. The Pontomac River has a good portion of its shore and banks vaporized from the beam of energy, and now, the tributary was filling the deep crater formed from the explosion's effects, forming a lake and dooming the bodies trapped in the rubble to a watery grave. At least it managed to extinguish the intense fires in the crater, being slowly submerged with muddy and contaminated liquid bit by bit, which unfortunately wasn't saying much for the other fires all around the entire city that were caused by the ruptured gas lines, sewer mains, and the aftermath of the heat of the fiery blast. Trees and lawns were rendered to nothing more than ashes and charred splinters, buildings had imploded or crumbled from the concussive force of the detonation, falling to their sides and leaving piles of heavy rubble and concrete dust, and power lines had toppled, sparking madly next to the infinite piles of overturned and wrecked cars, many of them containing corpses of people who were busily going about their normal lives. Not even the worst traffic jam pile-up on the world's busiest freeway could amount to this much of a bloodbath.

And in the dreary and macabre silence in the room, the communicators all sprang to life as Batgirl and Mr. Terrific (with Barbara doing her best to sob silently) used their consoles and brought up the various reports as the explosion in Washington D.C. let loose the floodgates of what could only be one of the biggest media firestorms in history. It was amazing that how no one, not even the usually talkative Quicksilver and the Flash, could think of anything to say as the words and reports washed over them like a wave of doom.

Hector Ramiriez, a nosy TV reporter that had meddled before in the past with G.I. Joe, had his face spring up in a sectioned media box, his face unusually grave and solemn as he said in a quivering voice, "_This is Hector Ramiriez from Twenty Questions with a special report…_"

"_Property damage ranging in the billions…_" spoke one male reporter from the BBC Network.

"_This is Angela Chen for Metropolis Edition 3 News with a special report from Washington D.C. The nation's capital has just been attacked…_"

"_We have word that rescue teams from the Red Cross, S.W.A.T teams, and the fire departments are already on the way, along with the police forces of Washington D.C. declaring an immediate crisis to a Red Terror Level alert…_" a man on CNN said with control and calm.

"_A possible state of emergency…_" commented one newscaster for ABC News.

"_The National Mall and the upper parts of the southwestern regions of the capitol has been completely demolished from the explosion_," a reporter from Fox News stated, his brow beaded with a slim sheet of sweat.

"_From what we can figure out from various police reports and eyewitness testimony, a powerful beam of energy of some sort had descended from the sky and caused an explosion directly into the city…_" Summer Gleason reported, her eyes troubled and obviously having difficult looking at the camera.

"_The death tolls can only be estimated to be in the hundreds…_" surmised one reporter who was already live at the sight, doing his best not to break down on the microphone over at MSNBC.

"Oh my dear stars and garters…" breathed Hank, holding a hand to his mouth and not sure he could hold in the urge to throw up at the thought of how so many lives were cut down in an instant.

"No…we failed…" Avalanche could only mutter before he fell to his knees at the carnage, and Simba, feeling his pain, growled softly with sympathy and sadness as he brought his furry face next to the Misfit's and rubbed his head alongside, trying to somehow comfort the geokinetic. Lance held the lion gratefully, but still felt pained. And he wasn't the only one. All the Misfits and Joes felt horrified, and Bree, Trinity, Toad, Blob, Dragonfly and Whitelighter were crying. Jean was too, shutting her eyes and holding her hands to her mouth as the images of the burnt corpses and the devastation as tears poured down her face. Rogue, for once, allowed Gambit to come up to her and rub her shoulders, both of them too stunned to say anything along with Wolverine, Razor, and Shadowcat. And the rest of the Justice League, the founders, the human staff, and the new recruits, were just as devastated, looking absolutely frozen or overwhelmed with guilt and grief.

Scott, however, as he was holding Jean, cursed inside his mind, thinking darkly to Pluto, _Are you happy now, you dumb mutt? This is what comes from giving the powers to only a few people! If you gave the magic and Keyblades to Jean, Kitty, and all the rest, then this would have never happened! We would have had more people to deal with this and prevent disasters like this from happening! We would have been able to wipe out the Heartless quicker and stop Pierce! This happened because of you not wanting to give up the Misfits' magic! I hope you're happy, you dumb flea-bag, because these people died because of you and your favoring the Misfits and Joes!_

And the saddest part was that a good portion of the X-Men would have been willing to agree with that sentiment.

Quentin thankfully managed to forego giving in to any emotion as he turned to Danny Phantom and Agent Jay, ordering sternly and briskly for the emergency, "Phantom, go back to headquarters and tell Calendar and the others what had happened as well as call the other elders to reconvene with me and the founders here at the Watchtower. She'll know how to resolve this and organize any aid to Washington. Jay, get your butt over to** your** organization and notify Zed, Kay, and all the other big-suits and let them know what happened quickly, and now'll be the time they can come up here to the meeting with the other leaders as well."

Danny nodded as he clicked on one of the spare teleporter watches to the Mass Device Trinity lent him and vanished in a blink of an eye. Agent Jay, understandably, was still shell-shocked, not to mention Quentin was precariously blabbing the clandestine organization of the Men in Black.

"But…but…" Jay stammered, and the dhampir growled, baring his teeth and getting close to vamping out, as he thrust his face in front of Agent Jay's.

"Go. **Now.** Unless you want your association to think the Justice League consists of hostile invaders and be forced to act accordingly."

"And it's all right," Superman said with a quivering breath as he turned to the Ghostbusters, "We know Zed. It's all right. He and the other Men in Black are fully aware of our operations here. It's not a secret with us."

"And now's not the time _to keep_ secrets after all this," Green Lantern said softly.

That hit home as the man nodded, gaining some composure and steel back before he pressed the button to the teleporter watch and disappeared into thin air. Meanwhile, Roadblock was contacting General Hawk.

"Hawk, this is Roadblock. Come in…"

"What the hell happened?" growled Hawk's voice immediately over the communicator, and one could actually hear the budding fury in his voice over the electronic device. To tell the truth, to the Joes, it was the most furious voice they have ever dared hear before and given their history, that wasn't a light statement.

"We had a situation up here in the Watchtower…" Roadblock sighed wearily, rubbing his eyes forcing himself to not break down and weep during his report. All those lives and historical buildings destroyed in an instant…all by one madman from the Hellfire Club. The machine gunner could almost picture his superior officer giving him a rather baleful and miffed look as he heard Hawk's next words.

"Oh really? Well damn it all, Hinton, and the nuclear explosion in Washington D.C. that destroyed the National Mall, the Jefferson Memorial, the Smithsonian Institution, and countless innocent civilian lives that must total in the thousands wasn't a clue because it's the biggest stretch of the word 'situation' yet!"

---

"Ugh…" Falco groaned, his beak feeling like it was stuffed with cotton and every fiber in his body crying out in agony as he regained consciousness only to see Octavia, covered with grime and dust and fatigued, but holding Falco's feathered wing and with tears of relief in her eyes.

They were alive?

"What…" Falco began weakly, and the female octopus gently draped Falco's wing over her neck and helped her friend stand from his sprawled position from the smoking and charred rubble. Falco looked around at the devastation before his heart sank.

They couldn't stop the blast entirely.

"At least we were able to shield the city from much of it," Octavia tried to console the avian as she summoned a portal, "Only _a fraction_ of the beam's power made its way through our magic. It could have been much worse."

"It's bad enough…" Falco whispered hoarsely, memories of when the Heartless Aparoid devastating his home world causing a lump in his throat as they limped into the portal and it sealed behind them.

They were going to need a lot of rest and several doses of Curaga magic after this.

---

Amanda Waller was furious. Supremely and justifiably furious. Outraged. And underlying those feelings were the obvious vindication of being right. Oh, they would pay for such a devastating loss on American soil, and she, as a patriot, would make the so-called Justice League pay for all the shed innocent blood, blood that could have been prevented if…

Her cell-phone, set on vibration-mode due to the noisy pandemonium and chaotic ruckus all around the White House due to the yelling, running about, and the frantic, nerve-wracking murmurs of phone calls, newscasts, and attempts to maintain some semblance of order, began to rumble softly in her jacket pocket. Due to the bedlam and hubbub, it was easy to reach a private corner and appear to be one of the hundreds of aides and staff frantically shouting on their respective instruments, and her heart skipped a beat, seeing how the LED display of her phone showed the caller I.D. pseudonym of one of the rarest of the rare callers on a private encrypted frequency.

"This is Waller," she stated in her deep voice, and she recognized the telltale, monotone, and mechanical scrambled voice of an Omega Juggler from the speaker.

"We've pinpointed the origin of the attack," General Blue's voice stated, "Your suspicions were right. It came directly from the Watchtower of the Justice League."

"As I have thought. Shall we take the President's plan for a full-out air strike?"

General Green's voice then brought down her expectations to rude and screeching halt as he replied through the voice scrambler, "No. General Hawk from G.I. Joe has just seconds ago reported to us that the Watchtower had been attacked by Heartless and that the Organization had temporarily taken control of the League's weapons system and used it upon the capital."

"General Hawk…" spat Waller, "Why is it I'm not surprised? Of course he and his insane Joes and mutant super-soldiers along with the X-Men and their precious allies would side alongside the League and completely ignore the truth!"

"Patience, Waller," General Gold's voice ran from her cell, "Keep in mind that though the influential General Hawk still has support, it isn't from us. Not any longer. And striking when the hubbub dies down along with when the Justice League's founding members least expect it will be all the more easier for us to rein them in and control them permanently."

"Let us simply say that we may be tempted to agree with your ideals after this incident," General Brown said.

The woman's face showed a bit of surprise before it melted into a cunning smile of satisfaction. Finally, some positive results.

"I take it that this means we have your full approval for Task Force X and the Ultimen?"

"Affirmative," replied General Green, "Do whatever it takes to neutralize any force that threatens the United States and prevent the domination of the Justice Lords from ever becoming a reality in _this_ dimension. And should the X-Men and Misfits get in your way, you have full pardon to do whatever is necessary."

General Orange's voice then spoke, "And like the growing Justice League, the Misfits are now becoming too powerful for their own good as well thanks to their Keyblades and newfound gifts. Should one or two fall in the fight to bring the League to justice for their crimes, then so be it."

"But do not act now. Wait for further instruction, but **do not act now**, for the good of this country and the world. And right now, the Justice League would rally their allies to help protect them. Their time shall come, but until then, prepare yourself and the rest of Cadmus. Rest assured, we will not let this slide," commanded General White's voice sternly.

"Understood," Waller said in a professional and final tone before she clicked her cell-phone closed with a final slam of the flip-top.

There would be hell to pay. And she would certainly see to it for the good of the country that the Justice League would never endanger innocent civilians ever again nor be in a position to do so.

**Author's Notes: Yep, folks, if you think this was bad, it's just going to get worse and worse. Next week, check back when the Justice League deals with the aftermath of the attack and losing the world's trust while the X-Men, Misfits, and Joes try their best to help offer support and deal any Heartless threats in the meantime. Despite sudden investigations in New York and run-ins with old friends, things still do not appear well as the Heartless invade the city and bring the attention of a certain wall-crawler! But can Scott overcome his resentments in this battle, especially with Jean's life at stake? Check back next Friday for the chapter, "Your Friendly Neighborhood Cyclops" and until then, read, review, and enjoy! Constructive criticisms welcome, and I'm glad to be back! Hope you didn't mind this chapter being three hours late from the Friday deadline!**


	27. Your Friendly Neighborhood Cyclops

**Author's Notes: I do not own the characters from the "Phantom Investigators" TV show and "Monster Fighters Inc." comic series. They are the respective properties of Warner Brothers Studios and Image Comics, J.R. Torres, and artist/writer Francis Manapul. The reason they are here in because again, they are recruits for the Ghostbusters in Sparky Genocide's "Ghostbusters United" universe, in which I'm bringing in to help give the X-Men and Misfits needed assistance during the Gathering of Twilight. That said, enjoy this chapter of…**

**CHAPTER 27: Your Friendly Neighborhood Cyclops**

"_I can't believe they did such a thing!!_" one woman gasped as she was being interviewed by CNN, "_The Justice League are such hypocrites!! Monsters, even! How could they have killed so many people like that?_"

Click.

"_I always said you couldn't trust alien freaks!! They have no right to be defenders of a planet that's not even theirs to begin with!! They've been planning to conquer it!! Conquer the Earth and enslave all of us, man!!_" one young college student declared proudly in front of the camera.

Click.

Footage of the explosion hitting the nation's capital were being displayed again, over and over again like a demented loop, focusing on the bright flash of light followed by the shockwave of fire and incinerating heat.

Click.

Summer Gleason from Gotham City News said in a restrained voice, as if she was still having problems to not cry at the images she had seen over a hundred times since the devastation yesterday as several volunteers from the army have removed yet another charred corpse, "_Rescue teams and the capital's law enforcement are still busy to excavate and clear out the rubble for any survivors, but for the few that have been discovered are dwarfed from the numbers of those that had perished from the explosion. The death toll has officially been declared from the National Guard as up to twenty-five hundred, and the numbers are only expected to grow as the search and efforts continue…_"

Click.

An old woman in England who was sitting in a coffee shop spoke hesitantly, "_I don't know what to believe anymore. I used to think that we could trust the Justice League and that we were safe, but now after this bloody attack…I daresay I'm not so sure anymore._"

Click.

"_I want my Mommy! I want my Mommy!!_" sobbed a six-year old girl, lying in an ambulance stretcher, bloody and receiving medical attention as she miraculously survived the explosion while she and her parent were in their car when the nuclear blast hit. Her mother, on the other hand, was not so fortunate.

Click.

"_Why isn't the government doing anything about this?_" yelled one woman, "_Why aren't the United Nations doing something and punishing those self-righteous freaks and destructive psychopaths? It couldn't be any more plain that the Justice League did this!! **We want them to be punished, each and every one of them!!!**_"

Click.

"_The Watchtower of the Justice League had been attacked by the Thirteenth Organization and their Heartless drones. They are not responsible for the attack on Washington D.C. **Repeat: the Justice League are not responsible for the attack on Washington D.C.** It was due to the fault of the Organization Thirteen and their Heartless, sent to weaken and discredit Superman and his allies by temporarily taking control of their weapon systems_," Maggie Sawyer spoke at a microphone and podium over in front of Metropolis City Hall where she was addressing the crowd of reporters and civilians. And due to the hushed murmurs of discontent, it was clear that the truth wasn't going to be believed nor accepted readily.

Click.

"_My fellow Americans…_" the current United States Secretary of Defense said in a grave tone as the background of the smoldering wreckage of the Washington Monument behind him, broken, damaged, and fallen, "_To quote President Franklin Roosevelt after the attack of Pearl Harbor, today is '**a date which will live in infamy**', due to the devastating attacks by the Justice League on innocent men, women, and children -_"

Click.

"_We just want to know why_," wept an elderly man with a bouquet of red roses who looked as if he'd seen through the Vietnam and Korean War, "_My brother was a patriotic soldier who was buried here at the memorial. His grave is now completely demolished along with the other brave men who gave up their lives in the past, and I have nothing to remember him by. His grave has been reduced to ash, and I just want to ask the League why. If not why they did it, then why did they let this happen?_"

Click.

This time, the BBC was filming live the various attempts for emergency wards from a multitude of hospitals to deal with the critically injured victims. Swamped by the sudden influx of patients, all the Washington medical centers had to outsource the patients to other nearby hospitals in Maryland and Virginia.

Click.

"_Aid and condolences have been pouring in from all over the world as well as organizations here in the United States. Large grants and resources have been pouring generously from a diverse gathering of organizations such as the Friends of Humanity, Wayne Industries, Lexcorp, William Stryker and the Church of Purity, Oscorp, Takuma Zaizen and the Purifiers, Shaw Industries, the Quarrymen, H.A.T.E., and Wilson Fisk. If anything, this attack on Washington D.C. has united this country like nothing before. The response for assistance and charity has been overwhelming_," said one newscaster on CNN.

Click.

A bearded man declared with fury, "_The Justice League is completely out of control!! What's to stop them from terrorizing us the next time? How can we protect ourselves from them if they do decide to screw us over and take charge? There's not a damn thing we'd be able to do to stop them!! And I sure as hell ain't letting myself or this country be left vulnerable to that!!_"

Click.

"_Ah fer cryin' out loud, the Justice League didn't do this!!_" the cranky fisherman from Metropolis named Bibbo Bibbowski before he shot a rude gesture with a particular finger at a series of booing and hissing off-screen, growling, "_Ah, screw you, buttheads!! It's a free country!! Look, even a half-wit like me can see that Superman would never shoot that cannon thing on the capital, and neither would his friends!! He's got the purest soul a guy could ever be!! They all was framed, I tell ya'!! **Framed!!!** And considerin' the Heartless have been attackin' us normal folks left and right, it's the truth that their tower got attacked and set off by those Thirteenth Order creeps!!_"

"It just goes on and on like that for all the channels. Everything's just news, news, news…" Amara groaned as she sighed and put down the remote, already resigned that anything on the television and media waves would be nothing but news reports and propaganda against the Justice League. She along with the other New Mutants, the surviving Morlocks, Forge, Tessa, and Lockheed were watching the never-ending broadcast of reports and special updates about the attack on Washington D.C. Jamie, now back to human form, was recovering steadily in the X-Men infirmary with Hank's help and with Razor taking it upon himself to keep his protégé and friend company, incredibly grateful Multiple wasn't killed. Though it was highly understandable since the weapon's destruction happened a day ago, it was the biggest media firestorm since the day mutants were outed to the public.

And that was not exactly a light statement.

"At least on the upside, General Hawk and several of the others are telling everyone the truth, that the Watchtower was attacked by the Heartless and that card-totin' Organization hood, so people gotta' believe them, right? I know not everyone will believe them, but people can't possibly think that the Justice League would do something like this, right? If you think about it, no smart person will believe that Superman and the others just snapped and fired for absolutely no reason after so many years of fighting bad guys and protecting innocents!" Sam protested.

"Not exactly," groaned Amara, "Tabby and I saw some of the polls on CNN when the reports declared that the energy beam that destroyed a portion of Washington came from the Watchtower. About eighty-five percent of the people interviewed from all over the world still suspect that the League had something to do with it, if not outright fired the weapon because they're doing a military coup and declaring war on everyone."

"You have to be pulling my leg! I can't believe people are just accepting that without thinking!! People should know that's not like the League!" Sam groaned.

Ray then spoke wisely, remembering how he himself gained extraterrestrial prejudices after the Furies attacked the Institute and kidnapped some of their friends for the ritual with the M'Kraan crystal, "It because they're scared, same with how people regard the mutant populations going up. When you're scared, you tend to just ignore the facts and just continue being hysterical and go into a panic and refuse to see anything obvious. It's easier to stay lost in your fear than changing your beliefs and admitting you were wrong."

"And hence why we're proud of you when you admitted to Robin that you were wrong about Starfire when we stayed over at Jump City," drawled Roberto teasingly, rubbing salt in that wound for all it was worth, earning himself a punch from Bezerker.

"Shut up!" retorted Ray, embarrassed.

"But…there are still some people who believe that it was a Heartless attack, right? Even though they can't provide any videos or anything, right? Didn't you just say that a few like Maggie Sawyer from Gotham City and Commissioner Gordon from Metropolis are trying to help testify that it really was caused by a Heartless attack? Doesn't that help?" Lucid pointed out. Like the rest of the Morlocks, he was no real fan of the League, but even he could see that this would end badly for everyone, including them and the X-Men.

Roberto shook his head as he corrected, "You got it slightly switched. Gordon is from Gotham City, and Sawyer is from Metropolis. But you're also wrong that it would help. Even with G.I. Joe, Gordon, and Sawyer vouching for the Justice League, people are still too mad about so many people dying for it to be accepted as a tragic accident. They was some sort of restitution, someone to blame."

"And unfortunately, the League's the easiest target, so it's no wonder those creeps from the Hellfire Club sent the Organization to frame them like this! That way, they'll be even under more stress and have a bigger mess to deal with than to stop the Heartless or any other creep that hates the League! It just makes more trouble for Superman and easier for the Thirteenth Order!" Tabitha griped.

"Caliban ask how did everyone find out that beam came from the Watchtower?" the gray-scaled lizard man asked in his usual snake-like drawl as Torpid and Artie both nervously chewed on popcorn, not having anything else to do while watching the news trainwreck.

"The Jugglers released it," grimaced Rina, remembering how much the Misfits (Trinity especially) briefed all of them about how the nuclear explosion send the Omegas in a very, very angry snit, and without fail, they released the investigative reports and proofs of the energy signature directly to Congress and Capitol Hill almost two hours after the blast. Things went downhill from there.

"Jugglers?" blinked Lucid, "Wait, the Jugglers as in those army bigwigs that really run the entire country that you told us about? The ones that make the President look like some kind of figurehead?"

"The very same," nodded Rina.

"And even if the League even tries to explain, no one is even giving them a chance to be heard," Forge said worriedly, "I was able to ask Blue Beetle and Green Lantern early this morning, and the news isn't good. Not even rad. Turns out that because of the attack and so much mistrust against the League, they won't allow any of the members of the Justice League to help with the evacuation and rescue efforts, even though they could use the help. And because people like the Titans, Misfits, and the Ghostbusters are 'too close' to the League, they won't accept help from them either. The first and only attempt they tried to show up to help out with the injured, people from the army under the Secretary of Defense's orders came up and forcibly told them to leave or else expect to be shot at on sight."

"You mean they won't let them help out? Even though they could use it?" Sunder blinked.

Forge shook his head, confessing, "No, and the League didn't want to cause more violence and fight over it, so they just gave in and left them alone. Like Wolverine said, we can't risk giving people more reasons to hate and mistrust us. And from what I was able to hear from Beetle, the government is rejecting the donations and aid given to them by the Ghostbusters as well since the last thing they want is money from those that associate themselves and stand by with the people they think are responsible for all this. I'm surprised they accepted the stuff from Wayne Industries since Bruce Wayne from Gotham City is a supporter of the Justice League for some gnarly reason."

"That stinks, but I'm just shocked that the Joes would willingly let the people from the military treat the League that way, even after telling the truth," Jubilee said, exhaling wearily.

"Actually, General Hawk and G.I. Joe are part of the temporary exile," Callisto said with her usual coldness, as if she wasn't surprised this was happening, as she walked in with Ororo and Evan, all three of them returning back from their emergency excursion on the Watchtower, "None of the government officials want the Joes to assist them either, because they angered a lot of powerful opponents in Washington by still siding with the League. Not that I support actually helping those topsiders since they certainly deserve this if this is how they refuse to see the truth and allow those in power to manipulate them like sheep."

"You're kidding!" exclaimed Jubilee which earned her a stern glare from the Morlock leader.

"I don't kid, X-Man," Callisto retorted.

"Great," grumbled Sam, "Lord only knows how much the Inner Circle is enjoyin' watching us and the League sweat!"

"Actually, funny you should mention that…" Spyke sighed as he took the remote control from the coffee table and pointed at the TV before clicking to the Fox News channel, "We just found out about this as we left the briefing with the main group and with the League over at the Watchtower and while helping clean up the damage of their operations."

There, on the screen, was Lex Luthor, standing at a podium and speaking on behalf of the Humanitarian Party in front of the White House.

"Oh dear…" sighed Tessa, showing that she had a good idea of where this was headed.

"It never fails," groaned Roberto, "No matter how bad things can get, there's always one of our enemies who has to jump in and make things a lot worse…"

Lockheed, in typical humor, made a retching noise followed by a dragon-version of the word "bleah".

"_People of Congress, men and women of the United States_," began Luthor, "_I assure you to not be overwhelmed with grief, but rather rejoice in the fact that in times of tragedy, we can unite and stand strong. Do not give in to your sadness and despair, but rather be encouraged at how much we put aside our differences and help each other through this tragedy, regardless of race, creed, religion, or gender. This is our true strength, our willingness to overcome over devastation. We will not be broken. We will rebuild. So please, do not despair and lose hope, but instead, additionally look at the nobility and virtue that can only come from the human heart. Don't just focus on seeing the bad, but how this event caused us to realize that deep down, we are all string and that we will all overcome._"

"Notice how he said the words, '**human** heart'," muttered Roberto, grumbling.

"Actually, I dunno…that didn't sound like a hidden dig at anyone, but I will agree that this creep really is playing it up for the cameras," Tommie commented.

"_If you despair, look at all the efforts that this tragedy has brought together, bringing forth the very best humanity ever has to offer. Groups that liberals and the ignorant have claimed to be detrimental to the planet and to society. Even with your own eyes, you see representatives from the Friends of Humanity, the Church of Purity, Wolfram and Hart, Shaw Industries, and even Lexcorp have done everything they can to help, abandoning their platforms and prejudices and thoughts of capitalizing just to help lessen the suffering of innocents. This is the true light and heroism of humanity, the one that protects and serves every man, woman, and child. And I admit, my party and I may have our bias against the League and their allies before, but even those who believe in their goodness cannot deny that they have not shown up to atone for their mistakes and assist those they claim to be willing to protect. No, true patriotism and humanity comes from our neighbors and fellow man, not from those who watch over us from above like hypocritical superiors or those who desire and spout for equality, but never follow it when trouble comes._"

"OK, now **_that_** was a dig," Tommie winced.

"Oh yeah, no need to mention that the Justice League and the rest of us tried to show up, but you and those buttheads in Congress drove us away and rejected us!!" Roberto growled at the image of Luthor.

Evan then wearily said, "It's politics, pure and simple, Roberto. But I have to give Luthor credit on this one. It's a pretty smart play to only give sound bites and crude summaries of what really happens for the average American since they normally have short attention spans and don't like to be bored on details. So even though the facts are there if you look hard enough, Luthor's painting in inaccurate picture which makes his opponents look bad while making him and his Humanitarian Party look good. It's politics, pure and simple."

"Remind me to stay home at the next election then," groaned Ray.

"If it makes you feel any better, Raymond, they would probably not even count your vote since you are a mutant and a known student at Charles' school," said Ororo with a weary moan.

"_People of the United States, realize that yes, we are at war with the Heartless, and yes, our situation is bleak, but regardless of whether or not I am your future President in the incoming term, I will help show that we are safe, from the Heartless and the other threats that threaten our world. We do not need protectors! We are not helpless! We have done well enough by depending on our fellow man, and that is what the Humanitarian Party is truly about, for the humans and by the humans. If you do not want me as your President, then fine, show those who oppress and look down on us because we're frail and weak our true strengths. Use your votes, use your voices, use your minds, but do not give in to the barbarianism of relying on violence and force and weapons. They only show a primitive and ignorant mind, and we do not sink to that level. But regardless of this, we will overcome, and the Humanitarian Party will see to it that it upholds the rights and basic needs of all those who seek refuge and safety, with or without representation in the government. We will help from the sidelines, we will help even if we are in a minority, we will help even if we are not in power, because in times of great trials and pain, power and representation are meaningless when human lives are at stake._"

"What a crock! Luthor's really going on the drama on this!! You can actually hear the audience murmuring in awe and positive whispering, so you know that they're buying into this!" Tabitha griped.

"That is why Luthor is so dangerous," Rina surmised, narrowing her eyes, "Not only does he have resources and connections, but he is incredibly intelligent and charismatic. Should he be in power and a role in the United States government, he'll have closer connections and a plethora of branches to cut down his opponents. However…I must admit that this isn't like him. There's always a hidden motive with most enemies, and I get the feeling Luthor has several as the reasons behind why he's running for Presidency. It would be so much easier for him to try to attack us from behind the scenes and not draw attention to himself, but the way he's currently acting makes me wonder if there isn't another reason why he's doing this."

"Isn't it obvious?" quipped Amara in a deadpanned tone.

"Actually, I agree with your X23. There has to be **another** reason behind this, one that benefits the Hellfire Club, Organization, and the Heartless. Something that has more value than just making us look bad to society. But unfortunately, I cannot make any sense of this topsider's current behavior pattern," Callisto grumbled.

"_My fellow Americans, we have a job to rebuild and to help strengthen ourselves and unite against the true threat, the Heartless and the darkness and dangers of being complacent and helpless against those who work behind our backs and give us false sense of security. If we are to survive this war against the true threat, then yes, to survive against the Heartless, we may be forced to reply on each other despite our differing beliefs, workings, and races, but under the Humanitarian Party, all men are equals. For humans, by humans, and only the humans. We are strong and self-reliant enough on ourselves. Look around at the ruins of our beloved capital, torn down by those who swore to protect. Even if accidental as they claim, it is far too dangerous to depend on those who are potentially dangerous themselves. Will we allow ourselves to be watched? Then who watches the Watchmen? Who will watch those who simply pay their way out of lawsuits and consequences as a coward's way out of punishment? Who will watch those who do not even relate to the daily struggles of working and trying to survive in a world of toil, labor, and trials of the middle class and low-income citizen? Who will watch those who have used their powers recklessly and pretend to be perfect while having no right to persecute those who are not? Who will watch those who irresponsibly flaunt and play around with armies like drunkards and incompetent sycophants? Who shall watch the judge, the jury, and the executioners? No, my fellow men, women, and children: we are stronger than we think and we do not need to reply on those who claim to be heroes and protectors but who haven't have the slightest idea of how to do it in the first place. We will learn from this, we shall become self-reliant and stronger if we stand together, and above all, we will triumph and not allow ourselves to be weak again and depend on these angels. We will not be reckless children who play with matches. We will not be drunkards and fools. We will not be hypocrites and violent soldiers who follow orders blindly. We will not doom ourselves to roles that have no real use or meaning. We will be better than that. We **are** better than that. Remember, some may foolishly believe that these heroes are angels to help, but Lucifer himself was an angel of light. The parallel is obvious. And may God help us all, the human race_," Luthor finished, invoking a string of applause from the crowd when he finished his address.

"Wow, he's really not letting anyone off. I think he just pointed the finger at us, the Joes, the League, and the Ghostbusters all in the same paragraph," Sam commented.

"You know, normally, I'd **give** Luthor **the** finger, but right now, I'd say this requires something a lot worse than the finger," grumbled Jubilee, glowering at the image of the Presidential candidate playing the political shtick for all it was worth.

"How is everyone else taking this? I assume that we are not the only ones watching this broadcast. Our other allies must be as worried about this as we are, Ororo," Tessa asked as she turned to Storm.

"'Worried' isn't the word I would use, Tessa," sighed the white-haired X-Woman.

Over at the G.I. Joe Pit at the TV room of the Misfit Manor…

"Shipwreck, quit mooning the TV!!" groaned Low Light out loud as the bearded exposed his rear end angrily at the screen of Lex Luthor finishing his speech, "Oh geez, quit it!! I'm going to go blind if you keep it up, sailor!! Will you stop? It's not like it's insulting to Luthor anyway since he's not even seeing it, and he barely gives a damn!!!"

"And **no**, that **_wasn't_** an invitation to go teleport to the White House and do it live and in Luthor's face, either!!!" Roadblock yelled, having the good sense to snatch Shipwreck's teleporter watch to the Mass Device before the Joe could actually carry out that asinine suggestion.

Back at the X-Mansion, Ray grumbled, "I don't see how the Justice League can just sit by and let this creep mouth off! If I was in their shoes, I'd be livid that Luthor was throwing digs and hidden insults and get on the next transport to that I could give him a few talks with my fist! What steams me up is that he's practically rubbing this in our faces, we know he's behind this, and we can't do anything but stew and let him continue to make us look bad!! Ergh, of all the times I actually **want** the Watchtower to misfire again…"

"That's enough," Tessa said with a bit of reprimand, "The Justice League are the epitome of heroism in its purest and most virtuous form, perhaps even more than us because they fight for the behalf of other planets and galaxies as well. I'm sure that they shall overcome this, that the truth shall eventually come to light, and that right now, they are calmly and maturely dealing with this speech and the hidden digs like adults. I daresay that they are pretty much ignoring Luthor's rants as of now."

At the same moment, back at the Watchtower in the Justice League's TV and recreational room during Lex Luthor's address…

"Flash, quit mooning the TV!!" Green Lantern yelled in a half-pleading, half-outraged manner, "Oh for God's sake, quit it!! **No one wants to see THAT!!!**"

"Booster, Beetle, stop that!! Don't encourage him!! Stop…by Thanagar, I'm going to have nightmares for a while," Hawkgirl murmured to herself as she rubbed her eyes, wishing there was a supply of aspirin.

"Hawk!! Is this really necessary?" groaned Dove as his older and more crude and violent brother joined in.

"No, but it sure as hell is a lot of fun!" chortled Hank as he dropped his pants.

"Actually, mooning may secretly be a form of private brainwashing used by the Skulls Society in Ivy League schools during the initiation of hazing in which the men did it to promote misogynistic mental images into new pledges to enforce their outdated rule to allow no women into their secret associations and - "

"Question, shut up!!" snapped a good portion of the Leaguers in unison.

"Well, when in Rome…" Green Arrow commented slyly and mischievously as he unbuckled his pants.

"Green, not you too!!" growled Black Canary.

There was a few seconds of silence before Superman's outraged voice of embarrassment resounded throughout the whole tower and made everyone on all upper and lower floors to wince from the decibel level.

"**_KARA!!!_**"

"What? We need female representation here!!!" snapped Supergirl defensively from her position at the TV.

"Atta' girl!!" cheered Green Arrow.

"I suppose we should be grateful they're doing this at the TV and not directly at the White House in front of Luthor himself at least," sighed Batgirl.

"**Don't** give them ideas…" moaned Wonder Woman, cradling her head in her hands and wondering if she should take up her mother's offer to take an extended vacation to Themyscira.

Tessa apparently gave _too_ much credit to some of the Leaguers.

---

At the same moment, over at the G.I. Joe Pit, Scott wearily meandered out of the conference room while Jean and the Professor continued to debate and figure out the Hellfire Club and Thirteenth Order's plans and anticipation of future attacks with the other leaders. He needed some fresh air, and frankly, this whole massacre in Washington D.C. left a sour taste in his mouth, and added to the fact that he was still inflamed about the injustice of the X-Men not being able to do anything more than play the helpless "damsels in distress" and "second-fiddle" to the Misfits, it was causing a bit of bile.

Yet deep down, as Scott ambled around the somewhat clean grounds (the Eloi were doing a wonderful job of tidying up the army base since Eddington and the Jugglers cut the Joes' budget), he was torn. Yes, it would have been better had there been more chosen to help fight the Heartless, and yes, there was good reason to resent Pluto for being adamantly stupid in this whole affair since so many had died by the Hellfire Club and the Organization. Heck, everyone was starting to wonder if the Misfits were the best candidates; even the Joes doubted them a bit. And surely the Misfits would be willing to give up the responsibility since it was so tiring to them, right? They needed help, right?

So what was wrong with wanting to help them make the right choice? Scott's thoughts drifted to the Yellow Materia that was being kept safely in a hidden fault and under stringent security measures that could even cause much difficulty for Trinity to break into. It was the right choice, to give the Keyblades and magic to people who could handle the duties better, wasn't it? Or at the very least, split up the resources so that they would be spread out and allow people to help make sure that the Misfits don't shoulder the burden alone, right?

But as much as he tried to convince himself that these were the reasons why Scott was still cynical, there was another reason, deep, deep down in his heart that he certainly didn't like to admit nor acknowledge. It was there, and though he convinced himself that he was better than that, he couldn't deny that it felt good to indulge in it a bit.

Jealousy.

It wasn't that Scott wasn't somewhat grateful of the way the Joes and Misfits were offering to help them out, and after all, they helped save and seal his heart in Bayville Mall. But each time they tangled with the Heartless, things haven't really improved for the allies, but rather, have gotten worse. Much worse. And the incident in Washington only proved that, except that these were permanent deaths and not the usual "hearts-taken-away" deaths where there was a possibility that they could be gotten back. If anything, this didn't help his reservations about the Misfits in the first place. For years, he was somewhat (dare he admit it?) proud of himself and the X-Men, that they were true pioneers in the war for mutant rights and peace between mutants and humans. The Professor took them all in and raised them, taught them well, trained them, and Scott never felt more important and that he had a purpose, that he had a family ever since he was orphaned and his parents died in that airplane accident. Each of the students, even Bobby and Tabitha, had potential to change the world for the better, and yes, there were times Scott admitted that there were a lot of rough edges and areas for growth, at the same time, they worked hard. They followed the rules. They always came through and did the right thing. They never acted out or abused their authority. They were the perfect model students, people who were true role models.

Now the ex-Brotherhood was another kettle of fish altogether. Sure, they didn't have as many opportunities like the X-Men did and even Scott could see that they were all bullied in the past than willingly going to work for Magneto and Mystique, and even that wasn't a life Scott would wish on anyone. But they were…well, not exactly wonderful specimens of mutant heroes. They were all crude, had no regrets of the numerous attempts of petty vandalism and thievery and were rarely mature enough to own up and act responsibly. All right, so Avalanche did make an attempt when he joined the X-Men, and Scott was the main reason why he was driven away. He did feel sorry about that. But it still didn't excuse all the times they bothered and harassed them in the past (and still do, now with Trinity and Wavedancer's addendums), the times they got them in trouble on purpose and blatantly endangered themselves and the X-Men by exposing themselves as mutants. And they still haven't even apologized.

So why them? Why kids who have toyed with the darkness and vice and not them, the ones who actually maintained a straight and well-behaved life? Why were the Misfits chosen only to help and protect when the X-Men had been in battle even more than them and all were in prime roles as targets since they had no real way to defend themselves? What made the Misfits worthier and more special to be chosen heralds and saviors when the X-Men worked, slaved, and toiled endlessly without so much of a thank you?

It just wasn't fair. The Misfits, as a whole, got nothing but lucky breaks for being prodigal teenagers while the X-Men truly worked hard and did everything to help those unselfishly and fought for peace without thought of reward or straying from the rules and decency. And the X-Men got absolutely jack-squat for all of it. And the problem was that in this current dilemma, it was a jack-squat that would endanger all of them and his family.

No. He wouldn't let it happen. He wouldn't let the Heartless get to his family and the Professor, causing pain to them and their families. That was certainly a noble reason, wasn't it? Surely Althea wouldn't mind if…one or two of the X-Men kept the magic that kept mysteriously eluding them? She'd understand, right? She wouldn't want any of the X-Men dead, and then she wouldn't be burdened with needing to watch over them. But…would she willingly do it? And the Keyblades, from what Piotr told him, had a mind of their own to stick with their original chosen ones, and perhaps, this would be disastrous if the Hellfire Club wanted this.

It just wasn't fair, and Scott felt his temper perk up a bit when he saw Pluto watching the stars by himself, sitting on a small grassy hill on the firing range, with his tail thumping softly as he just stared at the night sky. There seemed to be less stars than the Disney canine remembered, but deep down, Pluto knew why this was the case. Pluto turned to see Scott frowning at him behind his red, ruby glasses, and though he knew this wasn't a good sign, Pluto gave a friendly bark. Scott then marched up to Pluto before he knelt down and spoke in a hard voice.

"I hope you're happy with this, with what's going on."

Pluto stopped smiling.

"You do know that the Washington disaster could have been averted if you were more careful of your choices on who you blessed the Keyblades and magic with? You do know how unfair it is to the League, the Titans, and the Slayers to have their hopes riding on only a select group of people you know don't have the purest and strongest hearts, right? You do know why it's so stupid to only give power to a select few when others are dying, right, you dumb mutt?"

Pluto then finally frowned, starting to have a dislike for Cyclops, though his heart was begging to not hold as resentment for the young adult for simply being worried and resentful of the unfairness of his decision. And the hound could agree that in his perspective, the Misfits being the only ones with the ability to fight would be unfair to Scott.

"Do you actually want us to die? Do you actually want the Earth to lose to the Heartless? Because I don't care what your reasons are, but playing around with the X-Men and giving them magic for only one brief moment only to take it away from this is one of the cruelest forms of sadism I can think of."

Pluto was actually insulted that Cyclops would accuse him of something like that.

"You know, maybe it was a good reason that whoever died to protect you told you that whoever you choose won't be permanent because he or she is probably ashamed that you overlooked people like Superman, Buffy, the Charmed Ones, hell even Logan and the Professor to give this world a chance to stand against the Heartless when you went with the least likely people who would help you fight the Organization. You certainly belong with the Misfits all right, Pluto. For a Disney dog, you're certainly a disgrace."

Pluto snarled baring his teeth. Now Scott was treading on **very** shaky, thin ice. But before Scott could threaten the dog with the existence of the Yellow Materia, a voice spoke out coldly behind him.

"Scott, leave him alone."

Cyclops turned to see a frowning Althea Delgado behind him, her face white in the moonlight, but obviously there to defend the dog. She clearly heard every word. Scott just stiffly got up and brushed his pants.

"I'm done," he muttered as he left, but then Althea gently took the X-Man's arm.

"Scott, this isn't a contest," she said softly, trying to be uncharacteristically compassionate and reserved considering that the last thing she wanted was to give reasons Scott to be even more inflamed. Scott snorted.

"Easy for you and your Misfit-brigade to say. You're enjoying the fact that you have Keyblades and we don't and how we're up the creek for absolutely no reason, especially since we didn't deserve to be put in that situation."

"That's…" and then Wavedancer trailed off, realizing that she needed to be honest. Scott was partially right. A few of the Misfits (Trinity and Pietro especially) couldn't help but have some smug satisfaction of rubbing it in the X-Men's faces on how much they were enjoying the fact that the X-Men had to depend on them, and even Althea herself could secretly admit that she liked being on that pedestal a bit. That was a pattern well forged from the past during the heights of the rivalry between the two mutant teams, and even now, they hadn't fully bonded as the adults had hoped for them to. But that was at first before and when so many people kept dying, so really, it seemed really insignificant and petty to have those sorts of feelings, even though they never admitted it openly.

"We would never let you or the X-Men die, Summers," Althea pointed out irately, "You know that."

It didn't escape Scott's attention that she sidetracked the accusation, however, and he grumbled over his back as he walked away, "But you can't promise that. You can't promise that none of the X-Men won't die if the Heartless attack them, so you don't know how much it burns you up to see that like always, you Misfits get the upper hand at our expense while I can only stand back and just hope that the Professor and our family don't break apart or die like the people in Washington. And the thing is, if the Organization really wanted to, they could kill us and you wouldn't be able to truly stop them. Hence, please don't blame me if I can't hold much faith to your attempts and the fact that we've been lucky so far, but our luck can run out."

Althea didn't know how to answer that. Put it that way, it was hard to not be somewhat sympathetic to Scott's worries and bad feelings over the way the situation played out. Had their roles been reversed, Wavedancer couldn't deny that she'd feel the same way, especially she loved the Misfits as much as Scott loves each and every one of the X-Men, the only family the orphan had. She just remained silent and let Scott walk back to the meeting room while Pluto just glared at the X-Men, his fur on end and deciding that Cyclops was certainly an insufferable prick.

---

Later that very night, Lois Lane agitatedly walked and paced around the bathroom of her apartment, dressed professionally in her usual purple business suit and white skirt, holding her elbows and her arms crossed over her chest. She received a contact over the phone that Superman wanted to talk to her and that he would teleport her to the Watchtower for their discussion. As like any typical reporter, she wasn't going to pass up the chance to get the lowdown on what was really happening with the Watchtower fiasco. And like any human being angered at the massacre, she wanted answers.

Normally, no civilian visitors would ever be allowed on the Watchtower, even in emergencies, but Superman argued that Lois knew how to keep a secret because she knew Batman's secret identity and never told a soul, thus showing she could be trusted if she was transported to the headquarters of the League. And plus, with her as a representative of the Daily Planet, she could be trusted to accurately report the truth for them since they needed all the support they could get and ways to help get the truth out.

Though Lois was assured that the teleportation to their headquarters via the Mass Device of the technology Trinity of the Misfits was perfectly safe and secure, the world-renowned journalist wasn't taking any chances. She turned up her living room stereo to a comfortable volume of classical music, locked all her windows and shut her drapes, and checked every nook and cranny for any hidden cameras before she decided that the guest bathroom would be safe to wait in. Thus, if anyone was eavesdropping or spying, they wouldn't get much of a result.

Still, she was so nervous and anxious about teleporting via the Mass Device for the first time (since Superman making a public appearance would create more hostilities for himself and Lois) that she didn't even realize that she teleported into the Watchtower's transport room until her bathroom fixtures changed into a wide, open metallic room that consisted of a masked African American man at a complex computer console and systems where Superman was waiting for her.

"Lois…I hope you weren't too startled. We can carry the talk somewhere private," the Kryptonian alien said gently as he led the raven-haired reporter off the teleporter platform, but the woman shook her head as she frowned sternly at her boyfriend, arms crossed over her chest.

"Tell me exactly what happened," she demanded, her violet eyes flashing, and resigned, Superman realized he wasn't going to be able to calm her down once she got bull-headed and stubborn enough to demand for answers. So, sighing, he obliged and explained to the Daily Planet reporter everything, on how they were being visited by Professor X and several of the X-Men, how the Organization infected Multiple and caused chaos by sending the Heartless to infiltrate and attack the Watchtower, on how the Misfits and X-Men and the others arrived to help, and how the whole attack was simply a distraction to have the Organization somehow mysteriously take control of their nuclear cannon to fire it upon the capital city of the United States. The woman listened intently and pondered this silently before she looked at Superman with scrutiny.

She sighed and said, "Superman, you do realize that even though I believe you, the fact that you don't have proof and the fact that even though Sawyer is trying to tell people the truth, this won't convince people that you were framed. If they won't believe her or even General Hawk from G.I. Joe, then me writing this won't change many minds at all either. And plus, I hate to admit it, but people will have a point when they say they can't take your word as the truth considering that a lot of people fear you and for good reason, not all of them solely due to what happened in D.C."

The Justice League founder looked up and blinked, but deep down, he knew he shouldn't have been surprised. Lois in the past had voiced her worries on how dangerous it would be for the Justice League to have too much power and authority to watch over the world, especially since it certainly invoked an unspoken but hidden fear to the rest of the world to be watched by those whose powers and intellect could have them be unstoppable tyrants if they choose to. And unlike Superman, Lois grew more and more supportive of the fact that the world should be defended by everyone who gave a damn, and not just one particular group of people.

"But it wasn't our fault," Superman protested gently, pained, "We had no idea this would happen, and the Organization managed to override all the safety measures we put to make sure that this wouldn't happen in the first place. We had no idea that the Hellfire Club even had the slightest idea of how to get past all the safeguards."

Lois' eyes simply seared into the alien, and one had to wonder, from the look of restrained anger on her face, if whether or not the human herself had heat vision as well.

"Oh really? Well, Superman, then care to explain why the Justice League has a nuclear cannon that is capable to destroying an entire city in seconds in the first place? The last time I checked, even the Heartless attacking a populated area in no way warrants you to have a weapon of mass destruction justifiably. And I know for a fact that in no way would any United Nations grant a sanction for that one."

The red and blue clad hero suddenly felt his face flush as he tried to explain, "We built it after the Heartless attacked and devastated the H.I.V.E. Academy and when Trigon was let loose on the Earth. The original and senior seven members of the League as a majority vote felt it would be best to build one for the such a case as that, as a final resort."

"_A final resort?_ Really? Call me cynical, but last time I checked, each and every documented invasion of the Heartless were all in heavily populated areas, or at the very least, resided in places where there were people and beings that they could steal hearts from. Were you still planning on using it on a Heartless army or at this Gathering of Twilight even if people were nearby?"

"Of course not!" Superman retorted, shocked and insulted at that suggestion, "The League agreed that it would only be used as a last resort! If there was no need, we wouldn't use it, and especially if it meant endangering someone! We wouldn't sacrifice a human life like that in order to save the world! You **know** better than that, Lois!!"

"And yet it didn't occur to you that having this canon would be exactly the reasons why people would fear you and not trust your word over this? Or how Luthor could use this as another notch in his belt of why his Humanitarian Party is gaining so much popularity and how that bald, smug, arrogant megalomaniac is getting closer to being our future President? You probably have a good idea of how much I wanted to hurl a brick through my television when I saw his address earlier today!"

They were arguing now, there was no doubt about it. And Mr. Terrific, being the only other person in the room, inwardly cursed that he didn't have Shadowcat or J'onn's phasing powers, and trying to be as silent and inconspicuous as possible, the Justice League member just focused on watching the computer controls and working on the programming language to rebuild the damage done by Peirce's virus and nanotechnology. But he had to face it: he would rather be _anywhere_ else except in this room right now.

"We were just trying to protect the world!! We didn't want to risk going public with the Watchtower's defensive weaponry and systems because we didn't want to compromise the Watchtower's security and we weren't sure if various people in the United Nations could be trusted with that information!!"

"Oh, so it's all right for us to trust you, but not for you to trust us?"

"I didn't mean it that way! But we needed to keep the Watchtower secure so that we could protect the world in case there was a time to need such a weapon!"

"Protect the world? I'm sorry, who made the claim that **only** the Justice League fights against the Heartless and various villains as fact? This Earth has other heroes not associated with the Justice League that are just as dedicated to helping protect innocents and promoting peace just as well as you, Superman! The League isn't the only hope for this planet, or do you need me to remind you of the X-Men, the Misfits, G.I. Joe, the Teen Titans, the vampire slayers, the Charmed Ones, and God knows who else I'm forgetting? You can't take and shoulder the burden yourselves and not give people a chance to willingly help you ease the load off so that you wouldn't be swamped and allow oversights like this to happen!!"

"Lois, we had good intentions to build that machine!"

"Funny, I remember you telling me that the alternate version of you from the Justice Lords' universe made that very same excuse about 'good intentions' with the abolishing free will and lobotomy."

Mr. Terrific's head shot back up as there was a stunned silence in the room, and Superman's arm fell limply to his side. Though that wasn't a low blow and Lois said it because it was the truth, it still was incredibly winceworthy.

Superman looked hurt before he said quietly, "I didn't deserve that, Lois."

Lois softened her glare a bit before she sighed and said in a forceful voice, "I know, but life isn't fair, Superman. And it wasn't fair for all those people who died in Washington either, so whether or not you deserve it, the fact remains that this was a huge tactical blunder in the war against the Heartless, and some of the fault lies on you and the Justice League as a result of not seeing the consequences of giving too much power and authority to one group and leaving yourselves open to be taken advantage of in the first place."

With that said, she turned around and left, ordering to Mr. Terrific brusquely, "Send me home, please."

After all, she had a column to write about.

The African American male blinked at her beneath his mask before he asked, "Um…Ms. Lane? Are you sure you wish to…"

He trailed off under the narrowed purple eyes giving him a piercing and miffed look that clearly said somewhere along the lines of _do-not-piss-me-off_. The journalist was not one to be taken lightly. He inwardly winced before nodding to the teleporter pad, and when the black-haired woman stood on a section, she was instantly sent back to the coordinates of her apartment via the Mass Device.

Superman just numbly stood there and continued watching the spot where Lois left.

---

It was two days later after the attack on the United States, and from what the Justice League could see, things were getting much worse. There were threats of air-strikes against the League and their Watchtower from the United Nations, not a single country would accept any help or assistance from the Justice League for riots, violence, or natural disasters any longer (as if to invoke a worldwide ban), Washington D.C. was still in ruins, and several human staffers of the Justice League quit and resigned from their positions, effective immediately. Even with the few allies of the League trying to help maintain peace and the testimonies of the human staffers that the Organization really did attack the space station and from the Joes and the Ghostbusters, the anger simply would not dissipate. If anything, the darkness and loathing just grew stronger and stronger, united in a common abhorrence. Not that Superman and the other founders could blame them; the founders went to inform the families of the six workers that had been shot to death in the reactor room, and their reception was less than pleasant. Though thankfully, they didn't blame the League outright, Superman still felt incredibly guilty because in a way, he failed to save them and caused untold grievance.

Martian Manhunter was moodily being quiet at one of the dining tables in the mess hall of the Watchtower, alone and thinking depressing thoughts. Of course, being a powerful telepath and sensing all the discord, pain, and hate from the planet below certainly wasn't helping much either. Several of the X-Men, the Misfits, the Joes, and a few selected leaders of the allied movement were meeting the rest of the founders in one of the main conference rooms, but J'onn said that he would prefer to be alone with his thoughts if possible, just for this one time. He wouldn't do much good to the discussions anyway, and he needed some space right now due to his inner turmoil over this whole affair.

Everyone gracefully agreed, hence why J'onn was certainly startled when a voice piped up from behind him.

"Mr. Manhunter, what are you doing here?"

J'onn turned around to see that it was the lizard-humanoid named Xi of the Misfits, looking at him curiously with his yellow eyes wide and innocent, holding a leather knapsack. It was amazing sometimes how some beings manage to escape detection from the Martian's heightened senses, but it was also sort of comforting in a way to only speak to one who had a sort of child-like, naiveté to him. J'onn sighed.

"Just thinking, Xi."

"About what?" the lizard asked as he sat down on a chair at the table with the Justice League founder.

"About how I'm beginning to lose faith in humanity."

"Oh," blinked Xi, not sure if he exactly had a way to respond to that, but thankfully to the alien's relief, the Misfit didn't push the conversation any further. There was an awkward silence before Xi started to open his knapsack and took out a package of Oreo cookies, and though the extraterrestrial from Mars remained polite, he dearly wished Xi would take the hint and leave him alone.

"Do you want an Oreo?" Xi asked, holding out the open package of fresh snacks at the Justice League founder, inviting him for the first one to taste, and stunned, J'onn looked at Xi with wide red eyes as if the teenager was absolutely insane. The Justice League was in deep political trouble, a portion of a city was dead, and the Misfit was offering him _cookies_?

Martian Manhunter did his best to reign in his temper before he sighed and replied, "No thank you, Xi. I am too old to be eating Oreo cookies - "

"Is there an age limit on Oreos?"

J'onn sighed as he tried again, saying, "No, Xi, but…I am pretty sure I'm not in the mood for a cookie."

"Have you ever tried one before?"

There was a pause before J'onn irately knew that logically, Xi had him there, and he sighed, answering with a curt, "No."

"So how do you know you don't like it if you've never tried it? Try it! Cookies make **everything** all better!"

The green-skinned telepath sighed again. Xi had him there, and be now incredibly intent to bring an end to the discussion, J'onn went with the path of least resistance as he stoically took out a cookie from the package just to shut the fervent cookie-lover up. He popped it into his mouth and then was about to tell Xi to go away when he stopped. The Oreo cookie crumbled in his mouth, spreading a rather sublime mixture of chocolate and cream all over the roof of his mouth and tongue, a surprising delight of crunch and frosting…

"Oh my…" was all J'onn could say, blinking in surprise, when he gulped down his sample. Xi smiled as he shoved three cookies into his mouth.

"See? It's good, isn't it?"

"I…suppose."

"How can you lose faith in humanity, then? Oreo cookies were created by a human! Surely you can't hate the person who invented such a wonderful concoction of frosting and chocolate, can you?"

Martian Manhunter had to concede that Xi had a point. Then Xi offered the bag to J'onn again.

"Want another?"

"Oh…oh no, I couldn't. One should be enough for me, Xi, but…thank you anyway. The rest should go to you since they're yours."

Xi then looked incredibly devious and sneaky as he showed the Justice League member his open pack, displaying the other six packages of Oreos he managed to sneak out of B.A.'s kitchen when the chef wasn't looking and after he picked the industrial strength lock to the cabinet.

"I've got plenty more, Mr. Manhunter, so I'm not going to run out! And besides, there's enough to share! You can't have just one Oreo! So, have some! You can never have just one!"

J'onn gave in, admitting that the cookies did cheer him up a little bit, so he gingerly reached into the pack and said amiably, "Well, I do suppose one more couldn't hurt…"

In the interim, the Misfits, the Joes, a few of the X-Men including Professor Xavier, Allo of the Dinosaucers, Bumblebee and Robin from the Titans, Nick Fury from S.H.I.E.L.D, and Quentin Blud from the Ghostbusters were calming discussing the matters with the senior and original members of the Justice League (barring Martian Manhunter, of course). A few, such as Nick Fury, Quentin, Wolverine, and General Hawk were incredibly annoyed at the fact that the Watchtower even possessed a weapon such as the nuclear cannon in the first place and allowing the Inner Circle to take advantage of them in the first place. However, after a few sharp rounds of verbal sparring and blame, thankfully, it all settled down enough when Jenny Calendar finally arrived with Agent Jay of the Ghostbusters and two additional strangers dressed in black suits and ties.

"They managed to finish overseeing the investigation on the Watchtower enough to finally inform the others about what they believe could be a possible lead," Jenny said softly at Quentin who nodded gruffly. From his demeanor and from the looks of accepted familiarity with the other League founders, it was clear that they knew these two visitors.

The Joes narrowed their eyes in suspicion, understandably enough since they didn't know anything about these new arrivals. One was a cranky-looking and stern old man with gray hair, cropped short and wild, port-bellied and large but had an air of calculating brains and seriousness, walking and standing like a true diplomat and leader. Chances are, he was a big cheese, and the way he coldly but fairly stared everyone down made it clear that he wasn't the type to be intimidated by the appearance of extraterrestrials, aliens, or wild mutants. The other was a slimmer and more built man, also a bit aged but certainly younger than his counterpart. He was wearing black shades, and his face, though worn and had lines, had a bit of a sophisticated and mischievous bit in it, especially since he was grinning slightly at the Misfits and X-Men. His had salt-and-pepper colored hair, slicked back, and stood a bit in an easy going manner with one hand in his pocket. Robin, Bumblebee, the X-Men and Misfits especially looked confused until General Hawk said softly, "It's all right. They're good guys. I know them by their reputation."

Allo meanwhile wasn't entirely pleased as he grumbled, "Zed, Agent Kay."

"You know them?" Blind Master asked.

"When we first landed, they tried to erase the memories of the Secret Scouts with their Neuralizers because they were fearful that Sarah, Ryan, Paul, and David couldn't be trusted with the secrets about the Lavadome and the Dinosaucers. Needless to say, despite our vouching for the kids, things got a bit ugly when they still attempted to do it anyway without our consent because they still feared it was too risky to reveal to the mass public about the existence of aliens."

"Last time I checked, the Men in Black didn't **need** your consent to do what is our standard protocol, Allo. And we thought that you Dinosaucers were too naïve and readily trusting to make a sound judgment in allowing four teenagers to know about your settlement here on Earth," Zed growled. Allo's glare intensified, but he gracefully bit his tongue. Wavedancer let out a sound of realization as it came to her.

"Of course, now I remember who you guys were," Althea said, "They're the Men in Black. I only heard rumors, but I never known if whether or not that they existed until now."

"Whoa…" blinked Toad, "So, who are you guys, yo?"

"I'm Zed, leader of the Men in Black, a covert society that not even the government is aware about that helps keep peace on this planet against any hostile foreign invaders and maintains the planet as a popular tourist attraction and vacation spot. Additionally, the Men in Black also maintains the personal relations between Earth and other galaxies as part of the Intergalactic Peace Treaty and like the Justice League, we keep an eye out on potential threats or endangerment that could be carried out for any extraterrestrial on any race, whether they be human or foreign. This is one of my top agents, Agent Kay, and he along with the other operatives under my command help make sure the general public does not panic or know about the extraterrestrials."

"Like huh?" Kitty blinked, already losing her train of thought on the second sentence of Zed's speech.

"We police aliens," Agent Kay summed up diplomatically, and instantly, this clicked into the X-Men and Misfits' collective minds, and considering that they were here in the Watchtower amid the height and pinnacle of opprobrium and loathing towards the Justice League and how Superman was one of the most prominent extraterrestrials on the planet, it was only natural that the kids and teenagers would jump to the wrong conclusion.

"You can't punish them, _mon ami_!! The League did nothing wrong!!" Gambit snarled, his red and black eyes blazing with outrage as he and the other mutant freedom-fighters leapt to their feet angrily.

"They were framed!! It was that creep from the Organization that fired the nuclear cannon, not them!! It's the truth!!!" Quinn shouted, slamming her fists on the table.

"I can prove it with a psychic scan if you need evidence," Jean offered strongly, hands to her chest and fearful.

"You can't take them away!! We won't let you!!" Scarlet Witch snapped, ready to hex the two men in black suits should it be necessary, even though inwardly, she knew that would make matters worse.

"Come on, even **we** can see that the League would never do anything like this!!" Blob bellowed, "You honestly think that they'd really stoop to something this low on their own?"

Colossus shouted, "They have nothing to gain by just attacking out of nowhere and directly in Washington! If they were going to attack Earth, they wouldn't do anything this stupid!! They are our comrades, not threats!!"

"Please don't take them away!" Dragonfly begged, pleading, "If you imprison them, the bad guys will win, and we won't have as much allies to help us fight against the Heartless! Please don't send them to jail!"

"Pfft! Yeah, like there's a jail that can hold Superman! C'mon, you honestly think the League's just going to let themselves get carted off willingly without a fight or an argument? They'd be better off on the run because at least as outlaws, they'd still be able to do a lot more than behind bars - "

"**_Pietro, shut up!!_**" snapped a good portion of the Misfits, Joes, and the X-Men. Nick Fury muttered something about why he was grateful he didn't have to deal with teenagers. The Flash couldn't help but widen his eyes a bit in surprise as he leaned over to Green Lantern and whispered surreptitiously.

"I have to admit, I'm a bit touched that these kids are so stubbornly and intensely defending us like that."

"They're growing on us…like fungi, of course," muttered John, though he could admit that the teenagers were starting to show more and more of their character strengths. Zed rolled his eyes and held up a hand to stop the X-Men and Misfits' tirades as he said loudly in his professional and deep voice of authority.

"Enough! Relax, kids, we actually believe the reports General Hawk and the Joes told us about the Organziation framing the Justice League and taking temporary control of their cannon when the Heartless attacked. The Men in Black aren't stupid, and like Nick Fury, we investigated thoroughly and from general knowledge of what we do know of Superman based on our past meetings with your Kryptonian."

"And we trust the word of our own liaison we sent to be a recruit for the Ghostbusters on behalf of our organization. Slick's impulsive and foolhardy at times, but he isn't a liar. And frankly, his story makes a whole lot more sense, especially since we've worked a bit with the League and have a familiarity enough to know that they would never do something this horrific. Even the founders and S.H.I.E.L.D. knows that though we have questionable methods, we're fair," Agent Kay said, nodding his head at Agent Jay.

"It's true," the Flash said, "The Men in Black have been fully aware of our operations here, despite their initial reservations that we'd be further jeopardizing their mission and rules that the mass public should not be aware of life on other planets."

"Gee, you certainly did a fine job on **that** rule," Rogue drawled rather nastily and sarcastically at Zed, "Hate to point this out to you, but everyone and their mother knows that there's life from other planets and that aliens exist. If anything, the Justice League just made your entire job and organization a rather dismal failure, not to mention since Allo mentioned how you like to erase other people's memories, you're nothing more than manipulative yahoos who don't exactly support the notion of peace between all life forms."

Zed glared at the Southern teen with white bangs as he said in a cold and detached voice, "I'd advise you to not get ahead of yourself, Ms. Rogue, and the fact that your Professor himself has indulged in a few mind wipes of his own to protect you X-Men shows you're no better in questionable methods. And for the record, we decided that the Justice League would be a greater benefit to keeping intergalactic peace as opposed to trying to neutralize every single person who came in contact with Superman ever since he first started becoming a hero in Metropolis. If anything, the Justice League coming to light took a lot of the heat off many of the aliens who live on Earth and wish to do so in peace such as the Dinosaucers. I assure you X-Men, Joes, and Misfits that the Men in Black are not monsters nor are we delusional bigots, but I admit that the Justice League did make things a bit easier, which is why we're helping them."

"Help them? With what?" Professor Xavier blinked.

"Helping them discover how exactly the Hellfire Club managed to take control of their weapon, and judging by what Jay told us are many holes in the story for your investigations, we may be able to provide some answers on filling some of the gaps," spoke a light-hearted voice.

The crowd looked to see that the person talking to was an odd, bespectacled, short creature (almost shorter than any of the Delgado Triplets), clearly an extraterrestrial with pale, robin-egg, turquoise-colored skin, a hair-do that consisted of a multitude of straight tendrils growing out of his head like tentacles and wearing a white lab-coat and blue slacks. Everyone blinked.

"Oh my stars and garters," Hank said.

"I have to say that we've seen things stranger than this," Roadblock versed quietly, "But you have to admit that the last thing we expected was a little alien scientist!"

Agent Jay, however, was truly pleased to see the little creature again.

"Hey, Dr. Z!! What's shakin'?" the Ghostbuster said, laughing, as he enveloped the alien with a big hug, in which the extraterrestrial scientist returned whole-heartedly.

"Dr. Z?" blinked Piotr, "Is that your real name?"

"It's actually Doctor Zan'dozz Zeeltor, but only Agent Jay calls me Dr. Z because it's easier for him and his brain," joked the alien (Dr. Z), to which there were a few chuckles as the aforementioned liaison from the Men in Black made a weak protest.

"Whoa, so who are you, _mon ami_? Remy have to admit that you are the strangest-looking little alien he's seen yet," Gambit couldn't help but remark dumbly, which earned him a hefty elbow jab in the abdominal by Rogue for the bluntness, but the alien laughed, showing he wasn't offended. Everyone could tell from his voice that he was amiable and perhaps a bit absent-minded.

"Actually, I'm here by request of the Men in Black to help them out with the computer systems in the reactor core, as well as help the Ghostbusters investigate exactly what this Thirteenth Order was up to. And I just finished my queries along with Agents Elle and X; it turns out, we found some rather…puzzling and disconcerting facts."

"Wait a minute…" blinked Hawkgirl, "We did investigations of our own as well, but we could not find anything positive in clearing our names or being able to stand up as proof that the Hellfire Club and the Organization. Everything was so heavily damaged that our scanners and thorough analysis of the computer networks were all fruitless in detecting anything that could give us a clue."

Dr. Z shook his head as he said with humble grace and not showing he was being arrogant as he stated, "Hawkgirl, do not misunderstand me. The Justice League has a rather unusually diverse knowledge of technology, and I must admit that your computer systems and networks are quite impressive on combining different components that are not readily used on Earth or on other planets for that matter. In fact, your Watchtower is years ahead of its time for humans, but the Men in Black have technology and know-how and scientists from all sorts of galaxies that could dwarf your own, and as such, though some of the clues may escape your detection, it certainly wouldn't escape ours. We deal with different technologies far advanced from Earth's on a daily if not hourly basis, so regardless of how good the Inner Circle is, they aren't completely undetectable. No offense intended, however, so please excuse me."

"None taken, but…what exactly did you find?" Superman asked.

"Two things: we were able to salvage a few seconds of footage from the security cameras in the reactor room when the nuclear weapon was activated," Dr. Z said, taking out a handheld hologram projector from his coat pocket. Jean blinked.

"I thought that due to the systems crashing and all the cameras in the room being short-circuited by magnetic pulses led to the whole camera and footage network to be non-functional and thus, not even being able to record anything."

"Even if they smashed the cameras with a sledgehammer, as long as it's filming, I can still manage to extract out a few images and footage from the electronic signals as long as the cameras were left on. And this is what I found," Dr. Z said gravely as the holographic mechanism showed the several seconds of footage of Donald Pierce using his bionic arm to shoot all the six staffers to death.

"No…" Cover Girl murmured at the sight, but the Professor, General Hawk, and Nick Fury narrowed their eyes at the image.

"Donald Pierce, a member of the Inner Circle and a close right-hand associate with Sebastian Shaw," Xavier said solemnly, "He is a bionic with ties to the Reavers, a very powerful and influential group that consists of cyborg-terrorists such as he that remain incredibly protected and has a multitude of resources of electronic components to provide for the Hellfire Club."

"A cyber-terrorist? Then why haven't you arrested him?" Zed asked gruffly, which earned him a steely glare from Nick Fury.

"You honestly think he's that easy to catch? He's not exactly like a celebrity who goes around in public, and that little rat surprisingly manages to evade our detections to escape prosecution, even though we have enough to make sure that we have enough evidence to make sure that the creep stays behind bars for the rest of his miserable life. But not only is he difficult to pinpoint his whereabouts, but he's incredibly protected, both telepathically and legally. Any attempts to bring him to justice, even if we do manage to catch him, the Hellfire Club will see to it that the cases never see the light of day. If not by tying us in red tape, then by breaking him out before we even had a chance to detain him," Fury retorted.

"But Pierce's appearance is also troubling because of what he used to break into the Watchtower's computer systems in the first place," Dr. Z indicated as he held up the badly burned drive that Pierce used during Luxord's invasion, "Though it's completely fried and all the nanites from the drive are burned into ashes so that reverse engineering is impossible, I was able to identify a few key elements, but what was shocking was that this is the unique artificial signature of nanotechnology from the planet Krypton."

"Nanites? Krypton?" Superman blinked. Dr. Z sighed as he emphasized his point.

"Superman, the drive that Pierce used to hack into the Watchtower terminal had nanotechnology that is eerily similar to both Apokoliptian technology _and your Kryptonian technology_, and since a part of the computer architecture was based on the advanced knowledge of your former homeworld, it makes sense that creating a virus based on that same knowledge would be one of the few effective means to break into the reactor core and override the safety mechanisms on the nuclear canon."

"What?" Clark blurted out, shocked. Batman's eyes narrowed from his cowl. It should have made sense before; if Emma Frost earlier was able to send and banish the Misfits to the Phantom Zone based on a transporter that was similar to the Justice League's implement, then obviously, the Hellfire Club managed to get their hands on extraterrestrial technology. After all, they secretly backed up H.A.T.E. when the Female Furies kidnapped the X-Men and Misfits, and Lord only knows how much extraterrestrial information and resources the Hellfire Club gained from their self-serving alliance with Darkseid.

Wonder Woman frowned as she then questioned, "All right…but then how did the Hellfire Club get hold of that sort of technology not to mention have the resources and expertise to be somewhat familiar with the workings of the Watchtower? Not even the Joes know much about our headquarters' systems, and you representatives from the Men in Black along with the Joes are the first ones outside the League allowed to analyze them."

"Isn't it obvious?" Daria piped up, "Lex Luthor is a member of the Inner Circle, and he's in charge of Lexcorp. Since he's running for the Presidency of the U.S, this is a perfect ploy for him to gain points while making you guys look bad."

"But then that doesn't explain **how** Luthor was able to gain technology advanced enough to override our systems. We discussed this before when we found out you Misfits were banished into the Phantom Zone with the Hellfire Club's mechanism. Luthor doesn't have any sort of access to advanced Kyptonian technology," Green Lantern said shortly.

Hawk frowned as he tried to think of a list of people who did know that sort of thing (it was a short list), and the only one he could come up in his mind as a potential candidate with was…

"Professor Hamilton then? We suggested him last time we went over this," the Flash pointed out, but Superman shook his head.

"Even if he was helping the Hellfire Club…or was brainwashed into helping them, it still couldn't be him," the extraterrestrial male highlighted, "He may be a genius, but there is no way for him to gain this sort of nanotechnology and be able to manipulate, build, and produce anything this complex, and I know for a fact that S.T.A.R. labs and Darkseid back on Apokolips never had much if any resources that gave them their briefest idea of my home planet's advanced machinery. Apokolips had their own brand of resources, and S.T.A.R. labs never had much to begin with, so it's unlikely that the Hellfire Club gained it from those two candidates. In fact, the only other person besides me, Professor Hamilton, and Kara who would know this would be Brainiac, but he's dead, so that's an impossibility."

"Could it possibly have something to do with that Cadmus name that had been mentioned when we were fighting the Heartless in Themyscria?" Wonder Woman offered, "Perhaps there is some sort of hidden group of mercenaries or enemies that allied themselves with the Inner Circle and Luthor to help stir up more trouble and without our knowledge of them. Mr. Zed, Mr. Kay, I have told my suspicions to S.H.I.E.L.D. and G.I. Joe, but they have found nothing. Could it be possible that perhaps you and the Men in Black know of this so-called Cadmus?"

"It's true," Fury said gravely to the two agents, shaking his head, "We looked, but whatever this Cadmus is, if it is a person or a covert organization that is helping to assist the Heartless, it isn't acknowledged by any of my superiors in the government. And these suits actually know a lot, and very little about secretive people working behind their backs will escape them, especially since they don't take too kindly for people subverting authority and using their resources behind their backs, regardless of how much they did and still do mistrust the Justice League."

"And the Jugglers aren't telling me anything either, so that's a dead end," Hawk sighed. Fury and Logan looked at the Joe general before he winced and made his admission.

"We're not exactly on the best of terms right now."

"Hawk…" growled Fury, rubbing the bridge of his nose and feeling another migraine coming on. Now there was absolutely no chance of finding out if the Jugglers knew anything more about this whole sordid affair with the Heartless.

"I wasn't going to spy on our allies, Fury, and had I pretended to go along with it, it would have eventually come back to bite me on the butt anyway!" Hawk retorted.

"And now because of it, the Jugglers are using this Watchtower fiasco to rip this world apart and use it as further justification of why the people should trust you or the X-Men despite your efforts to fight the Heartless because you allied yourselves to the Justice League! If anything, they'll come after you and the Joes too!! Hell, the only thing that could possibly fix this is that if the League did something completely out of the blue as in turn themselves in so that it could calm down this entire - !!"

"Maybe…maybe we should," Superman said softly. It was amazing how suddenly all talk and discussion immediately dropped and how the meeting room became silent with disbelief as all the leaders just stopped and stared at Superman, not sure if they heard him correctly. Even Quentin and Batman were outraged with disbelief at the apparent stupidity of that option.

"What?" blinked Low Light, not sure if he heard right, and the red and blue clad Kryptonian, with Lois' words echoing in his mind, sighed before he emphasized his point.

"Maybe we **should** surrender ourselves in good faith if it means that it will prevent people from going to war and arms over the Washington incident and thus, endangers the cause of trying to help this planet from succumbing to the Heartless and the Gathering of Twilight."

"Superman, you can't be serious!! That's not funny!!" gasped Bumblebee, her antenna perking up straight like steel rod in disbelief and anger as she stood up with her hands in fists.

"It wasn't a joke, Karen," Superman said before he turned to General Hawk and Nick Fury before he asked, "If we turned ourselves in and claimed responsibility for this mess, would it help you and the others as well as possibly make the Jugglers and the people in the Capitol and the United Nations leave you all alone? And since we don't have Keyblades or this Elementa magic, we wouldn't be a real loss to the war since the Misfits and X-Men and the rest of you would be more useful in fighting the Heartless and the Thirteenth Order anyway. The rest of the Justice League can function without the Founders, and we trained Batgirl and Supergirl enough to command and take temporary field leadership in case anything should happen to us. And we can't afford to have the rest of you be dragged down with us."

All the heroes were horrified at this, and some were downright angry. Still a few were rather touched, and Jean felt her eyes prick with tears while Zed, Kay, and Dr. Z looked absolutely stunned. Never before had any alien been willing to do something like this.

"Superman, no," growled Wolverine, now starting to show some feral behavior underneath his human demeanor. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Batman, not surprisingly, was less gracious and more cynical as he literally shouted at the Kryptonian, and from what the crowd could see, he was the only other Justice League founder who was angry about this. The other five were contemplating it silently.

"That is the single dumbest plan I've ever heard!! If you're feeling guilty, then clear your own name!! Don't just stand on the sidelines waiting for someone else to do it!!" the Dark Knight roared, for once actually absolving his stoic and silent demeanor and being more and more angry that few have ever seen him before (which should be a testament to how much Superman's suggestion annoyed the Batman).

"Batman, calm down," Wonder Woman said sternly and trying to ease the tension, and the aloof acceptance in her voice made Batman give her a fierce glare of honed steel at the Amazon.

"You actually agree with him?" he growled. Wonder Woman lowered her gaze thoughtfully and with a touch of guilt as she crossed her arms across her chest, but she didn't say anything to refute that question. That was enough for an explanation, and Batman just coldly walked past her and stalked out of the conference room without a word.

"He's angry. Incredibly so," Blind Master said, a bit taken aback at how powerful the Dark Knight's _ki_ energy was overwhelmingly expanding all around his body due to the anger and frustration. Quinn turned to Brittany.

"Five gets you ten that he's going to hold his own investigations outside of the League's knowledge since he's getting frustrated with how ours aren't going anywhere," she offered, and with a grin, Brittany shot it down.

"No deal. That's one even I can see is a sucker bet with Batman," Brittany chirped.

"And I don't blame him," said Quentin in a low voice as he gave Superman an intense look before he rumbled, "As noble as that is, it's also incredibly foolish. If you won't look at how it will weaken the League and us if you and the other founders turn yourselves in, then try looking at how you'll be walking directly into the enemy's hands or giving them an opportunity to not only stick you some more but endanger our efforts and plans to stop the Heartless. Not only are there Lex Luthor and the Humanitarian Party, but the Jugglers, any of Cobra's spies in the government, any of the Hellfire Club's spies in the government, any of _Wolfram and Hart's_ spies in Capitol Hill, and of course, any other independent and lesser group with hidden ties to corrupt officials who hate aliens as much as mutants like Stryker, H.A.T.E., the Friends of Humanity. You and the other founders turning yourselves in to the government will be like going straight into the lion's mouth. Is that enough, Boy Scout? Have I managed to get it through your thick head of steel?"

The dhampir had a point. This would easily weaken and cause more problems. Superman then tried again.

"We lost the people's trust. People died because of this, because we weren't careful, because we underestimated the Hellfire Club and the Heartless. I appreciate you trying to point out the damage that would happen to all of you if we turned ourselves in, but it doesn't change the fact that we need to be held accountable for our actions," Superman said, frowning.

"Oh, boo hoo hoo!" mocked a red-faced Beach Head before he snarled at Superman, "So you lost people's trust even though you told them the truth that this wasn't your fault! So you and the Justice League aren't as popular as before! So you and the Justice League may be hated for the rest of your lives and people died all because the Hellfire Club managed to make you all look like big honking idiots! Well here's a message for you Boy Scout: **get over it!!!** For crying out loud, I always thought you were a goddamned hippie, but I never would have imagined that you were a downright idiot!!!"

"And it is the Hellfire Club who needs to be held accountable for their actions, not you," Cyclops said, showing a side of him that few of the Misfits ever saw (or willingly acknowledged), "They're the ones who did this, and if anything, it's not right to take responsibility for what the Hellfire club did. You're doing this out of guilt, not because you truly believe that this is your fault."

Jenny then approached Superman and stood in front of him before she solemnly addressed him and the other founders, asking gently, "Superman, what was the reason specifically why you created the Justice League?"

"Uh, hello? Protect the world ever since the Imperium invaded the Earth years ago?" drawled the Flash, answering before Superman had a chance to do so.

"Did you do it because you wanted adulation and respect?"

"All right, you made your point, Ms. Calendar. We understand that it's no different now than before, and that this shouldn't set us back from doing what we normally do. We understand that; we're not fools. But we still need to show them the truth about all of this," Hawkgirl growled, inflamed.

"I don't see why that should be a problem, yo," Toad said, cocking his head.

"Toad's right! Now that we have footage from Dr. Z's investigations, we should be able to show the world that Donald Pierce from the Hellfire Club was the one who activated the cannon and shot at Washington D.C," Avalanche exclaimed, slamming a palm into his fist in hope, but the Joes still looked pessimistic.

"Not exactly, we just showed him that he was in the room that held the computer consoles to the reactor core. We don't have any footage that actively shows him being at the computer command centers and entering in the drive to take over the Watchtower's cannon. We just have him being there at the same place, but not catching him actively doing the act. In other words, no government official or the United Nations would establish that as proof because it's circumstantial evidence," Spirit groaned.

"You've got to be kidding me, _mon ami_!" groaned Remy, rubbing his face.

"Actually, he's not," Wavedancer grimaced, "Not only would we be unable to bring the Hellfire Club to any sort of jury since it would hardly do any good to them anyway, but even if we showed this to the general public, they'd still fear the League and still use the attack as justification to not trust them. When you're scared, you won't listen to reason"

"I'm sorry, but that's the best I could do. Everything else was lost," Dr. Z said apologetically.

"But, it would be enough for the Jugglers. I could use a copy of that to at least show them that the Hellfire Club is the one who was behind this, and they are fully aware of the Inner Circle's existence, even though they have no idea of how to track them or what they're up to. Hopefully, this will be enough reason for them to back off from the League and lessen the tension," General Hawk said.

"I'll see to it that it gets done," Zed nodded.

"But people still need to know what happened and it still doesn't change the fact that hundreds of people are dead from the nuclear cannon," Superman said. Nick Fury sighed before he looked at the main founder of the Justice League and made his point known.

"Look, Superman, I can say right now that I'm not the League's biggest fan, and I certainly am not going to completely trust you and follow you blindly. And yes, I do agree that a part of this whole mess is still your fault, you and the other founders. But even I can see that I can't question the fact that you and the League will be needed for the Gathering of Twilight and that you all have pure intentions, good people even. And even though we can't change everyone's opinions, at least the important people will know about this, and that's all that we can do right now. Until then, grin and bear it and ignore the fact that the general population has lost faith in you, and just continue on. We can overcome this, and until then, just continue fighting the numerous bad guys like you always do. Unless you want to give Lex Luthor the last smug laugh and have that bald-headed bastard having the last laugh of how he broke you and the rest of the League?"

That hit home as Superman and the other founders looked at each other in silence.

Later after the meeting, Green Lantern spoke quietly to Wonder woman and Hawkgirl as they walked towards the galley.

"What Superman suggested, about turning ourselves in…do you…would you guys have done it?" John asked.

"Probably not, but who knows? Even though Thanagarian law states that no warrior should be responsible for innocent casualties and that in war, sacrifices need to be made…I'm not sure. I do feel guilt and are saddened as such wanton destruction, however. Though I understand and relate to Batman's anger, at the same time, I cannot feel my heart go to Superman's suggestion," Hawkgirl said with a touch of conflict.

"I certainly would. Amazonian law states that no warrior would ever regain honor unless every single grievance is paid back – **J'onn!!** What in the name of the Gods are you doing?" Diana exclaimed in shock.

Indeed, what Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, and Green Lantern were seeing was certainly embarrassing for their resident Martian. Both he and Xi were sitting, Indian style, on the clean and polished galley floor and amid five nearly empty bags of Oreo cookies and a mass of black cookie crumbs. And J'onn and Xi were both wolfing down the last pack, cream and black dough ringing their mouths and their cheeks full when the two senior members caught them. Both were frozen on the spot. And since Martian Manhunter was usually calm, composed, and stoically dignified, it was rather unorthodox to see him snarfing down cookies like a greedy, little kid.

Xi, in his usual cookie-induced euphoria and high, giggled as he said in a stoned-out manner, "Hee hee hee, this person looks like Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Wonder Woman!! Hee hee hee – oooh! Lookit all the pretty colors!"

"J'onn, what in the name of the Gods are you doing?" Wonder Woman asked again incredulously, hands on her hips.

The green-skinned extraterrestrial blushed, making his face turn a rather grotesque shade of purple before he tried to say with as much composure as possible after gulping his mouthful, "Er…um…eating a few cookies?"

---

"You sure you want to come here, Jean?" Scott asked warily as he tried his best to ignore the glares of death and absolute hatred glaring down on him and his girlfriend as they stood amid the crowd of spectators. Not surprisingly, at the sight of the two infamous mutants of the X-Men, a lot of the people were giving them a wide berth and not even getting within five feet.

And the presences of Logan in his leather jacket and Beast wearing his X-Men uniform underneath a brown fedora hat and trench-coat which did little to mask his blue, furry, simian appearance were not lessening the suspicion and restrained hostilities of the crowd. It was a week later after Donald Pierce set off the Watchtower nuclear cannon, and things still haven't died down, but thankfully, no Heartless had attacked as of yet. And Jean, still somewhat interested in her future plans to be a doctor, was attending a tour at New York University with Scott and the others for two reasons. One was to gain a feel and interactive look at the campus since NYU's School of Medicine was one of the top rated medical school in the United States, and it always interested her to attend a university that was close to the Institute. The second was because there was a new center of genetic and biomedical engineering center to be finally opened to the public as a new building of research for the university in a grand ceremony, with Dr. Connors as the head scientist. It was going to be an impressive building, actually built as an extension of the medical school as an elevated and floating platform on the banks of the Hudson River. And Jean, excited about the prospect, wished to attend the ceremony since it was open to the general public, and finding it difficult to say no, Professor Xavier agreed, but only if Jean brought several of the others along as protection since the Heartless war was still going on.

And thus, that was why Logan, Hank, Scott, and Jean were excitedly (or excited solely for Jean's case) why they were watching in the middle of a sunny day at the lawns of the School of Medicine and the Bellevue Medical Center while Wilson Fisk and Herbert Landon were cutting the ribbon to the doorways of the completed building that took non-stop construction of the past several years. The building was even named adequately enough, "_Fisk-Landon Neogenics Research Center_".

"Oh wow, this is so exciting!" Jean gasped, her green eyes wide with excitement.

"Jean, this is going to be a disaster," Scott sighed from behind her, invoking their usual optimism-pessimism banter, and shushing, Jean just swatted her boyfriend's arm. Meanwhile, Hank and Logan were silently holding their own private conversation while the university security guards gave all four of them dirty looks, and quite a few of them looked as if they wanted to shoot them all.

"Are you having reservations on this too, Logan?" whispered Hank.

"Yeah, and not just Jean going to here to try to enlist when we all know that there's no way the University of freaking New York would accept her because she's a mutant. Something else stinks about this too. You remember the last time we tangled with Fisk, right?" Wolverine asked.

Beast remembered. The X-Men, Misfits, and the Professor went to an art museum in New York several years ago, only to tangle into two thieves called Turbo Jet and Talon in order to steal an ancient Egyptian parchment depicting something of interest to Wilson Fisk who ordered them to steal it. When the X-Men and Misfits teamed up with Spider Man to stop them, Fisk sent the Sinister Six to help kill them along with the web crawler, but thankfully they had managed to beat them back. However, Xavier and the others learned that Fisk stole the parchment in order to win good graces in Sebastian Shaw's eyes so that he could gain honorary membership into the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle.

Thus, Wilson Fisk wasn't the man the general public thought he was. And add the fact that this new center was squarely focused on genetics when mutant legislation was still going in debate in Congress and how the general populace was still generally anti-mutant, it wasn't looking all that promising.

"Something tells me that's not building this center for the school out of the goodness of his heart," grumbled Logan, "And either the Herbert Landon is either a complete tool or he knows perfectly well what's going on with the real reasons why Fisk is doing this building."

"Well, I daresay he is a brilliant geneticist and his advancements in the research of neogenics is rather revolutionary, but…" and Beast trailed off, invoking an eyebrow from Logan.

"But what?"

Hank sighed before he admitted, "Rumor has been going around that Herbert Landon is quite ardent in his theories of how mutants are polluting the gene pool and endangering the human populace due to the laws of natural selection, and though he really hasn't joined any of the usual groups who share such values such as the Friends of Humanity or Purity, still…there was speculation that he had plans to commit mutant genocide by finding a 'cure' to use on all mutants. But again, it's only rumor and quite possibly wild speculation."

"Every rumor has a little bit of truth in it, and normally, rumors from this sort of group of people don't come up because of petty dislikes like kids in high school. But still, even without Landon here, there's something sinister behind the reasons of building this little project. I just know it," grumbled Wolverine.

Meanwhile, from a far off distance…

"Hey, isn't that the X-Men?" a red-haired child named Jericho, who additionally had a dazed and stupefied expression on his freckled face as if half-asleep, as he indicated to the blue and unmistakable furry form of Hank McCoy with his friends. He clearly looked as if he belonged in junior high school.

"Shhh! Quiet! Yes, it's them, but there's no need to say hi to them since we're supposed to be here investigating Fisk and Landon in the first place. Plus, Ms. Calendar said that this is an important mission, not time for us to dawdle and have fun! This isn't the time to get distracted!" shushed back Kira, an African-American girl who was also a young adolescent like Jericho.

"If you ask me, this is one of the lamest missions we've had to go on ever since joining the Ghostbusters," grumbled Adam, a teenager who was noticeably much older and taller than either Kira or Casey, "What's the whole point?"

"Because Fisk is rumored to be a part of the Hellfire Club, and remember what Quentin told us? Fisk gained a very generous grant from the Wolfram and Hart firm to build this little new addition for NYU, and we all know that Wolfram and Hart doesn't just give grants on a whim! We're here to see if there's another reason why Fisk is doing this, so that's why we're here at the ceremony, now shut it!" a large and noticeably muscular Eurasian teenager male named Kay snapped back in a surreptitious whisper out of the corner of his mouth.

Meanwhile, Jean and Scott were lightly arguing on whether or not this whole tour trip was going to be a disaster when two figures ran up to them, and indeed, it was a welcome surprise.

"Oh my gosh!! Scott? Jean?" cried out a familiar voice, one neither of the two young X-Men have heard since college, followed by another familiar voice.

"Oh wow!! It **is** you guys!! We haven't seen you forever!!" yelled a young blond male as he and his female companion both came up rushing towards the X-Men with pure delight and affection, and all four of the X-Men felt the same likewise.

"Taryn! Paul!!" Jean said happily as she and Scott went up and hugged their high-school friends exuberantly. Indeed, both Hank and Logan couldn't help but smile fondly at the two former students of Bayville High who stood by the X-Men when they were outed as mutants by Cobra at the school dance. Taryn Fujioka was a Japanese-American young girl, about the same age as Jean, with long black hair and who was one of the few humans from Bayville who didn't shun the X-Men and actually stood up to defend them from the mass crowd of hate. Of course, a lot of it had to do with Jean and Scott using their powers to save themselves and Taryn when Cobra captured them before their secret was revealed, and Taryn and her parents were grateful for that immensely. And Taryn, though at first jealous of Jean because she got Scott, in the end, she backed off graciously and rather strengthened her friendship with the mutants. Unfortunately, Taryn and her parents moved away, but her parents promised the Professor that they would continue to fight for mutant rights since they were big civil rights supporters in the past. Paul Parker was another friend in high school, a close one to Scott who was also the semi-estranged son of Mainframe, the computer systems hacker and expert for G.I. Joe. Paul was able to clue in on Scott's identity as a mutant after the Sentinel attack and after he found out that he father was acting undercover as a Bayville substitute teacher, and he too helped stand by the mutants when they were fully and completely revealed to the public when Cobra attacked Bayville High. Last Scott heard, after graduating high school, Paul managed to gain access into a special government program that allowed him to learn about being a demolitions and explosives expert for the United States army, truly following in his father's footsteps.

"What are you guys doing here? Oh wow, we haven't seen you forever!!" Jean happily squealed, giggling and helping forget the recent strings of bad times and tragedies that had been plaguing the X-Men and the other heroes. Even Scott looked genuinely happy.

"I came to help visit Taryn since she needed to work on this assignment for her job," Paul admitted, blushing as he gave Scott a hearty handshake.

"Job assignment?" Jean asked, cocking her head, and Taryn smiled as she meekly held up a professional camera.

"I'm now a freelance photographer for the _Gotham Times_ newspaper in Gotham City. After my brief but disastrous stint as an intern in the White House, I decided to go for a career that went along with my hobby of photography since I did pretty well in those classes back at Bayville. When my parents moved out of Bayville, they relocated in Gotham City, and I found a job there as one of their photographers," Taryn giggled.

"Gotham City? Interestin'. Cause you're in the city of the Batman," Wolverine grinned as he and Beast ambled up to the two human adults.

"Yeah, but **you** guys actually get to work with him ever since you helped fight against H.A.T.E. and the Female Furies and Live Wire over that whole incident in both Gotham City and Metropolis. At best, the only thing close I got to seeing him was the Bat Signal in the night sky sometimes. And it's nice to see you again, Mr. Logan. You too, Mr. McCoy," Taryn smiled along with Paul as Paul shook both of their hands.

"You know, I still remember the day when you taught science class and on the first lesson, we learned how to make a stink bomb," Paul chuckled, and Beast smiled fondly at the memory of his teaching days at Bayville High school. Meanwhile, another familiar figure was running up to Taryn and Paul…

"Taryn, c'mon! Now's the time to get good pictures since Mr. Fisk is about to start his…whoa, Mr. Beast – er, Hank McCoy? Fancy meeting you here again!! How are you?" the young man with the wiry build and glasses smiled with laughter. It was Peter Parker, the photographer for _The Daily Bugle_ newspaper, and Beast remembered that when the X-Men went to the field trip to the art museum, Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, and Harry Osborne ran into them and made some small and polite talk before Turbo Jet and Talon broke into the institution for their robbery. In fact, it was a rather memorable experience since there were few and far humans who weren't fearful and suspicious of mutants.

"Mr. Peter Parker!" chuckled Hank as he held to his fedora hat with one hand while shaking Peter's hand with the other, "I am doing rather splendidly, but no more so than right now for running into a welcome acquaintance. And yourself?"

"Fine, but I won't be if me and Taryn don't get those pictures for our newspapers! Best case scenario, Jameson will have my head on a platter if he's merciful enough for me to miss my shoots. C'mon, come with us!! We could use some company!" as Peter rushed forward with Taryn, and feeling more and more easy going, Hank, Paul, Taryn, Jean, Scott, and Logan complied as Fisk began his speech by speaking on the microphone.

"_Today is a rather glorious day for another chapter of prestige and honor for the academia of New York University, and there are few words I can think of that can describe how wondrous it is to know that future generations are to benefit from this -_ " Fisk began, speaking and his voice being magnified over the speakers.

"Maybe if you had a thesaurus, you'd have a bigger vocabulary then!" shouted a girl's voice from the crowd, and everyone gasped as they looked around while Fisk looked a bit perturbed from the heckler who spoke so rudely and derisively to him, but his face relaxed as he let it pass. Rapunzel, one of the teenagers from the Monster fighters Incorporated, sternly reprimanded a brown-haired adolescent girl wearing a green coat and a green superhero's mask.

"Daemona!" the Rapunzel scolded, "What part of 'keep a low profile' order that Quentin and Jenny asked us that you did not understand?"

"Oh come on, we all know that Mr. Fisk is a rotten egg who works with the Hellfire Club! So why not have some fun? That fatso deserves to be heckled!!" chimed in Daemona rather smarmily while maintaining a angelic face of pure innocence so that no one in the crowd would suspect the darling girl of being the one who just shouted the insult.

Fisk inhaled a bit before he continued with a big smile, "_Indeed, the dedication of the school of genetics and advance research in the field of neogenics is indeed a momentous and historic gift for this esteemed school for future generations to change the world for the better. This gift shall be one of my biggest donations to help mankind!_"

"That's not what Weight Watchers said!!" yelled out a boy's voice, and Casey again maintained an angelic face on his childish-demeanor as the boy in glasses did his best to look inconspicuous and innocent while everyone looked around. Fisk's knuckles turned white as they gripped the wooden podium but he didn't lose his temper.

"Casey!" hissed Kay at the Phantom Investigator.

"Oh come on, Kay! He left himself wide open for **that** one!!" giggled Casey.

"_And I have a final announcement -_ " Fisk tried again.

"You're getting a sex change?" yelled Adam and then he too looked around with a confused look, wildly turning his head like the rest of the audience in puzzlement and trying to see who shouted that last one. Fisk's face turned red like a tomato before he nodded at the guards to keep alert and forcibly remove the hecklers by force and any means necessary.

"Honestly, you're as bad as the kids," Natalie Porte sighed at Adam, rubbing her temples with both hands.

"Hey, why should the Phantom Investigators have all the fun?" Adam grinned.

It seemed like there would be a sudden and abrupt end to the fun as, to everyone's shock and surprise, Wilson Fisk was heavily sent flying off the stage only to come crashing on the stage as a familiar red and blue costumed superhero swung down from the rooftop of a neighboring building with a strand of strong webbing, and with both feet, delivered a mighty kick that sent the obese philanthropist crashing on a distance.

The crowd suddenly was enthralled with shock and horror as there were scandalized and appalled murmurings and gasps of surprise as the figure stood boldly and looked at the crowd through his white eyeholes.

It was the wall-crawling hero of New York, Spider Man.

"_Spider Man?_ What the hell is he doing?" gasped Scott.

"No, that's **not** Spider Man!! **_That's an imposter!!_**" gasped Peter Parker, horrified and rudely awakened with the fact that this false Spider Man didn't even trigger his spider sense which should have been impossible to begin with. No being ever had been able to defy and escape his spider sense.

"Huh? How do you know?" Paul asked, blinking as Taryn kept snapping away with her camera, realizing that this was a juicy scoop for the Gotham Times. Her editor was not going to resist this one!

"Uh…because…because spider Man would never attack people in broad daylight! That's not like him!" Peter lamely covered. Logan's eyes also went wide.

"The kid's right!" he exclaimed as Hank, sensing that trouble was going to arise, hurriedly shed off his trench-coat and hat, ready to spring into battle if necessary, "I can't smell a scent of him!! If Spider Man's a living being, then he would carry a scent!! That's not the real thing!! That's a fake!"

"Shoot him!!" snarled Herbert Landon as he pointed at Spider Man on the stage, and the armed security guards pointed their pistols and taser guns at the intruder, but cockily, Spider Man used his webbing to entangle and encase all the guards' hands with sticky webbing and protein, making the firearms useless.

"You sure that's not the real spider Man? That looks like his webbing," quipped Paul as Spider Man then addressed the crowd in a perfect imitation of the Peter's voice, making the teenager's blood chill in his veins due to the uncanny resemblance.

"_I have one thing to say to this crowd of preppy students to be…_" he drawled in the microphone before he snapped his fingers. With a flash of dark aura, four hulking behemoths appeared out of thin air before they roared and shakily remained upright while looking at the large crowd of innocents with their inhuman yellow eyes.

"Oh my stars and garters…" gasped Beast.

"_You will all die under the Organization Thirteen_," Spider Man said sadistically before he pointed at the crowd, ordering with a clear and brutal shout, "**_HEARTLESS, KILL THEM ALL!!! STEAL THEIR HEARTS!!!_**"

With a roar, the four Hellfire Heartless charged, shooting at the vast crowd with their claws, snaring others with their hands, and shooting dangerous shafts of black lightning. Fisk and Landon both ordered their security guards to help escort them to the limousine for a hasty escape while the crowd screamed and started to run, dispersing while the Heartless experiments attacked. Within moments and because of such a large number of people who congregated for the ceremony of the new research facility, the entire field was glittering with a blanket of pink heart crystals.

Hank took action as Scott and Jean and Logan rushed forward to help stop the experiments, yelling on his communicator, "Charles, General Hawk, I daresay we have a Heartless crisis!! Here at NYU at the School of Medicine!!"

"We're coming!" General Hawk responded.

"I shall send a team of X-Men to help you and teleport with the Mass Device in a minute or so! Hank, try to keep the crowd under control and distract the Heartless as long as you can!" Professor X commanded.

"Easier said than done, Charles!" gulped Hank as he dodged a shaft of black lightning with his acrobatic skills, but unfortunately, as the energy blast went past him, it struck two women instead, causing them to scream before their bodies disintegrated and left nothing but two glowing heart crystals.

"C'mon, you guys, **run!!** We need to get out of here!!" Peter yelled at Taryn and Paul as he grabbed Paul's shoulder to indicate that they needed to scram while they could. Unfortunately, with the jostling and shoving of the crowd panicking as various people were running everywhere, it made it very difficult to have enough wide open space to even run to safety in the first place.

"No!! We need to help Scott and Jean!! We need to help them get all these people out of here and lead them to safety!!" yelled Taryn back heatedly as another man perished by a Hellfire Heartless grabbing him before ripping his body to shreds and revealing the treasured and coveted heart essence inside the human.

"No, I agree with Parker here!! Go, get yourselves somewhere safe!! Help anyone in the crowd who needs it, but go!! You won't do anything by staying here!!" Wolverine roared as he dodged another Heartless before it could stomp on him. Peter nodded as he ran, but Taryn and Paul actually managed to help by guiding some panicking people by waving and pointing to the closest exits out of the medical school. Paul even grabbed a three year-old child who was separated from his parents while Taryn stopped taking pictures and helped escort an elderly woman to run to safety.

"Damn it, of all the times I could use magic!!" cursed Scott, "If I live through this, I'm taking a piece of Materia and convincing the Professor to start carrying it around for emergencies!!"

"Natalie, hurry!!" yelled Kay.

"I'm on it!" gasped the young Asian female recruit as she then created several portals, all of them black and swirling with green paranormal and mystical energy and each about the size of a manhole cover, all of them absorbing the black lightning as the blasts all streaked across the sky. Thanks to the portals, none of the energy attacks struck their targets, and they all were absorbed into the portals and disappeared to God knew where to destinations and dimensions unknown where they wouldn't harm anyone.

"Spider Man, stop this!! Why are you doing this?" Jean cried as she used her telekinesis to try to hold him in place, but to her shock, the web-slinging male then began to glow as the use of Jean's mutant powers being utilized on him. To Jean's shock, the red and blue outline of Spider Man's form began to glow and shimmer, as if his appearance was faltering a bit before he roared and broke free of Jean's telekinetic hold and snared her with a strand of webbing, the noose wrapping painfully around her torso and neck, threatening to strangle her.

"Ack!" Jean cried as she was violently yanked towards Spider Man as he jerked the rope to send the mutant X-Girl flying into his arms. Daemona then noticed the shimmering appearance of the New York vigilante before it came to her what it was most likely…

"An illusion!" the girl gasped.

"We're here! There's no need to – oh God damn it all!!" cursed Roadblock as he, the Misfit handlers, the Misfits, Pluto (surprisingly enough), and a few X-Men finally teleported on the grounds of the strewn and torn up campus with hundreds of floating heart crystals, a sure sign of a gruesome and devastating massacre before they saw Spider Man shove a familiar gray spore into Jean's chest.

"Oh no…" Wavedancer gasped.

"No, Jean!!" cried Scott as he saw his girlfriend become fully changed into the grotesque Heartless that took shape of the darkness inside her and the spore causing her infection. She was now a female avian with long, flowing red hair, standing on its own two feet and towering over the heroes by twice their heights while having wings for arms and hands. Each feather covering the Heartless' plumage was black, but the feathers nicely shaped the curved feminine hips, slender waist, and ample bosom, and the experiment was wearing a copper breastplate and a metal thong reminiscent to the armor of the Amazons on Themyscria, only _much_ less modest. But what was disturbing was that along with this, the Heartless additionally had another pair of gigantic black wings, as black as a raven's, and a black feathered tail of exquisite beauty, like a peacock. And on each feather on its tail as well as the underside of its wings was the red and black Heartless symbol.

Jean's Heartless form was literally a black phoenix.

"I gotta admit, having Perfect Jean being a Heartless did wonders at improving her bra size!" Quicksilver couldn't help but marvel, so it really wasn't a surprise that Cyclops lividly shot a weak optic blast into Pietro's stomach, not enough to burn him but certainly enough to knock the speedster down.

"You think this is funny?" roared Scott as he shed his jacket off, revealing his X-Men uniform underneath, "You think Jean turning into a Heartless and risking her life is funny? Damn you, Pietro, why you were considered having a pure enough heart to wield a Keyblade is beyond me, you loud-mouthed - !!"

"You guys, **STOP!!!**" yelled Dragonfly, "Fighting isn't going to help Jean any quicker!!"

"**Give me strength!!!** Help stop the Heartless!!" yelled Wavedancer, Toad, Avalanche, Xi, Scarlet Witch, and Whitelighter in unison, holding up their respective scepter and Keyblades, and with a flash of a series of multi-colored lights, the Disney summons of Dumbo, Genie, Simba, Bambi, Mushu, and Tinkerbell appeared before they set themselves upon the Heartless with a renewed vigor.

"X-Men, Misfits, Joes!!" yelled a blond haired female teenager as she and a group of adolescents and young adults ran towards them. Beach Head roared at them, not willing to deal with civilians at this time.

"Damn it, scram all of you!! This is not a circus, kid!! These are the Heartless!! Get your asses out of here!!"

"No, you don't understand!!" Kay yelled heatedly, "**We're here to help you!!** We're new recruits of Jenny Calendar! We were investigated Fisk's opening ceremony of the new wing here at NYU because of the grant money he received from Wolfram and Hart, not to mention to help patrol the area in case any Heartless show up!!"

"With such a big event like this, it was only natural that this would be a likely candidate for a Heartless attack to get a lot of hearts!" Jericho said.

"Huh?" blinked Bree, "Wait…Jenny Calendar? Then…you're…paranormals? Of the Ghostbusters?"

"We're the Phantom Investigators, sent by Quentin," Daemona said as she, Kira, Jericho, and Casey all saluted with respect to the Joes.

"And **we're** the Monster Fighters Incorporated, also sent by Ms. Calendar and the Ghostbusters to assist you guys. We're the older guardians slash chaperones of Daemona and her friends for today," Amanda said as she nodded to her teammates, Kay, Adam, Rapunzel and Natalie. All of them nodded at the heroes, except Natalie who meekly waved at them, quite shy, while partially hiding behind Kay.

The adult X-Men and the Joes blinked.

"The Ghostbusters are recruiting **kids**?" Low Light exclaimed in shock. Amanda shot Cooper a dry look.

"We may be kids and teenagers, but we're not helpless," she retorted, "And correct me if I'm wrong, but **you** guys train minors too!"

"The lady doth have a point," quipped Beast, grimacing at that logic.

"Woodra Leafblight Revolution!!" yelled Xi.

"Blizzaga Arctic Requiem!!" yelled Dragonfly.

The four Heartless and the dark phoenix-Heartless all shrieked and backed away from the biting cold while feeling their hides and skin being ripped and cut with numerous small but deep gashes as the glowing leaves sliced at them. Undaunted, the phoenix Heartless shrieked as several large pieces of rubble, trees, and various bits of the stage that Fisk used for the ceremony levitated into the air before flying out towards its opponents.

"Yeow!!" Toad gasped as he leapt in between the various flying obstacles, "What gives, yo? Jean's Heartless uses telekinesis too? That's just whacked!!"

"Uh…what exactly can you kids - ?" began Shipwreck, and acting like this question had been particularly asked umpteen times before (and chances are, they have), irritated, Daemona and Amanda both spoke for their teams, and it efficiently went under a minute.

"Phantom Investigators," snapped Daemona hurriedly, pointing at herself and then at her three friends, "I'm Daemona, have no powers but know a lot! That's Kira, she's got telepathy! That's Casey, he's got metamorphosis! Jericho, telekinesis!"

Amanda then finished in a professional and brisk tone, "I'm Amanda, have pyrokinesis! That's Kay, also known as Kid Gloves, has enhanced strength and the ability to copy fighting moves, that's Rapunzel, she can grab and throw things with her hair, that's Adam who explodes when attacked, and that's Natalie who can create portals!"

"Any **more** questions? Because now is _not_ the time!!!" they both demanded waspishly, to which the Joe sailor blinked.

"Uh…no…" he admitted, his head still slightly spinning from trying to keep straight on who was who. The Ghostbusters finally nodded, satisfied.

"Great, now let's kick some Heartless butt!!" cheered Casey as he and the other Phantom Investigators got out some materials out of Kira's backpack, a noticeable supply of potions brewed by Phoebe (and by Kira and Daemona who were studying the Charmed art of potion-brewing as Phoebe's apprentices).

Cyclops immediately showed his true strengths as a leader as he yelled over his communicator, relaying his idea to the other X-Men and the Misfits, "X-Men, don't use your powers on the Hellfire Heartless!! Use indirect tactics!! **Repeat: use indirect tactics!!** Beast, Colossus, Shadowcat, use your powers to protect the crowd and shield everyone from the Heartless!! Wolverine, your heart's been locked, so you should be able to claw at the Hellfire Heartless, and your adamantium claws should count as indirect attacks so they don't empower them!! Gambit, Rogue, Magma, use your powers and glovatrixes to provide cover and distract the Heartless along with the Ghostbusters!! If you see any Organization lackey, attack him or her too since they're not invulnerable to mutant powers!! Misfits, we'll help provide the cover and protect the crowd!! You guys do what you do best with the magic and Keyblades!! Just help Jean, please!!"

Though his stomach protested, he knew this was the only way to save his girlfriend from losing her heart. And Pluto, despite his reservations, had to raise one eyebrow as he looked at the optic-blasting mutant teenager. It was sort of surprising to see another side of the prick. Wavedancer smiled and nodded, seeing the inspired cunning and logic in that plan.

"Follow Cyclops' orders!! Misfits, yo Joe!!" Wavedancer yelled, raising her scepter high in the air, and as one, all the Misfits and Joes, and even Adam and Kid Gloves repeated the catch phrase, lost in the moment.

"Yo Joe!!" they all yelled before they charged, with Amanda and Rapunzel and Natalie left to look at their two male teammates with exasperation, biting their proverbial tongues.

"Boys…" Amanda sighed.

"Go figure…" Rapunzel shrugged easily before she managed to grab a fallen slab of concrete with her red-hair, her tresses acting like a gigantic, living tentacle and flung it directly into the torso of one Hellfire Heartless, scoring a direct hit with a bone-breaking thud.

"You heroes will never preserve against the Organization!! Heartless, take them all out!!!" yelled Spider Man as he commanded the five abominations to kill them all, whether they be human, mutant, or paranormal.

"Funny, I didn't know I was already recruiting my own publicity manager!" rang out a familiar voice from above, and before any of the heroes could react, Spider Man was solidly rammed by a figure, using both of his feet, and delivering a powerful kick that sent the poor red-costumed figure flying before crashing against a car. To everyone's surprise, they saw that Spider Man was attacked by…Spider Man?

"Holy!!" Shipwreck blurted out, wildly training his Eagle pistols on both figures out of the field with the Heartless, "There's…two Spider Mans? Uh…I mean, man…uh…I mean, men. Uh…am I drunk again?"

"Actually, for once you're not, Shipwreck," Cover Girl growled, training her rifle on the first Spider Man (the one who infected Jean), "There's two Spider-Men because one of them is an imposter!! And I'm willing to bet that the creep who infected Jean is the **fake** Spider Man!!"

"Aw shucks!" mock groaned the second wall-crawler as he snapped his fingers, "And I had a speech all ready and waiting to prove to you Misfits and X-Men that I was the real Spider Man. There were a few good ones too, and I had a Powerpoint presentation to top it all off!"

"**That's** the real Spider Man," chorused Shadowcat, Rogue, and Colossus at once in unison, immediately recognizing the telltale wisecracking and easy-going personality.

Unfortunately, before any of the heroes could attack, there was a sudden yet powerful roar of earth as the very pavement and blacktops started to tremble and fluctuate wildly like they were rubber as the rock and dirt cracked and ripped apart all over the concrete and lawns of the New York University campus.

"Yow!! What the heck are you doing, Rock-Head?" yelped Colossus as he hurriedly ran up in front of Kira and Casey and blocked a falling telephone pole with his metal armor, punching it in half before it could strike the two adolescents.

Simba snarled angrily and telepathically, being picked up by a few such as Lance, the Triplets, and Kira from the Phantom Investigators, _It's not Avalanche's doing!! He's not causing this!!_

"It's actually me, you fools," boomed a curt yet intense masculine voice, the bass tone making everyone jump back a bit before Lexaeus appeared from a circular portal from God knows where, the smoke and aura of evil vanishing before, with a wicked gleam in his eyes, before with a flash of black, he summoned a gigantic and hefty-looking tomahawk into his gloved hands. It certainly looked intimidating with its black metal glistening in the sunlight along with the yellow and red edges, consisting of both an axe head on one side and a long-blade on the other at its tip. Kira gasped, seeing where this was heading.

"Scatter you guys!!" the girl cried out piercingly, "He's gonna attack!!"

Without a word, he struck the ground with his weapon, and instantly, the earth began to shake and violently heave, sending spikes of earth to grow suddenly upwards and threaten to impale all the heroes on the campus. Spider Man (the real one) yelped as he fluidly and impressively did a few gymnastics, leaping and flipping backwards to avoid the earth threatening to swallow him up.

"Yeow!" Peter yelped from underneath his mask, "I'd like to say I'm on shaky ground, but even **I** think that's a cheesy pun!"

"**_I'm not done with you yet!!!_**" yelled the false Spider Man, taking advantage of the situation and leaping up and tackling Peter in midair before trying to break his neck.

"Ack!! Let go!!" the real Spider Man yelped as he defended himself as the two super-beings crashed to the sidewalk. Meanwhile, thanks to Kira's warning, the rest of the Ghostbusters, Joes, X-Men, and Misfits managed to scatter and have the sense to luckily avoid and dash around the tremors and make themselves difficult targets for the Organization male to hit them with.

"Back off, ya' yahoo!!" snarled Rogue as she flew up in the air and fired a bola missile followed by a electro-missile in quick succession but to the Southern belle's shock, the muscle-man simply sliced through the missiles with his weapon as cleanly as a hot knife through butter before he touched the ground and summoned a spout of dirt to come flying directly at her.

"Yaagh!!" Rogue shrieked as the dirt enveloped her and caused her to crash on the ground, alive and well, but disoriented and filthy, "Yuck!! I'm gonna make you eat dirt for that one, you creep!!"

Meanwhile, Scarlet Witch gasped as she recognized the Organization member at once, that strapping, muscular physique that his cloak failed to hide, that tawny glob of hair, those cold eyes and that square jaw. She snarled with poison, "YOU!!!"

"Wanda, you know him?" blinked Quicksilver.

"That's the creep who infected Bree and Lifeline in the infirmary at the Pit! He's the one who turned them into Heartless right before Pluto gave us our powers!!"

"Oh! Well in that case…STRIKE RAID!!!" yelled Quicksilver, throwing his silver and white Keyblade, and like magic, the weapon whirled and spun like a boomerang, heading directly for the opponent's head. But with stunning dexterity, Lexaeus saw it coming and blocked it.

"Colossus, Fastball Special, now!!" yelled Wolverine, and with only needing two seconds, Piotr grinned before his armored form grabbed Logan by the back of his jacket and flung him at the robed man, as straight and accurate as an arrow. Lexaeus barely had enough time to bring his tomahawk across his body before Wolverine's adamantium claws struck his axe.

"You're dead, you – what?" Lexaeus snarled as his tomahawk seemed to be struggling to move in mid-swing, allowing Wolverine to leap back before it could slice him in half. The Organization male was stunned; it was as if an invisible hand was holding it and arresting it into place. Jericho panted as sweat beaded his forehead while he used his telekinesis to keep Lexaeus' arm still, but he was nowhere as powerful as Jean Grey.

"I can't hold it much longer!" Jericho cried out.

"You insolent - !!!" snarled Lexaeus, but a large and heavy rhinoceros slammed into him from behind, knocking him back, giving a violent shove with its horn.

WHAM!

"Hey, you fight one Phantom Investigator, you fight us all!!" snapped Casey as he transformed back into his human state with his metamorphosis.

"Cool!!" marveled Kid Gloves as he witnessed this before he looked at Xi and then nodded at a nearby Hellfire Heartless.

"Xi, a Fastball Special? Courtesy of the Monster Fighters?" Kay asked. Xi blinked, and Kay grinned.

"I have the power to copy physical moves," he suggested, and Xi, deciding to wing it, nodded while swallowing his apprehension. He didn't have much time to protest as Kid Gloves grabbed Xi by the back of his deerskin uniform, and copying Colossus down to a tee, the brawny Eurasian teenager flung Xi directly at the head of the ravaging monster before Xi's ninja training instincts kicked in and he brought his Rainforest Scale Keyblade out before slashing at the neck, right at the soft spot before the chin…

**_Spaaaccckkk!_**

"You got him!" cheered Kid Gloves as the headless creature fell to its knees, "You…huh?"

The Hellfire Heartless shuddered to itself before it disintegrated, and immediately, a pink heart crystal flew out of its body before joining the others in oblivion.

"A heart? These things release hearts when you kill them?" gasped Kay.

"I don't know!! We don't know why they're doing this!!" protested Xi, shaking his head helplessly.

Meanwhile, the Native American Joe, Spirit, carefully took aim with his crossbow, in which his shaft had not a pointed head but rather a fragile paper capsule filled with a whitish-gray powder in it before he fired at a group of two Hellfire Heartless. The was a short snarl of surprise as the arrow burst upon the sharp impact, invoking a cloud of white dust to spread and poof like flour upon the head and torsos of the abominations. Spirit, glad he succeeded, yelled to Amanda with a command.

"Ms. Firestarter!! Quickly, use your fire magic on the Heartless that I just fired at!! Hurry, before the dust fails to stall them!! Aim a fire blast at the areas where the dust is covering them!! Aim at the dust!!" he yelled, and though confused, the Monster Fighter obliged and sent a gigantic flash of flames and heat which immediately swirled around the pair of black creatures. To her surprise, the instant the flames touched the powder, there was a series of popping, crackling, agonizing explosions as the two Heartless were besieged with miniscule bangs that perforated the skin and flesh of the two experiments.

"What was that?" Beach Head gaped after he took the opportunity of the distraction to fire a missile payload from his rocket launcher into the distracted Heartless and actually succeeding in causing them to stumble a bit backwards.

"A mixture of gunpowder and acidic compounds. They activate under high temperatures. I made it in my study with some rare herbs I managed to find," Spirit said nonchalantly as the two Heartless screamed as their flesh began to pop and ooze, melting a bit as the acidic dust Spirit mentioned took into full effect. Beach Head had to marvel a bit.

"Hmph," he groused, "Unorthodox and certainly hackneyed, but effective."

"I'll take that as a compliment," grinned Spirit.

"Yeow!! Like, Kid Gloves, can't you shoot back at the Heartless? Can't you like totally copy those black lightning attacks or Jean's telekinesis?" Shadowcat yelled over the din as she invoked a Telsa barrier from her glovatrix to protect herself and Kid Gloves.

"No, I can only mimic _physical attacks_ like punches or kicks or martial art moves!! I can't mimic powers because that's entirely different!! What do I look like, an omnipotent Gary Stu? I'm not **that** powerful!! I can die too, ya' know!!" snapped Kid Gloves heatedly.

"All right, all right, like don't get so testy!" Shadowcat snapped.

"Ars Arcanum!!" yelled Blob before the vitality and magical aura of his purple Heavyweight surged into him and like the Flash or the Quicksilver, Fred moved at inhuman speeds, a mere but gigantic blue, before he sliced at a Heartless while wildly swinging his metal, oversized weapon, actually managing to hack off its arms with several furious swipes and effective strikes. Quicksilver and Mushu then decided to team up.

"Mushu, now!! Strike Raid!!"

"I'm on fire!!" yelled the dragon.

"YEOW!!" yelped Blob as he cocked his head back as far as he could to the left, and even then, Pietro's flaming Zephyr Keyblade nicked his ear painfully (but thankfully, due to Blob's invulnerable skin, he didn't bleed) while it struck the Heartless full into the chest and rent it in half, cleaving it. Thankful that he didn't get beheaded, Fred roared angrily at Quicksilver as the deadly, rotating projectile flew back into the albino's hands while the Hellfire drone died, releasing another heart crystal.

"**_For cryin' out loud, will you be more careful next time? You nearly took my head off with that thing!!!_**"

Quicksilver gave Blob a deadpanned look before he snapped back with impatient sarcasm, "Oh gee, excuse me for not anticipating that the jerk was going to teleport!! You want me to _ask_ him to stand still?"

Then the silver-haired Misfit cupped one hand to his mouth before he called out in a bitingly playful tone, "Oh, yoo-hoo, Mr. Weird Earth-Guy from the Organization, could you pretty-please stand still so that it would be easier to hit you? I'd ever be so grateful!!"

Pietro then sneered at Blob, "Well, **that** was a wonderful idea!! Got any more inspirations of stupidity?"

"You know, it never fails amaze me how much of a pain in the behind you can be even when we're fighting for our lives against the Heartless!!" snapped back Blob as he abandoned the verbal sparring and charged again at another Heartless, yelling, "Ars Arcanum!!"

"Well excuuuuuuuuse me, Princess!" drawled back Quicksilver loudly enough to cause everyone's teeth to go on edge as Rapunzel wearily turned to Gambit, sighing wearily and feeling another headache coming.

"Is your friend always this colorful? He doesn't exactly leave a wonderful first impression," the red-haired girl murmured.

"Understatement of the year, if you ask me, _mon cherie_," Gambit muttered as he flung a glowing card at a flying park bench thrown by the phoenix-Heartless' telekinesis, causing it to explode, before it could flatten both him and the Monster Fighter. And since it was indirect, it didn't power up the Hellfire experiments.

Meanwhile, Spider Man was having difficulties fighting the imposter as Toad and Daemona watched on helplessly. Toad was ready to fire a blast of his thunder magic, but he was helpless to know which one to blast. Thankfully, Daemona had no problems as she was chanting Latin from a spell book in her hands before she tossed one of Phoebe's potions to the ground. The vial shattered, releasing a green plume of smoke before it engulfed the false Spider Man and caused it's appearance to melt away into…another Hellfire Heartless. Surprisingly enough, this Hellfire Heartless was wearing some sort of metallic headband as an electronic voice box speaking English orders with a strange European accent.

"_What are you doing?_" the voice roared, "_Do not stop!! Destroy the false Spider Man! You are the real Spider Man!!_"

"Thundaga Blitzclap Pressure!" roared Toad, and with a shriek, the Heartless that was disguised as Spider Man perished and was electrocuted to death.

"What? Impossible!! How can this be? One Misfit and a powerless, spineless girl?" roared Lexaeus who managed to escape Cyclops and Wolverine's assaults and hovered above the two.

"It wasn't **that** difficult," Daemona sneered at Lexaeus, "It was easy to figure out how to break that illusion spell, especially with a Charmed One's potions! And FYI, just because I don't have powers doesn't mean my brains more than makes up for it, jerkface!"

Lexaeus just forsook the usual villain-banter as he flew across the air with his tomahawk and snarled, his black robe billowing and not even giving the red-haired girl a chance to run for her life. Daemona gasped, fearfully clutching her book, but to her relief, a portal mysteriously ballooned up in front of the Phantom Investigator and before the cold-hearted man could stop himself, he flew right into the portal before he could skid to a halt and it closed up behind him. Daemona turned to a triumphant Natalie who blushed.

"Hopefully, that sent the big muscle-head someplace far away from here," the Asian girl said before Daemona enveloped her with a grateful hug.

"Good work, yo – **_argh!!_**" howled Toad as he clasped his hands to his head, feeling his brain and mind being excruciatingly torn apart, molecule by molecule, as if his psyche and mental state were being furiously ravaged by a flaming weed-whacker. The other heroes were also groaning and yelling with pain as they fell to their knees, but surprisingly, Shipwreck, Kira, Pluto, the Disney summons and Trinity were the only ones who didn't seem affected.

"Augh!! It hurts!! It hurts!!!" screamed Whitelighter.

"Holy fuck!!" Low Light bellowed, "My mind feels like it's on fire!!!"

"Can't…think…can't…move!!!" hollered Spider Man as he curled into a fetal position.

"What's happening to them?" gasped Shipwreck.

"Kids!! Hey, stop it!! My gumbo you had for lunch couldn't have been this awful!!" Genie weakly quipped worriedly as he tried to help Rogue and Kitty. Bambi was wailing and crying as he nudged the convulsing Xi with his nose.

"That's because Jean's using her telepathy!!" pointed out Quinn as she scanned it with her pink scanner, "As a Heartless, she's even more lethal and powerful than before, and she has no issues with losing self-control!!! Only us telepaths are immune to it!! And Daddy…"

"No…" gasped Scott as he shakily rose to his feet as the dark phoenix continued to try to kill them in a slow and excruciating death by destroying and shattering their minds.

"Cyclops…" gasped Daria.

"Jean, I know you're still in there…" gasped Cyclops as he slowly ambled towards the Heartless, shaking and his head feeling like a block of cement, "Jean….my mental connection with you can still reach you. I know you're not gone, your heart's still there. Please Jean, don't do this…"

"Stop!! She'll kill you!!" gasped Amanda as she tried to fight the agony.

The feminine Heartless shrieked before it stomped towards Scott, and with the other heroes incapacitated, there was no way for them to be able to intervene to help out. Wavedancer, with blood trickling down one nostril from her mind and brain being ripped to shreds by Jean's telepathy, then gasped to Pluto who was whimpering next to her.

"Give him my magic…" she gasped.

Pluto winced; he could do it, but it was incredibly…

"I'm willing to take the risk. But I can't live with it if Summers dies!! Give him my magic!! If anything, I'd understand about doing what it takes to protect my family!!" Wavedancer screamed as the pounding reached critical mass.

Pluto still hesitated.

"Pluto…please…all of us will die. We can't fight it! But he can for some reason!! He's the only one!! If you won't do it for him, do it for Jean and us!!" Althea chocked, bile rising up her throat.

Pluto's eyes then glowed an intense yellow as Cyclops was immediately filled with the magic of the Lumiga Kingdom, his forehead radiating the power of the element of pure, holy light.

"LUMIGA…" Scott roared as his visor began to glow in yellow light as there was a sudden influx of sunlight from all around the campus, all of it surging and assembling together at Scott's eyes, feeling the force and pressure build up majestically and wonderfully in his eyes before they flew open and discharged with an intense beam of energy that in no way was related to his mutant powers.

"SOLAR RAINBOW HYPERBEAM!!!"

With a loud and deafening noise, a cloud of pressurized air and dust swirled dangerously around Cyclops as a wide shaft of light, perhaps about twenty feet in diameter, came roaring out in a spectrum of colors. Thanks to the unique ability of his ruby-quartz visor, the magic was enchanted to fracture and spread out into a wonderful and concentrated and severe shaft of a gigantic rainbow, like how a prism fracture white light into a combination of colors. And the phoenix Heartless as well as the other two remaining Hellfire experiments were weakened severely. The monster that was once Jean Grey did not even have a chance to invoke its telekinesis to protect itself…

"UUUURRRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" screamed the phoenix in a inhuman, high-pitched screech, like scratching nails across a chalkboard, before it fell to the ground, weakened while the other two Heartless were destroyed. But because of the assault, the telepathic assault ceased and the other heroes were slowly recovering thanks to Tinkerbell immediately bathing them with her pixie dust.

_Thank the Pride Lands, thank the Pride Lands_, sobbed Simba telepathically as he nuzzled the groaning and weak Lance.

"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!!" yelled Wavedancer as she pointed her staff at the severely weakened Heartless, and the dark phoenix shrieked as the ten sigils of light engulfed it before the white pillar of magical energy exorcised the Hellfire spore inside it…

_Kawhooom!!!_

A blue blur dashed by as Jean's unconscious body dropped to the floor, but shockingly enough, no heart crystal was next to her. But it soon became apparent why as Falco Lombardi scanned the heart crystal in his wing, probing it with more force than necessary with a dark frown on his face.

"That's Jean's heart, ya' creep!" Rogue snapped.

Falco sighed in disappointment.

"Save your breath, X-Men. Your precious Jean's heart is no Talisman," the avian grumbled.

"Then give it back!! Give us back her heart!!" Scott hissed murderously.

Falco eyed Scott beadily before he commented rather maliciously, "You know, after your red-headed whore threw me through the glass ceiling of Bayville Mall, it would serve her right if I smashed her heart right here and now."

That was the final straw.

Cyclops was absolutely livid, and unfortunately for himself and his allies, he still had the dwindling amounts of magic still attached to his heart amid the frustrations, jealousy, and anger of how the Misfits were able to go on the front lines to fight while the X-Men were left vulnerable and Jean was nearly left to be killed. It was there, it had grown…and it reached the snapping point.

The darkness of the human heart.

Brittany gasped as her scanner actually started beeping madly, the screen flashing in red, and since this was a strange and certainly foreign first-time occurrence with her tool, the Triplet could only yell over her communicator, "You guys! Something's happening!! Something bad!!!"

Blind Master also sensed it with his ninja inner-psyche and could actually hone in on some cloud of rage and something sinister as he exclaimed, swearing in Japanese, "It's coming from Cyclops!!"

"No…" gasped Wavedancer, fearing that perhaps made a very, very big mistake. And Pluto additionally felt like a big idiot as he let out a strangled yelp and wail of fear and surprise as he realized to his horror that the symbol of Lumiga glowing of Scott's forehead was still glowing and now it was turning as black as night. Now, instead of a yellow aura of hope, it was becoming corrupt.

"Damn you!!!" roared Scott in a voice not like his own as now black beams of darkness were shooting out of his visor, and unlike his previous attack, this was not light of the Elementa Kingdom but rather enchanted and harsh magic generated from the darkness inside Scott's anger and rage.

"Yeow!! He's blasting all of us!!" Fred gulped as he blocked one beam from striking him and Lina with his Heavyweight Keyblade.

"Yikes!! Quit it!! I was just kidding!!" Falco squawked as he nimbly avoided getting killed.

Colossus roared over the din, "Comrade, stop!! You'll kill all of us!!"

"**_I CAN'T CONTROL IT!!!_**" hollered Cyclops, truly at a loss as his magic went completely out of sync and wildly surged and hit anything in its paths. One of the buildings destroyed was the new Fisk-Landon neogenics research center that opened only minutes ago, and with a crumbling implosion, it fell to the ground, a pile of rubble and charred metal.

"Well, whatever Wolfram and Hart wanted from Fisk out of that building, they're not getting it now," quipped Adam at the ruins.

"Too bad Cyclops had to take out half of the medical school while he was at it," winced Magma at the damage.

"I don't think Jean shall be admitted here in the future," Beast gulped.

"Yeow!! Here, take you dumb bitch's heart!!" Falco yelled as he threw it at Rogue who caught it before Octavia shot out her magic to engulf Scott before he could accidentally kill his friends.

"Aquara Tigershark Tsunami!!" she roared, and immediately, a column of water soared over the X-Man before it knocked him down. Taking advantage of the respite, Falco and Octavia left.

"He's down!!" roared Roadblock.

"And this will keep him down!" Spider Man yelled as he leapt forward a delivered a punch on Scott's temple, knocking him unconscious, "Sorry, Cyclops, but this is for your own good!"

Althea panted and fell on her knees, bruised and seriously fatigued while Pluto just glared at her. In the future, he was certainly going to be more careful from now on. Meanwhile, a certain doctor and sorceress were busily arguing at each other for the apparent failure of this mission.

"I thought you had that Heartless under control!" snapped Tala.

"It was!" Dr. Hugo Strange griped, "Your magic was hardly powerful if a lone girl from the Ghostbusters was able to break the illusion spell you cast on that Heartless!! My brainwashing could have never failed us! That girl breaking your illusion spell additionally caused my to lose control of the electronic implants!"

"Oh be quiet!! Let us hope that Eiling and Luthor will not be too terribly upset," grumbled Tala as she teleported the both of them away. But before this happened, Taryn managed to spot them from the ground at her hiding place and use the zoom lens on her camera to take a clean snapshot.

"Who were they?" Paul asked, spotting the odd pair from the distance.

"Whoever they were, I think they're involved in this somehow," the girl replied back uneasily.

"At least the Heartless and that Organization _homme_ are gone, _non_?" Remy asked.

Rogue sighed with relief; it was all over, and they had Jean's heart for now, at least. Rogue then was surprised as the pink crystal of Jean's heart and it began to glow and shimmer softly before it flew out of her hands and descended slowly and gracefully in front of Jean's chest as Wolverine held her in his arms. The heart faded into the redhead's body before a tiny but apparent keyhole of fire and red materialized on the X-Girl's body.

"A keyhole?" Natalie asked, her eyes wide. It then clicked in Logan's mind as he turned to Scarlet Witch who nodded.

"I got it!" Wanda announced as she held out her black and red Keyblade, and like magic, a group of red stars swirled and gathered around the tip of her weapon before they let loose a small explosion of flames. In response, the keyhole in Jean's chest let loose a similar burst of fire before they flickered away, and the keyhole clicked shut with a final locking noise.

"It's fine. Her heart's safe now," the Goth wearily but gratefully declared. Mushu, who was still perched on his partner's shoulder, scoffed as he flicked his tongue angrily at the recovering Scott, who, now groaning, was starting to regain consciousness as Spider Man, Dragonfly, Wavedancer, and Pluto gathered around his laid out form.

"No thanks to the head X-Geek over there," the dragon Summon muttered to himself.

"Mushu!!" snapped Magma, obviously able to hear that snide remark.

"Uh…" groaned Scott, "What…what happened?"

Spider Man and Althea looked at each other, suddenly tongue-tied and certainly not going to take much pleasure in breaking it to Scott and how he just destroyed the new ward Fisk had built for the school of NYU, thus certainly setting back mutant-human relations a bit and not to mention causing more damage than the Hellfire Heartless and Lexaeus combined. Quicksilver looked like he was going to open his mouth and gleefully rub in salt in Scott's wounds, but Toad thankfully and uncharacteristically had the foresight to intervene.

"Yo, Genie…" the frog-teen drawled suggestively with a smile, and with a snap of his blue fingers, Pietro was rendered completely mute, his throat glowing for a brief instant with rose-colored magical sparks. Quicksilver, realizing what was happening to him, jumped up and down and bellowed in a silent tantrum, much to everyone's amusements, and discovered that once again, he couldn't even voice a whisper. Quicksilver then glared at Genie with a gigantic death look before he took out a cue card and showed Genie the words, written in block letters and in permanent marker, "I HATE YOU".

"Surprisingly enough, I can live with it, Quickie," Genie shot back with a toothy smile.

"Any chance you can keep doing that, Genie? Our ears could use a rest," Rogue said smarmily, shooting the spellcaster a rare smile.

Later that afternoon, as the other Joes General Hawk had sent to help control the crowd at the university while the Misfits and the X-Men were discussing the events with the Phantom Investigators and the Monster Fighters, Althea, Spider Man, and Scott were having a private discussion on their own.

"Hey, I'm sorry about punching you out like that Cyclops," Spider Man said sincerely as he placed a hand on Scott's shoulder, "I really didn't want to, but it was the only way to stop you from going completely out of control."

"It's all right. I…I was out of control, and…I shouldn't have been. And now I just destroyed a building and caused mutant-human relations to go backwards by several years," Scott said with guilt. How could this had happened? He rarely lost and gave into his emotions like that.

"Not to worry. The Joes are spreading a story that the Organization cast a magic spell on you and that the enchantment caused you to lose control and act out like that. That way, you won't be held entirely culpable. Hey, it's about time we told a few partial truths of our own, and technically, it's not lying. Especially since it'll cover you, Summers," Althea said with a smile. It was clear she was feeling a bit guilty for surrendering her magic to Scott when he wasn't ready for it. Scott smiled gratefully.

"I guess on the bright side, Jameson of the Bugle will get a lot of coverage on blaming us for the Heartless attack and with so many witnesses seeing that the Spider Man that attacked the crowd was a Heartless imposter, you'll be free and clear," Scott said with sincere compassion and some guilt considering he did a lot of damage with his magic. After what Spider Man did to save them, it was only fair that he didn't catch any flack for it. To Cyclops' surprise, Spider Man shrugged, his mask not betraying any emotions of his face hidden underneath.

"Eh…Jameson's gonna figure out how to spin it off as a conspiracy theory anyway, so it'll make no difference as to whether or not I helped you anyway. Either way, my name's still going to be dragged through the mud," the masked vigilante commented nonchalantly.

"Now **I'm** the one who's sorry. Even more so since I lost control of the magic that was given to me," Scott said, concerned, but the young man chuckled as he shook his head before he looked at Wavedancer.

"The Heartless are getting stronger and more brutal in their attacks," Spider Man remarked, "And since they've been attacking a number of places like Bayville, Chicago, the Justice League's Watchtower, and now here, it's logical to think that this is all going to boil down to that Gathering that's being whispered about for so long, isn't it? Things are just going to get worse, and you guys need help, don't you?"

Wavedancer seemed a bit startled as she asked with a side-tracking question, "Wait…you believe the report G.I. Joe told to the people that the Justice League was framed for that attack on Washington by the Thirteenth Order? Even though the majority says otherwise?"

Spider Man gave her a baleful look (or what could pass off as baleful from his body movements and by the way he cocked his head) as he said with a tinge of mockery, "Yeah, well being framed yourself by the Organization and Heartless tends to make the story seem more and more plausible, so what can I say?"

The raven-haired ninja with blue highlights smiled a bit ruefully before she answered the ally's first question, saying, "Yeah, this is all going to lead to the Gathering of Twilight, and even though we don't know anything about it or why the Organization's getting hearts, we're not going to stand by and let it happen without a fight. Why? You asking to join in?"

"Hey, didn't have anything else better to do. And I'm not foolish, but if these Hellfire Heartless can't absorb my webbing and punches since I'm not a mutant with an X-Gene, then I think it's safe to say that I'd be a pretty good addition to your army. Plus, I won't be able to forgive myself if I didn't try to be more active in stopping the Heartless after seeing so many people die here. Like my…like someone very close to me once said: '_with great power comes great responsibility_'. And I wouldn't be responsible if I just walked away from this."

"The good news is that there's a possibility they can be brought back and all the people that had their hearts stolen by the Heartless may be saved if we win the Gathering," Cyclops murmured.

"Good. All the more reason to help you fight then," Spider Man answered back, and he truly meant that. After all, if he didn't help, then more than likely the Heartless would kill everyone on this planet, including Mary Jane and Aunt May. He couldn't risk staying out of the fight.

Meanwhile, Taryn and Paul finally managed to break through the barricade before they ran up to the Misfit handlers, desperate to get their message through.

"Roadblock, Beach Head!! Taryn got pictures - " Paul tried to exclaim, but Beach Head irately snapped, thinking they were hoping to get the inside scoop of the Heartless battle as well as somehow gain interviews for Taryn's _Gotham Times_ column.

"Parker, Fujioka, not now!!" growled the masked Ranger, "We're not doing any interviews, and this is an off-limits area for the public!! The last thing we need to do are grant special privileges to you two to muck things up simply because you know the X-Men and the Brotherhood in the past!!"

"No, you don't understand!!" Taryn shouted impatiently, trying to get her meaning across, "I took pictures of the Organization while Scott was trying to blast that weird bird and octopus-lady!! And there was a doctor and a lady with them, and they looked human! That Organization guy had a human doctor and lady helping him!! **And I got it with my camera!**"

The Joes blinked in surprise as they processed what Taryn just told them.

---

With a plume and outpouring of dark smoke as the portal widened in the Oracle Fountain room of Organization Thirteen's headquarters, Lexaeus strode in slowly and in solemn progression as he stopped before his eleven robed comrades and his one Lord before he stopped and fluidly knelt down on one knee, an arm crossed over his chest as a sign of respect.

"Experiment 363 to Experiment number 369 have failed," Lexaeus said simply. Though an incredibly brawny man, quite possibly the strongest in physical strength and endurance in all of the Thirteenth Order, he was a man of few words and spoke only what was necessary. The leader of the group appreciated that; after all, with them being so close to finding the Talismans of Twilight, he wasn't truly in the mood for chatter. And they had gained over five hundred hearts, quite a powerful boon…

They were getting closer and closer.

"Excellent," he mused before he turned to Zexion, ordering sternly, "Now is the time to execute the side-plot of our plan for Operation Kingdom Hearts. Eiling from Cadmus has already notified me that he had contacted Zartan of Cobra to infiltrate and search for what the Hellfire Club needs from Muir Isle. Take the next round of spores from Dr. Hamilton once they are ready and convene at the laboratory for the next attack. But beware, do not give in any indication to Zartan that we are fully aware of his alliance with Cadmus, for it is far easier to allow the pawns to cause for destruction and to act within our expectations if he does not know he is being manipulated."

"I hear, and I understand, my Superior," the dark-haired youth called Zexion answered with a stiff but polite bow and he turned to leave, but before he could step on the white marble floor and summon an opening to the planet Earth, the Superior's deep voice brought him to a tense halt.

"Zexion," growled the number one member, "This time, I expect you to actually not depend on the Heartless to do your dirty work and to actually engage yourself into battle with the mutant children and whatever allies they bring with them. You will not be able to kill any of them in the Gathering if you do not have a slightest familiarity with the X-Men and Misfits' strengths and weaknesses along with the other fools."

Zexion's face flushed with anger and humiliation at the hidden barb of uselessness, but he thankfully managed to keep his mouth shut and not frown. There was no point in being suicidal.

"So far, all of the members I have sent have proven their worth and ability to somewhat make a stand, and as time and future conflicts continue, we will only improve on this potential weakness. If Demyx is no exception, then neither are you. Play your illusions and mind games all you want, but I expect you to actively engage the Keybladers and their friends this time. Are we clear?"

"Yes, my Lord," Zexion said, trying to keep the resentful bile out of his voice as he summoned the portal and left quickly.

**Author's Notes: I'm so sorry I'm late with this chapter! I got caught up with work and real life, plus this was an incredibly long one! But on the upside, I'm only a day late! And from now on, check back on Saturdays instead of Fridays for new chapters! That way, I won't put you all through torture!**

**Fictives: Friday, Saturday…it just means you have no life outside this fic if you write thirty-page chapters in one week, you loser! And for people you don't know!**

**Folks, while I try to find my mallet, check back next Saturday as the mystery about unknown enemies deepen as the allies ponder over Taryn's pictures, but old friends are brought into the light as Cobra is spotted in Scotland, and fearing the worst, the X-Men and Misfits go to Muir Isle to meet with Moira over a possible genetic experiment called "Legacy", but with the Organization after it, it will be a showdown of hearts and fate as Zexion enters the fray. Can Rahne save her extended and adoptive family, even with the help of the heroes and a new ally called Pete Wisdom? Check back next Saturday for the chapter "Rahne and the Muir Island Legacy" and until then, read and enjoy! Constructive criticism welcome! Now excuse me while I keep my imagination under control with a painful whacking or two!**


	28. Rahne and the Muir Island Legacy

**Author's Notes: I do not own the characters, Ace Starr, Pete Wisdom, and Bart Allen (aka Impulse), for they are the creative properties of fanfic author, L1701E, Marvel Comics, and DC Comics. Also, because this features his favorite character, I dedicate this chapter to my friend, NebulaBelt, who is a fellow author and a good friend. NebulaBelt, I hope to do the "Wolfsbane Appreciation Society" proud with this chapter. I hope you enjoy it! That said…**

**CHAPTER 28: Rahne and the Muir Island Legacy**

"I don't believe this," blinked Robin from the Teen Titans as he and the other allied leaders looked at the copies of the photos that Taryn managed to take during the Heartless skirmish over at NYU, and indeed, it wasn't a pleasant sight for the heroes to see new players in this whole war. The sight of Tala the evil sorceress and Dr. Hugo Strange, a former adversary and villain from Batman's past, being at the battle when the Organization attacked opened only new questions while providing no answers. Thankfully, it was still a wonderful boon. Wolverine was especially furious at seeing the image of the purple-haired enchantress.

"That's the whore who killed Jubilee's parents when we went to San Francisco to find answers about the Halliwells," the feral man growled, showing his canines, as he remembered the telepathic image the Professor projected right before Zankou's warlocks and the Turok-Han attacked. He would have dearly loved to get his hands on that witch so that he could kill her.

"And Tala was involved with plotting with the Hellfire Club to steal the Nexus from the Charmed Ones. I remember seeing the vision of her conversing with Pierce and Leland of the Inner Circle from Phoebe's premonitions, so it shouldn't be a surprise that she is indirectly helping the Organization with her magic," Professor Xavier sighed, rubbing his forehead in exhaustion. These meetings were already starting to take a toll on him.

"Oooh, how I'd love to get my hands on that shameless bitch!" growled Piper Halliwell, her face red with anger as she crumpled the copy of the photo in her hands, looking as if she wanted to strangle Tala herself. It shouldn't have been a surprise considering that Piper was still sore at Phoebe being framed, and any attacks made against her family would be a personal issue with the Wiccan.

"Take a number, Freezer-burn, because **I've** got first shots!" snapped Logan.

"Over your dead body, you will, Badger!" retorted Piper.

"**Children…**" Storm said in a warning tone, trying to get them to stop, and thankfully, it was enough as both the X-Man and the Charmed One shot a resentful glare at Ororo for that comment, breaking the argument before it could distract everyone. Along with the Misfits and a select few of the X-Men, all the allied leaders from all groups were asked to come discuss this latest revelation over at the Joes' Pit, and since it was magically shielded from Leomon's magic, there would be slim to no chance that they would be eavesdropped by the Organization. Thus, this would be a relatively secure meeting. And copies of the incriminating photo from Taryn's camera were being distributed to the congregated heroes after she willingly developed them in Airtight's lab.

However, regardless of how much of a boon this new piece of evidence was, it didn't give any of the defenders a good feeling.

"Wait, I remember Tala from what the Justice League and the Charmed Ones told us about her, but who the heck is that that human doctor who's next to her?" asked Ray Stantz from the Ghostbusters.

"That's Dr. Hugo Strange," Robin supplicated helpfully, knowing that Batman would rather not get into lengthy explanations, "I remember reading about him from the files on the Bat-Computer. He's a brilliant genius in the field of psychology and the criminal mindset, but unfortunately, he also became a villain and a dangerous exploiter when he designed a machine to read people's thoughts and expose any disastrous and scandalous secrets they were holding from powerful figures of society in Gotham City. With that, he used the evidence to blackmail them into paying him millions of dollars to keep the secrets hidden. And unfortunately, he additionally used the machine to discover a few secrets of…Batman when he - "

"Robin," growled the Dark Knight in a warning death-tone, warning him to not to give away more than necessary and feeling that enough was said.

"But wasn't Dr. Strange pardoned and let out early from his crimes for good behavior last year?" asked Brittany, blinked.

"And now that I think about it, it **is** sort of weird that he got pardoned for his crimes considering that Commissioner Gordon couldn't override the criminal pardon considering it came directly from the Department of Defense of the U.S. government. I mean, why would people in government want to pardon Dr. Strange?" Brittany murmured.

The Teen Titan leader blinked, surprised, before he asked incredulously, "How did you know that? Only the Bat-Computer had access to such information, and not even the Gotham Police Department's electronic archives or the Titans' computers had that tidbit."

"And we've never heard of Dr. Strange before until now either, so it certainly wouldn't have been stored under Mainframe's databases or any other records under city enforcement. And if we didn't know about it, then the question is how do you three know?" Spirit said sternly as the Joe glared at the Delgado Triplets, feeling that he wasn't going to like the answer.

Daria gulped a bit as she and her sisters made innocent, angelic smiles that weren't fooling anybody as she meekly said in a honeyed voice, "Uh…lucky guess?"

"You hacked into Batman's computers and databases again, didn't you?" Bree asked in a deadpanned voice, a sardonic look on her face.

"We plead the fifth," Trinity all chimed in as they were subjected to Batman's pupil-less glare under his cowl, his teeth grit and his face hardened with suppressed anger, his fingers twitching ever so slightly underneath his cape from the temptation to grab all three of them by the scruffs of their necks and throw them into a reinforced room with no windows or doors.

"I'll be sure to ground them when we get the Triplets back to Misfit Manor, Bats," Shipwreck sighed, trying to alleviate the righteous fury of the Dark Knight.

"If you ask me, whatever punishments you hand out to your children doesn't really seem to do much good as of yet in discipline," Wonder Woman retorted, earning her a glare from Martian Manhunter, Cover Girl, Wavedancer, and (surprisingly enough), Storm.

Meanwhile, Bumblebee asked Robin, "Psychology? And he's a _human_? All right, I could understand if he was a magic-user like Tala or if he was a mutant member of the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle like the White Queen, Emma Frost. But this doesn't make any more sense. What possible reason would a human doctor want to ally himself with the Heartless when it's common knowledge that the Heartless are going to destroy them along with the Earth? And for that matter, **how** could a psychologist be of any use to the Heartless or the Organization?"

"I'm not sure. As much as it looks like some of them could use it, I can't imagine how Dr. Strange could use his psychology to assist and benefit the Thirteenth Order. Even if they're brainwashing him and causing him to be a pawn, there's nothing he can offer that seems important at face value."

"Keep in mind, it's also possible that Dr. Strange may be working with enemies who are against us that we particularly don't know about. But I can admit that his appearance with Tala cinches that he's involved with the bad guys, whether directly or indirectly," Wood remarked, the African American Watcher studying the photo with a narrowed eye.

"But Dr. Strange is one of the good guys! We've met his magician apprentice, Benny!" protested Toad in puzzlement, blinking his wide yellow eyes in confusion, and sighing, Scarlet Witch swatted the frog-teenager upside the head with one hand.

"That's a different Dr. Strange, Toad," Wanda groaned, "**Our** Dr. Strange we know is a powerful good magician and wizard who mentors Benny. **This** guy in the photo is Dr. Hugo Strange, a bad guy from Batman's history. Got it?"

Toad nodded as he said annoyingly with some obliviousness, "Oooooooh, I gotcha!"

"Well, if we have a name, it should be like totally easy for us to go find out where he is and - " began Kitty, but Batman coldly cut the valley girl before she could continue.

"There is no need. I was fully aware of Dr. Strange's pardon the minute it happened, and I have already tried tracing his whereabouts as well as attempting to keep him under surveillance to ensure he wouldn't be a direct threat to myself or others."

"Of course," sighed Piotr, rolling his eyes. He shouldn't have been so surprised, really; Batman was indeed the one person who could prepared for anything and would exhaust any possible link before it could even escalate.

"Unfortunately, he is undetectable. There are no known public records about his whereabouts, and any further attempts to discover any clues on his involvement with any association requires an Omega-Section clearance. His current status is classified by the government."

"What?" exclaimed General Hawk and a few others in shock. Now that **was** surprising…

Beach Head was beside himself with apoplectic irritation at the insinuation as he barked at the Dark Knight, "But…_Omega_ clearance? That's impossible!! There's no chance in hell our superiors would waste something like that on a hunchback poindexter!! Omega clearances are used for threats to national security and can only be issued - !!"

"By a Juggler," Hawk finished, his face white, "It makes sense, then. There must be some sort of involvement in the government that's assisting the Hellfire Club and the Organization Thirteen in infiltrating the Heartless here on Earth and to give us trouble. And since Eddington was behind releasing Ethan Rayne so that he could be in charge of the Initiative, there must be a network of enemies we're not aware about, and a good portion of them must be either the Jugglers themselves or people associated with them and the government to do their dirty work."

"Hawk, think this over for a second," Shipwreck said in a serious tone, "You're accusing the _whole_ Omega Juggler hierarchy of trying to stick it to us while siding with the Heartless? C'mon, even **I** have a hard time believing that, and I'm usually the dumb one in the bunch. As crooked as those sneaks are at times, they're also concerned with the country and protecting it, so they wouldn't turn to the Heartless who are the bigger threats just to screw us over."

"No, not all of them. **That** would be an impossibility, but playing dirty tactics to keep those they deem as threats or people who could be difficult to control and defend against should they turn rogue such as when Superman was brainwashed by Darkseid is much more likely. And if _several_ of the Omegas and Eddington were working behind the other Jugglers' backs and siding with the Heartless and creating new ways to help make this war difficult by helping the Inner Circle, than that would be a lot more likely," Hawk replied.

"But we don't know which Jugglers are behind this!" Hank protested, "And it will be extremely difficult to find out considering that they are circumventing you and working around your stance to side with those they don't trust. If anything, they won't tell you what you need to know."

That was true; ever since Hawk gave the Jugglers the copy of Donald Pierce killing the human staff in the Watchtower's control room for the reactor core, he hadn't even received a word of acknowledgement or a thanks. It was as if they were completely ignoring him and the other Joes while not hesitating in making sure the Epsilon Juggler (if he and Flagg still were considered ones) suffered for his defiance.

"Like this Cadmus that that water Organization lackey blurted out by accident when he attacked Themyscria?" Scarlet Witch asked Beast, her eyes crinkled in confusion.

"It could be, but that's also difficult to find out, if anything. Not only can Fury from S.H.I.E.L.D. as well as Generals Whithalf and Flagg not find anything that points to something called Cadmus, but the Jugglers aren't talking. And anything that goes in the government, secret conspiracy or not, would not escape their attention. Ever since Hawk refused their orders, it seems that nothing is being let on to us. I think that the Joes are as good as being on our own for this one," Cover Girl said worriedly.

"Not exactly," Professor Xavier said encouragingly, "We'll all help each other out to make sure that we can counter any future Heartless invasion as well, not to mention help lessen the pressures of the fighting for the Misfits so that they can cure any unfortunate soul who became infected."

"Speaking of which, how's Jean?" Althea asked, her eyes worried, as she looked at Scott, "She holding up?"

Cyclops' face grew weary and solemn but he nodded encouragingly as he looked up and said, "She's doing fine. She's resting in the infirmary now, and Beast told me that she should be able to wake up by morning. And like all the other cases, there are no side effects to what we can see from being infected. But I'll let her know you guys said hi."

"Aw, she'll be fine, Summers!" chuckled Shipwreck, patting Scott on the shoulder, "You out of all X-Men should know that it'll take more than a Heartless to keep her down! She'll be back on her feet before you know it, and now she's immune like you and the other Misfit handlers too! Trust me, you're gonna have a hell of a time keeping her from making those Organization bastards pay for this once she gets her hands on the landlubbers!"

As touched as he was by the show of loyal emotion and concern, Scott then felt guilty as he remembered that a part of him still wished several of the X-Men (though not himself since he didn't want to go through that entire fiasco again with destroying the Fisk-Landon center) had the Elementa magic if not the Keyblades. Though he knew he couldn't shake that desire, Scott realized that a part of him additionally felt ashamed as well.

"But **why** would the Organization be trying to frame Spider Man? What possible use would there be to make people think that Spider Man was responsible for the Heartless attack at NYU?" the Ghostbuster named Winston asked, narrowing his eyes at a picture of Spider Man fighting the fake doppelganger.

Jenny Calendar's brown eyes grew hard as she clarified, "Dissension. It is another tactic to turn the public against us, Winston. After framing the Justice League for the destruction of Washington D.C, they must be additionally attempting to discredit the other heroes by making it appear to the public that many of the allies on our side or potential allies are siding with the Thirteenth Order. Not only would it give fewer reasons for the governments and civilians to trust the side of the Keyblades, but it would also allow Luthor and his Humanitarian Party to appear the better choice for Presidency and for Luthor to garner more people like sheep into his pocket."

"I get it," Roland, one of the Extreme and younger Ghostbusters, "It's another dirty trick to make things harder for us and easier for the Hellfire Club. And nothing will make them happier than dragging the X-Men and Misfits' names through the mud since they have been reported to team up with Spider Man before."

"And it's apparent that Wolfram and Hart have a hand in this as well," Kylie added, the Goth frowning as she pondered over what the Monster Fighters and the Phantom Investigators told her and the other leaders of the Ghostbusters firm, "Think about it: Professor X confirmed that Fisk has been trying to gain honorary membership into the Hellfire Club ever since that art museum fiasco, and then he dedicates in new ward for genetics with a grant from Wolfram and Hart and attracts a huge crowd in a city where Spider Man is a local hero and one of Fisk's major nemeses? And the Heartless just happen to pick that city out of world of millions to attack a crowd of people for hearts as well as have one of their drones impersonate Spider Man rather than the other heroes in this world?"

It clicked into place.

"Kylie's gotta point," Eduardo noted, scratching his chin and nodding at his wife's implications, "it's too convenient to be a coincidence, so chances are, Wolfram and Hart are helping Fisk in that set-up too. Unfortunately, we can't prove it yet, and all this evidence still doesn't directly like Wolfram and Hart to the Organization and the Heartless."

"You know, this little '_we have to play by the rules according to the Powers That Be_' bullshit is getting a little old! Why **not** go after them? Courts have made deliberations on less evidence than that! Wolfram and Hart isn't playing by the rules when they helped Ethan Rayne become head of the Initiative or by financing Fisk, so neither should you Ghostbusters have too! And in the long run, it'll help nail them and the Hellfire Club!!" Beach Head snapped.

"Because playing dirty tactics will never be worth it since it will always come back to bite us on the butt, Sneeden. There is a huge difference between finding loopholes and disregarding the laws. And keep in mind, _evil done in the service of good is still evil_, and we see to it that our firm does not sink to that level. **EVER**," growled Quentin, the dhampir's eyes glowing hotly as he glared at the masked army Ranger. Beach Head, admirably, didn't back down as he glared back. He too made a spine of unyielding steel.

"At least now the truth will come out and clear Spider Man's name somewhat, and thankfully, there will be too many eyewitness accounts to dispute that claim," Wonder Woman murmured.

Despite his worry, the Flash also managed to chime in with a small smile of relief, "And some of the reporters and media are already starting to get wind of the Keyblades and the Misfits being able to fight and successfully kill the Heartless. At least you guys not in the League will be starting to been seen in a positive light now."

"That's true," Bree admitted with some cheerfulness, "And I think the appearance of some of the Disney characters were recognizable enough to generate more curiosity and interest rather than the initial blame and hostility when we first started fighting the Hellfire Heartless. Hey, in times like these, any bit of a positive spin could be a big help."

"But speaking of media exposure," Martian Manhunter brought up as he turned to General Hawk and the Misfit handlers, "You need to tell Ms. Fujioka that she cannot publish the picture of Tala and Dr. Strange in the Gotham Times paper. To tell people too much knowledge would not only be extremely dangerous and risky to herself and to the mass public, but we cannot give the Organization or the Hellfire Club any indication of how far our investigation is going."

"But tell her that we are grateful nonetheless. This is a big clue and another piece to the puzzle," Allo smiled warmly, obviously showing that he wasn't going to forget his thanks.

Roadblock however shook his head at J'onn, smiling, as he versed, "Not to worry, my Martian friend, for we made sure to take care of that loose end. We told Taryn and Paul to not tell a soul of what they seen of those whelps, and Taryn's all right with that since they both want to help. Those two know how to keep secrets since they're worried about this whole affair, so you don't need to fear about them blabbing here and there. As long as she gets some Heartless photos for her paper, the incriminating stuff are ours to keep investigating this caper."

"You know, eventually, that whole rhyming shtick can get a little annoying," groaned the Ghostbuster Garret from his wheelchair, invoking a smirk from the Watcher, Wood.

"Trying to tell Marvin to stop speaking in verse is like trying to stop the flow of the tides, Garret," Wood chuckled.

---

"So why are we going to Muir Isle again, Prof?" Tabitha asked from her seat as the Blackbird soared across the skies a few days later after the Heartless attack on New York University, "I mean, I'm grateful at a chance to see Rahne again since we all missed her, but why are you and Storm coming? Did you miss Rahne and want to visit her as much as we did too?"

"Not exactly, child," Ororo murmured with a smile, "We additionally wished to talk with Moira, Rahne's mother, on some developments with her genetic research on the X-Gene."

Indeed, Ororo was smoothly piloting the large metal aircraft with Charles Xavier in the passenger seat of the cockpit, the white-haired weather-witch able to proficiently and dexterously steered the jet towards the lone and private island off the northern coasts of Scotland that belonged to Moira MacTaggert and housed the hospital where she not only continued her Nobel Prize winning research on human and mutant genomics, but she additionally took in mutant children afflicted with debilitating mutations that ravaged or physically damaged their bodies where she loved and cared for them as if they were her own. In other words, Muir Isle was home to the world's largest and comprehensive mutant research facility which additionally served as an efficient medical ward. And it was additionally here where Rahne Sinclair, a former X-Girl and student of the Institute back at Bayville lived along with her mother and the other children. Rahne used to be a student of Xavier's until the Cobra attack on Bayville High School as well as the exposure of mutants to the world, and fearing for her daughter's safety, Moira withdrew Rahne immediately from the school so that she could be back home with her family in Scotland.

It was a sad day when Wolfsbane had to leave Xavier's Institute. There were many tears and hugs of farewell before Rahne had to be flown home by Logan and Hank, mostly from the New Mutants. And when the Professor felt it would also do the students some good to have a chance to see their beloved Scottish redhead again, he invited several (but not all due to safety concerns) of the students to come along while he and Ororo discussed matters with Moira regarding her research. Thus, along with Tabitha were Amara, Jubilee, Jamie, Kitty, Kurt, Piotr, and Lockheed, Kitty's pet dragon.

"I can't wait!! It'll be so cool to see Rahne again! We missed her so much, and phone calls and e-mails aren't as good as actually visiting her!" Multiple said excitedly as the Blackbird managed to descend from the clouds and head towards the green and flourishing rock-bed that was serenely nestled amongst the sapphire oceans. The island was craggy, having pointed and jagged shores and cliffs of black and dark-brown rock that had been weathered due to the age and the pounding surf, but on top of the surface was a comfortably and lush field of the greenest grass, cropped short and neater than synthetic Astroturf. It was a rather picturesque scene. The island was large enough to comfortably house a landing site for an aircraft and the three story hospital and research complex, made of white stone and concrete and standing out amongst the clear, sunny sky. The hospital and research complex additionally was fenced in with a simple metal gate of black metal bars, not only to keep out intruders but to also keep some of the more troublesome students and patients inside.

As the Blackbird landed on the stone landing area, the X-Men were actually quite surprised to see that Moira MacTaggert and her assistant, Sean Cassidy, were talking with a group of people gathered at the front of the building. And when they all boarded off the VTOL metal jet and down the ramps, they were all surprised to see who it was as Rahne Sinclair and Theresa Cassidy ran up to greet them.

"Hey, you guys! Welcome to Muir Island!!" Rahne giggled as she hugged everyone. Though despite being a bit taller, the mutant teenager was still almost the same as before with her rosy complexion, slender frame, and her red hair still made up into two small pigtails. It was wonderful to see her friends again, and she even gave Professor Xavier and Ororo big embraces of welcome before introducing them to her close friend, Theresa Cassidy, a teenage girl with dark-blond hair and green eyes and rosy cheeks, very similar in appearance to her father.

"Ah, it is wonderful to see you as well, Rahne," Professor Xavier said amiably, but then looked with concern at the crowd as Storm wheeled him over, continuing, "I take it this is a bad time to visit your mother? She normally does not have this many visitors to her center, but if this is a rather awkward time to visit, then why did she wish to arrange a meeting with me?"

"To be fair, nothing is really wrong per se, but it is a little worrisome," Theresa admitted with a slight grimace as the X-Men finally saw who composed of the group who were discussing with some reasonable calm despite the loud side-talk and distracting interruptions from within.

"Of course," sighed Ororo, rolling her eyes, as she spied the Misfits and the G.I. Joe handlers in the group, with Wanda having a squealing Pietro in a headlock, with Bree trying to attempt to stop Cover Girl and Low Light from strangling Shipwreck for some lewd remark, and Trinity excitedly gabbing with two teenagers, one of which was immediately recognizable to most of the X-Men except Jubilee…

"Jinx!!" gasped Tabitha before the pink-haired witch found herself the target of several hugs in which she returned wholeheartedly, laughing. It was clear that the former H.I.V.E. student was slowly but surely recovering over her traumatic experiences from Trigon and the Armageddon. She was still wearing her black uniform that composed as her uniform as a villainess when she was an enemy of the Teen Titans, but she seemed more relaxed, at ease, and happy. Though the Professor did not read her mind, he was happy to sense the emotions of contentment and joy from her mind.

"Wow!" Jinx said, laughing, "I never expected to run into you guys again, but it's a wonderful surprise!!"

"And here's someone you haven't met yet!" Amara said happily as she introduced Jubilee, "This is one of our old friends who joined up with the X-Men again! Her name's Jubilee, and she wasn't with us the first time because she had to leave the school after the Sentinels and Cobra exposed the existence of mutants to the world."

"Nice to meet you," Jinx smiled sincerely, shaking Jubilee's hand.

The Chinese-American girl answered just as friendly, "Pleasure likewise, especially since I've kept hearing so much about the battle of Trigon and how you and the Teen Titans fought a major battle to save Earth."

"Well, your X-Men and the Misfits also saved our butts as well, so most of the credit should go to them along with Robin and the others rather than me," blushed Jinx, smiling at the praise before she dragged in a tall and muscular teenager male from the sidelines, continuing, "And here's someone I want to meet as well considering this would be the first time you would have seen him. This is my teammate, Wildstar."

"Nice to meet all of you, especially since I've heard so much about you X-Men. But call me Ace. Wildstar is my code name," the male responded heartily with a broad smile despite his serious expression on his face. He was tall for a teenager, but looked as if he was around seventeen or eighteen years of age, along with a powerful and brawny build that was apparent underneath his long-sleeved black shirt and jeans. He had short brown hair, spiked with gel, and though his voice was deep and feral, there wasn't any indication of hostility. And what made him stand out the most was that there was an eight-pointed blue star mark over his right eye.

"Code name?" Piotr blinked.

"Jinx and I work with a group of Joes on the West Coast. We serve as an independent faction to help investigate crimes and terrorist activities along California, particularly Los Angeles since the new Wolfram and Hart building for the firm's branch popped up there again," Ace explained.

"You work with the Joes? Are you and Jinx some sort of new recruits for General Hawk as a task force team to help fight against Cobra?" Jubilee asked.

"Something like that…" coughed Ace. It was apparent that none of the X-Men knew of the existence of the West Coast Misfits (thankfully), and as such, Ace and Jinx decided in advance to not reveal that little tidbit unless absolutely necessary, especially since it was trivial and some of the X-Men (Scott and Jena most likely) wouldn't take very kindly to a second Misfit team.

Shadowcat then turned to the Misfits to see another surprise. Pluto was among the mutant teenager, his golden-furred pelt and short stature standing out amongst the dark costumes and squatting on the grass in between Althea and Roadblock. He looked genuinely pleased to see some of the X-Men again.

"Wait, so like why is Pluto here with you guys? I thought you'd want to like totally keep him out of the way of the Heartless and keep him over at the Pit where it's safe?" Kitty asked, cocking her head. Lockheed, a bit jealous that another animal was hogging his spotlight, growled while smoke started wafting out of his nostrils.

Wanda explained with a grimace as Roadblock made her relinquish her hold on her brother before she could mar Quicksilver's face permanently, "Well…after Jean's infection, Pluto seemed to be more and more adamant in coming along with us. And eventually we just…gave in."

What Scarlet Witch additionally failed to mention was that after a lengthy series of discussions, the Joes and the Misfits felt that after Scott's disastrous incident with the Lumiga magic, Pluto needed to spend more time with them and with the students from the Institute. Not only would this help ease the walls of mistrust on the dog's part, but the hound would additionally be able to gauge people's strength of heart before, should the emergency ever arose, one of the X-Men who desperately needed it could gain the Elementa magic transferred from a Misfit. And since it was Pluto who apparently had the final say in the matter, and they didn't want the dog to have even more doubts to transfer magic to help the X-Men (since they were the most vulnerable), then Pluto would need to come with them. And Pluto certainly didn't seem to mind needing to go into the thick of battle and going out with the Misfits, especially with all the dirty looks he kept throwing at Althea.

After all, lives and hearts were at stake.

A few such as Beach Head were adamant against sending Pluto out along with the Misfits since he would hardly do much good anyway and that the dumb mutt still couldn't be trusted. If anything, the Disney dog should be locked in a maximum security cell with no windows and deep underground. This led to a very interesting brawl in which resulted in Pluto biting Beach Head's rear and resulting in the dog having a very disgusting aftertaste for a day or two while Wayne needed to lie on his stomach in the infirmary due to the fact that he couldn't sit down for several hours.

Everyone felt sorrier for Pluto.

And Pluto needed to be shut in Trinity's room for his own safety before Beach Head could carry out his threats of taxidermy with one of the kitchen's butcher knives.

Some of the Misfits and Joes also suggested that instead of passing the Elementa magic to new people that they simply transfer it to people who have proven that they could handle such powers such as Spyke, Jean, Willow, and all the others who have been chosen by Pluto for the one moment to save someone. Again, Pluto denied this heatedly with a negative bark and again shaking his head. It seemed pretty obvious that Pluto wasn't going to redistribute back to the former X-Men who harnessed the magic before, and they forgotten that Pluto would only give the magic to a person who was in a dire situation enough with the Heartless to use it. And it didn't help matters that Pietro was spouting off saying giving Spyke his magic again was the last thing he wanted to do.

Thus, that's why Pluto was traveling with the Misfits from now on.

The other X-Men looked a bit incredulous.

"You gave in to a dog?" blinked Kurt.

"This from the people who live with and humor the baby dragon who has been criticized about marking his territory in the boys' shoes, burning various objects in the house, drives Scott and the other male X-Men crazy, and who's here with us right now with Kitty?" pointed out Xi cheekily.

"Point made and taken," Kurt grumbled, remembering the numerous times Lockheed used his tail as a chew toy.

"Hey, who are those guys?" blinked Amara as she then noticed the strangers amongst the Muir Islanders, and from the fact that they were both adults and dressed a bit out of place definitely clued in to the fact that they weren't students nor doctors at the hospital. One was a dark-haired man with a black moustache, with a strip of gray winding around the sides and bottom half of his tresses, clearly well-built and spry enough to handle any sort of physical exertion or strain. And he was certainly old, around his late thirties if not early forties, but still managed to have an air of sophisticated, debonair charm to himself.

Nightcrawler recognized the man instantly, managing to allow himself a small smile despite knowing the truth about him as told by Willow during the aftermath of the Nexus battle.

"_Guten Tag_…_Herr_ Burke," Kurt smiled politely at Matthew Burke, the spy from the British Intelligence organization, A.U.N.T.I.E. and who was additionally Kurt's biological father. Burke blinked in surprise before he warmly and genuinely smiled.

"Hello, Kurt," Burke said with some affection, though to be fair, he was still trying to get used to the idea that Kurt was his son, exactly for the very same reasons why Kurt wasn't comfortable enough to call the spy "Dad" just yet. The dark-haired spy then turned to Professor Xavier, Ororo, and the other X-Men.

"Professor Xavier, Ms. Monroe, X-Men…this is a rather unexpected but pleasant surprise," Matt nodded, smiling as he shook Charles' hand before kissing Ororo's civilly. Shipwreck glowered, his hands balled into fists, but a stern and reproachful nudge into his ribs by Blind Master and Bree kept him in line. Ororo was a bit perturbed, but she had to admit that the spy who had helped G.I. Joe on one or two occasions was a bit endearing and just simply being well-mannered. Plus, it was rare that she could find a man who was interested in her who wasn't a co-worker at the Institute or who wasn't a Joe. _Especially_ Shipwreck.

"And the very same for us, Mr. Burke," Xavier said with some cordial respect. Though he had no doubt that Matt Burke wasn't an enemy who would side himself with the Heartless, after the battles against Trigon and the Turok-Han, he couldn't help but be wary of the British spy since he was a Demon Lord.

And apparently, the other X-Men, the New Mutants especially, were just as wary if not outright blunt.

"So…are you still a Demon Lord, Mr. Burke?" Jamie asked without pause.

"JAMIE!!!" shouted Jubilee, Amara, and Tabitha in gall, and Jubilee actually slapped Jamie upside the head, causing the adolescent to wince. Kurt looked scared while Professor X and Storm looked uncomfortable. Moira and Sean looked especially disconcerted considering that this was the first time they've heard of it (and hence an additional reason why Jamie shouldn't have blabbed and why he deserved the smack). Ace and Jinx looked a bit hesitant, as if expecting Jamie said a rather lame joke. Burke was astounded, taken aback, before his face fell, and he cast his glance downwards before he asked quietly towards Professor Xavier.

"You told them." He meant it more as a resentful but accepting statement rather than a question. Kurt then decided to lessen the tension by explaining the truth to his biological father.

"Actually…Willow Rosenberg from the Scoobies told me. It's not the Professor's fault, so please don't blame him! He tried to hide the truth until Willow accidentally told me that I was half-demon when she sensed me with her witch-sense, and as much as I hated the fact that the Professor kept it from me, he couldn't hide it."

Now Burke was even more staggered.

"And…and you don't mind?" the spy blinked. Reflecting back on the numerous times he had been close to death, Nightcrawler shrugged easily with the ease of space and time and the philosophy of that things could have been worse than having a demon for a father and being quarter-demon.

"After the screaming, crying, shouting, taking out my frustrations in the Danger Room, talks with the Charmed Ones and Giles, and eating endless amounts of chocolate, ice cream, and burgers, I'm…adjusting. Plus, Willow and the Slayers all told me over and over being quarter-demon changes nothing about me or how I should act in my future. But…just give me some time before I can fully get over it. But, it doesn't change the fact that you're still helping humans in some way, so I can't judge you on who you are unless I wish to be a hypocrite," Kurt managed to smile. Burke looked relieved as he then, touched and uncharacteristically soft, knelt down and put his hands on the mutant teen's shoulders.

"You are a strong young man, Kurt Wagner. I'm…sorry I haven't been there for you as much as I should have," Burke apologized. Ororo's heart went a bit soft too as she smiled at Burke. Despite the disaster from the first and only date with Shipwreck, she certainly was willing to try things again with Burke now. After all, Kurt was one of Storm's favorite students. Shipwreck didn't miss that wistful look on Storm's face, and he just inwardly fumed.

"So, Mr. Burke? What are you like doing here?" blinked Kitty, cocking her head to the side, her ponytail bouncing. Burke explained as he got up.

"We had intelligence reports of strange and unexplainable activities of Cobra being here in Scotland, especially in nearby cities to the subsidiary such as Peterhead and Inverness, and since A.U.N.T.I.E. is quite disconcerted about this showing up suspiciously during the recent string of Heartless attacks, my partner and I are investigating along with G.I. Joe to see if whether Cobra Commander is somehow forming an allegiance with the Hellfire Club and the Organization or if they're plotting something just as devastating without Heartless because they don't like competition for world domination. That's why A.U.N.T.I.E. is here along with the Misfits and the handlers, though we have come to Muir Island as Dr. MacTaggert's guests before -"

At this, Banshee let out a loud snort as he glared at the intelligence spy while Burke continued.

"…to investigate and Muir Isle seemed like the most likely target."

"Your partner?" Kitty blinked as she and the other X-Teens turned to the second man who was remaining silent in the background.

The other adult was certainly a face none of the X-Men or Misfits have ever seen before. He too was a black-haired man, but younger, and certainly…well, "scruffy" would be the best term to describe him. He was in his early thirties, wearing a simply, threadbare and shabby brown trench coat over a plainclothes white dress shirt and brown slacked and a loosened black tie. He wasn't overly muscular, but leaner and the topmost two buttons of his shirt were unbuttoned, exposing the gold chain his had around his neck. The man was gloomy, depressive in demeanor, more detached, showing as if he really didn't give that much of a damn in life. And in his mouth, he was heavily smoking a cigarette.

"My name's Agent Pete Wisdom. Pleasure," the dark-haired agent muttered brusquely, obvious not one for small talk and pleasantries. Kitty had to fight the first thought popping in her head that the way his shirt was so casually unbuttoned like that made him somewhat attractive…

"Wait…" Sean asked, his eyes troubled at the fact that the human was so calm over the latest revelation of his partner, "This doesn't bother you? The fact that your partner Burke is…a demon?"

Wisdom coolly remained detached and calm as he ground out his cigarette with his shoe on the dirt, saying, "I worked alongside two chaps named John Constantine and Rupert Giles in my earlier teenage years who both have shown me a bit about the occult and the supernatural. Though I certainly didn't expect my partner being a former Demon Lord, it still doesn't change things that he's just that. A **_former_** Demon Lord. He's done much for A.U.N.T.I.E. and protecting England from terrorist threats over the years while you were trying to deal with blackheads, Cassidy. And plus, I'd be more worried about bigger threats that demons who've turned to our side like the Heartless or to a lesser extent, MacTaggert's son, Kevin -"

"That shall be enough!!" growled Banshee, going right into Wisdom's face while Moira looked hurt at that tidbit of truth. Pete didn't even flinch. Banshee then turned to a stony-faced Burke who was frowning, his arms defensively crossed over his broad chest.

"If I ever needed a reason to not like you before, then this would be it, Burke. Just so you know, I'll be keeping my eye on you. And you better stay the hell away from the kids while you're here," the blond haired man growled.

"Daddy!" protested Theresa, but Banshee ignored his daughter's objection. Meanwhile, the Misfits and the other X-Men blinked (while Kurt looked a bit uncomfortable at Sean's sudden hate for paranormals)

"Wait, you worked with Giles?" piped up Tabitha in disbelief, "As in the Watcher of the Slayers, Rupert Giles? The same old British dude who's a major buttkicker and who beat Jamie at video games?"

"Will you ever let that one go?" groaned Jamie, rubbing his head in embarrassment.

"The very same, although to be fair, it was when Giles went by the name Ripper when he and I caused a bit of hell as the typical vandals and roughhousing, although I have to admit that the bloody bookworm certainly lived up to his name back then. He would have been an excellent spy for A.U.N.T.I.E., I daresay, if they weren't so timid with the body count he left behind…"

"Would you all like to come in for coffee while we have our discussion?" Moira interrupted in a strained voice, trying to be polite, though one could tell she wished Burke and Wisdom would get out of her hair. Burke nodded, smiling and being graceful, while Pete rudely snorted while lighting another Marlboro cigarette.

"That's what you're calling that concoction that can pass for muddy sewage? Please, I'd bloody rather have a Heartless kill me," Wisdom grumbled, but loudly enough for everyone to hear him. The brown-haired woman frowned at the A.U.N.T.I.E. spy from behind her glasses before she then sidelined with a curt statement.

"You know, here at Muir Island, we have a no-smoking policy. It's bad for the children who have asthma here at the Genetics Center and the hospital," she scolded in a hard tone as she advanced towards the man and reached out for the object of her dislike.

"Get away from my cigarette, MacTaggert," Pete said with the faintest trace of a dangerous growl before she could pluck the offensive tube out of his mouth. Sean, Professor X, and Burke looked especially displeased with that rude remark, and Banshee looked like he wanted to grab Agent Wisdom by the collar before delivering his fist into his face. Thankfully, before anything could happen, something rushed past and created a gust of wind, nearly causing Sean to lose his balance.

"What on Earth?" blinked Colossus.

"BART!!!" yelled Sean, red in the face.

Immediately, a blur came out of nowhere and stopped short right behind Theresa and Rahne, peeking out nervously, hoping to escape a lecture, while smirking widely enough to spilt his face. It was a young boy, about the same age as Jamie himself, with brown eyes and long, straight brown hair that actually fell like a mane past his chin, scruffy, unkempt, and tangled. But what everyone most noticed about the playful boy with a devilish, naughty streak was that he was incredibly thin, almost dangerously skeletal and emaciated. Moira sighed as she tried to lessen the anger from Sean.

"Bartholomew, you know better than to use your super-speed. Your metabolism and any unnecessary exertion will cause you to tire yourself out to exhaustion and you'll never be able to regain your weight," the female scientist said wearily, as if she had told this child that warning hundreds of times. And from the naughty look on Bart's face, those hundreds of times went in through one ear and out the other. A chubby and bald scientist in a white lab coat and dress shirt and slack while splattered with something that looked like tomato sauce and canned peaches panted as he ran out from the hospital doors.

"I beg your pardon, Mr. Cassidy," panted the portly doctor and scientist in a cockney accent as he leaned heavily on his knees, seemingly tired from his sprint, "I tried feeding Mr. Allen, but the lad was being completely uncooperative and a complete terror to boot! He refused to eat the meals you prescribed him except dessert, and when I tried to withhold his pudding from him as a tactic to get him to eat, he threw the food back at me in insubordination before he kicked me in the shin and dashed out before I could stop him!"

Xi, however, who was nearby to the strange doctor, shivered a bit. He had no idea why, but he sensed something…odd.

"Bartholomew Allen! Apologize to Dr. Sanderson!" scolded Moira.

"I'm sorry, but the mean man wouldn't give me my pudding!! And it's boring to stay in the hospital and I wanted to see who the new guys here are at the hospital! Plus, I wanted to meet Rahne's old friends!" whined Bart in an American accent but who talked so unnaturally fast that it was rather difficult to decipher what he was saying.

"I take it this is one of the kids who stays at the hospital for treatment?" Fred asked Rahne and Theresa.

"Pretty much, and he's not the only one who needs help with his mutation," Theresa noted sadly with a sigh. After things calmed down and Rahne and Theresa were asked to help bring the kids of the hospital outside for some fresh air and for some fun and games, Moira began her briefing with the other adults in one grand and spacious meeting room with plush chair, computer projectors, and a giant mahogany table. She was currently explaining a run-down of her latest genetic research project using a slide-show explaining the process of antisense therapy.

"What I was developing along with my assistants and Sean was a new breakthrough use of a virus that targets the X-Gene to help supplement the destructive effects caused by defective mutant alleles in a person's genetic material, thus helping many of the children here from the side effects of their mutations by this unorthodox yet effective process of gene therapy. In other words, this virus is able to lessen the extent of a child's mutation so that instead of the X-Gene developing in ways that can cause changes to the phenotype that could be rather debilitating, it will lessen those effects, perhaps even nullify the side effects altogether."

"In other words, you're trying to **_cure_** a person's mutation?" Low Light said with a tinge of outrage. Moira MacTaggert shot the Joe sniper a look of affront.

"Nothing of the sort," the female scientist said, her voice clipped and brusque, "You cannot cure a mutation! What I am doing is using the virus in vectors to introduce genes into a person's genetic make-up to help keep its X-Gene under control so that the mutation that develops from the X-Gene will not kill or hurt the person as he or she undergoes puberty or as time goes on, not abolishing and destroying the X-Gene altogether. Contrary to what you believe, Mr. MacBride, I am not a heartless and sociopathic mad scientist who plays Frankenstein with the human genome. None of the children here have been experimented on in any sense of the word. If this project does prove successful, this could help people such as Evan Daniels of the X-Men so that his mutation did not progress to the extent that it is now or to people who have mutations that ruin their lives or endanger themselves like…my son."

"You mean Kevin?" Professor X asked with concern, and Moira nodded. Meanwhile, Storm, Shipwreck, and Burke looked particularly interested…

"Who's Kevin? And what's wrong with him? Is he a mutant with destructive powers?" Spirit asked solemnly. Moira sighed before she nodded, taking off her glasses and rubbing her nose.

"My son Kevin was a result of my unhappy marriage with my former husband, Joseph, but I loved him as he grew up and despite knowing he had the X-Gene, I thought it would not be a problem since I was accepting of my son being a mutant until his mutation manifested itself in such dramatic changes that it nearly killed Kevin. He has the mutant ability to warp reality as well as feed off psionic energy, but the thing is, he needs to feed off energy in order to survive or else he would die and perish. And there was an incident when he used his ability to accidentally possessed a pet Labrador before he killed it by draining it. I knew that if I did not act, he would endanger himself and others due to his insatiable hunger for energy, so I agreed with Fury from S.H.I.E.L.D. to put him in a state of deep sleep using a cell radiating isoteric energy and cryogenics over at Fury's headquarters so that his body would not break down and thus allow me to find a way to save him from dying. That's why I was working on the Legacy Project here, so that I can save my son and others like him, such as those Bang-Babies discovered in Dakota City."

"_Legacy?_" echoed Roadblock.

"It's the name of the virus that I was using to help in my gene therapy and virotherapy research. I named it the Legacy Virus," Moira explained.

"So you never experimented on the children here at Muir Island?" Roadblock asked for clarification, and Moira shook her head.

"Absolutely not!" she fervently denied, "I find it barbaric and unethical, not to mention completely disgusting and immoral! What I do is take blood samples from the children and use the vectors containing the genetic material of the Legacy Virus to see if it can supplement the defects in their X-Genes in order to develop them into functional ones, allowing them to make functional proteins. I find no reason to use the treatment on the children when I can simply use cells and tissue samples as a more humane method which is just as effective and suitable."

"But, can this be used as a weapon?" Burke asked, his eyes troubled. Dr. Sanderson tiredly explained while fingering a food stain on his lab coat.

"**_Any _**virus can technically be used as a weapon, Mr. Burke. Viruses mutate every day if not every hour, and it's not just the Legacy Virus that can be a threat to mutants. Should any adequate person with a decent knowledge of genetics and gene therapy be able to manipulate Dr. MacTaggert's research, the Legacy Virus could be used as biological warfare. But why the question? Is this the reason why you and A.U.N.T.I.E. think that Cobra is here in Scotland?" the fat scientist asked, looking a bit nervous.

The sophisticated spy replied, "Anything is possible, but I would not hold the notion and dismiss those reports as rumors. My organization does its investigation very thoroughly, and if there's reason to believe that Cobra is here in Scotland, then using Dr. MacTaggert's research is the only thing I can think of that could be even remotely attractive to those snakes."

"At least it's only Cobra," Blind Master pointed out, "We should be able to handle them should they show their faces here…"

Meanwhile, while the adults were discussing (or hiding) from the chaos of the kids, the Misfits and the X-Men were eagerly hanging out with several of the children patients from the hospital, and Moira and Sean, though a bit wary, entrusted that the fresh air and spending time with their guests would do a world of good. Thankfully, Toad hit on the bright idea of using their Disney Summons from the Misfits' Keyblades to entertain the children, and this proved to be a rather successful hit. Recognizing the Disney characters at once, all twelve children of the Muir Island hospital were enthralled (though it did resort in a few of the Summons being disturbingly hounded while Genie was performing a series of magical stunts that were a bit on the dangerous side). Of course, to ensure that nothing bad would happen to the patients (and to additionally ensure that none of the X-Men and Misfits' bad mannerisms would rub off on the Muir Islanders), Sean Cassidy, Bree, and Pete Wisdom were (unluckily) chosen to keep a lookout throughout the grounds as well as help keep things somewhat calm…

"Come back, Bambi!" a mutant girl named Meggan screeched with glee as the fawn ran for his life in terror while the mutant girl chased after the adorable Disney deer with a butterfly net, "I want to keep you as a pet!! Please stay with me!!"

Bambi looked as if he'd rather face the Heartless than Meggan.

"**_Hey, who took my wallet?_**" Lance yelled in the background.

"Bart, you daft kleptomaniac! Give back Mr. Alvers wallet at once, do you hear me? And quit using your super-speed or else you'll get no dessert for an _entire month_, young man!!" Sean was heard as he unsuccessfully pursued the speedster adolescent while Simba and Avalanche chased alongside in vengeance.

"Woo hoo, woo hoo, woo hoo hoo hoo!!" cackled Bart as he continued to run at insane speeds with his mutant powers. And though no one said anything, everyone grimaced at the thought of how Bart was so much like Quicksilver and the Flash (and probably just as annoying).

"Wicked!! Look at the lawn go on fire!! That's a bloody brilliant trick, Genie!!" cheered a patient in the wheelchair, clapping as Genie's juggling act with the flaming batons didn't go exactly as he planned.

"Uh…heh heh," chuckled Genie as he motioned to Dumbo to put out the flames with his squirting trunk, "Now kids, let me show you another magical trick that involves you all keeping quiet and not telling the adults how this charred and blackened circle mysteriously got here…"

Note the word "somewhat". And Pete Wisdom was quite sure that Moira only sent him out here to get back at his truthful remarks about her dreadful coffee.

"Damn, stubborn, pig-headed woman…" muttered Wisdom as he narrowly missed a magical burst of energy caused from Genie's fireworks, "Out to get me just because I give the bloody witch some constructive criticism about her culinary skills and…hey! Where the hell are cigarettes?"

He desperately fished through the pockets of his trench coat only to find that they weren't there, and looking up, he saw a chuckling Lockheed grasping his last carton of cigarettes in his claws, mysteriously stealing them out of the agent's pocket before Wisdom could ever grasp it.

"Give me back my bloody cigs, you Barney reject!!" yelled Pete Wisdom as he chased after the laughing baby dragon, "When I get my hands on you, I'm flushing you down the toilet at the first chance I get!!"

"Leave Lockheed alone, you jerk!! He's just being playful!!" Kitty snapped, chasing after Pete.

"Playful, my bullet-scarred back and bum, Pryde!"

Meanwhile, Jinx, Ace, Rahne and Theresa were eagerly conversing with Fred, Lina, and Justin of the Misfits while giving Pluto a series of hugs and tummy-rubs, and the Disney hound was absolutely enjoying it. Of course, it helped that he didn't know much about the sweet-hearted girls, so this was a wonderful first impression. And Rahne being a girl with a wolf-mutation and a fellow canine was icing on the cake.

"He is so adorable! This laddie hound's gotten me to love Disney all over again!" laughed Theresa as she wonderfully scratched the area underneath Pluto's chin, making his leg jump up and down in delight.

"So, do you ever miss not being in the X-Men?" Ace asked as he shifted his legs into a more comfortable position on the grass. Rahne thought about it a bit before she answered back with a resigned smile.

"Well, I do kind of miss seeing all my friends again, although that's what e-mail and letters are for, and to tell the truth, I'm…really happy here back at home with my Mom at Muir Isle. Yes, I do miss seeing my friends and all the other New Mutants I grew close with, but there are also things I don't miss such as Wolverine's Danger Room sessions, and how you could never get any privacy in the Mansion due to the eavesdroppers, and especially all the fighting and the waiting for the bathrooms, and…oh yeah! Definitely Kitty's cooking!" Rahne said, adding that last reason with a devilish smirk.

"Amen to that," muttered Fred, rolling his eyes.

"Don't let her hear you say that!" scolded Jinx.

"So you really like it here, huh?" Lina asked politely.

"Yes," Rahne said, her smile being more content as she scratched Pluto's belly, "I…really want to stay with her now, and the whole point of staying with Professor X was to learn how to control my mutation. Now that that's over with, I…I don't feel any reason to leave again for someone who took me in and helped me grow up. I'll always like Professor Xavier and remain friends with the X-Men and Misfits, but I don't want to leave Mom because I want to stay with her and help her with the center and the hospital and these kids, especially during this whole Heartless crisis. I can't abandon someone who I love very much and who took me in like one of her own. I'd worry too much."

Whitelighter remained quiet; this was exactly the reason why he wanted to stay with Blind Master and the Misfits ever since Blind Master became his co-guardian, and why he was always torn and conflicted between choosing living with Allo and living with Gabriel. He felt his heart sympathize with Wolfsbane immediately, feeling a sort of bond of understanding.

"You really love her and Theresa and the other kids here, don't you?" Fred asked, his eyes sad.

"Especially since I never grew up with parents, and I was raised under Reverend Craig who treated me like a monster and an abomination when I accidentally transformed into a wolf right in front of him in my former hometown. He was always strict and distant with me because of…well, since I was born, but I never saw him as mad as before as that one time when I just…lost control. It just hurts, it stays with you, when you're looked down and hated like that, and to go through that as a child and growing up is even worse. And to be born with something you don't understand and yet you're hated for it anyway makes it all the more confusing and awful."

Rahne decided to keep it a secret that she was born out of wedlock and how in the Presbyterian Church, you were as bad as a leper. And Justin immediately thought of the hate curse Gideon cast on him and how Allo and the Dinosaucers took him in and loved him like their own. This was eerily uncomfortable in that it was very parallel to his childhood. Pluto whined as he sat up.

"Wow," Lina murmured, struck dumb and not sure if she could say anything that could be appropriate and deciding to settle for a lame, "That…that sounds really bad…"

"It was," Rahne exhaled, shivering a bit from the memories of the screams of rage, the images of the hellish firelight from the torches lighting the faces of the crazed fanatics calling her the Devil-Girl, the crazed look of absolute hate and outrage on Reverend Craig's face, bug-eyes and frothing at the mouth, when she first transformed into a wolf right in front of him…

Pluto, feeling overwhelmed with pity and sympathy for the redhead, whined again before he went up to Rahne and surprised the girl by managing to muzzle her cheek with his wet nose and snout before giving her a friendly lick. Rahne couldn't help but laugh a bit at the friendliness, and Pluto felt being drawn more and more to the girls. After the talk he had with Cyclops, it felt nice to be around X-Men who didn't constantly blame him for the Heartless' savageness.

"And that's why I want to stay here, why I want to help my Mom and why me and Theresa want to help the kids here at Muir Island. I don't want any lad or lassie to go through what I went through, to be hated by something you have no control over, to be dropped by people you trust and abandoned like trash just because you're different. This place is one of the few areas that safe for kids like Meggan and Bart to get help as well as find some hope that they can be relieved of the burden and side-effects of their mutations. In other words, Mom's simply trying to help kids because they can't help themselves, and that's something I feel strongly about, much more than being an X-Man," Rahne continued, feeling more and more fervent before she continued.

"It's hard to explain but…it's a travesty what some of these kids have gone through just because of their mutations going haywire sooner than normal. You'd be disgusted to some of the abuse some of the patients went through, how it…oh, it's hard to explain but because…because -"

"Because it's unfair since you never really asked to be born, and yet you suffer for it by people who should have known better. And being a child to go through that makes it worse because you can't defend yourself against an adult, so Moira is simply helping kids so that they aren't put in that sort of situation," Justin said quietly. Rahne looked up at Whitelighter; that summed it up perfectly.

"I forgot that you're also adopted by the Dinosaucers, or at least that's what the others told me when they went to visit your family at the Lavadome. It sounds like you know what I went through," Rahne smiled.

That was an understatement, but Justin shook his head as he recalled his teammates' pasts.

"To be fair, **most** of the Misfits and some of the X-Men have gone through exactly that, so we know how important it is to stand by your family and to have bad memories over your mutation. I'm not the only one. Fred and Lina also know what you went through too, so we can all relate and say that you're not alone, that we know what you've gone through," Justin said.

Blob and Dragonfly smiled, and Pluto looked pleased.

Unfortunately…there then came a familiar and bone chilling roar as four familiar figures teleported on the grassy banks of the island…

"Oh no…" gasped Theresa as she turned white.

"Hellfire Heartless!!" yelled a good number of the X-Men and Misfits altogether as Moira and the other adults inside the hospital came out running.

"No, the children!!" Moira gasped as she made a beeline towards several of them.

"Damn it!!" Shipwreck cursed as Storm took the initiative and remembered that from the battle over at Maine in the Eloi village, she ascended into the air, her eyes glowing white before she summoned gusts of frigid air and cold to fall upon the beasts. Avalanche and Toad struck next.

"Gaia Earthquake Force Rush!" Avalanche roared, touching the ground with one hand.

"Thundaga Blitzclap Pressure!" Toad yelled, leaning back his arm and pitching a massive cloud of searing, orange-colored electricity.

**_Kaaashhhack!! Kabooom!!_**

"Huh?" blinked Fred, " What gives? It didn't hurt them!!"

"And they're just standing there, roaring and making noises!! Bloody hell, they're not even coming towards us!!" Pete Wisdom yelled as he took out his black Baretta pistol. Quinn gasped as she scanned the invaders.

"Uh…that's because those Heartless aren't really there to begin with!" she gulped over her communicator for everyone to hear.

"**_WHAT?_**" the heroes chorused.

"We can't explain it, but our scanners show that those Heartless aren't really there!! They're mirages, illusions!! That's why the magic doesn't hurt them!! You can't hurt an illusion!"

Spirit cursed as his eyes went wide as he exclaimed, "It's a fake!! A distraction!!"

"Exactly," the member of the Thirteenth Order named Zexion droned on in a bored tone as he flung the two Hellfire Heartless spores from the sky and directly into the bodies of Sean Cassidy and Moira MacTaggert, the small, fleshy, and vibrant seeds burrowing instantly into the two within fractions of a second. Zexion apparently took full advantage of that diversion to infect two potential targets.

"You snot-nosed, slimy runt!!" growled Cover Girl, recognizing the youth at once as she and the other Joes blitzed the Organization member along with a good portion of the X-Men. But then Zexion clicked his fingers and four additional Hellfire Heartless appeared out of thin air. Daria's eye twitched as her scanner beeped madly.

"Uh…everyone? Bad news. **These** Heartless are real."

"Like we couldn't figure that one out!! Gravira…Orbs of Force Crusher!!" Blob yelled.

"Blizzaga Arctic Requiem!!" Dragonfly cried out, summoning her violin of ice before she played several music notes to generate a fury of ice magic, but to both of the Misfits' shock, the four Hellfire Heartless dodged nimbly before the gravity and ice magic could even get close, light on their feet and their movements almost fluid, causing Fred and Lina's spells to miss them by a wide berth.

"We missed! They're actually dodging our attacks better!!" yelled Fred.

"The Heartless are getting smarter each time we run into them!" Professor X warned as he tried to use his telepathy on Zexion, only to find to his shock that the youth in the black robe was immune to his probes. Some of the creatures and servants of the Organization then attacked the hospital with their claws and massive strength, causing massive holes and destroying the structure, sending pieces of glass and rubble everywhere. Dr. Sanderson ran out of the room, screaming for help.

"Help!! They're killing everyone!!" he yelped as several pink hearts from the hospital's staff were successfully extracted from the building and laboratories, and thankfully, Dumbo managed to snare him with his trunk, making triumphant honking noises. Unfortunately, the portly scientist was the only one to make it out alive. Colossus then spotted two familiar figures watching this calmly from an undisturbed parapet of the genetic center.

"Those cowards!" Piotr swore at the stoic figures of Falco and Octavia watching the battle. They obviously were not going to help, but rather stand by and just watch the massacre until a certain heart came into their favor.

Two other Heartless then aimed a massive blitz of black lightning at Rahne and Theresa.

"No!!!" yelled Magma and Multiple as they both dove and got in front of Rahne and Theresa right before the black lightning struck the two of them, and even the Telsa barriers from their glovatrixes couldn't fully deflect the blasts. But thankfully, both the New Mutants' bodies were able to provide adequate cover for Wolfsbane and Siryn as the crackled streams of black energy coursed through them, causing their bodies to slightly smoke.

"AAAAAAA!!!" they both cried, and Rahne gasped, fearing that they too would lose their hearts.

"No!! They'll…die?" and the redheaded Scottish girl trailed off in surprise and relief as Magma and Multiple, groaning, fell to their hands and knees, covered with second-degree burns but still alive and with their hearts intact. Unlike the other patients and Muir Island children, the two X-Men did not lose their hearts. The Disney fairy, Tinkerbell, tutted with an annoyed look on her face at the teens' foolish bravado before she healed the both of them with her pixie dust.

"Impossible!" gasped Theresa, "How did you manage to survive?"

"Althea and Wanda sealed both of our hearts with the Keyblades, so we can't get out hearts stolen again. It makes us immune to the Heartless attacks somewhat…ow! Well mostly," Magma quipped weakly as the bubbling and seared flesh under her burnt uniform became brand new and her injuries faded thanks to the summon's magic.

"Ow! Rahne, you'll pop my head off if you hug me any tighter!" Multiple joked as Wolfsbane wrapped her arms around Multiple, grateful he didn't die. But then Wolfsbane and Siryn looked in dread at their newly transfigured parents.

"Mom!! Daddy!!" screamed Rahne and Theresa in unison, overlapping each other, as the spores took into full effect into Moira MacTaggert and Sean Cassidy fully transformed into Hellfire Heartless. To sum it up, Theresa's father and Rahne's mother were both now ghost Heartless. True to his form, Sean was now a pale-faced monster specter with green, flowing hair, yellow eyes and a black mouth that seemed to draw in all light and air like a swirling, glowing vortex, a bottomless and endless orifice that was forever open and gaping. Though it appeared that the Heartless had a strong, broad frame and was humanoid, it wore nothing but a tattered black shawl draped over its shoulders and instead of feet, it had a translucent and ethereal ghost-tail. And pinning the stole together at its neckline was a decorative pin in the shape of the red-and-black Heartless symbol. Moira on the other hand was a strange feminine Heartless that looked very much like a half woman, half seal. The eyes were wide and sad, though glowing lifelessly, and instead of her usual white lab coat, the abomination was wearing a long and silken dress and gown of white. The head was a black baby seal, complete with the small snout, nose, and whiskers, and the body was slim, curved, but instead of hands, it had delicate flippers. And on the front side of each flipper was the symbol of the Heartless. But like the banshee Heartless, the seal-Heartless had no feet and instead, was serenely floating like a spirit.

"Damn it!! They're infected!! We'll have to weaken and cure them!!" yelled Cover Girl as she threw a grenade at the two fully transformed creatures of darkness.

"Dad's Heartless is a Banshee, like his namesake, while Moira's Heartless is a Selkie!!" Siryn gasped, her blue eyes full of terror.

"Uh…OK, a banshee I've heard of, but what the heck is a selkie?" Avalanche blinked as Trinity sprung to action, bringing forth their Trichrona Keyblades together while Beach Head decided to forgo the explanation and fired another missile from his rocket launcher.

"Take this!!" the Ranger roared as the missile rushed towards the two Heartless while the wind spell that was encapsulating the crowd from the creatures of the Hellfire Club and Organization started to lessen and fade.

"All for one…!" yelled Daria.

"..and one for all!!" finished Quinn and Brittany.

"TRINITY LIMIT!!!" they all yelled, and at the apex where all three of their copper and pink Keyblades joined, there was a sudden swirl of pink time magic before the entire grassy fields around the Muir Isle hospital erupted with the searing force of the Stopra Kingdom.

**_Kaffwwwooosh!_**

Unfortunately, as the Delgado Triplets found out, the Hellfire experiments were no fools, and they hurriedly scurried away backwards almost insanely fast before the conflagration could cause damage to their flesh, and because they managed to get away far enough, they were left unscathed.

"**_Crap!_** We missed!" whined Daria as the wind magic faded away completely.

"A selkie is a Scottish-Irish creature of folklore!! They're seals that turn into humans when they shed their skins!! But don't worry!! They're good, benign creatures of the fairy folk, so a Heartless selkie shouldn't hurt us!!" Rahne yelled.

Wolfsbane should have watched her words and should have remembered that these creatures were called "heartless" for a reason. Both the Selkie and the Banshee Heartless began to sing, opening their mouth and eerily intoning haunting notes, like music floating from the voices of something deceptively melodious but at the same time, painful and rotting. Pietro acted quickly before they could all perish…

"Aeroga Guardian Hurricane!" Quicksilver yelled, invoking a hemisphere of protective wind…but unfortunately, he was not able to save everyone in time.

"No! The children!!" Burke exclaimed in horror as many of the mutant children, patients under the loving care of Dr. MacTaggert, screamed before the singing of the two Heartless caused them to shudder before they all went limp, as if in a deep sleep, before their bodies disintegrated, revealing their hearts as they floated above to the sky and vanished. Only the people trapped in Quicksilver's spell were saved.

"Don't worry, this should keep them quiet!! Heartless, be prepared to be silenced by your one and only music critic!! And this is Genie from _Phenomenal-Cosmic-Entertainment-Tonight_ saying, **you stink!!**" Genie yelled as he snapped his fingers and rendered the two Heartless completely mute with his magic, exactly like he had done before with Quicksilver whenever the Misfit speedster annoyed him. Though unable to sing, Genie wasn't happy to find out that the Banshee and Selkie Heartless could both still fight as the two actually summoned gigantic spears and charged, stabbing and clubbing at the shield Quicksilver was trying to keep up.

"Damn it!!" yelled Ace as he leapt into the fray, ordering to Jinx, "Jinx, you attack the Hellfire Heartless!! I'll go after that Organization lackey!! You have magic, so that should work against them!!"

"Be careful!" yelled Jinx as she summoned a large and surging force of pink hex energy and threw it on the ground right underneath the black experiments. With a roar, the magic caused the very earth and dirt underneath the Heartless' feet to crumble and collapse, forming sinkholes. Wildstar, in the meanwhile, managed to invoke energy claws out of his fingers, each and every one of the ten extensions about an inch long and glowing in dangerous ultraviolet radiation before he threw himself at Zexion with a downwards slash movement. Unfortunately, Zexion was able to dodge it.

"Was that the best you can do?" Zexion asked in a bored tone, and enraged, Wildstar let loose a fury of kicks and punches and slashes with his mutant claws (courtesy of his training with the Joes at the Pit), but to his unwelcome and unpleasant surprise, Zexion was a proficient martial artist as he blocked each and every strike and hit and physical assault Ace used on him while deftly avoiding the claws.

"Hmph, and I'm normally the non-violent one in this group," muttered Zexion as he sent Ace flying with a force of magic from his hand, but then the speedster, Bart Allen, rushed up and painfully used his speed at great risk of exhaustion to himself, barreling Zexion with weak but rapid punches.

"Leave us alone, you jerk!!" Bart yelled, but Zexion, studying the boy's movements, actually managed to grab Bart by his throat, and kicking and struggling, Bart choked while being strangled as Zexion gripped him with one strong hand around the boy's throat, slowly squeezing the life out of him.

"I see you foolishly used up a lot of your strength by using your mutant ability. You're as weak as a kitten now…which makes it all the easier to -"

_Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!_

Zexion let out a gurgle of surprise as he dropped Bart to the grass, relinquishing his hold on the mutant adolescent, as the four bullets from Burke's gun aimed a direct hit into his chest, right at his heart, and now free, Nightcrawler teleported in at the last second, grabbing Bart in his arms.

"I got you!" Kurt yelled as he teleported himself and Bart to safety while Zexion looked at the entry wounds in his cloak before looking back up at the spy from A.U.N.T.I.E.

"You are not harming any more children, not while I'm still here," Burke growled, his pistol still smoking from the shots. Zexion frowned before he waved a hand over his chest, and like magic, the wounds vanished. Burke went pale.

"Oh bloody hell…" he cursed.

"Heartless, kill him!!" commanded Zexion as he pointed at Burke, and on response, one Hellfire Heartless reached for the British spy with its stretchable arms.

"Oh no you don't, yo!!" yelled Toad as he and Xi flew towards the arms with their Amphibionian and Rainforest Scale Keyblades and brought down the sharp heads of their weapons down on the black, muscled appendages as hard as they could.

Whack!

The Hellfire Heartless roared madly with agonizing ire as it now had two bloody stumps where its arms used to be, and it could not heal itself from its wounds thanks to the magic of the Misfits' Keyblades. And the severed arms flopped lifelessly on the grass before they disintegrated and vanished in a cloud of darkness. And now severely weakened, it was completely vulnerable to Scarlet Witch's Summon…

"Mushu, let him have it!!" Wanda yelled, pointing at the Heartless, and now eager to prove himself, the diminutive, brash, loud-mouthed dragon climbed onto the top of the Goth's head and readied his dragon-fire.

"I'll handle this!! _Yaaah!_ Take this, butthead!!" Mushu cheered before he let loose a continuous and non-ending barrage of fire pellets from his mouth, rapidly firing them over and over like a machine gun and directly scoring all of them into the face and head of the experiment. And the head was any organism's weak point. The monster of darkness roared as the stream of fire repeatedly struck its face and seared its head, and without arms, it was unable to block the attack as Mushu kept it up. And helpless, it could only falter backwards as the fire caused its flesh to melt, its eyes to shrivel and blacken, and its blood and frontal lobe of its brain to unbearably burn.

After a full two minutes of having the stream of red bullets perforating its head, the Heartless gave a shudder before it toppled backwards and landed heavily on its back, its head nothing more than a glob of charred flesh and disgusting steaming liquid which was dripping onto the grass like hot tar. And with a crumbling and evaporating noise, the creature disintegrated and perished.

"Oh yeah! Who's da' dragon? No one beats the all-powerful, all-mighty Mushu!" cheered the fire-breathing Disney summon as he danced and hopped up and down on Wanda's head.

"Oh please, you're such a ham!" snapped Quicksilver.

"Takes one to know one, Pietro Jerk-off!" smirked Mushu.

"Call me that again, and I'm jamming this Keyblade down your scaly throat, you little lizard!!" threatened a red-faced Quicksilver, brandishing his silver and white Zephyr.

Kitty gasped as one Hellfire Heartless' arm outstretched towards her.

"Kitty!!" yelled Colossus, truly unable to help her as he fought against another Heartless in the distance. But thankfully, before she could be clawed to death, a figure dashed by and tackled her out of the way, leaving the Heartless to

"Hmmmm…a bit slow on your feet, aren't you, X-Girl?" Wisdom said with some amusement, one corner of his lip turned upwards.

Kitty's face turned absolutely scarlet, though if it was because she was flattered or because she was furiously embarrassed, she couldn't say. So she opted for the next best option of choosing the first words that could come to mind as she shrieked with rage, "PUT ME DOWN, YOU CREEP!!!"

"If you insist…" Wisdom said nonchalantly as he unceremoniously dropped Shadowcat from his arms abruptly, taking her by complete surprise as she landed on her rear. Hard. And into one of the few mud-holes on the grounds of the hospital.

"You, like, complete jerk!!" Kitty snapped from her position on the muddy grass, her uniform soiled.

"You can defend yourself," Pete said simply as he continued firing from his Baretta pistol, all of the armor-piercing bullets directly at the Banshee and Selkie Heartless while Lockheed from above let loose furious blasts of dragon-fire, bombarding them from an aerial attack. Theresa then as she was trying to dodge the Heartless was violently hit by the flat side of the Banshee's spears, and she flew a good distance before crashing to the ground and going still, blood dribbling from her side. The monsters that were once Banshee and Moira went for the kill as Rahne rushed towards Theresa.

"No!! Sean!! Mom!! Stop, please!!! That's Theresa!!! Don't you remember her? Stop, please!!" Wolfsbane screamed as she transformed into a dog and rushed over towards her fallen friend. Whitelighter saw this and was about to orb them both out of the way, but then the Banshee Heartless managed to sense what the Misfit was about to do, as if alerted by a sixth sense. With that, and with Genie's magic somehow managing to wear off, the Banshee Heartless turned to face Justin directly and screamed, this time invoking a loud and deafening howl of the damned that seemed to blow everyone back. It wasn't singing, but something more painful and less concentrated on stealing a foe's heart.

"Ow!! Make it stop!! This is totally whacked!! It hurts!!" Wildstar yelled as he covered his ears. Whitelighter thankfully managed to use his Healing Mercy Keyblade and held it in a defensive position to block his body, exactly how Blind Master taught him in countless training sessions. Though it was still painful, and Justin sank to his knees from the intensity of the howling, the Keyblade managed to black and lessen it significantly enough where the teen wouldn't be blown away. Pluto then whined next to Justin, miraculously unaffected by the magical wails as Whitelighter realized that Wolfsbane would be a sitting duck while everyone else was trying to stop Zexion and the Heartless.

Whitelighter then tossed caution to the winds as he begged Pluto, "Pluto, give Rahne my magic so she can save Siryn and her mother!! **Please!**"

Pluto looked hesitant. After the disaster with Cyclops at New York…

"Pluto, please, she can't protect herself! You met Rahne now! You like her, don't you?" Whitelighter yelled over the din as he felt himself getting weaker.

Pluto frowned to himself; it wasn't just a matter of liking someone…

"Rahne has a strong heart too, or else she wouldn't stay here to help her Moira and the kids here!!"

Cyclops also had a somewhat strong heart, but even he couldn't handle the Elementa magic…

"And…I know what it's like to want to protect your family, especially when you grew up without one! I don't ever want **anyone** to feel that pain!! And Rahne doesn't deserve to go through that again!"

Pluto blinked.

Justin then pleaded his final reason, and even though the wailing of the Banshee Heartless, made everyone's eardrums throb and feel like they were being jabbed mercilessly with a chopstick, Pluto heard him.

"Pluto…if you give the magic to save someone's life, then you can't ever regret it. It's not a bad thing to save someone you love. I know exactly how that feels. You gave the magic to me to save Allo and Blind Master. Rahne needs to save her mother and Theresa's Dad."

Pluto's lower jaw trembled ever so slightly. It was clear. Rahne and Justin had a connection now, an understanding. Just like before when Lance shared his magic with Kitty and Willow and when Fred shared his magic with Jean. And after several long seconds, the golden-furred dog then slowly ambled towards Whitelighter before he touched his nose with the teenager's and his eyes began to glow a pure green of the Woodra Kingdom. Justin immediately felt dizzy and whimpered as he brought a hand to his swimming head while Dragonfly and Blob held him from toppling over, both of them using their Keyblades to protect themselves to an extent.

"Whitelighter, you OK?" Blob asked worriedly.

"I…I think so…" blinked Justin as his magical ability left his body…

Meanwhile, Magma and Boom Boom went to stop Rahne from foolishly sacrificing her life when Wolfsbane groaned and sank to her knees, clutching her head as her vision swam with dizziness, as if something was strangely surging into her, an alien force that her body was not accustomed to. Then the two X-Girls looked at Rahne's head in between her fingers.

"What's…going…on?" Rahne asked, exhausted.

There, in the middle of Rahne's smooth, pale forehead, was the unmistakable shining emblem of the Woodra Elementa magic.

"Whoa…no way…" blurted out Tabitha in shock.

"Rahne!!" gulped Magma, her eyes shining and unable to keep some of the jealousy out of her voice, "You've got like powers now!! You know magic!!"

Wolfsbane didn't hear any of them; they were all drowned by the buzzing in her ears as the blood roared. Rahne then could see it, feel as if she was in a vast and endless forest of trees, so peaceful, so happy, running as fast as she had ever ran before in her life in wolf form. She felt so much at home, so uninhibited, the smells of the earth, the air, and leaves rustling in her wake as in her mind, the blessings of the wood magic surged from her heart before Rahne's eyes slowly opened, showing nothing but glazed pupils.

She was clearly not in complete control. And her entire body was glowing with the same emerald light as the mark on her head. And it was noticeable to everyone in the field as they knew that whatever was going to happen, it was going to happen now and they had better get clear. Thus, it was a little surprising that Falco Lombardi swooped down from out of nowhere and gathered the unconscious Siryn in his arms before leaping out of safety, taking the girl out of the path of danger.

"Get clear!! Whatever your friend's doing, you don't want to be in the middle of it!!" Falco roared.

"Good advice, man!! Move, you guys!!!" yelled Wildstar in agreement at the crowd as he grabbed Jinx and leapt a good distance out of harms way as all the Joes, Misfits, X-Men, and allies did the same right before the two Heartless were then encapsulated by a wave of water.

"Aquara Tigershark Tsunami!!" Octavia yelled, slamming her palms on the ground, and thankfully, the Selkie and Banshee Heartless were both floundering and writhing madly, trapped as a powerful and roaring waterspout took form and confined the opponents in an unbreakable prison of churning water, stopping the Heartless from moving. This gave Rahne the perfect opportunity to act.

"WOODRA…" said Rahne, her voice growing slowly in power and volume, like the surging and imminent feeling of apprehension and anxiety right before a tidal wave strikes you from behind before she knelt down and touched the grass and dirt with one hand. Instantly, a current of green, photosynthetic luminosity snaked in a line towards the Banshee and Selkie Heartless before encapsulating them in a circle of emerald.

"QUEEN…" continued the girl, and to everyone's shock, the energy from her body swirled and rose to the air above Wolfsbane, taking shape while swirling and glowing madly before it took shape of a beautiful woman, a nymph actually, a shimmering specter of green energy. She was stunning, wearing a crown over her long hair and a flowing gown of leaves and flower while holding in her arms a single tree branch with tiny, baby leaves. And surprisingly, she bore a slight resemblance to Rahne.

"Goddess…" Storm gasped.

"My Lord…" Professor Xavier gasped as Wolfsbane finished her spell.

"…OF THE DRYADS!!!" Rahne finished her incantation before the entire grasslands ripped apart with a deafening peal of exploding, pressurized air, making her ears throb a bit from the intensity of the noise as the glowing green circle released a pillar of translucent green light that ascended and beamed up to the sky. Instantly, the nymph them raised her branch and pointed it at the Banshee and Selkie Heartless. There was another thunderous explosion before the nymph vanished and instantly, from the ground, a barrage of trees sprung up from the grass, huge gnarled and twisted trunks and branches of gigantic oak, evergreen, and birch, erupting from the ground and actually impaling and crushing the Heartless amongst the leafy spears of wood and they kept rising up and down like a wave, pounding the trapped monsters and ripping them to pieces, breaking every bone in their bodies.

_**Whoom!**_

_**Whoom!**_

_**Whoom!**_

_**Whoom!**_

"Whoa!" Colossus exclaimed, "Did you see that? Wolfsbane did a powerful spell!! She gained magic now from Pluto!!"

"Damn…" marveled Pete Wisdom, impressed, as Althea took out her staff and pointed it at the weakened Heartless.

"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!!" yelled Wavedancer, invoking the sigils of the Elementa Kingdoms and drawing forth the three main symbols of the crown, Heartless, and Nobody…

**_KAWHOOOOOMM!!!_**

"I got their hearts!!" Wavedancer yelled, instantly springing towards the unconscious bodies of Moira and Sean, snatching the two crystals from the grass.

"**No!! Stop!!!**" yelled Octavia running towards Althea, only to be stopped by a line of heroes, all of them blocking the Tigershark's progression.

"Not this time, Octavia," growled Blob, "We're sealing those hearts and we're not letting you touch them!"

"No, Wavedancer is going to surrender the hearts to Octavia so she can scan them," Falco said menacingly in the background.

"Now why would she go and do a crazy thing like that, yo?" snarled Toad poisonously. Falco's smile on his yellow beak then grew smug and emotionally detached as he took the laser pistol from his hostler and switched it to the highest setting in one fluid motion.

"Because if you seal those hearts before Octavia has a chance to look at them, the girl here dies," Falco said coldly as he pointed the mouth of his firearm at the head of the unconscious Siryn.

"You whacked-out psycho!!" snarled Wildstar as he lunged himself towards Falco, claws out and glowing, but with barely a grimace, the bird humanoid then casually flicked out a wing around himself, and within an instant, a gigantic and translucent column of wind cycloned and spiraled all around himself and Theresa, reaching towards the heavens. It was extremely severe and intense, powerfully creating a pressurized barrier of air that brutally blew back and struck any object that came its way. With a howl, Ace was sent flying backwards from the winds before he crashed on his back with a massive thump.

"Ow…that hurt…" he groaned as Magma and Jinx helped him up. Low Light then decided to try another tactic as he took out his sniper rifle and aimed a shot before firing. To his shock, the winds were actually resilient and robust enough to withstand a powerful bullet from a sniper rifle as it deflected the metal projectile with a loud ping.

"Shit, the bastard's magic is strong!!" Cooper cursed, his face white. And Wavedancer and a few of the X-Men knew that if a bullet could be stopped by Falco's wind magic, then any energy blasts or magic of their own would probably be reflected back. Thinking in terms of a last resort, Professor X brought his hands to his temple, but the voice of Octavia stopped him short of using his telepathy to hinder Falco.

"Don't bother Xavier," the female Tigershark stated with a frown, "Both Falco and myself have mental shields, so your telepathy and the telepathy of Martian Manhunter would not be able to penetrate them fully enough to achieve whatever effect you desire. And the last time I checked, you and the other heroes don't resort to actually telepathic 'rape'."

"Don't tempt us," Storm said bitterly, but she knew that Octavia was right. Responding to that extreme of telepathic assaults was too low to the Professor's ethics and one he would never fall back to.

Falco the commanded callously, "So here's what you and the rest of you heroic morons are going to do: you're going to give Octavia the two hearts so that she can scan them and see that if they contain the Talismans we need. If you don't, I kill the girl here and now, but if you do, I give you my word that I will spare Theresa Cassidy and let her live."

"You feathered, avian bastard!!" Shipwreck spat, "What kind of a bird are you? She's just a kid!!!"

"Wavedancer, you can't possibly agree to this bullshit!!" Pete Wisdom yelled.

Octavia however spoke with reasonable calm, "Althea, give me the hearts. There is a chance that they are not the Talismans, and if they aren't, I won't keep them from you. We will return them back to you and the others so that Banshee and Dr. MacTaggert will be saved. And in that case, Falco will not kill the girl, Theresa. You will be able to save all three of their lives, and I give you my word that I will return the hearts back to you if they aren't the Talismans of Twilight."

"And **I'll** give my word that if you seal either of those hearts, I'll kill the girl here and now. One head shot is all it will take," the blue-feathered falcon said, his voice like ice.

"You're lying!" Bree snapped, almost sickened beyond comprehension, "You've never killed anyone before, not even when you've fought us before in the past!! You even helped us fight against the Organization and the Heartless!! You're not killers!!"

"Jerks, yes. Killers, no," muttered Wanda under her breath as she glowered as Falco. The feathered-humanoid cocked his head a bit to the side, the look on his face scrutinizing and his scowl grim and cold and merciless.

"For your information, Ms. Steen, you don't know the first damned thing about me or Octavia. I've seen my world, my family killed off by the Heartless. I've seen those dark creatures tear people I've fought beside with to pieces without remorse or thought. I've been haunted by nightmares of the guilt that I was the only one to survive. Do you really want to chance that? You really want to risk this girl's life? And unlike the Heartless, **this** death will be a permanent one."

Multiple's eyes went wide as he gasped when Falco's monologue clicked into his brain along with his knowledge of the Star Fox video games, and he stammered, "Wait…your family's…dead? Fox McCloud, Slippy, Peppy, General Pepper…they all died when the Heartless invaded? They invaded Corneria?"

Falco twitched visibly, his face for an instant showing hurt, pain, and livid grief before he grit his teeth and fired a single discharge downward at Siryn's body. Rahne screamed in fear as a good portion of the audience gasped in horror to find…that Falco shot at the ground next to the girl's head, a smoking half-foot crater just inches of where Theresa was. Wavedancer, Wolverine, Blind Master, Roadblock, and Low Light could sense and see it: the quivering arm, the haunted and enraged look in the bird's eyes, the way his chest was heaving as if each breath was painful…

The mention of Falco's dead teammates was enough to cause the avian to act out of desperation. And nothing was more unpredictable and dangerous than a desperate man…or in this case, bird.

"Nice one, Multiple," muttered Xi with sarcasm.

Jamie protested hotly, "I didn't mean to set him off, Xi!!!"

"First one was aimed at the ground," Falco growled before he actually stooped down and pressed the smoking mouth of his pistol at Theresa's temple, "The next one at her skull, so you better make the easiest choice, Wavedancer, and give Octavia the hearts and a chance to see if they're the Talismans!!"

"Wavedancer, be careful, think about this for bloody's sake!" Matt Burke warned, "What if they are the Talismans? What if Moira and Sean do contain the Talismans? Then you'd be sacrificing their lives without their consent!! And not only that, if they did have the Talismans, then whatever these items are, you'll be giving them to two dangerous individuals and Lord only knows what these whelps would do with them!"

"But there's a better chance that they won't be Talismans because every heart we've come across hasn't been one so far!! The odds are that it isn't them! We've been pretty lucky as of yet!" protested Nightcrawler.

"We can't always depend on luck, Kurt!" Burke said heatedly. Wavedancer just kept trying to process the thoughts in her mind, glancing back and forth between Moira and Banshee to Falco and Theresa to Octavia. She clearly didn't know what the best course of action was, and attacking either Octavia and Falco would endanger them even more.

Rahne then made the final point as she screamed at Wavedancer pleadingly, nearly wailing, "Wavedancer, please, just give that lady the hearts!! Even if Sean and Mom do get their hearts taken, they'd want you to do it!! They wouldn't want Theresa to die!! Please, just give her the hearts!! They'd gladly sacrifice themselves! They'd understand if you did it!! Please, just don't let him kill Theresa!! **Please!!!**"

It was hard to resist that plea.

Wavedancer twitched in conflict before she gave in and threw both of the glowing heart crystals at the green-skinned octopus woman who caught the pink essences deftly.

"Take it," Wavedancer spat in disgust, and Octavia wordlessly closed her eyes as she probed the two pink hearts in both of her hands for about a minute while the audience held its breath gingerly, and some of the Joes were so tempted to take any opportunity to turn the tables on Falco and Octavia, even chance it. But with the way the blue-feathered falcon had the mouth of his laser pistol at the unconscious girl's head, they couldn't risk it. The Tigershark then opened her eyes before she sighed sadly, shaking her head.

"They aren't the Talismans, Falco."

The Cornerian pilot cursed a foul oath under his breath while everyone else let out a pent out and collective breath of relief. Octavia then tossed the floating hearts back at the group, in which a tearfully thankful Rahne and Dragonfly caught them. But before any of the heroes could move to subdue Octavia, Falco's face darkened as he flung out a hand, and instantly, a column of harsh winds emerged and surrounded the entire party. And like the previous one Falco cast, this one was also impenetrable, unable to allow the heroes to blast, phase, or fight their way through.

"Hey!!" blurted out Colossus, "What are you doing?"

"Like I'd give you idiots a chance to attack us the instant we'd give you back the hearts of Dr. MacTaggert and Mr. Cassidy. The barrier from the Aeroga Kingdom will only last for a minute, enough to allow us to escape your fury. But the girl is safe and you have the hearts back, just as we agreed. We're just not foolish to think that you wouldn't harm us at the first chance you get after this."

A few cursed at the fact that the avian was able to figure this one out and anticipate that possibility.

"I'm surprised you both aren't going back on your words and stabbing us in the backs," spat Cover Girl.

"We gave a promise, and we'll keep it. Contrary to what you believe, we have a code of honor," Octavia said frostily with narrowed eyes.

"Oh yeah, some honor code, killing innocent people to get your way!! You must really be heroes if you're willing to sacrifice kids!! We saw you!! You just sat up there on the hospital roof and watched us fight the Heartless!! You just stood by and did nothing while the kids died and got their hearts stolen! And for what? To find out that the Talismans aren't here in a world of over a hundred billion people?" Boom Boom groused, her hands on her hips.

"You sick creep…" Rahne said, her entire body trembling at the thoughts of the massacre, "They all died…they were just kids!! And you wouldn't help them! You wouldn't help us! I had to watch all the kids my mother took in die after all the months they spent trying to rebuild their lives and recuperate with her help! You just let it all go to shambles! You let my mother's research and works to help them get destroyed **_all for nothing_**!"

"I'm sorry…" Falco said at last with a frown, and though it was cold, there was a hint of sympathy in his voice. Rahne, her face streaked with tears, shook with rage as she then took out her anger on the Cornerian pilot.

She kept screaming, "I hate you!! I hate you!! **_I hate you, hate you, hate you!!!_** They all died because you wouldn't help them!!!"

Falco then said quietly, "To be honest, I'd hate myself too if I were in your shoes."

Falco and Octavia then summoned a portal and vanished over the cliffs, fading into the salty mists of the sea. Rahne, despite her sniffling, gasped as the hearts Lina and she were holding started to vibrate and glow in a rhythmic cycle before they disappeared into Moira and Sean's bodies, invoking a silver keyhole on Banshee's chest and a light-blue one on Moira's.

In response, Quicksilver and Dragonfly's Zephyr and Icewing Keyblades began to radiate and pulsate as well.

"We got it!" Pietro said as both he and Lina raised their weapons at the two unconscious adults, and to everyone's amazements, there was a flash of silver and sky-blue radiance from the tips of their Keyblades before the keyholes in Sean and Moira's chests clicked shut with a loud noise and vanished with a flurry of sparks and floating auras. Roadblock exhaled wearily.

"They're safe now at least, and we managed to get rid of all those Heartless beasts," the machine gunner rhymed. Dr. Sanderson however didn't seem too thrilled as he said in a melancholy voice.

"Not everyone survived though," the scientist replied glumly. Many of the adults' hearts sank as Professor Xavier asked hoarsely his next dreaded question.

"Is there anyone else who survived?"

Dr. Sanderson miserably shook his head as he exclaimed, "Only myself, Dr. MacTaggert, and Mr. Cassidy along with Ms. Cassidy, Ms. Sinclair, and Mr. Allen subsisted. All the other doctors and nurses along with the children patients died. I cannot locate any of them on the grounds or in the center…or at least, what's left of it. Any survivors from the attack on the center would already be outside with us, but I don't see any."

Rahne absolutely broke down, falling to her knees and sobbing uncontrollably. So many of the children, people she had played and grew with as a family together at the peaceful island…

"No…" Ororo murmured to herself as Bree finished looking over Sean and Moira and relieved that she was able to detect their vital signs.

"Moira and Sean should both be all right," Bree announced, "but they can't stay here for treatment, especially since the Heartless just attacked it. Whatever the Heartless wanted from the genetics center, whether it was because they wanted hearts or something else, it wouldn't be safe to have people stay here for treatment."

"Would it be all right if I went back home to my family?" Dr. Sanderson said, "I'd be more comfortable back at home, and considering that I don't know Professor Xavier or his X-Men very well, I really wouldn't have much of a right to come to his Institute anyway. I'd be overstepping and taking advantage of his hospitality, I fear…not that I don't appreciate it of course, Professor. Besides, I should get back home to my wife after all this."

"We'll escort you back home then, Dr. Sanderson," Burke said amiably, "And to ensure your safety, Wisdom and I will assign a watch over your flat, although I'd doubt you would be in any danger. But better to remain safe than sorry."

"Do whatever you want," Beach Head shrugged. Xi, however, was looking at Dr. Sanderson suspiciously out of the corner of his eye…

"It would be best to take them back to the Institute for treatment. Not only would it be safer for Moira and Sean, but Theresa, Bart and Rahne would do well to be with the X-Men since Rahne has lived at the X-Mansion before, so comfortable environments and familiar faces would be best for her…if that is all right with you, of course," Professor Xavier asked, looking at the Joes as he said his last addendum. To his relief, the Joes and Misfit handlers nodded.

"Rahne should stay with you. If Moira trusted you before with her safety and well-being, then there's no reason why she shouldn't stay with you again. Plus, she would probably want to be close to her mother and Theresa and Bart to Sean. And at least the Institute is shielded, so they'll remain safe," Cover Girl said, and it was clear that everyone else was in full agreement.

"Well, it's not too bad. At least you'll be able to come home with us," Multiple said, trying to cheer up Wolfsbane, but it was pretty clear that after all this, Rahne was inconsolable. Then again, it wasn't easy to see people you grew close to die before your very eyes…

"Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!" the red-haired wolf-girl kept wailing with a mixture of grief and relief, holding herself numbly as her nose and eyes ran, and feeling full of compassion, Dragonfly and Whitelighter both slowly and carefully knelt down next to Wolfsbane and hugged her gently, one on either side of the Muir Islander. Blob however knelt down and lifted Rahne's chin slightly so that she would look at him.

"We'll get them back," Fred said slowly, though unsure, he was still determined to save and promise, "If there's a way, we'll all help to get them back. All we have to do is win this Gathering of Twilight."

"Like it's going to be _that_ easy to bring back the dead," Bart muttered out loud in doubt instantly and thoughtlessly, obviously having his words faster than his brain, earning him a stern frown from Ace and an elbow jab by Jinx to keep quiet.

"We promise. All of us do. And…at least you didn't lose Moira. Losing your parent can be the worst feeling in the world so at least it's a blessing that they'll be all right now. Be grateful for that," Justin murmured in understanding, flashing back to when Gideon nearly killed Allo. He remembered how much pain he felt. And gracefully, those were the right words to say as the wolf-mutant squeezed Justin's hand in appreciation though she was still mourning, furiously rubbing the wet streaks off her cheeks. Pluto whined before he went up and licked Rahne's cheek.

---

Back at his flat, after entering in his empty bedroom for the night, Dr. Sanderson cursed as a familiar buzzing noise was ringing from a secret compartment in his dresser, and the portly scientist pulled at a loose fold of his face as he took out the communicator with the encrypted signal so that not even Burke and his organization at A.U.N.T.I.E. could trace it.

"Zartan, report. What is your status on the mission?" Eiling's voice rang over the communicator brusquely.

The mercenary replied back grumpily as he peeled off his latex-rubber mask, shedding his disguise of Moira's subordinate, "Mission failed. The Heartless and Organization Thirteen managed to destroy the laboratory and massive parts of the hospital before I could completely hack into and download MacTaggert's research stored in her databases. And I certainly don't want to be left alone with those snotty brats any longer than I have too! And this fat suit's killing me as well as the fact that those damned Heartless nearly got to me first!! You're not paying me enough for - !"

"If you finish your pointless griping, continue with your position as Sanderson and spy mission, Zartan…" the Omega Juggler and general coldly interrupted, "MacTaggert would certainly have never contacted Xavier and his troublesome brats to Muir Island unless her Legacy Project would yield positive results. And if it could be used as a weapon against the mutants in general, then it shall be enough to be utilized against the League. You'll get your payment in full once we have definitive end results. I have already assured you that you shall be safe from Organization Thirteen, and this clearly shows it for it. Remember, I personally keep my promises, Zartan: fail, and your Dreadnoks will be forever hounded by the Jugglers, but succeed, and you and your men and family will be the most powerful mercenary group on the planet. And you'll even be richer than Cobra Commander. Our high ranking men and women in Capitol Hill have long memories."

"Understood. Zartan out," the cloaked, chameleon-like Zartan said in a subdued and stoic voice before he ended the connection before his marked eyes gleamed with cunning and savage underhandedness before he took out a second communicator and pressed a button to reveal Cobra Commander's covered face on the monitor link.

"You have good news, Zartan?" Cobra Commander demanded.

"Oh yes," Zartan said as he pulled out the disc that contained a good portion of Moira's Legacy schematics and research procedures that he managed to download and extract from the hospital's mainframe. Apparently, he was lying to Eiling when he said he didn't find anything.

And like a true mercenary, Zartan would play both sides in order gain benefits and future favors from each and every gullible dupe he could.

Unfortunately…

"He's lying, you know," Dr. Hugo Strange said without doubt and instantly as General Eiling ended the transmission from Cadmus' computer consoles to the mercenary's communication frequency. Along with him were General Eddington and Dr. Achilles Milo, another shady scientist from Batman's past that was certainly a dark and devious sort of man with no morals, a self-serving streak, and of scientific genius in biochemistry that could rival if not surpass Dr. Emil Hamilton (as evidenced when he created the cat plague for Ronald Daggett and when he turned the athlete Anthony Romulus into a living werewolf). However, the gaunt man with a black bowl-cut hair-style had black bags under his eyes from lack of sleep and an expression of pure fear, as if being absolutely scared out of his wits. Of course, considering the company he was keeping, the scientist had good reason to feel he was in over his head. But Eiling and Waller (without any knowledge that Hamilton, Eiling, and Luthor were planning behind her back) made sure that money talked…

"Of course he's lying, Strange," Eiling smirked underneath his moustache with a cunning and knowing smile, like a cat who enjoys watching a mouse flounder in a trap, "And he's behaving exactly like your psychological analysis said he would, making him and his dupes in Cobra putty in our hands. Now all we have to do is wait and continue to give the Keyblade wielders enough trouble before Cobra steps in and makes things worse in our favors. Why do you think I made sure that Zexion knew to have none of the Heartless outright kill him? And the fact that he was _nearly_ killed will throw off any suspicion from the X-Men and Misfits on why only Dr. Sanderson survived."

"And how do we know that Cobra Commander and his association of terrorists won't create Heartless that could cause more trouble for us in the longer run? What if Cobra manages to control the Heartless and decides to overwhelm us before we can set off the events for the Gathering?" Dr. Milo grumbled with a frown, but that was soon replaced with a look of fright and submission when General Eiling shot the professor a look of steel.

"Because unlike Cobra, we have the Organization and the Hellfire Club on our side, and I suggest you remember your place, Dr. Milo, unless you wish to be back to being a disgrace in the scientific community and your demoted position in Cadmus due to your failures to provide any fruitful results with the Man-Bat experimentations," Eiling said in a stern tone. That threat was enough for Dr. Milo as he looked subdued. Eiling then turned to Dr. Strange.

"Now, knowing Cobra Commander and how he'll be desperate enough to take control of the situation, you and Dr. Milo start on your parts to assist Dr. Mindbender since Luthor promised that incompetent and short-sighted terrorist that he would send help to exterminate the mutants which are a threat to his term for Presidency. Go to Cobra's Headquarters along with Eddington. They'll be expecting you, and then you both work alongside with Dr. Mindbender in developing new Heartless along with waiting for the final addendums to the Legacy research Zartan will get from his further spying on Moira MacTaggert."

"And of course, we made sure that Cobra has no idea about the existence of Cadmus or our secretive role with the Organization, and there is absolutely no chance that he would endanger his plans to try to take over the world by blabbing to Waller or any of the other heroes. Luthor and I made sure on that…and we suggest that you two keep your mouths shut as well, if you wish to survive this Gathering and get your vengeance on Batman and Waller at the same time," Eddington remarked with a malicious smile.

"Understood," Dr. Strange said while Dr. Milo remained silent, inwardly fuming that he only had one way out of this possible mess. General Eiling smiled as Eddington led the two professors and scientists out of the room; it was falling into plan, bit by bit, and not even all the heroes in the world shall be able to stop them.

And what made it all the more satisfying was that '_Operation Shaggy Man_' was nearly complete…

---

"I have returned, my Liege and Lord. The mission has been accomplished," Zexion intoned as the youth-like boy with semi-long purple hair reappeared in the middle of the room where the Inner Circle along with the Organization were meeting in the deep chambers of the Black Friar's Club. This consisted not only of the Inner Circle, but the Omega Jugglers, Generals Silver and Black.

"Mission accomplished?" snorted Donald Pierce in derision, "As if gaining twenty seven useless hearts is any real accomplishment Zexion. Even after your friends, Demyx and Lexaeus, have gained a big surplus of hearts, all you were able to get were the weakest of hearts from sick, mutant children. But then again, that was probably no surprise since it's probably those sort of opponents that you could possibly be a match to anyway."

"No, Zexion's true mission was to help set off the chain if events for the other pawns such as Cobra and Zartan and his mercenaries-for-hire to come in and muddy the waters for the heroes. And if our plans for Moira's research on the X-Gene and her genetics project, Legacy, then we'll have exactly what we need to deliver a devastating blow to the Keybladers and their friends," General Black said craftily.

"And it'll be enough to possibly thin out those meddling fools once and for, especially the naïfs on both mutant teams. And of course, it will all be done without any direct participation on our parts…" and then the Superior trialed off when he noticed that the Organization member named Demyx wasn't even paying attention to the discussion. Instead, he was stupidly and blithely looking at a colorful flyer in his hands with a wistful expression in his eyes.

Everyone could see the trainwreck approaching as the temperature in the chambers went down by several notches due to the cold and merciless aura emanating from the number one member of Organization Thirteen. In fact, the Superior's eyes were glittering harshly as he stepped forward and snatched the paper out of the Melodious Nocturne's hands.

"Am I boring you, Demyx?" the leader snarled with malice and dangerous warning, and shocked and embarrassed, the mullet haired musician hastily tried to cover his tracks, nervous and sweating. He certainly didn't want to go through another incident of discipline when he ran away from Leomon while trying to infiltrate the X-Mansion (he still had the scars to prove it). Thankfully, his panic and fright then allowed him to come to a brilliant justification.

"Uh…no, my Lord!!" gulped Demyx, "I…I just was wondering if this concert could be a possible place to get more hearts…"

"That is one of the most pathetic excuses I have ever heard in my life, and considering I work alongside Pierce, I've heard plenty," muttered Harry Leland to himself as he took a sip of exquisite port from his glass. The aforementioned cyborg, however, heard this, and he gave the Black Bishop a dirty look from his scowl but he didn't say anything. The Superior was about to harshly berate his underling when he noticed what exactly was on the flyer and after ten seconds of contemplative silence, the leader's response shocked everyone.

"This is no time for fun and games, you incompetent fool. You are a warrior of Organization Thirteen and a steward of the Nobody to bring about the Gathering of Twilight by searching for hearts and the Talismans! However…" and he paused as if taking the time for thinking while Demyx's face lit up in shock and puzzlement.

"…this would be a rather large place for a plethora of hearts. But I warn you, Demyx…"

With that, the Superior brought out his weapon, and the heat of the crimson energy was already beginning to warm the fabric of Demyx's cloak as he gulped when the chief pointed it directly in the middle of his torso, right where the heart should be (if Demyx had one).

"You can listen as much music as you want, Nocturne, but I expect you to bring in a surfeit of hearts to help bring forth the Door to the Light. I will be lenient this time, but I expect you to courageously handle the butchery of the crowd. Professor Hamilton has no Heartless spores in reserve as of now, so you will have to make do with three of the drones at your command should the X-Men and Misfits show their meddling presences again. Do not fail me and make me regret showing you mercy."

"Uh…yes, of course, my Lord! And…thank you…" stammered Demyx in fear and groveling respectfully with gratefulness as he cowardly teleported out. The Superior smirked to himself as Selene asked incredulously.

"I assume there was a reason for that sudden display of uncharacteristic clemency?"

The Superior showed the Inner Circle and the Organization the flyer (though Lord only knew where Demyx got such a trite and foolish notification). It was an ad announcing an upcoming concert at the Meadowlands Sports complex in New Jersey in the United States, showing the pictures of Paul and Craig Starr playing on their guitars. The concert was being held by the rising rock-group, the Superstars, and it was being held this coming Saturday.

"I've heard of them," murmured Frost in bored tone as she idly swirled her wine in her tumbler, as if celebrity youths were beneath her acknowledgement, "Those are the main singers of that idiotic and tasteless rock band that have gained immense popularity over the coming year ever since their exposure in Los Angeles and Brown University. And much to my displeasure, they even managed to turn respectable Hellions such as my daughter Catseye into fans with that drabble that could only entertain brain-dead, backwater dolts. And oddly enough, they are also known as staunch mutant-rights supporters – oh…"

Blackheart instantly pieced it together, smirking as he said, "**_Of course. With such a huge crowd of rising celebrities, should a Heartless attack it, not only would be gain a large amount of hearts, but it would additionally strike fear into the general public about supporting mutant-human equality. What better way to do so than to attack prominent celebrities who are ardent followers? And it should certainly put the X-Men and the Misfits in a negative light…_**"

"And of course, your surprising show of mercy will ensure that Demyx will be grateful enough to pay you back for that one moment of enjoyment and actually act somewhat adept. Clever…" drawled Saïx stonily.

"I work with the tools that I have been given," the Superior said stoically but with a hint of smug satisfaction.

**Author's Notes: Next Saturday, things get a little glum as Bobby realizes that his family would never accept him back, and hoping to cheer him up as a friend, Lina and the other Misfits invite several of the X-Men to a Superstars concert in New Jersey, but things just continue to end baldy as Bobby runs into his former brother and sister. But things become nowhere as violent and dangerous as Demyx invades the scene with his Hellfire Heartless. Can the X-Men defeat this threat and will Bobby ever reconcile with his family? Find out next Saturday in the chapter "Iceman's Epithany" and until then, read and enjoy! Constructive criticism welcome!**


	29. Iceman’s Epiphany

**Author's Notes: I do not own the characters: Paul Starr, Craig Starr, and Kyle Wildfire for they are the property of fellow Misfit author, L1701E. Lila Cheney, though a Superstar in his universe, is actually a character owned by Marvel. Jenni Starr is the property of the author, Aaron Whitaker, who has graciously lent the character for this universe. The character, Aurora Drake, is actually a cartoon character who was Iceman's mutant half-sister in the 80s cartoon, "Spider Man and His Amazing Friends", but she has been modified slightly to fit as Bobby's immediate sister to fit in Red Witch's universe. There, now that that's out of the way, hope you enjoy this chapter…**

**CHAPTER 29: Iceman's Epiphany**

"I'm sorry, Moira…" Professor Xavier said with compassion and pain for the third time as the female brunette Scot just held her mouth with one hand, her eyes brimming, as she took in what the X-Men's founder had told her the fates about the children and her staff. It was later that night after the Heartless attack on the Muir Isle Mutant Genetics Center and Hospital, and Moira had just woken up from her slumber and bout of infection to find Rahne, Professor Xavier, Logan, Hank, General Hawk, Matt Burke from A.U.N.T.I.E. and Nick Fury from S.H.I.E.L.D. beside her infirmary bed.

Sean Cassidy and his daughter, Theresa, were both resting in beds next to Moira's in the sterile and clean medical bay, and Hank assured her that he and Bree's analyses showed that there were no permanent or life-threatening injuries. Theresa didn't even need stitches; Justin's healing did enough to stop Siryn's bleeding.

However, as Rahne was politely asked to leave when the Professor and the other chosen adults briefed her on what happened with Zexion and the Heartless, things went downhill for the geneticist. She was told about the deaths and how only Theresa, Rahne, Bart, and Dr. Sanderson were the ones who survived. Moira couldn't stop crying, and though she was repeatedly told how it wasn't her fault and that she was used as the Organization's puppet, it still didn't erase the pain. Though she took solace that she and her daughter were still alive, it was still earth-shattering and unpleasant.

"There was nothing you could do, Moira," Xavier said gently as he took her hand in his, "You were infected with the Hellfire spores, and there was nothing you could do to fight it. It is the Thirteenth Order's fault that they did this and not yours or Mr. Cassidy's. And as long as it takes, the Institute is more than welcome to shelter you and your family during this dark time. I have more than enough room, and you and Mr. Cassidy and your children are unquestionably a part of the X-Men, so it is no trouble. And I care for Rahne as well, and I would love to take in Siryn and Bart as well while you worry about reconstruction."

"Thank you, Charles," Dr. MacTaggert managed to choke out from behind her fingers, inhaling through her nose. Wolverine then spoke gruffly with some sympathy.

"And like all the others who got their hearts stolen by those damn Hellfire Heartless, there is a chance we can get them back at least. However…we're not positive if that's not a lie to begin with, so I'm not sure you want to be banking on that only to let your hopes die again," the grizzled X-Man stated.

"Logan, now really!" protested Hank when Moira's expression became even more aggrieved and downcast at those words. Wolverine looked a little abashed; he certainly didn't mean it in a way to cause more pain.

The mustached Matt Burke then spoke, idly straightening the cuff-links of his suit, "And perhaps it _would_ be better if they stayed here. We still do not know why the Heartless targeted Muir Isle on the Inner Circle's orders. Either the Hellfire Club has plans for Moira's Legacy Virus, or they could be merely striking out due to that fact that MacTaggert is a close associate of Xavier and doing this would cause him and the X-Men supplementary grievance. But…I'm tempted to say it's the former because of the rumors of Cobra being around in Scotland, and as such, if Moira's work was being coveted, staying her with the other X-Men would indeed be safe, especially if Cobra is trying to get her work first before the Organization."

"But I daresay that this hardly makes any sense," Hank murmured, "Why attack Muir Isle and Moira's center with such a small amount of people and frankly when the Misfits and X-Men are right there on the premises? It would make more sense to attack a large city that is far from our reach and easier to catch us by surprise, not to mention obtaining a vast amount of hearts. And if they were after the Legacy research, why use such a direct tactic? Why not clandestinely infiltrate past the security and steal what they need?"

"And if they are after the Legacy Virus, why would they want to covet my work? A virus for bio-terrorism may be dangerous, but from what I have heard and been through, the Heartless are far more dangerous that anything a virus or my genetic research could ever create," Moira added.

"I agree. This is indeed suspicious and uncharacteristic of the Inner Circle, and they could find other ways of hurting Moira although something of this magnitude is as heinous. There must be another motive behind this recent strike," Xavier murmured.

"The problem is that trying to figure out what the Inner Circle and the Organization are up to won't change the current situation as of now, gentlemen. We need to keep Muir Isle sectioned off, secured, and isolated to make sure that those snakes don't find whatever they were hoping to look for from the remains of the center," Nick Fury emphasized sharply.

General Hawk then broke the tension as he said his piece.

"Dr. MacTaggert, the Joes I sent to assist with the clean-up will additionally ensure that your medical center and hospital will be back and rebuilt after the attack, and I might be able to finagle the Scottish government to offer grants to help with its construction. Trinity, Mainframe, and Agent Wisdom from A.U.N.T.I.E. are also toiling to guarantee that all the data from your computers and databases have been restored. Unfortunately, from what Mainframe told me, some data loss is inevitable as well as all the virus samples in your laboratories, especially with the thorough viciousness of that attack by the Organization. Dr. MacTaggert, I'm sorry, but all your work and tools at Muir Isle have been completely destroyed. The genetic samples you did to help the children have been lost. But on the bright side, if we can't salvage that much from the wreckage, then neither should anyone else who is snooping around such the Hellions or Cobra or Hydra."

"Actually, that won't be a problem, Hawk," Fury said with determination, "Thankfully, we had the foresight to convince Dr. MacTaggert to provide the documentation and electronic back-up of her research with S.H.I.E.L.D. when she additionally did some work with her Legacy project over at Russia a while back."

"_Russia?_" blinked Burke, "Why Russia?"

But Wolverine pieced it together as he answered for the S.H.I.E.L.D. director, "Of course, Romanova. I remember now. You needed MacTaggert to help out with the Widow's health when she helped your men and defected to our side at cost to her own life. That's how you were able to save her. If it wasn't for MacTaggert's know-how, Black Widow would have died."

Fury nodded once wordlessly. And that wasn't the only time when Dr. MacTaggert's research and genius provided invaluable assistance, thus why she was trusted with Fury and his operations…

"And Mr. Fury is right," Moira said with some weariness, still teary-eyed, "A good portion of my research was done in one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s bases near Moscow, and thankfully, I would still have samples of the genetic codes and vectors safely stored in their laboratories and cryogenic freezers, so at least the work I've done to help the children with the Legacy Virus will not be completely obliterated. I do not have to start from scratch now that my center has been demolished."

"But will it be safe from the Hellfire Club and the Thirteenth Order? _That_ is a pertinent issue," Beast asked worriedly. The one-eyed man gravely exhaled through his nose as he contemplated that for several seconds before he truthfully answered the blue-furred X-Man.

"If they really wanted to, they could break in and we won't be able to do a damned thing to stop them. If the Heartless attacked us as well as any of our other chapters or headquarters, we could slow them down but none of us have anything effective like those Disney Summons or a Keyblade. We'd basically be sitting ducks. And unlike Xavier's school or the Pit, we aren't shielded, and it would be counter-productive if not selfish if we asked the Misfits and the X-Men to guard the base in Russia twenty-four-seven."

"That, and you don't trust us fully," Wolverine retorted dryly. Nick Fury just glowered back at Logan, but he didn't say anything (thus supporting the accusation). Xavier sighed, but he realized that deep down, Fury had good reasons to be cautious, especially since the X-Men were considered vigilantes in all senses of the word by the government despite vouches from G.I. Joe. And the Misfits were…too unorthodox and wild at times to be comfortable for Fury's tastes.

"But there's no point now," Moira shuddered hoarsely, wiping her eyes as a hot ball formed in her throat, "No matter how much I do with the Legacy, it won't mean anything if the Heartless destroy the world or if the children never come back."

"You **can't** think that, Moira," Xavier said gently, "You can't give up. Yes, I shall not hide the fact that a lot of fates are riding on the upcoming Gathering, but we are collecting answers bit by bit, and we perhaps may be getting closer as to this entire fiasco and mystery of why the Heartless and the Organization are here. But we can't let this stop us, especially since we cannot afford to let the Heartless or the Hellfire Club win. Even if you can't work to help the kids, you and Sean would be important in helping the others plan to help stop the Gathering or assist us in the final battle if necessary. And…I know you are quite capable of using a high-powered shotgun, Moira."

Dr. MacTaggert smiled a bit at the private joke despite herself.

"And at least on the bright side, not only is MacTaggert safe here, but no one else will know that her research with that whole Legacy crap is in Russia. Once she and Mr. Cassidy feel settled enough and we went over the damage back at Muir Island, we'll head out the Russia where no one, not even Cobra and the Inner Circle, will be the wiser," Wolverine suggested.

"Agreed. No one else can know of this, and thankfully, with that magical shield your friend Leomon put around this place, none of the Heartless or those Organization lackeys should find out about this which means that if they did have plans for the Legacy, it'll be out of their collective, slimy reach," Nick Fury said solemnly.

Unfortunately, none of them, not even the sharp-eyed Logan or the astute Professor X, had any idea of a miniature robotic fly, constructed into a uncanny resemblance to the actually insect, with a built in camera that was transmitting this as live video feed to one Cobra mercenary…

"Perhaps for the Heartless, but Cobra and the Dreadnoks are a different matter altogether, Fury," Zartan smiled to himself, picking up on every word from his swampy base while viewing upon the images on the monitors with a beady eye on his communications center.

---

"**_This_**…is undoubtedly…the worst day of my life…" Bobby Drake said in a strangled, hoarse voice as he, Roberto, Ray, Sam, and Jamie watched with disbelief and some disturbed, but curious interest at the television where a movie was playing. Normally, this would hardly register as a blip on the X-Boys' channel-surfing through the basic and cable networks, especially considering this was Lifetime and there was still anti-mutant and now anti-Justice-League sentiments on the television waves twenty-four-seven. Unfortunately, this was one particular television movie that was particularly demeaning to them, especially Bobby…

"_Today, a Lifetime Original…_" the movie announced solemnly, "'_Shattered Ice: The Drake Family Story_'_…based on true events of a boy whose mutation and waywardness broke apart his family through, but the trials of adversity and true family bond helped the Drakes through as they start afresh._"

"I cannot believe this…" Bobby reported dumbly.

"Wow…you parents sold their story to Lifetime which made it into a movie…" Ray blinked, not sure exactly what to feel but pity, embarrassment, and disgust were some of the main ones.

Sam chastised his friend gently, trying to be mindful of Bobby's feelings, as he broke in, "Ray, don't jump to conclusions. We don't even know if it really is Bobby's family who sold them the rights to make this movie, and I'm sure there's no parent mean and low enough to do something like this. Bobby's parents couldn't possibly - "

The television then spoke, "_This is the testimony of the two loving parents, Robert and Joyce, whose efforts of love went unappreciated as their prodigal son, Bobby Drake, foolishly and recklessly endangered their family to join the X-Men and leaving the shambles of his disregarded kin. This is their story of triumph and rebirth of a new life as the Drakes pick up the pieces in a story of love, compassion, and adversity during the mutant crisis caused by the malignant Iceman._"

"And one of these days, I really need to learn about speaking things too soon," Sam groaned to himself, rubbing his face with one hand.

"Wow, this is…pretty bad," Roberto remarked, throwing Bobby a sympathetic and pitying look, "I mean, not only did you parents sell a story to make a movie, on Lifetime of all cable channels, but it's a biased and really untruthful story at that. I mean, your Dad was the one who wanted you cured and threw you out because you just wanted to follow the Professor's dream of protecting the world, your Dad was the one who disowned you when he gave you that unreasonable demand of choosing between you family and your life, and your Dad was the one who broke your family apart, really. But instead, he just not only makes this a movie, he does it so that he points the finger at you and paints it as your fault."

"I cannot believe this…" Bobby repeated again dumbly, this time one eye twitching and burrowing to new depths of humiliation.

Ray saw the pain on Bobby's face (he himself been through similar emotional roller-coasters when his own parents kicked him out of the house) and the red-and-yellow haired teen tried to amend the situation by speculating, "Well, on the bright side, it's only one movie. And all sorts of networks and television channels are showing anti-mutant stuff as well as anything against the League and aliens, so it's only a drop in the bucket. And this is a cable channel for a network who's demographic are mainly women. And it's only one movie, so I don't think this will catch on anyways."

"_Back by popular demand for its third screening. And to order copies of 'Shattered Ice: The Drake Family Story' on DVD, call our toll-free number, 1-800-555-LIFE…_" the female spokesperson for the TV movie broke in. Fate and Murphy's Law apparently had a vindictive streak in this universe against superheroes.

"Now **_I_** need to listen to some advice about speaking things too soon," groaned Ray as a red-faced and humiliated Bobby stomped out of the room, his eyes a world of sore emotions, "Think it'll be too much to hope for that none of the others here at the school or any of our friends and allies know about this?"

Sam gave Ray an incredulous look as he threw a pillow, commenting with some annoyance, "Think about it, moron. Given our track record, secrets never stay secret between our groups, especially with our resident blabbermouths and the Multiple News Network."

Later that night, Bobby was moping and simmering in a mental stew of disgrace and shame and resentment outside the gardens of the Institute, sitting on a stone bench at the south end that overlooked the ocean and the seas, hearing the surf pounding away at the cliffs. Despite the calm and serene picture, it did little to ease Bobby's bitterness.

True to Sam's prediction, the whole X-Mansion and even the Titans, League, and Ghostbusters knew of the Lifetime movie, although to be fair, for once it wasn't Jamie who spilled the beans but rather the fact that a good portion of the female allies were somewhat avid television watchers and Lifetime was a popular choice broadcast. Though many offered words of sympathy, merciless and snide teasing (courtesy of Pietro and some of the X-Men), smug smiles (courtesy of Blob), and pity (courtesy of a good potion of the teenage Titans and the Slayers), all the attention made Bobby feel worse. Though he normally liked such awareness over him, he certainly wouldn't like it this way, and Bobby pretty much bad-naturedly asked to be left alone.

Thankfully, everyone gracefully complied, and as the Misfits were busy letting off steam while exploring the X-Mansion as one of their daily visits and the adults were conversing with Moira and Sean in the infirmary while the teenage X-Men were wisely trying to avoid the insanity of their visitors by having another private meeting in Cerebro's headquarters, Bobby was left alone to just repeatedly run over the course of events in his life numbly.

Bobby still remembered those hateful words from his father over the phone the day he disowned him after seeing the footage of the X-Men fighting the Juggernaut on national television…

_"CONTROL!! CONTROL!!! YOU WERE JUST ON THE FREAKING NEWS! HOW'S THAT FOR CONTROL?!! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING FIGHTING WITH THAT…THAT THING ON NATIONAL TELEVISON??!!!"_

_"No buts!! I told you Robert that I wanted you cured of this…this thing!!"_

_"Don't talk back to me!! Listen to me, it's bad enough what your mother and I have had to endure but for you to flaunt your…yourself in public! It's disgraceful!!"_

_"Ever since your school…came out we've had to endure nothing but harassment! You know how your aunt gossips! She told everyone that you go to that school!!"_

_"…is precisely the reason our lives have been screwed up!!! Your brother can't even go to public school because of the harassment!! We've had to send him away to a private school out of state! And your sister…I don't even know what to tell her!! She's only eight years old! She doesn't need to deal with this! And your mother doesn't even dare to go to church anymore!!!"_

_"No, but you don't have to parade yourself like a jackass in front of the entire world!! Why couldn't you have kept quiet about it?!! I should have brought you back home!! Or sent you to a hospital or something!!"_

_"Yes you are. You are sick. Your body has a disease that's wrecking our lives!! I lost my job today because of you!! Somebody told my boss that I had a mutant for a son!! How are we going to take care of ourselves?! You tell me that!!! How?!"_

_"We can move away to another town. Change our name so nobody knows it's us. As long as you keep **it** under control you can join us."_

_"Fine…if that's how you feel about it…then this is it. As much as I love you Robert, I have a family to think about. I have to take care of lives that matter to me, do you understand? I can't deal with this anymore! I can't deal with you anymore."_

Even to this day, it still hurt.

Bobby then heard a noise, the unmistakable sound of

"Oh…" spoke a familiar voice, one that Bobby was startled to hear, "I…I'm…oh."

Iceman turned around. It was Dragonfly, the insect-girl's wings and white, bobbed hair standing out under the dark shadows of the night. She then continued as she backed away nervously, "Oh…sorry, but…if you rather be alone, I didn't mean to - "

"**_NO!_**" Lina blinked and Bobby winced, unintentionally saying that protest louder than he would have liked, and feeling a bit ashamed, Bobby forced himself to speak in a more controlled and softer voice, trying to keep a lid on his bubbling excitement and primal lust.

"I…no, I didn't mean that, I'm the one who should be sorry," Bobby apologized lamely before he sighed and moved to the far end of the bench, offering his previously warmed spot to the female Misfit, saying, "I wouldn't mind a friend right now…"

Normally, Bobby would be ecstatic and trying his best to go on Lina's good side, even trying to push Fred out of his current ranking, but today, after the memories of his family, it took a seat in the back of his mind. After all, family grievances and wounds had a way of sticking around. Lina hesitated before she sat down to the space Bobby offered and for a good several minutes, the two of them just sat and watched the sparkling sea, feeling the mist swirl and prick their skin. As hesitant as she would be, it would be crueler to say "I'm sorry you're grieving but I don't have time for you right now" and leave.

"Lina…" Bobby asked.

"Yes?" Lina turned to the X-Man.

"When your parents disowned you…did it get easier?" Apparently, Bobby remembered Lina's past well and the circumstances of her joining the Misfits.

Dragonfly had to think and ponder that a bit, especially since she confessed to Cover Girl that she still loved her parents and missed her family even though she did enjoy her life at the Pit. She then answered as honestly as she could, feeling very understanding of Bobby's pain, especially after being disgraced and maligned on national television by your own family.

"It doesn't go away if that's what you're hoping for."

There was a pause before Iceman spoke so softly that Dragonfly could barely hear

"Surprisingly, enough…it **was** what I was hoping for. That or my family would finally come over here and admit they were wrong and that we would work out on being together again. As great as the Professor is as my guardian, I really don't see him as a father."

"To be fair, he's not trying to replace your father. He's trying to be someone who loves and cares for you, but is entirely different from your father. Cover Girl is the same way between me and my mother, and she explained that she respects that she can't replace them and that she doesn't want to. And something tells me that the Professor knows this too; he's smart enough to know that the last thing you want is him to compete with your loyalty to your family."

There was a pause as Bobby's shoulders slumped a bit and Dragonfly, though she knew honesty was the best policy, wondered if the truth was indeed too harsh for him. After all, she tried to commit suicide with a paring knife rather than accepting her mutation when she moved in at Misfit Manor, so sometimes, the truth wasn't the best option.

Dragonfly then touched Bobby's shoulder gently, a bit alarmed when he shivered a bit (she assumed it was from the cold when Bobby was actually shivering in delight). The insect-girl offered softly, "I don't think it's wrong per se to admit you still love your family. I'm still struggling with that with my parents, Althea and the Triplets deep down struggles with hers for her mother, and even Pietro and Wanda have some conflicts about Magneto of all people. It's not wrong for being more gracious and loving to your family than you are to them."

"I wish I still didn't. They don't love me anymore, and it would make my life easier."

"Life is never easy, Bobby."

"You're telling an X-Man that? A mutant who goes through insanity, explosions, fights, and making life for others a living hell on an hourly basis?"

They both chuckled, feeling more at ease before Dragonfly then asked a side question, a bit private but relevant.

"Not all your family is against you, though. Right? I mean, with me, I know my parents didn't want me, but I probably would say that my brothers and sisters are of the same way, especially since I never got a chance to see how they felt. Yeah, it may be a lost hope, but I can't assume based on what I don't know."

Bobby hesitated before he answered truthfully, "Well…my Dad definitely is a lost hope, but my mom and brother and sister, it's hard to say. Mom was begging me to come home, so I don't think that she hates me, but she would probably keep quiet and go along with my Dad since she hates being in her situation. To tell you the truth, I feel a little guilty about my mutation causing my mom to suffer the hate and the…ergh, what to you call people giving you a hard time for no reason?"

"Persecution? Harassment? Discrimination? Hounding?" Bobby blinked; Dragonfly apparently had a large enough vocabulary while he barely read any book that was prescribed by Hank in English class or that wasn't part of the "_Lord of the Rings_" franchise.

"Er…yeah, one of those," Bobby said lamely, "But…with my brother and my sister, I dunno. I have a lot of good memories with them, and it's hard for me to let them go. I remember playing racecars with Ronnie with my Hot Wheels set – hey, don't laugh! It's a guy thing! I remember when I would give piggy-back rides to Aurora when she was five - "

"Aurora?"

"My younger sister."

"Ah."

There was several more minutes of silence before Bobby sighed and commented, "I think that's why I was so destructive when my family disowned me like that. I felt I had nothing left to lose, so why not go full out?"

Lina thought to herself; it was exactly why she tried to commit suicide in the first place.

"But…I would like to go back to them, to have them come back and accept me again, that things will go back to the way they used to be before this whole being-a-mutant thing made my life complicated. I just…can't abandon my whole life with them even though they have. I still miss them."

Dragonfly gave him a look of pity and sympathy and pain. It was uncharacteristic and shocking, but at the same time, touching as well, to see this side of Bobby's vulnerability. Bobby looked down at the grass and chuckled sadly to himself.

"Sounds corny, doesn't it? Can't exactly talk to the guys about this, since we normally don't get all talkative about our feelings, and a lot of the girls are too angry with the pranks I pull to take me seriously."

"Maybe if you didn't ice the bathroom so much, especially when they need it…"

"Hey, I gotta be me. And the world needs pranksters and practical jokesters to cheer up the place a bit. They may be angry and annoyed, but they'll never get rid of them. Why do you think the Misfits allow Pietro to live so long at this point?"

"I guess I can't argue with _that_."

There was some more silence between the Misfit and X-Man before Lina then smiled before she tentatively made a very generous offer.

"Actually, here's something that might cheer you up. Do you remember the Superstars that we met when we did that charity box-lunch over at Brown University?"

"Vaguely…especially with the numerous sneakers and cleats trampling across my body."

"Well, since we've made good friends with the band, the Starr brothers offered that if we ever want to go visit them during one of their concerts as a chance to relax, we'd be automatically treated to box office seats if not front row seats. And Shipwreck has been begging General Hawk for a chance for us to have some fun especially since we've all been pretty drained with trying to clear the League's name and fighting Heartless, so we need a time to have fun. Well, it took some doing, but we managed to get front row seats for their next concert in New Jersey at the Meadowlands complex. Well, we're going, but if you want and if it'll cheer you up a bit, especially since you just had your life story told in a biased manner on Lifetime…do you want to come along with us?"

Bobby's eyes went wide; not only was it incredibly difficult to get tickets without months of advance for a superstars performance, but this would be an excellent chance to get closer to Lina. But, he couldn't let her know he had a crush on her; he didn't want to get rejected, and Iceman wanted to do this right if he wanted to slowly burrow past Dragonfly's suspicions and defenses.

"Really?"

Lina nodded.

"But…won't I be intruding?"

"I don't think so."

"Can…the other X-Men come too? I'd feel a little ashamed and selfish if only I went."

Dragonfly smiled as she giggled, stating, "Actually, Althea and the others were planning to ask the other X-Men as well after they get out of their meeting in Cerebro's room, although I don't blame them for hiding there. Trinity's doing a boxer-shorts raid on all the boys' rooms, Wanda's trying to kill Pietro, Fred's making himself a huge submarine sandwich in the kitchen, and Althea and Todd are having some cuddle time in the Professor's office while the adults are discussing matters with Dr. MacTaggert and Mr. Cassidy in the infirmary. So all the X-Men will be coming with you if they can go. We all agreed that everyone could use some fun after all this."

"Will you…and Fred sit with me?" Lina blinked, and Bobby was grateful he didn't lapse on including Fred.

"I…would rather sit with someone who understands what I'm going through," Bobby admitted, trying to play a scared teen who just wanted some companionship. Dragonfly smiled, seeing that Bobby wanted a friend and nothing more.

"Sure, it's a promise."

Unfortunately, one other person was watching this friendly exchange in the background, more than a bit annoyed and bothered…

Meanwhile, a few minutes later, Dragonfly finished her talk with Bobby, and barely managed to escape being tramped as Wanda, now completely drenched and waterlogged, was hexing after a terrified Pietro with blue energy-bolts while the silver-haired speedster was screaming fierce and running for his life.

"Wanda, don't kill me!! It was an accident!! It was meant for Jean and Kitty!! Don't kill me, don't kill me!! Help, help, help!!!" screeched Quicksilver.

"Fine, then I'll just _cripple_ you!! **_Get back here!!!_**" his Goth sister snarled, now grabbing a fire poker from the fireplace and swinging the blunt object precariously close to her brother's back. Lina gracefully and wisely stayed out of the path of the two siblings as she entered the spacious living room, only to find Pluto serenely dozing at the foot of one of the couches (it was amazing how much sleep Pluto actually did for any given day), enjoying the warmth of the rug and floor, his nose bobbing up and down. But at the sound of company, the golden furred hound opened his sleep-burry eyes to see that the green-eyed, white-haired Dragonfly was kneeling next to him.

"Pluto, can I talk to you?"

The Disney dog inwardly groaned from being awoken from his nap, but he sat on his haunches and looked up, giving the female mutant his full attention, his eyes warm and a tired smile on his face, tail wagging slowly but contently.

"Can you make me a promise?" Dragonfly asked.

Pluto's eyes lost their warmth a bit, and he suspiciously cocked his head to the side, as if the dog was trying to say the response "It depends what are the conditions of that promise".

"I finished talking to Bobby…and I was wondering if you could promise to that if Bobby needed magic, would you transfer mine to him, just in case he can't defend himself?"

Pluto now completely dropped his friendly air only to replace it with one of annoyance and a disapproving frown. Dragonfly ignored that as she spoke softly and gently, trying to show she had sincere and benevolent reasons to ask for such a request.

"Pluto, none of the X-Men are bad. They're good people, but they're just frustrated that they can't protect themselves, and to be honest, when I think about it, the Misfits can't always be there to protect them. Like when Blackheart attacked the Pit, we make mistakes, and I don't want to have the X-Men suffer for those mistakes."

Pluto could see her point, but she was asking to help Bobby, a person who Pluto had to endure endless begging and artificial bribery to lend him Elementa magic. Iceman was far too immature for Pluto's taste…

Lina obviously read the lines in between Pluto's puckered brow, and she scolded softly, "Pluto, as much as you have reservations on giving people our magic, especially after the incident with Scott, you can't deny that the X-Men are good people. No one is absolutely faultless, as evidenced by how Falco held Theresa hostage. And you trust him because he works for the same King who sent you. Or are you willing to overlook how Falco threatened to kill Theresa if we didn't give the hearts for Octavia to scan Dr. MacTaggert and Mr. Cassidy's hearts?"

Pluto winced. Lina had a good point. Pluto was absolutely horrified when Falco held Siryn at gunpoint, shocked even. Though he didn't cross the line, it was something the King would never approve of, and the King would have been just as disappointed (but not hateful as it wasn't in the King's nature to hate or be wrathful at anyone). Yet, Falco did not kill Siryn; he never crossed the line. Thus, as much as Pluto was appalled and sickened, Falco still could be trusted to do the right thing since he hadn't crossed that line yet.

"There's good and bad in everyone, Pluto. You trusted Pietro, Todd, and the Triplets with the magic, so it's no different from Bobby. And Bobby has a good heart deep down, and the reason I'm asking you to lend my magic to him is because I want to be prepared in case Bobby is in a situation like Rahne or Scott or Jean where he needs the magic to protect someone he cares about or at risk to his own life. Pluto, if you got to know him like I did, you'd see that Bobby doesn't deserve all the hard knocks he's gotten from his family."

Pluto looked a bit reluctant but at the same time, undecided and yielding. Still, they had to see when and if the circumstances ever arose.

"Just promise me, Pluto. I don't want Bobby to get hurt in the future as a precaution," Dragonfly begged again softly, and had anyone been in Pluto's shoes, it would be hard to disappoint the gentle Misfit. Pluto made a grumbling noise in his typical dog mannerisms before he snorted and gave a single nod. Lina relaxed a bit until she heard a voice behind her.

"Lina…can we talk?" Dragonfly turned around to see it was Fred, looking a bit uncomfortable and angry as well. Though the Indian mutant seemed a bit uncomfortable to enter in this tense discussion, she relented knowing that whatever Blob wanted to talk about, they would both be calm enough to discuss it maturely.

"You really shouldn't get close to Bobby like that. He's not what you think he is."

Apparently, no such luck.

"I was just inviting him to the Superstars concert because we were going to invite everyone there from the X-Men anyway, and he's depressed because his family committed libel like that. He just needs a friend, and he's been nothing but polite and vulnerable ever since this whole Heartless mess, and he hasn't shown anything that he likes me. He's been nothing but a good person."

"Lina, he ain't like that. It's just an act," Fred said crossly.

"Wait, so you're saying you want Bobby to get killed by the Heartless? You're saying you'd rather he suffer being knocked down and going through depression? He doesn't deserve to be treated like that, and he's our friend and ally!"

"Correction: he's **your** friend. Lina, I'm not sayin' I enjoy Bobby getting humiliated by his family like that, but considering he's usually an annoying cow-pie, a lot of the things he gets, he brings on himself. And he's got a crush on you. I can see that, and so can a lot of people. You're just too blind to see -"

"**_Blind??_**" Lina's voice dropped down a few notches in temperature as her eyes narrowed. Fred inwardly winced; he didn't mean to say that. And he hated when he argued with Lina like this. He never had anything close to a girlfriend, but butting heads with Dragonfly was the equivalent of taking your brand new Porsche from the dealership and getting it totaled in a wreck before you even drove more than a block from the car lot. Lina then unsympathetically pointed out a similar parallel.

"Blob, you're jealous, plain and simple. This was exactly what I went through with Chao-Ahn when we went to San Francisco to help the Charmed Ones with the Nexus! You told me to get over my jealousy over her, a Slayer, because there was nothing going on between you and her and how you were just friends! I admitted I was wrong about Chao-Ahn, and I'm ashamed about that! So do the same for Bobby, Fred! Give Bobby the benefit of the doubt and realize there's no reason for you to be jealous! Bobby has no crush on me, I don't have feelings for him, and you're just being completely insecure and jealous!"

"That's completely different," Fred retorted stoutly.

"**I'll** say it's different! Chao-Ahn still has _her_ family to fall back to, and I gave her a chance before I realized I was wrong! You, however, are not exactly being just as fair! Bobby isn't like that! You're being completely unreasonable!"

"And you're being naïve -" and with that, Fred made a very BIG wince. He didn't mean to say that, and Psyche-Out always warned him the danger of letting his temper get to him, especially since he was still insecure about relationships. Lina's eyes widened as if she was slapped before she glared back at her teammate.

"Fine, be that way. Perhaps I should sit with Bobby alone for a while. I'll be enjoying his company until you can act like a somewhat rational human-being," and with that, Dragonfly hurriedly left the living room, sniffling. It was apparent she took that hard. Fred groaned as he clutched his head in regret and wished he could burrow his fingers into his skull and brain (it would have been the more preferable option). Well, either that of find the closest adamantium wall to bash his head against for a good hour or two. Pluto watched this with a vague, deadpanned and doubtful look. And he was to trust Dragonfly's judgment?

Meanwhile, over in the metal room of Cerebro under the lower levels of the X-Mansion, safe from prying eyes and ears…

"Whoa…" Rahne said, blinking, as she finished listening to what the X-Men have told her about the past events that have been leading up to the present. Indeed, it was a lot to process and it took all of the students of Institute, with varying lengths of testimonies and explanations and interrupting each other, about more than an hour to describe everything. From their accidental trip to Megakat City (Rahne also needed explanation considering she never watched the "SWAT Kats" cartoon) to the trials with H.A.T.E. and Apokolips to with the Teen Titans and Trigon to the Turok-Han and the Nexus in San Francisco to the current Heartless situation now as well as giving a brief overview on Pluto, the Keyblades, and Leomon, Falco and Octavia. Rahne had seen and heard reports from the news and on TV about some of these issues in the past, especially hysteria and speculation about the Heartless and the rumored Gathering of Twilight. However, it was another thing to hear a more in-depth account from the X-Men, and the information she learned was additionally staggering; the redhead was surprised that her head didn't explode from being crammed with all this.

And of course, they also told her about the Yellow Materia and how Sage brought it to them.

"Whoa…" Rahne murmured again, blinking. This was almost too much to take in at once. Jean, sensing Rahne's discomfort, then gently tried to break the ice as she sidetracked with an easier question.

"How are Dr. MacTaggert, Mr. Cassidy, and Theresa doing? Hank wouldn't let us see them over at the infirmary, and he said that except for the Professor and a few of the other adults, no one else would be allowed to visit since the last thing they need would be a crowd."

Wolfsbane smiled a bit at last as she answered, "They're all fine. Theresa is already up, thanks to Bree and Dragonfly, especially Justin's healing, but Beast wants to keep her another day or so for observation and making sure there aren't any internal complications like internal bleeding and stuff. But she's happy, and she's also happy that her Dad and Mom are safe. Sean's still out of it, but he woke up this morn, and Beast says he just needs rest and that nothing's wrong with him. Mom however is already up and telling the Professor more about her Legacy research, but…"

With that, Rahne paused and sniffed to herself, feeling her eyes well up again before she continued in a softer voice.

"The Professor told Mom about what happened to the other kids and how her hospital got damaged, if not practically destroyed. She took it hard, and though we're grateful that the Professor and everyone here is willing to put up with us, it still doesn't change the fact that Mom's pride and joy got trampled and all the kids we took in to help had their hearts stolen. She didn't stop crying when I left to give her a private talk with the other adults."

Rahne's memory then flashed back to those hulking, brawny giants with black skin and that damning red-and-black Heartless symbol on their chests, that wiry but dangerous youth in the black cloak with the silver zippers and drawstrings. Rahne growled, and what startled many around her was how close her growl was less human and more…wolf-like.

"So help me, when I get a chance to face the Organization Thirteen again, I'll make them all pay. Each and every one of them," Rahne promised fiercely with gritted teeth.

"We all will, Rahne. The Organization screwed around with all of us, and we're not going to stand by and let them continue doing this without a fight. And the Misfits will help us too, so you're not going to be alone," Jubilee said with compassion and complete understanding as she placed a hand on the wolf-girl's shoulders. Rahne's face softened a bit until Ray groaned softly out loud.

"But we **can't** do anything in this fight, even if we wanted to. After Rahne's little spell, if it's anything like the others, she can't do it anymore. Like Evan and Kitty, it seems to only be a one-time thing and Pluto's picky on who he gives the Misfits' magic to," the electrokinetic muttered, and everyone knew what he was talking about.

"The Misfits and the Joes will see to it that everyone gets their hearts back, Rahne," Sage said as sympathetically as she could (she was still pretty new to adjusting to being an elder to the X-Men, especially the New Mutants) as she smiled at Rahne.

"But…what if they aren't enough? Then all our hopes of riding on them would be for nothing," Kurt murmured, and indeed it was a very daunting and realistic thought. Again ,the Misfits were not the best candidates to fight as the most powerful opponents against the Heartless for Earth. And again, no reasonably sane person couldn't help but be a bit worried about their fates riding on the Misfits.

"Scott Summers, do not even suggest it," growled Sage as she pointed at Cyclops with a steely glare and a jabbing finger when she saw that the field leader of the X-Men was about to open his mouth. Scott bad-naturedly and belligerently kept quiet.

"And that's another thing I can't say I agree with, Scott," Rahne said with much conflict, "I don't like the idea about using the Yellow Materia on the Misfits. Some of them are really nice, and it wouldn't be right to use the Materia to take away something that really isn't ours to begin with. Yes, it's a little unfair, and yes, it would help all of us if they'd distribute it, but if you really wanted the magic that badly, then ask the Misfits for it."

"Remy say that we might as well ask for a million dollars and our own TV series because even the Cajun can see that it's not going to happen _chere_. You'd have a better chance of pulling a five-card straight-flush in poker than thinking that everyone from the Joes and the Misfits are going to take it well if we just ask them if we can use the Materia to take one or two of their magic and Keyblades. Hell, if Remy were in their shoes, Remy'd be insulted considering it's a hard thing to want to give up," Gambit retorted, looking at Rahne like she was a complete idiot for the suggestion.

"So why not just trust the Misfits and that Pluto had reasons to give the magic only to the Misfits and not to the other people? Or are you guys simply mad because we as the X-Men aren't included?" Wolfsbane retorted. Though it wasn't entirely true, that barb hit a vulnerable note.

Scott sighed, admitting with honesty, "All right, a part of it does stick in my craw that the Misfits are the only ones with the Keyblades and the magic, but you also need to look at it in this perspective: **this is exactly what the Hellfire Club wants**. They're pleased with this happening, and the fact that they claim it'll be easy to manipulate the Misfits in a future plot is completely realistic! So why not put a wrench in the Hellfire club's plans and stop it before it happens?"

"And even if it's not us, it'll definitely be better in the hands of people like Superman or Buffy or Faith of the Slayers, people who are more reliable and with purer hearts than us! And I know Wolverine and Professor Xavier deserve a Keyblade! They're helping run the X-Men and took all of us in, gave us chance to prove ourselves and without thought of reward! If creating the X-Men to fight for mutant-human peace isn't a sign of purity, I don't know what is!" Jean said in defense of Scott's views.

"But we don't have any right to say that. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Pluto has the right choice, and it turns out he'll give us the magic if we really need it. Hell, I'm grateful he gave it to me so that I could help out Wonder Woman and save Amara when she was infected!!" Tabitha argued.

"But apparently, we can only use it once. And I still need it to fight against the Heartless and help out the mission to get back the Morlocks' hearts. I can't leave it just up to the Misfits, and it's frustrating and not fair to just stand by and not do anything, especially when I got a taste of that Blizzaga magic to begin with," Evan murmured, absentmindedly turning a bone spike in his hands over and over.

"And if you think about it, our spells are like totally a lot stronger than the Misfits'. Mine, Rahne's, even Tabitha's totally wasted a bunch of the Hellfire Heartless at once, and that was like our first try. The Heartless are like getting stronger, but even though the Misfits are having problems, we haven't as much," Kitty said softly, which earned her a gasp of outrage from Tessa.

"Kitty, that's a horrible thing to say!" Tessa scolded angrily.

"But in a way, it is kind of showing that the Inner Circle have a real reason to be scared if other people got those Elementa spells and the Keyblades. Because the Misfits aren't strong enough to fight them or the Thirteenth Order. If we used the Yellow Materia to transfer the magic to other people who will be stronger replacements, then…why not?" Forge pointed out.

"As conflicted as I am, that is a reason of good concern," X23 admitted, "You do not send out your weakest soldiers to fight a more powerful opponent. You either send a soldier of equal caliber or someone stronger and more proficient in order to win that battle. Otherwise, you have a lesser chance of winning and just simply have wasted time and resources."

"And I recall even the infamous '_Evil Overlord's Handbook_' mentions something like this, so you know it's stupid if even potential bad guys are catching on that one," quipped Kurt, trying to instill some humor, but unfortunately, no one was laughing.

"But it's still wrong to want something like this. Even if it means getting the Muir Island kids back, I wouldn't want it if it means stepping on someone's back. They wouldn't want that, and I don't either. We'll be undercutting the Misfits, and I trust Wavedancer and the others to do the right thing," Rahne said.

"Would you bet your life on it?" Roberto quipped, raising an eyebrow.

"Er…" When put in that way, it was a little bit of a daunting decision. Rahne couldn't honestly say "yes", but to say "no" was just as much of a worrisome answer. Scott then took upon that hesitation to prove his point.

"But in a way, we already are. And the thing is, if it was spread out so that not only the Misfits had the Keyblades and the Elementa magic, then we'd all have a better chance of decreasing the damage done by the Heartless. With more people, we'd have a better chance to winning this war, and saving more people from dying. In fact, if we were able to add in with our magic instead of using indirect tactics since we're mutants, we could help save people from dying like those people in Washington D.C. or the Muir Islanders."

"And you can't argue that no matter how hard the Misfits try, they still can't prevent people from losing their hearts. At least if we had magic, we could lessen the pressure for them and help everyone at the same time," Jean supplicated. Rahne didn't know what to think as she remained silent, but Tessa then finally broke in the argument, showing her apparent irritation over this repeated discussion over and over and over again.

"Look, let's just drop this. Now. I daresay this song and dance is starting to become very old. Now, is there anything else that we need to discuss? I think the Professor wouldn't be so understanding of us hiding out in the secrecy and security of Cerebro's quarters while the Misfits…run a bit rampant. And we can't hide in here forever…" Tessa said, feeling this needed to be drawn to a close.

"Actually…one question: where's Bobby?" Piotr blinked, looking around, "Is he all right? He's not in here with us?"

"He decided to stay out of the meeting due to the fact that he's a bit depressed ever since he found out about that Lifetime movie made with the whacked story about how he was a delinquent and troublemaker. Although I don't see anything going to cheer him up anytime soon after all this…" Forge remarked, a bit concerned.

Jamie, who was reluctantly keeping quiet on the account that no one listened to him, then made a loud noise of exclamation, snapping his fingers.

"Oh yeah, I forgot!" Multiple said with some excitement, "This might be able to cheer him up! Trinity told me about it before I managed to escape the knots and duct tape in order to come here! Althea and the others were going to ask us after our little powwow, but the Triplets wanted to blab first while they had their…fun with me."

It was left to the imagination of what exactly was the definition and connotation of the word "fun" especially when Jamie gave a grimace and a small shudder before he continued.

"The Misfits are going to a rock-music concert in a couple of days, and they wanted to invite all of us since they felt we could all use a break, especially since it could cheer us up. We'd get to finally get out of the Mansion and have some fun. Since they're going to ask us anyway, I thought I might as well break the news now, especially since this way, it won't take us by surprise."

"A rock concert?" blinked Amara. Well, they **_were_** suffering from cabin fever and depression from battling the Heartless was setting in…

"I'm game. Should be fun," Tabitha piped up automatically, already thinking of how much ruckus, fun and noise she'd be letting loose when they got to attend an event like this.

"I dunno…" admitted Rahne nervously, "I'd rather stay here in the Mansion with Mom so that I can have some time alone with her to talk, and plus, after narrowly losing her and seeing the kids we've been taking care of die before my very eyes, I'm not exactly in the mood to go have fun at a concert. I'd rather keep my Mom, Sean, and Theresa company, if you don't mind."

"They'd understand, Rahne, and to tell you the truth, the Misfits wouldn't be disappointed if a few of us stayed behind," Multiple piped up understandingly.

"Plus, you know how hard it is to get the Mansion to ourselves and to actually have peace and quiet? I'd rather spend time alone in my room rather than have my eardrums experience permanent damage and be jostled around a crowd of thousands who are probably going to start a lynch mob the minute we show our faces," Rogue snorted, leaning against the wall with her hands behind her head. Remy had a little lewd grin on his face as he leaned closer to the Southern belle and drawled with a seductive leer.

"Remy be sure to help keep you company during that lonely time. After all, while the cat's away, the mice shall play, eh, _mon cherie_?" the Cajun X-Man chuckled, but a wicked grin from Rogue stopped him short before she brought out her trump card.

"I'll be telling Mr. Logan that you and I will be stayin' home that night. He definitely make sure that I get my quiet time away from annoying rats who will be a command away from getting' neutered from my very own pet hound dog, if you get my drift, Cajun."

"Remy will be a good boy and stay in his room," whimpered Remy, gulping.

X23 also added her input with a brusque growl, "I do not like crowds or concerts. I shall stay too."

"I don't know, Rogue has a point. It'll be dangerous to go out, especially since we're infamous on a worldwide scale as mutants of the X-Men and the Misfits, and with the whole nation being anti-mutant and hostile because we're allies to the Slayers and the Justice League, we might leave ourselves vulnerable to an attack by a terrorist group like the Friends of Humanity, or worse yet, Organization Thirteen," Scott murmured uncomfortably.

"Actually, who's playing at this concert, Jamie?" Jubilee asked.

"I'm not sure. Daria, Quinn, and Brittany never told me that detail, but we'll find out later when we ask Althea after the meeting. All I know is that we'd be in the front row over at the Meadowlands Sports complex in New Jersey because that's where the contest is being held this weekend."

Jubilee's yes went as wide as saucers and shone like bright myriads of fireworks as she squealed, clasping her hands in front of her as she begged, "THE MEADOWLANDS SPORTS COMPLEX?!! Oooh, oooh, ooh, Scott, please say we can go!! **Please say we can go!!** Front row at the concert's too good to pass up, and we can't miss this one!!"

"If there was ever a reason why I hated screaming fan-girls, this would be it. I think she just blew out the decibel levels with her screaming," muttered Rogue under her breath.

"Jubilee, we need to plan on ways to defend ourselves and other innocent people from the Heartless. This is no time to be having fun in the middle of a war," Scott reprimanded gently.

"Please?! Pretty please?!! Pretty please with a sugar on top?!! And extra sprinkles?!! Please, please, please?!!"

"Do you have _any_ idea how annoying it is to hear that?"

"Why do you think I'm saying it? It's either let us go or endure that for the next few days, Scott."

"You fight way too dirty, Jubilee."

"Thank my Dad for that. Wolverine says use any advantage when you can."

Rina was studying Jubilee with serious and suspicious eyes until she pointed out bluntly, "Jubilee, you're hiding something. What **_exactly_** is at this sports complex?"

Jubilee irked, her face turning scarlet, as the others noticed this little blush of being caught of guard.

"Jubilee…" Jean said in an amused tone and with one hand on her hip, "Start talking."

The Chinese-American firecracker whined, saying irately, "Ergh…fine!! You know me too well, but…"

And with that, Jubilee looked a little devious and naughty as she twiddled her forefingers together and smiled.

"The concert that's being played in New Jersey in the Meadowlands Sports Complex is being held by the Superstars, the popular rock-band that's starting to be a big sensation. And if the Misfits were able to score special front row seats, then it's too good of an opportunity to miss out and see some pretty cool rock stars and rising musicians. After all this Heartless fiasco and stuff, we need a good time to relax and get over all this fighting and mellow out!"

"The Superstars…oh yeah! I remember them now! We met them over at Brown University when we were doing that box-lunch charity thing before the new building blew up and we got sent to KP duty! They were pretty nice too, not to mention they're pretty public about their support of mutant rights," admitted Roberto.

"Especially that Jenni Starr," Ray smiled to himself before he then said jovially, "And I'm with Jubes here! I'm already depressed enough with all this stealing hearts and destruction and blame against us and our friends by everyone for the Heartless even though we've been trying to fight them! Why not have some fun? I'm sick of being gloomy and hearing nothing but miserable news over and over again!"

A few of the students, the New Mutants especially (bar Rahne), nodded with some rising interest and enthusiasm. Scott frowned from behind his ruby-quartz glasses.

"We're not here to have fun, Ray. We have a mission, we have a duty, and we're in the middle of a war. This is no time to go off to a concert and have fun! We need to focus on trying to anticipate and plan for any future Heartless attacks!" Scott scolded, invoking a series of groans from everyone, including Jean.

The red-haired telekinetic sighed before she spoke in the students' defense, "Scott, we can't focus on the defense against the Heartless and the Hellfire Club all the time. It would do everyone a world of good to enjoy life and take a break. And we could all use it, especially after me being infected with the Heartless spore…"

"Dealing with the ever-so-increasing hate and hostility against us, the Misfits, the Joes, and all our friends because we're different…" continued Piotr in a tired drawl.

"Having to listen to sick and whacked accusations from the Friends of Humanity, Reverend Stryker, Lex Luthor, and H.A.T.E. on how dangerous we are and invoking tons of death mail and the weekly mob to protest outside our gates and in Bayville…" continued Forge, rolling his eyes at Scott.

"And being cooped up in here and doing nothing but going to class, studying, Badger's training and Danger Room sessions and playing whatever we have in stock here. Saw, it, did it, got the T-shirt and all that jazz. Whoop de doo," finished Tabitha in a bored tone, twirling a finger in a half-hearted sign of sarcastic boredom.

"You have to admit Scott that it is getting a bit unbearable. _Mein Gott!_ It actually says a lot when the only excitement we get is whenever we rush out during a Heartless invasion because that is certainly the only time we'll be able to go somewhere!! We're even starting to enjoy it when the Misfits show up, and that's not a light statement!" Kurt complained.

"Yeah, so let's go! There's nothing wrong with having fun! And the Misfits are going with Lina and Bobby, so it's not like we'll be alone!" Amara argued.

"Oh brother…" groaned Scott as the other students ganged up on him. Rina, as she was watching this, then leaned over as she took Rahne by the hand, feeling that the wolf-girl needed a little cheering up since she was starting to look glum again, her mind whirling a tornado of thoughts between the events of Muir Isle, the thoughts of the Gathering of Twilight, and how torn she was between keeping quiet about the Yellow Materia and telling the Misfits about that.

"Come with me. I can think of something that might be fun for you to do," Rina said simply, taking Rahne by the hand.

"Huh? Why?" the redheaded Scottish girl asked, blinking as Rina all but dragged her arm out of the socket as she was led out and through the door to Cerebro's room while the other students began pestering their leader.

"You seemed so down, and if you're not going to go to that concert, then I should show you a rather wonderful way to pass the time and have some fun while attending to your paternal figures and to your friend Siryn in the infirmary. I'm taking you to meet the hairball."

"'_Hairball_' who??" queried Rahne.

"Jake Clawson. You haven't had a chance to meet him yet due to the fact you came here yesterday, and he should be in the garage fixing up the Professor's limousine, so now's the perfect time to act."

"Isn't he the cat-person from another dimension who used to be a SWAT Kat?"

"Yes."

"And he's a cat?"

"Yes."

"And you're taking me to meet him even fully knowing I have an animal canine side that lives on chasing cats?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Like I said, it's fun. I do it all the time."

"Uh…aren't the adults going to get mad at us?"

Rina smirked with a very, _very_ wicked grin, showing her teeth, as she impishly said, "My father is the one who suggested this to me in the first place. And he specifically asked me to introduce you to the hairball personally…"

Sure enough, three minutes later, as Hank McCoy and Logan left the infirmary where all the adults and Joes were discussing a future trip to Russia, they heard a piercing yell from Jake as the brown-furred kat tore across the hallway, one pants leg of his mechanic overalls in tatters and his tail nearly getting chomped on as Rahne in wolf-form pursued after him, barking and snarling all the meanwhile. Apparently, with Rahne's wolf-mutation and internal animal instinct and Jake's strong scent, it was only obvious that this would happen.

"**AAAAAAAA!!!** Down, girl!! **_Down!!!_** Sit!! Stay!! Heel!! Play dead!! _Help!!_ Get this dog off of my tail!! OW!! Fur and paw, that hurts!!! Argh!! Ow!! _Why did **this** kitten have to be a dog?!!!_"

"Was that Jake?" Hank asked, blinking.

"Yep," grinned Wolverine shamelessly.

"Why is Rahne chasing him?"

"It's what dogs do."

"I wasn't joking, Logan."

"Neither was I, Hank. Remember when your mutation caused ya' to get all blue and furry and you lost control of your human consciousness gave in to your animal instincts until Spyke brought you back to your senses reading Shakespeare? Well, same thing with Rahne, and apparently she gets like that whenever she gets a whiff of cat-hair."

"And why was she so suddenly introduced to Jake?"

"Cause I told Rina to do so. And the hairball needed to be cut down a bit after my bike mysteriously developed an odor of rotten sardines that caused the strays to tail me whenever I drove through town."

"Shouldn't you be stopping them, Logan? Jake is your coworker, and it is expected of you to teach Rina and Rahne that this sort of behavior towards their teachers is rather unacceptable," Hank said with a stern glare, but then an explosion rang out upstairs from the east wing of the X-Mansion followed by the sounds of angered screaming, the stamping noises of the unmistakable feet pounding from a chase, and the cries of cackling glee from Bart as he and the Morlock children, Artie and Torpid, ran for their lives while the Morlocks, Sunder and Lucid pursued after them smelling like the very worst of sewage and covered with white flour from the traps the kids set.

Apparently, as bad as Torpid and Artie were with their pranks, it was nowhere as chaotic and messy when Bart joined in.

"Come back here, you little, hyperactive nutcases!!" Sunder roared, swearing vengeance, "Don't think I'll go easy on you this time!! When I get my mitts on you three, I'm locking you all in the nearest cupboard and throwing away the key!!"

"No more pixie sticks and sugar for you kids!! EVER!!!" Lucid added as they all barreled past the stoic and stony-faced Caliban who was watching this with arms crossed, leaning against the wall, and with one eyebrow raised.

"Caliban told you that staying with X-Men was a bad idea," the gray-skinned, lizard-like mutant said without much compunction.

"**_OH SHUT UP!!!_**" snapped back Lucid and Sunder.

"Ah, love to, Hank, but I think I'd better help save the kids from getting' comeuppance for their pranks. Too bad and tough luck, but guess I'll have the leave the hairball be under the company of Rina and the wolf-girl for a while longer," Wolverine smirked as he hurriedly left for the chaos. And from the tone of his voice, Beast could tell that Logan wasn't the least bit sorry…

As Jake was trying to buck off Rina as she firmly and effectively tackled the kat to the ground and sat on him, allowing the transformed Wolfsbane to discover the joys of using a cat-humanoid as a chew toy, he wondered if the universe was out to get him for bringing a student with a wolf-mutation back to the X-Mansion.

_Normally, I'd wonder what did I ever do to deserve this, but in this case, I know better_, Jake groaned to himself mentally as Rahne kept pulling at his tail with her teeth.

Meanwhile, the other students were trying to pester Scott into going to the Superstars concert. Jean then broke in strongly, saying, "Scott, you guys…let's just ask the Professor and the adults. I'm sure they can help determine whether or not we can accept the Misfits' offer to go to New Jersey."

"I don't see anything wrong with that," agreed Sam as he looked at his teammates.

Scott then had a very, very smug and knowing smile on his face as he then made a very generous and uncharacteristic offer, saying with self-satisfaction, "All right, fine. If the Professor and Wolverine say yes, then we can all go to the Superstars concert in New Jersey, and I promise to not complain once. But only if they both say yes, so I might as well disappoint you all, but there is absolutely no chance in hell that both the Professor and Logan are going to favor attending a silly rock concert by the Superstars as opposed to rigorous training in the Danger Room, planning for future Heartless attacks, and strengthening our tactics in the war for the Gathering."

---

"You were saying, oh high and mighty leader?" Jean asked with a self-righteous smile of her own over the din of screaming and cheering and yells of the rock music as they watched, front row and center, Paul Starr, Craig Starr, Jenni Starr, Lila Cheney, and Kyle Wildfire play the beginning songs of their four-hour concert, starting with a rather famous and familiar piece from the band, KISS.

"Oh be quiet," grumbled Scott, still seated in his seat while everyone else around him was on his or her feet and dancing and jumping, already losing themselves to the beat of the rhythm of guitars, acoustics, and drums and the flashing colors on the stage. Scott was actually crossing his arms over his chest and pouting in cheated disbelief that the Professor and Logan actually went along with this stupid idea. Jean giggled as she wiggled her finger while forcing her boyfriend by dragging him to his feet by the arm.

"Ah, ah, ah, remember…you promised as part of the bet you made that you wouldn't complain, gripe, or bemoan about wasting valuable time and having fun for once during the entirety of the concert."

"Don't remind me," sighed Scott as he stood along with the crowd, who were all dancing and swaying automatically to the beat and the tantalizing melody and harmony. Scott's mind was still reeling at how quickly the Professor and the other adults agreed to the X-Men attending the concert. But then again, like Jubilee and Jean had earlier protested, a little fun and relaxation would do everyone a world of good during these tense times. And the Joes said that they would act as chaperones for the event, so if there was any danger, the Joes would fight it and help the kids out in any way they could. Except for Beach Head, Rogue, Remy, Rahne, Rina, and the X-Elders, all the Joes and the X-Men teleported using the Mass Device into a secret passageway the Superstars used to enter towards the stage, and thankfully, they were all able to find their seats before the rest of the crowd.

Initially, everyone from the Joes, Misfits, and X-Men could feel the hate and discord at the sight of the infamous mutants in the very front rows of the entire complex, and though this was a gigantic building that could house thousands of people, it hardly seemed difficult for the men, women, and children to see the infamous mutants that have been plastered so many times in the news. Many gave the guests dirty looks, quite a few shouted oaths and curses and insults that could be heard all across the entire sports complex, but thankfully, this only continued for an hour or so before the concert actually started. Plus, as biased and disgusted everyone was with the appearance of the Misfits and the X-Men, no one seemed stupid or foolish enough to try anything violent. Plus, the superstars gave direct orders to the security of the vicinity to escort and kick out any troublemakers who would cause a scene.

And thankfully, when the music started, and the five members of the rock band came out, all feelings of hate, fear, suspicion, and hostility melted away bit by bit as they all screamed with joy and excitement as the first drumsticks began to click together, invoking a torrent of lights and musical numbers. Even the Joes could admit that this was fun, and everyone was starting to sway to the beat, jumping up and down and truly enjoying themselves. And no one cared if there were mutants in the vicinity, and all of them, human or mutant, were lost under the euphoria of hearing wonderful rock as they celebrated. Even Pluto, who was next to the Triplets, wagged his tail and bobbed his head back and froth happily while listening to the music.

Scott had to admit, this wasn't too bad of an idea (although he insisted all the X-Men bring their glovatrixes just in case). Everyone was having a wonderful time, and no one was in any clear danger yet as they enjoyed the show. Unfortunately for Bobby…

"Aurora, c'mon!! I want to get a closer look!!" a familiar voice was able to make itself discernable throughout the excited cheers and music.

"I'm coming! I'm just getting my camera!!" yelled a girl excitedly as she walked down the aisle with her older brother. And the sight of them made Bobby's heart actually stop for a second as he turned to see who they were, their eyes locking. Though they were a bit older, they were still fully recognizable to Bobby as the two youngsters stopped in their tracks at the sight of Bobby Drake in the front row.

It was Aurora and Ronald Drake, Bobby's younger brother and sister. Both of them with the same brown hair and blue eyes, but to Bobby's shock, Ronald was wearing a "Friends of Humanity" T-Shirt underneath his black windbreaker.

"Oh no…" Bobby quaked.

"**_YOU!!!_**" snarled Ronnie poisonously, his face contorted with malice. Aurora looked blank, holding a hand to her mouth, shocked and surprised but certainly not the least bit unreceptive.

"You know them?" Shipwreck asked as he and Lina turned at the commotion.

"It's…Ronnie and Aurora, my younger brother and sister…"

"We're no family of yours!! Your mutation ruined all our lives!! You left us out to suffer while you favored the X-Men over us!! You abandoned us, you liar!!!" Ronnie shouted.

"Mutation?? Ronnie, what are you talking about?! Dad said that Bobby ran away!!" Aurora cried, looking even more shocked and horrified. Bobby looked at Ronnie before he swallowed and answered honestly.

"I'm here with my friends. What are you doing here?" Bobby asked, but he should have known they would come here since they lived in New York and it was a short car drive to New Jersey from Bobby's old neighborhood.

"It's my birthday, you mutie scum." Cold, impersonal, and full of anger. This wasn't going to be easy.

"Oh. Uh…happy birthday," Bobby said at last, finding it difficult to believe that his younger brother was already fifteen (or was it sixteen?) years of age and wondering how time could have passed so quickly. Could things get any worse?

"Ronnie, what are you and your sister…?" broke in a deep and amiable voice as Robert Drake Senior, wearing slacks and a dress-shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, said as he emerged from the crowd only to stop dead at the petrified and glazed-eyed form of Bobby. Though taller with an aged and tanned face, a bit of a pouch, and with a square jaw, Lina definitely noted that there was an uncanny resemblance to Robert Drake Senior and Robert Drake Junior. Bobby felt his stomach drop.

**Now** things were worse. But…maybe his father would feel compassion and be somewhat polite and not cause a scene…

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!!" roared Mr. Drake, already turning red at the sight of Bobby who felt his skin crawl at the harsh words, instantly flashing back to that one fateful phone call when his father disowned him when he had enough. No such luck apparently.

"I…I…" Bobby faltered, but Aurora pulled on her father's arm, pleading.

"Daddy, what are you doing?!" she cried, "That's Bobby!! Don't you remember him?! That's Bobby, he's come back!!"

"You couldn't stay the hell away from us, could you?!! You had to show up with your freak friends to ruin Ronnie's birthday!! Get out of here or I'm calling security!!!" Mr. Drake roared.

"Please, Dad, I'm not here to start anything!" Bobby pleaded, starting to get the attention of the people around them and from Lila on stage who was watching this with worry.

"Get out!! We don't want you mutants around here!!" growled Mr. Drake as he reached over to grab Bobby so that he could throw him out of the sports complex himself, but then a large and burly form got in his path, and Mr. Drake came face to face with a livid and fuming Shipwreck.

"I'm warning you only once: **don't even lay a hand on him**," growled the sailor.

"Move, you son of a bitch! Butt out of this!! It's none of your business!!!" roared Mr. Drake as he moved to punch Shipwreck, but that proved to be a very big mistake as Shipwreck deftly caught Mr. Drake's fist and squeezed hard, not breaking his serious and angry frown, as he caused a few of Mr. Drake's fingers to squeal painfully under the pressure before he shoved him back roughly, sending the man on the floor.

"When you threaten someone under my watch, **that's** when it's my business," Hector growled, showing he wasn't going to be intimidated. But suddenly…

"What the hell?!" gasped Kyle as everyone on stage stopped playing as Demyx teleported in like a air-headed and arrogantly pompous idiot, strumming his blue sitar in his hands, dancing up and down to the beat while playing completely out of sync and out of rhythm for the Superstars.

"Move to the beat!!" cheered Demyx, lost in his euphoria and the desire to be front stage and center to the entire audience as he played his haunting and violent melody. The audience started screaming with fear as they all recognized the telltale hood and black cloak, especially with the way the soldier and servant of the Thirteenth Order just teleported out of thin air through a cloud of darkness.

"The Organization!!" the X-Men and Misfits gasped as Craig gripped his guitar while Jenni yelled in her microphone.

"EVERYONE, RUN TO THE NEAREST EXIT!! PLEASE RUN TO THE NEAREST EXIT!! RUN, THE HEARTLESS ARE ATTACKING!!! REPEAT, THE HEARTLESS ARE ATTACKING!! RUN TO THE EXITS OR ELSE YOU'LL DIE!!!"

That did it as the entire mass of spectators ran and stampeded for the nearest escape routes, trampling and running in a panic while a few wisely stayed in their seats to avoid getting lost in the crushing and shoving forces of the mad dash, numb with fear.

"Get off our stage, you phony!!!" Darkstar roared as he swung his electric guitar at Demyx's head, but Demyx's blocked it with his sitar, and with a wood-splintering crunch, Craig's guitar broke and cracked to pieces, the bits falling to the floor lifelessly as Craig was now left holding a broken guitar handle.

"Aw, crap, that was favorite guitar!!!" cursed Darkstar.

"Sheesh, everyone's a critic!" complained Demyx as he snapped his fingers, summoning four Hellfire Heartless and instantly, the four beats set themselves upon the frightened and uncontrollable crowd trying to flee with black lightning and their claws, snarling and growling madly.

"NO!!!" cried Jean and Cover Girl as hearts began to appear all over the auditorium, hundreds of them, as many people died, their bodies disintegrating from the Heartless' inhumane viciousness. Pietro acted a second alter.

"Aeroga Guardian Hurricane!!" he yelled, and with a flurry of silver winds, a good number of innocents were protected by bubbles of reflective air, shielding them from the Heartless' assaults.

But Demyx wasn't done yet as he strummed his sitar again, summoning an infinite amount of clones, each one humanoid and controlled by the Organization warrior to cause as much damage as possible.

"**_Dance, water, dance!!!_**" he commanded at the clones as they spread throughout the crowd in seconds.

"Give me strength!!" yelled the Misfits as they summoned their Keyblades with a spectrum of a rainbow of lights, deciding to forgo the initial discomfort of fighting in their civilian clothes.

"Dumbo!"

"Genie!"

"Simba!"

"Bambi!"

"Mushu!"

"Tinkerbell!"

"Help protect the crowd!!" they all roared, and with a fury, the Disney summons rushed out before helping everyone escape with a combination of their magic and physical skills. Dumbo even swooped down and grabbed the Superstars (all five of them clinging to his back, barely taking a fraction of a second to toss them into his back with his powerful trunk) off from the stage as Demyx's water clones ate away at the equipment and actually began to start a powerful and devastating electrical fire that set the entire arena ablaze, even licking the walls and ceiling.

"Whoa!! Totally stellar!! Thanks, Dumbo!" Paul cheered as Dumbo flew them to a safe distance on to an isolated part of the theater, depositing them off his back before the baby elephant took off again, flapping his ears while squirting water from his trunk to put out the flames. Lila immediately stooped down and picked up a handgun from the floor from one of the security guards who died when the Heartless struck him, stealing his heart.

"I'll help them out!!" Kurt yelled and with a puff of brimstone and smoke, Nightcrawler teleported towards various people who were pushing and crowding against the outlets and doors in their mad frenzy to escape. Grabbing two people at a time, the blue-furred X-Man was wonderfully using his teleportation to deliver people from the auditorium and into the parking lot over and over again, the entire chambers filled with the fleeting images of various wafts of brimstone as Kurt appeared and disappeared in a matter of seconds, taking people to safety.

"We'll help too!!" Sam yelled as he and Tabitha used their powers to create more holes in the walls nearby, allowing extra openings for people to run and escape, screaming as they fled into the parking lot and out of danger.

"Would this be a good time to say _I-told-you-so_?" Scott drawled with some sardonic self-righteousness (though to be fair, he had several good reasons to be very smug in this case) as he shot a powerful optic blast at the swarm of water clones and swept with a wide berth, taking out a good portion of the water doppelgangers with the energy of sunlight.

"Oh just shut up and fight!!" snapped back Roberto as he fired a bola missile from his glovatrix at one Heartless, and thankfully, he had been able to snare the Heartless' arm to the metal rafters above at the ceiling, trapping it and causing it to remain stuck. This allowed Xi and Wavedancer to act.

"Woodra Leafblight Revolution!"

"Aquara Water Dragon!"

"No!!" yelled Bobby as Ronnie got struck with a stray shaft of lightning and he died, screaming, as his body faded away to reveal a pink heart crystal. Bobby's father let loose a strangled howl of grief before he instantly whirled on Bobby.

"This is all your fault!!!" Mr. Drake howled as he rushed at Bobby with fists flying, but Bree stuck out her foot and tripped the livid man at the last second, causing him to crack his head on the floor in the landing and knocking himself unconscious at Bobby's feet.

"He fell," Bree said simply as she grabbed the sobbing and inconsolable Aurora as a Heartless advanced on them, but several bullets rang out as they zipped and tore through the air, striking the Heartless' eye and right side of its head. It was Lila Cheney, aiming each shot perfectly, and buying Iceman, Bree, and Aurora enough time to escape.

"Over here!!" Jenni called out as the three ran behind the protective cover of several seats while Genie above them summoned a mallet in his hands and slammed the Heartless in the back with it. Lila continued firing.

"How come you're a crack-shot?!" Bobby couldn't help but ask, blinking.

"I'm a member and supporter of the NRA!" Lila explained hurriedly as she aimed at fired directly into the other eye of the targeted Heartless with the handgun, but then she noticed the disturbed, bothered, and shocked faces of Bree, Bobby, his sister, and Jenni Starr (especially since Jenni felt Lila could have used a much more acceptable excuse than _that_ one to cover for her past as a space pirate).

"What?!! It's not that bad!" retorted Lila hotly, "It's a constitutional right to bear arms, and I'm pretty sure the NRA is a lot better than say the Church of Purity or the Friends of Humanity!!"

"I think **that** one I can agree with," Bree groaned.

Iceman looked at Aurora and placed his hands on her shoulders as he commanded gently, "It's too dangerous to run out now with the water clones and the Hellfire Heartless, so stay here under cover!! Nightcrawler can't hear me, and I don't have a teleportation watch like the other Joes do! The minute it's clear, run for the nearest exit! Do you understand? Stay here and hide until you can see that the path to the nearest exit is clear for you, all right?!!"

Aurora nodded, white in the face. Iceman turned into his ice form before he went to move, but Lila's words stopped him.

"Iceman, be careful," Lila whispered, troubled, apprehensive, and…concerned? Bobby smiled.

"I'll try," he promised before he rushed out towards battle.

Meanwhile, Jubilee and Ray then hit upon a marvelous idea as an indirect attack.

"Now!!!" yelled Bezerker as he and Jubilee blasted the ceiling with their mutant powers, a colorful and rather severe stream of electricity and plasma-fireworks and light combined together before it struck the wall and ceiling above one charging monster, and from the intense energy blast, the wall crumbled inwardly and collapsed on top of the Heartless, pinning it down and taking it by surprise.

"That won't hold it off for long! And we destroyed the complex because of it!!" gulped Ray, looking at the rubble that piled as a heap upon the Hellfire Heartless, with the rocks and metal beams quivering and shaking more and more as the abomination underneath it fought its way free. Thankfully, Blob stepped in at the last second.

"Gravira…Orbs of Force Crusher!" Fred yelled, but to his shock, as the multiple spheres of gravity descended upon the Heartless, it heavily damaged the monster but it didn't kill it.

"Yikes!! This thing's not going down!! It took all that and it's still fighting! We didn't do anything!" Blob gulped as the Heartless finally broke free from the blanket of concrete crushing it, triumphantly roaring.

Jubilee couldn't help but quip at the apparent gaping hole in the wall and upper portions of the ceiling, "At least on the bright side, the Meadowlands now has a stunning view of the parking lot."

"Simba, get that off-key jackass!!" commanded Avalanche, pointing at Demyx and with a roar, the tawny-furred and powerfully muscled lion leapt at Demyx, roaring, soaring over the water clones that attempted to stop him. But Demyx was hardly scared as he quickly sidestepped the Disney Summon, the lion landing hard on the ground next to the Organization member. But before Simba could act, the mullet-haired Nocturne gripped the top of his sitar and swung the heavy end like a gold club effortlessly.

WHAM!

Simba howled in pain as he was sent flying towards the wall before he hit it was a sickening crunch, forming a deep impression and crater in the plaster and concrete before he slid lifelessly to the floor, unconscious and bleeding.

"Wow, guess my music had a bigger impact on your pet that I thought," chuckled the male warrior from Organization Thirteen as Avalanche instantly moved to his spell without warning.

"Gaia Earthquake Force Rush!" and automatically, a fault-line formed in the ground, cracking and moving with insane speeds towards Demyx, invoking a series of explosions from the earth in its wake and the tremor sped towards the enemy. But Demyx then strummed his musical instrument, the string quivering with even more ferocious magic as a gigantic wall of water erupted from the ground and struck the attack of the Gaia magic, invoking a powerful explosion as the two spells hit each other.

KAWHOOM!

Lance was initially blinded from the intensity of the backlash of magical energy conflicting and neutralizing each other before a powerful orb of water, about the size of a beach ball, flew in the air like a bird before it struck Avalanche in the middle of his torso and sent him flying a few feet before crashing against the wall.

"Whoa!! What gives?! This guy is throwing his water attacks everywhere, not just clones!!" Daria shouted as she dove for cover while Demyx was sending powerful geysers and missiles of clear liquid all over the building, scattering everyone and sending a few of their friends flying as they were brutally shoved and pushed around.

"I thought he was the **incompetent** one!!" Quinn yelped as she somersaulted out of the way of a powerful geyser.

"Apparently, he's a good actor!! These things are strong!! He's no weakling!!!" gasped Brittany as she used her Trichrona Keyblade to block a jet of water from hitting her, but realizing that the force of the attack nearly sent her flying regardless.

"Hey, chill out!" roared Iceman as he tried to encase Demyx in a column of ice, but Demyx blocked it with his sitar and with a few plunks of his strings from his weapon, Iceman was lifted off his feet vigorously as a geyser of water enveloped him and trapped the X-Man in a column of water.

"And you need some new puns. Hope you can hold your breath, you little - !"

Stopping abruptly, Demyx sensed something approaching and with a sharp strafe to the left, he sidestepped and brought out his sitar to block Craig's attempt to painfully bash in the soldier's skull with his nightstick. And Craig wasn't the only Superstar deciding to go for a direct blitz…

"**_Banzai!!!_**" yelled Jenni as she, Craig, Lila, Kyle, and Paul rushed in with a five-pronged attack, fists and kicks flying, and the Organization member found himself in a bit of a bind as the five teenagers of the band surprisingly complemented each other as they struck over and over, trying to close in and not give Demyx any breathing room. If he avoided Craig's nightstick, Paul rushed in with a shoulder-tackle, trying to knock him down and causing Demyx to dodge, but this brought him in front of Lila who let loose a powerful flying kick at his head. Demyx brought forth his sitar and blocked the girl's heel from hitting his face, dead-center, but then Jenni moved in with a flying hook followed by her right elbow, jabbing at her opponent's sternum. Demyx furiously backpedaled but before he could club Jenni with his instrument, Kyle acrobatically jumped over Jenni's head and tried to do a flying sweep kick to trip Demyx, and if he dodged that, Paul and Craig tried to blitz him.

In short, the five Superstars weren't giving Demyx much of a chance to single them out.

"Geez, how in the name of darkness are you pests able to keep up like this?!" Demyx griped as he narrowly avoided Craig's foot to his gut.

"We watch a lot of wrestling and Bruce Lee movies," commented Paul offhandedly with some sarcasm as he rushed in with a flying jab.

Inside, Bobby was trying to freeze the water column he was in, but unfortunately, true to past events, if ice had little effect of Demyx's magic before, then Bobby's thermokinesis and cryokinesis wouldn't be enough to free him. The water shimmered as it froze, only to revert instantly back into flowing, coursing clear liquid, and Iceman was still trapped, flailing and trying to hold his breath as his lungs burned. Iceman kicked, moved in every direction, trying to go with the current to find a suitable weak point to break his head to the surface as numerous training sessions with the X-Men had taught him. Unfortunately, even as he was fighting the Superstars, Demyx's magic still imprisoned him, making sure to hold him until he drowned.

Bobby then felt his heart drop as, even with the burning pain of seeing while submerged in water stinging his corneas, he could see Aurora trying to make from the burning stage towards the nearest exit, intent on following Bobby's orders to run to safety when Demyx sent all the Superstars attacking him flying backward with a powerful geyser of water.

"Oof!" yelled Jenni and Paul as they crashed against the wall. Then the cloaked musician turned his attention behind him.

Iceman begged, the closest thing to a prayer he could ever make in his situation, _Pluto, please…_

There was no answer as Demyx then noticed the one lone girl that somehow managed to escape as he grinned wickedly as he pointed at Aurora, commanding sternly.

"Get her heart!" Instantly, one of the Hellfire monsters snarled and roared in a deranged manner as it advanced with amazing speed towards Iceman's sister, cutting off her escape. Aurora screamed with fright, crying and whimpering as the Heartless stretched out an arm.

Iceman screamed mentally, _Pluto, please, don't let Aurora die!!_

It was is if it was in slow motion as his younger sister, petrified and too scared to move, as the black-skinned creature began to summon a shaft of black lightning, each horrifying moment happening and developing bit by bit. Shipwreck and Roadblock tried to charge, guns blazing.

"Get the hell away from her and fight us instead, you landlubber!!!" roared the Joe sailor, emptying his entire clips from his dual Desert Eagle pistols in a matter of seconds, each bullet striking the opponent's head.

"Picking on a kid?! You really must have flipped your lid!!" Roadblock versed as he continued firing from his machine gun into the Heartless' chest, but with a roar, the Heartless sent the two men flying with the summoned shaft of lightning, losing its concentration on Aurora for the moment as it focused on Shipwreck and Roadblock instead. But thankfully, since Althea and Fred had sealed both of the hearts before during their infection ,they were heavily burnt but still alive.

_Pluto, give me magic please! Let me use it to save Aurora!_

The Heartless then advanced again towards Iceman's sister, nothing standing between it and its prey. Aurora was just as good as dead.

Iceman then actually screamed, losing whatever precious air in his lungs in a rush of bubbles as he bellowed with his final strength, "**_Pluto, please, don't let her die!! PLEASE!!!_**"

Pluto, hiding behind the very back row of seats of the auditorium, heard this and smiled a bit as his eyes began to glow to a light blue, the color of the sky and of the Blizzaga Kingdom, just as Dragonfly was about to freeze two of the Hellfire Heartless, raising her hands and prepared to summon her ice violin.

"Blizzaga…Arctic Requiem!!" but to the Misfit's surprise, nothing happened. Her magic was gone! But then that meant…

Iceman suddenly felt the magic channel through his body before the symbol of Blizzaga appeared on his forehead, and indeed, it was powerful enough that the light completely evaporated the water column that was trapping the X-Teen, leaving him on the floor, waterlogged and gasping for air, choking and sputtering. Demyx was stunned as he could sense the air building all around bobby.

"**_GET AWAY FROM HER!!!_**" Iceman roared, his anger and impulsive behavior getting the better of him as the symbol of magic glowed even brighter on his forehead, finally tapping that unhidden and terrific potential as he then said the first words that came to his mind, raising both arms over his head.

"BLIZZAGA…!!" Iceman roared as he rose to his feet, and to Demyx's surprise, and column of arctic winds erupted and ascended as a pillar of snow and crystals all around the X-Man, swirling before noticeable sparks and glittering ice crystals could be barely noticed, gleaming under the stage lights.

"As if!!" snorted Demyx as he strummed the strings of his sitar, invoking several gigantic spheres of water to appear before hurling themselves at the X-Man with the same force as a speeding automobile, but to the Organization member's shock, the water blasts just struck the column of ice around the teenager before being neutralized and fading into the ice.

Apparently, Demyx had forgotten that if Wavedancer and Dragonfly's water and ice magic had little effect on him, then by the same token, his water attacks wouldn't be able to hurt Iceman, especially since he apparently was harnessing ice magic of his own as the ice crystal swirling around him became bigger and larger, each forming an intricate snowflake patter and all of them glowing in a telltale sky-blue light.

"SNOWFLAKE CHAIN…" Iceman continued, and upon his incantation, the ice crystals immediately flashed in unison before forming a single file line, a snake of light-blue, opaque ice that was surrounding Bobby and following his will. Each snowflake was now gigantic, about the size of his fist, but beautifully and delicately designed, each ice pattern separated by several inches of beaded snow. And Bobby felt as if the whole flail was an extension of his body as he grabbed it with both hands and swung wildly, desperate to save his friends and his sister.

"SMASH!!!" he roared as he violently moved his hands back and forth, trying to invoke the whip to hit all the water clones, but to his surprise, the chain was very, very effective as it fluidly moved in ways not possible for a normal object. With a swift crack, the chain radiated in light-blue light before whipping itself at all the water clones and the Heartless in the stadium. All the mindless soldiers of Demyx weren't greatly affected as the chain struck them in half, but for the four Hellfire Heartless, it was a different matter entirely.

The four monsters did their best to dodge the chain of ice, but it was impossible. The string of snowflakes zipped and streaked across the sky and homed in on their movement, like a guidance beacon. And regardless of how fast the experiments moved, the chain was a lot faster as it plunged into their chests and gorged its way through their bodies until all four of the Heartless were severely punctured by the stream of snowflakes before it ripped each and every one of them in half with a gigantic luster of ice and blue light, and caused them to die, howling as they collapsed into nothing more than black smoke.

"Whoa…" blinked Iceman as the chain, now having its full effect spent, flickered and vanished. Iceman was right to be stunned; his magic was a very powerful spell…and it was the same Elementa Kingdom as Lina's. Demyx was absolutely apoplectic and cold fire as he summoned his sitar again.

"That's it, you little snot!! Dance, water, da-!!!" but before anyone could act, a violent and powerful surge of electricity, yellow and intense enough to cause everyone's hair all around the battlefield to stand on end from the static electricity. Demyx howled as the energy snaked and crackled through his clones and through him, as water was an excellent conductor for electricity. With a united and piercing shriek, the clones died, evaporating from the heat as Demyx fell to one knee, singed and smoking from his painful and extreme electrocution.

"Toad, good job!" marveled Bree, but Toad shook his head in confusion, his yellow eyes wide and surprised.

"It wasn't me, yo!!" the frog-teen protested, and confused, Xi and Quicksilver turned to Storm and Bezerker.

"Did you two do that?" Xi asked, but Ororo and Ray shook their heads helplessly.

"It wasn't us!! We have no idea where that strange electricity came from!!" Storm gasped. Jenni, Lila, Paul, and Craig then surreptitiously turned to an unabashed and rather discreet Kyle who was doing his best to whistle innocently (not that they were buying it).

"You didn't…" groaned Paul through clenched teeth.

"Those jabronis won't find out!" Kyle whispered murderously with his own glower.

"We were supposed to keep a low profile about the whole thing, remember?" Jenni scolded, annoyed. Trinity, in the meanwhile, took advantage of the situation as they raised their glowing hands at the weakened Demyx.

"Stopra Time Freeze!!" and with a flash of pink light and time magic, Demyx was frozen into place, completely vulnerable. Iceman took the advantage to create an ice-slide with his powers, a bit lightheaded at their good fortune, and with it, he slid towards Aurora and snatched her out of danger's way, making the field clear for Wavedancer.

"I got you," whispered Iceman to his sister.

"Bobby! You saved me, you saved me!" cried Aurora joyously as Bobby carried her away in his arms.

"Now, Al!!" Toad yelled encouragingly as Wavedancer then took out her white scepter, her heart beating so rapidly, each "lub-dub" rhythm was indistinguishable, her chest tight with apprehension. She couldn't believe it was going to happen.

They were going to kill a member of the Organization Thirteen, one of the most powerful villains they've encountered yet. And though there was that small nagging feeling inside her as it always was for every kill, Althea knew it had to be done. This group and the Heartless screwed with them long enough, and if she didn't kill him now, it would only allow him a chance to steal more and more hearts.

"You've messed around with us enough, dickwad!!" Wavedancer growled as she smoothly got on one knee and willed every single bit of willpower she could through the white instrument, telling it mentally to use every iota of magical power available to blast the cowardly bastard past Kingdom Come.

"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!!!" yelled Wavedancer as the crowd held its breath while Demyx screamed as the ten colorful symbols of the Elementa Kingdoms followed by the white sigils of the crown, the Heartless, and the Nobody summoned the pillar of holy, white light to consume Demyx…

"No wayyyyyyy…!!!" screamed the musician of the Thirteenth Order as there was a horrendous and deafening flash of exploding light that nearly blinded everyone consumed the Meadowlands Sports Complex…

"Whoa…this is gonna be painful!" Kyle couldn't help but be amazed as he looked on with curiosity of seeing the bastard get the shaft.

KAAA-WHOOOOOOM!!!

"Oh like totally wow!" gasped Kitty. Tabitha was grinning from ear to ear.

"Wavedancer, you totally wasted that Organization creep!!" she cheered, but then Paul Starr's brown eyes widened as he pointed at the fading light pillar and the translucent cloud of dust from the blast.

"Uh…not exactly, dudes and dudettes…" Starchild gulped as they all saw the reason for concern.

There, in the slight impression of the charred ground, in the middle of the crater, panting and singed but still alive and holding a now slightly damaged crystal-blue sitar, was Demyx.

Demyx didn't die. Even after Althea used her scepter on him. He was immune to it.

"Well I'll be damned!!" cursed Roadblock with wide eyes before adding a rhyme, "That clown won't go down!!"

"Al, yo!! Your scepter thingie doesn't work on him!!" Toad exclaimed, his yellow eyes with shock as he protectively got in front of his fiancée and brought his orange and green Amphibionian Keyblade out in front for defense.

"Nice…try…witch," panted Demyx, destabilized and weakened but still perfectly coherent and standing shakily on his own tow feet, leaning heavily against his sitar heavily as a crutch. Oh, the Superior would be interested in learning this important limitation of the staff of Wavedancer…

"Let's see if you're immune to Keyblades as well, asshole!" Avalanche yelled as he charged forward on Simba's back, his Steel Quartx ready while Blob charged alongside his friend, swinging his purple Heavyweight.

"Ars Arcanum!" Blob yelled, glowing with a faint luster of light as he flew and dashed towards the cloaked musician, but with a growl and a wave of his hand, Demyx teleported away at the last second, leaving the two Misfits to strike nothing but empty air in a ruined and war-torn Meadowlands Sports complex, devoid of people and a good portion of chairs, with rubble, waterlogged cracks and holes, and charred electronics along with a small fire or two.

"He got away! That creep escaped, that lucky, rotten little – ergh! I'm **really** beginning to hate the Organization and this whole Hellfire Heartless mess!" growled Lila, still holding the handgun.

Kyle looked around the area before he shrugged, unconcerned.

"The Thunderbolt thinks that at least our concert was a huge smash at least…literally," the teenager quipped, earning him some hard and exasperated looks from the X-Men, Misfits, and especially the Joes and the other teammates of the Superstars.

"Kyle, not now," muttered Craig, scowling.

Meanwhile, up above…

"None of the hearts were Talismans, Falco," Octavia said softly. Falco banged his fist against the ceiling in frustration.

"Damn…let's go. We're done here."

With that, the Tigershark and Conerian pilot vanished.

Indeed, after the battle, things didn't turn any more pleasant as it took merely a half-hour later after the attack with the Hellfire Heartless and the Thirteenth Order before the entire sports complex was invaded with reporters from all over the nation, if not all over the world, eager to get eyewitness testimonies and exclusive interviews with the mutant teams and Joes, shouting questions and hoping for a few words of comments while the additional Joes sent to New Jersey as crowd control kept them at bay. Professor Xavier and the other adult X-Men (bar Hank and Jake in order to watch the Mansion) rushed immediately to the Meadowlands complex, and though they were pained to see so many of the audience dead, they were relieved that none of the X-Men and Misfits and Joes perished at least.

"Are the allegations that the Misfits and X-Men are helping the Heartless and Organization Thirteen in any way true?!" yelled over reporter as he was being held back by the Joes Ripcord and Tunnel Rat.

Another female reporter, not surprisingly the annoying Angela Chen from Metropolis, then shouted, "Was this an attempt to assassinate the Superstars due to their pro-mutants stance? Are the Joes and mutant freedom fighters investigating a possible conspiracy by the Thirteenth Order to weaken the X-Men and Misfits credibility?!!"

"Will Professor Xavier be able to afford the class-action lawsuits brought on by the families of the victims for this entire failed debacle?!"

"Does G.I. Joe know why the Organization is stealing hearts?! And what of this mysterious magical forces that the Misfits always seem to have that only damage the Heartless?! And is there any truth to the eyewitness testimonies of Disney characters fighting the Hellfire Heartless?!"

"NO COMMENT!!!" roared Lieutenant Falcon, red in the face, as he and the other Joes kept the reporters at bay, forming a very effective barricade alongside with the law enforcement officers of the state. The Misfits and X-Men watched this with some concern and unease while Bobby was talking with Aurora, doing his best to comfort her and tell her the truth about his mutation and how he joined the X-Men.

"I promise I'll try to get Ronnie back, Aurora. I promise," Bobby whispered.

"I know you will. And Bobby…no matter what Daddy says, I don't hate you. I never will," Aurora said with a shaky smile as she hugged Iceman around his neck, not caring he was still in ice form and how it was like hugging a snowman.

"**Now** I wish we didn't go to this stupid concert," groaned Jubilee as she looked at Avalanche, Starchild, and Scarlet Witch, "I'm sorry, you guys. This just turned out so badly, and not only are people getting wise about the fact that the Misfits have magic and Keyblades, but we also couldn't stop this whole night from being a disaster. The Superstars are going to get some bad publicity because of this."

"What I find weird is that this time, for once, the Organization didn't try infecting anyone with those Hellfire spores of theirs. What exactly are they up to?" Lance murmured, frowning.

Starchild sighed, knowing that this was true and troublesome to say the least, but he managed to say through the glum expression, "Nah, it could have been worse. And the fact that you guys in the X-Men and Misfits were able to lessen the damage and save people from getting killed by the Heartless is worth it. So we've taken a beating and we lost some fans and are getting included in the lawsuit. Hey, if we lost fans because of this and for standing up for mutant rights, then those are people we don't want to listen to us in the first place."

"GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER, YOU FILTHY MUTANT!!!" roared a familiar voice as Robert Drake Senior marched forward with his silently crying wife, Madeline Drake who rushed here immediately once she learned of the Heartless attack. Bobby blinked as his former and estranged father violently shoved him away while Aurora tried her best to explain to her grieving parents.

"Daddy, stop!!" she cried, "It wasn't his fault!! He saved me!! Bobby protected me from the Heartless!!"

"Oh no…" Wanda grimaced, knowing this wasn't going to end well.

"Case in point…" muttered Paul under his breath as he indicated to Mr. Drake as Iceman suddenly felt himself shrinking into feeling only inches tall, fearful and full of unwarranted shame. Even to this day, his family was a chink in his armor and drained away a good portion of his courage.

"Dad -" began Bobby, trying to lessen the anger, but the older patron tore into the teenager mercilessly while a subdued and quiet Mrs. Drake held on to Aurora in the background, nonjudgmental but not doing anything to stop her husband either.

"It's always because of you, isn't it?!" Mr. Drake spat, flecks of saliva hitting Iceman's face, "This is why we needed to change our names and distance ourselves from you, you miserable little delinquent!! We always suffer because of you and your freak friends!! Ronnie died because of you!! You always do this to us!! Because of the trouble you bring, Ronnie's _DEAD_ because of you and your school!!! I'll sue your Professor until he has nothing left!!"

"Considering Bobby saved your daughter and how you sold him out to make that Lifetime movie, you're actually the main cause of trouble if you ask me!" snapped Tabitha to Bobby's defense.

"Butt out, you little bitch!"

Tabitha turned absolutely murderous as it took the efforts of Amara, Sam, and Pietro (of all people) to hold her back as Bobby tried to explain the situation.

"He's not dead," Bobby tried to explain, "We can still get his heart back at the Gathering -"

But Robert Drake Sr. was having none of it as he turned quite beastly, roaring at Iceman, "You were always selfish, and this proves it!! You just as good as killed your brother, you – you…!! You turned your back on your family, your mutation ruined our lives, broke us apart, and now thanks to your association with the X-Men and those other freaks, you brought the Heartless upon us!! God damn you!! **_I WISH YOU WERE NEVER BORN, YOU LITTLE ACCIDENT!!!_**"

There was a sharp intake of breath from the collective crowd as Mr. Drake's words rang out throughout the relatively empty stadium, and Kyle marched forward menacingly with fists balled, but thankfully, Craig and Paul Starr were able to halt him with two arms blocking his way and frowns from both of the twins. Kyle glared back before he gave in, cursing under his breath. Which was actually the better behavior compared to the Joe, Spirit, who had to be physically restrained by Roadblock and Low Light who grabbed on to his arms from beating the bigot to a bloody pulp. Lila, with a menacing look, was rolling up her sleeves as if she was preparing herself for something unpleasant and brutal. All other eyes were on Iceman whose eyes glazed, and he was visibly trembling from head to toe before he tried to voice a coherent sentence through his now dry throat.

"I…I…" Bobby faltered before he couldn't finish, and trying his best to be proud enough to not cry and have whatever shred of dignity he had left, Bobby turned stiffly and walked away from his father who was all the meanwhile screaming at his disowned son's back.

"**_YOU'RE A DISGRACE, A PLAGUE ON YOUR OWN FAMILY!!! YOU JEALOUS, SELFISH SLIME!!! YOU KILLED HIM, YOU KILLED MY SON!!! MY ONLY SON!!! I HOPE YOU GET WHAT'S COMING TO YOU, MUTANT!!! THE HEARTLESS SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU INSTEAD ON RONALD!!!_**"

"Professor…I want to go home. Please," Bobby whispered, his voice shaking and doing his best to not break down and collapse on his knees. The Professor, white in the face, nodded, sensing his students' thoughts. Avalanche, now feeling very sorry for Iceman and admirably now realizing that Bobby's exposing his abusive past paled in comparison to what Bobby was going through right now, went up to Bobby along with Dragonfly.

"We'll take you back," Dragonfly said softly, her chin quivering too, and Iceman nodded numbly his thanks as Avalanche draped his arm over Bobby's shoulders and led him and Dragonfly over to an abandoned hallway away from prying eyes before he used the Mass Device teleporter watch to transport all four of them back to the X-Mansion.

Meanwhile, Lila and Jenni from the band were absolutely furious as they both abandoned all resolve, despite Paul trying to hint to them to not cause an additional scene. Both the blond and the raven-haired girl were tearing into Mr. Drake, yelling in his face.

"What kind of a father are you?!" demanded Jenni, "Iceman saved your daughter, and **this** is how you repay him?!!"

"You are such a slimeball!! And there's no way that lawsuit threat of yours against the X-Men and Misfits is going to hold up since **we'll** be providing testimony to the police that the X-Men and Misfits protected the crowd from the Hellfire Heartless!" Lila snarled.

"Don't start with me, you groupie tramps!" roared Mr. Drake, "I'm suing you along with the X-Men and the Misfits as well!! Your goddamned mutant-rights and support for those freaks brought the Heartless upon your concert of trash-music!! When I have the courts get through with you, you won't even be allowed to play at children's birthday parties!!"

"Empty threat, jabroni!" Kyle growled before Craig had to grab the younger boy from doing something he would regret as he charged at the man, struggling against Craig and protesting, "Let me go, man!! The Thunderbolt's going to give this jerk the beating he's been askin' for, WWF style!!"

"Not only am I suing you Superstars a million for causing my son's death…!!" bellowed the red-faced and grieving Mr. Drake at the two girls.

"The Heartless were responsible for that, you dick!" growled Low Light.

The heavy-set man just ignored the Joe sniper as he continued, "Another five-hundred thousand for endangering me and my precious daughter!!"

"Who was saved by Bobby in the first place, yo!!" Toad barked.

"…and finally because of you sluts and your band, I got hit three times, and each punch or kick will cost you two-thousand in medical bills!! So I'm adding an additional six thousand to that lawsuit!!" finished the bigoted patriarch.

Both Jenni and Lila's eyes twitched ever so slightly, and Paul and Craig knew what was coming (but they weren't foolish enough to try to stop them since they didn't want to get in the middle of it). Paul slightly winced as Craig remained stoic and crossed his arms over his chest (Kyle wished he had a bag of popcorn to enjoy the show) before Jenni smiled sweetly, showing all of her teeth and speaking in a honeyed voice that did little to hide the danger underneath it.

"You can add an additional ten-thousand dollars to that lawsuit total, Mr. Drake," Jenni said as a good portion of the crowd edged away nervously. Mr. Drake looked startled before he covered himself hastily with a frown and coughed.

"All right, fine, the lawsuit total is now _one point five one six_ million dollars against the Superstars. But why?"

Mr. Drake got his answer as Lila grabbed the collar of the taller man's shirt and rammed her knee into his stomach. Mr. Drake was left winded, breathless and bowled over, before Jenni made a fist and did a fabulous right cross against the man's left cheek, causing his head to crack back a bit. Then both she coldly rammed her foot into Mr. Drake's midsection again, increasing the initial pain there by more than three-fold. Lila then gracefully finished it with a terrific uppercut to Mr. Drake's sternum before Lila then flung Mr. Drake into the aisles of chairs with a wince-worthy wrestling throw which would later be recognized as a modified chokeslam throw (courtesy of Jake Wildfire teaching Lila some wrestling tactics).

All done with exactly five punches or kicks. Exactly ten-thousand dollars worth.

"Hmph, hackneyed and definitely not perfect, but that throw could pass as an average move in any ring," mused Kyle at the chokeslam move nonchalantly.

"**That's** why…" muttered Lila in contempt at the unconscious man now sprawled over the chairs in a bent position, tending to by his hysterical wife and two paramedics, as she and Jenni walked away. The news reporters catching this on film immediately jumped on the story like savage hyenas, predictably and irritatingly enough.

"_Female members of the Superstars attack grieving father!! Details at eleven, here on Twenty Questions!!_" yelled the reporter, Hector Ramiriez, the same newscaster who had heckled the Joes before in the past.

"_Grieving father threatens lawsuit and receives beating for his troubles? Is this the typical behavior of the supporters of the X-Men and Misfits?_" speculated another reporter from Fox News.

Angela Chen also banked on the sensation of the event as she turned back to the cameraman who was filming live for Metropolis Edition 3 News, saying with a cat-like smile, "_The Superstars face imminent lawsuit and indeed are only adding to their troubles as they attack a ranting father who blames them and their associations with the mutant teams for the death of his son to the Heartless. Could this be only the beginning of a pattern for future associations of the X-Men and Misfits? Could the Organization be attacking all ties to any mutant whatsoever?_"

"Girls, was that - ?" began Paul with an irritated sigh, but this tired lecture was cut irately off by Jenni as she snapped back.

"Don't start. It was worth the ten-thousand dollars, and he was going to sue us anyway."

"You have to admit that he was sort of asking for it, really, Paul," Craig admitted to his twin brother.

---

That night, Dragonfly saw Iceman, right where she discovered him last time when she talked with him about his family and how she offered him the invitation to come to the Superstars concert. Now it seemed like an incredibly stupid and foolish idea, especially after the blow-out with his family over Ronnie's death to the Hellfire experiments. Now, Bobby was sitting on the wet grass, a bit too close to the cliffs over-cropping the beach and shore below to her liking, holding his knees to his chest and in a slight fetal position, his shoulders drooped in gloom and pain. He politely requested to the Professor and the other X-Men to let him have some time to himself again, to collect his thoughts, and though uncertain, his family respected that request for solitude.

Dragonfly was wary if she should even approach the teen, arguing and debating with herself until Bobby broke into her thoughts with a question.

"I guess now I know I can't go back for sure."

"No…I don't think so. It doesn't look like it," Dragonfly admitted as she decided to stay and slowly and methodically sat on the wet grass next to Bobby, her heart pained as it uncomfortably reminded her of her own abandonment with her parents, keeping a mind to be aware of the possibility that Bobby might be tragically suicidal and throw himself off the cliffs. Thankfully, though, it didn't happen.

Bobby was shaking as he hoarsely said, his body quaking, "It was probably the better, though. Like you said before, I can't pine and hope on something that's not going to happen. It was harsh, but it's better for me in the long run."

Lina remained silent as she saw Iceman's eyes were starting to glisten under the moonlight, as he continued on with some desperation at any optimism and hopefulness, his voice threatening to break, "And at least I have family and friends who stood up for me when it counted. Even Lance was nice to me, even after everything I did to him that resulted in that blowout. And at least Aurora still loves me! I could see it! She thanked me for protecting her and Pluto gave me the magic to save her! That's something, isn't it?"

Lina nodded, still remaining silent. What could she say, really?

"And I wasn't lying when I wanted to tell my Mom and Dad that I wanted to get Ronnie's heart back at the Gathering. I really meant it, even if he did hate me and is a supporter of the FOH. I really, really did want to get his heart back, even if they didn't love me anymore."

Lina then finally spoke her encouragement in a gentle voice, rose petals landing on a puddle of water.

"Let it out, Bobby. Crying just shows you're human."

And Bobby did, hunching to his knees and hugging them as he sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. Lina, feeling her own eyes prick, edged closer to Iceman and placed a hand on his shoulder, as a friend. And they just sat like that until Bobby managed to sniff, his entire face and nose wet as he choked, "It doesn't go away, does it?"

"No…but it gets better," Dragonfly said at last.

Bobby nodded, feeling he could accept that.

---

The Melodious Nocturne of the Thirteenth Order stepped through the portal, drained, exhausted, and truly unsettled with his tattered cloak and his blue sitar now wielding some noticeable cracks amid the polished sheen of his beloved guitar-like weapon.

"Ow…three hundred and ten hearts taken from the concert of the Superstars, my Lord and Superior…ow, but the X-Men and Misfits really know how to fight…**_ow_**," Demyx whined as he all but stumbled into the chambers of the Hellfire Club's underground sanctums below the Black Friar's Club. The Superior and his allies however were more interested in the recent discoveries from this portion of the Harvest rather than generating unnecessary sympathy.

"I must congratulate you on finally showing a welcome boon through your rare feat of competence, Demyx. You revealed an important limitation to that blasted staff of Wavedancer's," the number one member of the Thirteenth Order said as he finished viewing upon the playback image Selene summoned with her magic.

"Well whaddya know, that brat's little toy has no effect on us, so in that sense, it probably means jack-squat against the Nobody. It's even weaker than a Keyblade, so we have absolutely nothing to worry about should we ever have one-on-one with that female Misfit," Xigbar chuckled, rubbing his scarred chin.

"'**_No effect_**'?!! I don't care if the stupid thing is weaker than a Keyblade!! It still hurt!!!" Demyx whined again, but everyone conveniently ignored the protest as Selene then brought up another image of Kyle Wildfire using his one precious but damning moment to electrocute the water clones and Demyx was well with his electricity-manipulation powers, his eyes glowing yellow and his face contorted with a snarl.

"So that is where Kyle Wildfire was hiding…" drawled Emma Frost, a cat-like and celebratory smirk on her smooth and rosy-cheeked face. She had apparently not forgotten the travesty he and his brother, Kyle, had brought to the Hellfire Club and the Hellions…

"To be fair, though Eddington told us that Jake and Kyle Wildfire were over at one of the military bases of the West Coast, it had been difficult to locate them since the information is classified. Whithalf and Hawk were surprisingly adept in hiding the information from him, even with his Epsilon Juggler status. And we've had more pressing matters as of late than to locate those two troublemakers," muttered Selene.

Lord Imperial chuckled to himself as he said with biting disdain, "Eddington is hardly concerned. The power and role he plays at the Gathering will grant him supremacy and rule beyond any mere Juggler. Even Luthor knows how much he would have to potentially surrender in order to be elected a figurehead of the United States."

"Still, this will be interesting. All we need to do is wait for the right time. That young fool so foolishly gave away his position and current whereabouts. It shall be his and his brother's death warrant along with the other mutants who have housed with them," Marluxia intoned with amusement.

"They will be dealt with soon enough, then. I shall send Pierce and Leland to handle this little errant of ours. After all, the Inner Circle has a bit of a past score to settle with the Thunderbolt and the Red Dragon. They shall pay soon enough," Sebastian Shaw said coldly, and the looks on the faces of the aforementioned Black and White Bishops were in full agreement. They would handle this for now…

"Excellent," the Superior nodded before he turned to Saïx and commanded, "By now, the good Professor Hamilton should have already developed several more ready spores to use out of the entire surplus we have at our disposal. Take one of the specimens, and head out towards Russia to not only give the heroes trouble while attempting to salvage MacTaggert's research. Eiling has already briefed me that Zartan knows its location from his spying on the Institute. Kill as many as you can, but remember to leave the good Zartan unscathed for now. Remember that Eiling's little pawn still has a role to play in having Cobra make a bigger mess for the Keyblade wielders while making our duty with the Harvest much easier. And the Legacy Virus will be the perfect tool to blow up in all their faces."

"Very well, then," Saïx replied in an emotionless and cold voice, his green eyes and scarred face remaining cool and still as the Organization member bowed before his Lord and turned away slowly, his gait slow and unrushed as he entered the portal of darkness to Earth.

**Author's Notes: If anyone was wondering, the phone conversation between Bobby and his father was quoted from Red Witch's fic, "Tremors of the Past" where Bobby got disowned, and I included it here in stay in canon with Red Witch's fabulous universe. Now, next Saturday, the X-Men go to Russia where they team with a couple of helpers sent by Nick fury and led by none other than Logan's old friend, Captain America! But the search to acquire the Legacy Virus deepens as the allies wonder what on Earth could be gained with such research, but when General Hawk is infected, there is little time to dwell on that as Xavier must fight for his life against Saïx and a Heartless General Hawk. Can he survive? Find out next time in the chapter, "From Russia to Xavier" and until then, read and enjoy! Constructive criticisms welcome!**


	30. From Russia With Xavier

**Author's Note: I apologize for being late with this chapter! Wow, writing this stuff can slow down to a crawl at times! I just wanted to write this well enough that I kinda got a little late! And I'm pretty sure my fictives had something to do with that emergency call at work! Anyway, I do not own the characters Dr. Betty Ross, Black Widow and Captain America, for they are the sole property of Marvel comics, and additionally, I am using the Marvel version of "Ultimate Avengers" for this Misfit-verse. Also, this chapter ties in to Red Witch's fic of when the Misfits ran into the Hulk and General Ross in the story "Mean and Green", so if you're confused, read that first before coming to this fanfic. Also, to people who leave anonymous reviews, please include your e-mail address or log-in so that it would be possible to get back to you and talk, otherwise I have no way to contact you. And I like to talk with my readers should they wish to discuss things with me. That said, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter titled…**

**CHAPTER 30: From Russia With Xavier**

"This is getting more frustrating," Wolverine grumbled, "It seems like each and every time we show up somewhere, it leads to the Organization attackin' us and the people around and nearby. It's as if they specifically wait until we go out in public to send Heartless or they send Heartless in places that hurt us the most because we have personal ties there."

"Then maybe…everyone has a point that all the Heartless deaths are our fault," Kurt murmured thoughtlessly, but then the blue-furred teen gasped before he covered his mouth and saw that Bobby's face looked pained as he hugged himself, shivering with remorse. Rogue made an irritated grunt before she punched Kurt in the shoulder (without her super-strength, of course), causing the German teen to yelp in pain.

"Nice one, Kurt!" Rogue snapped.

The teleporter looked regretful and unhappy that he so insensitively and tactlessly blurted out the last thing Bobby would want to hear. Kurt then managed to croak out apologetically, "_Mein Freund_, I'm sorry. I…I didn't mean to say that."

"It's OK, I know you didn't," Bobby smiled, though still shaky and pale in his complexion. The X-Men, both the teenagers and the adults, along with Moira MacTaggert, Theresa Cassidy, Sean Cassidy, Nick Fury, Callisto and Spyke from the Morlocks were all gathered in the spacious living room at the Institute the next night after the disastrous event in New Jersey with the Superstars concert, and many were still trying to make sense of the attack.

"It's getting worse, isn't it?" groaned Tabitha, "No matter how much we try to look all over the world or watch everywhere with every single friend and person on our side, the Organization is getting more brutal and manages to escape with more people's hearts!"

"And we can't ignore the fact that there are other matters to worry about too. If not the Thirteenth Order, then certainly the other foes and enemies on hand that could provide as much of a threat such as Cobra or Wolfram and Hart or any of the other enemies that you have encountered in the past. That is why you have assembled us here, correct, Charles? Because we are going to the same S.H.I.E.L.D base in Russia that Dr. MacTaggert had been where she herself had worked on her Legacy project to help Mr. Fury's operatives," Tessa asked. Xavier and Nick Fury both nodded, marveling at Sage's insight.

"But there is a side reason why I wanted to come here as well, Sage," Fury said before he turned to Rogue who was seated next to Gambit and spoke, "Rogue, I'm also here to inform you of some good news about your adoptive mother, the blind precognition mutant named Irene Adler. I wanted to let you know that she is safe in S.H.I.E.L.D custody in one of our bases of operations under protective guard, especially since she is still attempting to hide from Magneto and the Acolytes ever since her betrayal."

Rogue's face went white, whiter than her make-up, her eyes lighting up with unexpected surprise and a rare hint of joy as she gasped, "Is…is she all right? Is Irene OK?"

"She is, and she's safe from Magneto's reach as well now that she's under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s watch and care, and we checked, but she's shown no hidden agendas to spy on us or sell us out to Magneto, the Hellfire Club, the Hellions, and any other mutant terrorist group. However, I'm not that willing to give her free reign, so she's essentially a detainee at our headquarters in a special room with some privileges for sanctuary and for her safety under the condition that she tells S.H.I.E.L.D. exactly how much she knows and can see in her visions regarding the Gathering of Twilight. Granted, she can't see anything about the Gathering or the Heartless, but she has helped with informing us of the secret laboratories and bases Magneto had planted throughout the world, like the one Piper Halliwell and her husband had accidentally stumbled upon and destroyed during their field trip to the Caribbean. But she's all right, Rogue. And I'm telling you this because she has been requesting to see you, and I figured you could be trusted enough for a visit once we can settle things and after this pressing issue with Russia."

"Thanks, but isn't there any way ta' speed it up so that I can see Irene sooner?" Rogue said with a touch of annoyance as she frowned a bit. Nick Fury sent her a stream of daggers through his good eye directly at the Southern girl.

"I suggest you not look like a gift horse in the mouth," the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. growled, "You'll see her when it's the right time. _Period_."

Though Rogue looked as if she wanted to argue, she just crossly pouted and crossed her arms, keeping silent. She had a right to be impatient, in her opinion…

Rina's mind then finished processing what the executive director of S.H.I.E.L.D had just revealed and blurted out in confusion, "Wait…you mentioned a pressing issue in Russia? What is the issue? Does this involve yet another excursion with the Hellfire Heartless?"

"Not yet," stated Fury, "You see, the agents Wisdom and Burke from A.U.N.T.I.E have now been receiving reports that Zartan and his Dreadnoks have been sighted in Russia while there has been talk of Xamot and Tomax, the head of the Crimson Guard and Extensive Enterprises being sighted in India, and since they have close ties to Cobra and this is parallel to the sightings of Cobra's forces in Scotland. It's** not** a coincidence, especially in this line of work."

"And the Heartless attacked Muir Isle while Cobra was rumored to be close by. Do you think Cobra's working for the Hellfire Club and the Thirteenth Order? That might explain why they want the Legacy stuff then, because they're acting on the Hellfire Club's orders," Jubilee asked, trying to make sense of that development.

"I dunno…" Ray pointed out, "This happened before when Cobra teamed up with Magneto and the Hellfire Club to form that Pulse Cannon way back several years ago to turn everyone to mutants, back when the Misfits were first formed. Remember? If that alliance didn't work then, it definitely won't work this time. I'd doubt Cobra is that stupid to allow a chance for the Hellfire Club to screw them over again."

"It also doesn't make sense because the Inner Circle wants mutants to rule the world, and if they're teaming up with the Heartless, then they won't want to share this chance of power with human terrorists. And offense definitely intended when I say that the Organization wouldn't even consider those idiots in Cobra to be seemingly adequate enough to help them with the Heartless. If anything, the Heartless would use them as fodder to gain more hearts," Rahne interjected.

"Good riddance if you ask Remy, _mon cherie_," Gambit muttered, flicking a playing card in between his fingers and having it dance across his hand.

"So this means that we'll be headin' off to Russia to help Dr. MacTaggert get her Legacy stuff and bring it back here for safekeeping, right? If her research and genetic stuff's here, then that means that none of the Heartless and the Thirteenth Order goons will get it because our school's shielded, right?" Sam asked.

"Exactly, hence why we will be leaving tomorrow, a select group of us," Hank supplied.

"We have already decided the team to help accompany Moira and Dr. Sanderson to S.H.I.E.L.D's base in Russia and to help investigate the reports of the Cobra sightings there as well as ensure that ," Professor Xavier intoned, "The people accompanying the Misfits and Joes in case of Heartless attacks shall be myself, Beast, Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean, Colossus, Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, Forge, Magma, Multiple, and Spyke…if that is all right with you, Evan."

"Me?" blinked Evan, looking around the room before looking back the Professor, stunned, "You want me to come, even though I'm not really part of the X-Men anymore?"

"Yes, we do. Not only would your flaming bone spikes and heat mutations be of great help, but we additionally want you to come because Callisto figures that sending you as a Morlock liaison to S.H.I.E.L.D. will not only put ease to her mind about the organization but whether or not the Legacy Virus is exactly what Moira says it is, regardless of the numerous times she and myself have tried to adamantly make clear. Though she would rather not go herself, she will trust your judgment and would appreciate if you could go and observe the Russian base with S.H.I.E.L.D. as well as qualm her fears that they are not anti-mutant like the Friends of Humanity or Cobra."

"In other words, considering that I do not take anything Xavier offers at face value, your talents would be better out there rather than staying here at the Mansion, and since you are familiar with fighting alongside the X-Men, you would serve less as a distraction and Fury would give you clearance to explore his base as well as give me a unbiased and accurate statement on S.H.I.E.L.D as well as the Legacy and that it cannot be used as a weapon against the Morlocks in the future," Callisto spoke from her position as she leaned against the fireplace, arms crossed in a cantankerous manner. Ororo narrowed her eyes at the eye-patch toting mutant woman.

Dr. MacTaggert looked pain at the hostility as she explained, "Callisto, it isn't like that. The Legacy only represses destructive alleles and provides functional proteins to make up for the ones lacking during translation. It can only be used to help damaged X-Genes or damaged DNA."

Callisto just scowled silently in return.

"It would hardly hurt to show some trust in Charles considering that he is cordial and benevolent enough to let you and the other Morlocks stay here," Ororo said with a tinge of a growl, not sure if she liked Callisto's tone of voice. The black-haired sewer dweller shot back a poisonous growl of her own.

"Trust no one, wind-rider. And I would rather listen to Spyke's report first rather than accept what you defenders say as the complete truth."

"Gee, if that's the case, then why don't you like go to Russia with the others yourself then?" Tabitha growled back.

"One, I do not associate well with those who are not Morlocks. Unless this is the Gathering of Twilight or if there is absolutely no choice, I see no reason to come along on one of your field-trips. Two, I and any other Morlock bar Evan is not an X-Man nor a Misfit, so Fury would be more wary of us should we arrive at his base. And I've had enough gawking and hostility in my lifetime, thank you. And three, should something happen or should there be a Heartless attack, in which that may very well be the case from the way things are going as of now, I don't trust an X-Man or a Misfit or a lunatic Joe watching my back. I'd rather get my heart taken, thank you very much," snapped Callisto. Nobody felt that they wanted to continue to argument for they all remained wearily silent, resigned. Fury just glared at the Morlock leader for her unwarranted hostility, but he bit his tongue, knowing that any argument when now during this Heartless crisis, they needed to band together more than ever. And quarreling over something this trivial would be counter-productive.

In the intervening time, Theresa and Rahne, unsurprisingly, both weren't satisfied with the Professor's decision on who would accompany them to Russia, though they could both see the wisdom in not leaving the school unguarded with only a select few and how much more smoothly the transaction to Russia would progress if there was a small group instead of brining everyone from both the main team and the New Mutants.

"Mom!" griped Wolfsbane.

"Let us go too! Protecting your research and the fate of the Muir Isle Hospital's future is as much of a right for us as it is for you!" Theresa disputed hotly, her eyes flashing, but this was automatically shot down by her father.

"Absolutely not!" Sean snapped, his face red and voicing his disapproval, "She can handle herself perfectly well without us, and should Cobra be around, then it's all the more reason to stay here where it's safe! Moira and I have both discussed this, and we decided that this is a minor mission, and you do not need to join in! And I shall be staying behind to make sure you two do not attempt to sneak off! Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir," grumbled Wolfsbane and Siryn, both of them moodily petulant and sulky.

Amara then spoke, trying to lessen the reasons to be testy as she hurriedly explained, "It's probably going to be really boring and uneventful anyway. We'll be back before you know it."

"Amara, even I know that in this universe, whenever the Misfits and X-Men will be involved in a mess together, it'll be _anything_ but uneventful…" drawled Theresa with a crabby undertone.

Meanwhile, back at the Joe Pit, Shipwreck was eagerly conversing with the Triplets in their laboratory in the Misfit Manor, and for once, the father of the three girls was actually excited and anxious about their latest experiment…

"So can't you help Evan and Stormy with what you have now?" the Joe sailor begged, wringing his white naval hat in his hands.

"Not really," admitted Quinn, "We have all the data and computerized results of Dr. MacTaggert's research that we copied while saving her database and mainframe information, but most of it will be useless unless we have a sample of the DNA genetic material that she transduced into the virus vectors."

"Without it, we can't do what you're asking for. It is possible, especially since Mr. McCoy tried something like it when he didn't want himself to turn out blue and furry and we developed that healing serum for Captain America while he was frozen in cryogenesis using Wolverine's blood, but since Spyke's mutation is completely different, we can't do what you're asking for without a sample of the Legacy retrovirus," Daria sighed, idly typing away at her laptop and making sure her new program could handle the sudden influx of information.

"And this is a slightly different situation. You asking us to help suppress the effects of his mutation, but even we can see that it would be temporary considering that a mutation can't be cured, and making Evan a serum based on the Legacy's ability to provide functional proteins as well as repress alleles, at best, whatever we can develop will probably make him human appearance-wise for only several days at best," Brittany added.

Shipwreck groaned mentally; it figures things would never be easy. He asked wearily, "You sure?"

Quinn gave her father a rather insulted look as she said with irritation, "Dad, our laboratory equipment is based off our own inventions as well as stol-…er, _borrowed_ technology from the Watchtower, Apokolips, Lexcorp, S.T.A.R. labs, Cobra, and Batman's computer. All of these are good, but they can't create a carbon-based virus and genetic sample with MacTaggert's specification out of air synthetically. We need a sample of the Legacy Virus before we can make the serum. Technology has limits too."

"Besides, we're kind of disappointed in you, Daddy. Aren't you supposed to scold and discourage us from stealing like the good role model…pfft! _Bwah hah hah hah hah!_" and with that, Brittany broke into an uncontrollable peal of laughter, holding her stomach as she and her sisters joined in the mirth. Shipwreck just glowered at them.

"Hee hee hee! Sorry, Daddy, but we can't say the words 'good role model' with a straight face while thinking of you," chortled Daria, wiping her eyes.

"Hardy har har," drawled Shipwreck in a hard and sardonic tone, "And it's not stealing; it's merely providing an additional place for her genetic research and stuff to be hidden for safekeeping in case anything should happen. And besides, it's for a good cause!"

"Daddy, trying to help Evan meet up with his parents and having Storm being grateful to you isn't a good cause. And it's gonna take **more** than helping Spyke come clean to his parents about living with the Morlocks to fall in love with you. Such as a bout of insanity or extensive brain damage…" retorted Daria snidely.

"Oh be quiet and get ready to go to Russia tomorrow," grumbled Shipwreck.

That very same night, everyone had gone to bed, and the security systems of the Institute were fully activated as well as Wolverine doing his nightly patrols around the dark mansion, light on his feet and hiding behind the shadows and every nook and cranny (he never fully placed his complete trust and satisfaction in the electronic defenses). And Callisto, much to Logan's displeasure, was making rounds and night-walks of her own alongside the grizzled X-Man, especially since after the Morlock Massacre, she was never going to allow herself to be caught off guard again. All the X-Men, even the adults along with Moira and Sean, were resting or dozing peacefully in bed, still physically and mentally recovering from the battles of Muir Island and New Jersey. All but one, however.

Professor Xavier was dressed warmly for the cold night, despite the fact that it was late into the spring season, as he contemplated while having some solitude to himself in the wooden gazebo close to the seaside cliffs and shores as he watched the ocean. He had to admit, whenever there wasn't fighting and explosions and the daily threat of protests and lawsuits outside the gates, the Institute was actually a peaceful haven.

"Are you all right, Professor?" spoke a familiar voice, and it wasn't one of the Joes or the X-Men for once. Xavier turned around to see, to his slight surprise, Althea Delgado walking towards the podium with her hands in her pocket and tagging alongside her was the golden-furred dog, Pluto. Even in the night, Pluto was quite visible in the murkiness, almost glowing like a candle. Wavedancer looked sympathetic as she strode over inside the wooden structure and leaned against a support post.

"Do you want some company? Spirit says that whenever one desires to look at water, it means that their soul is troubled and stressed."

If _that_ was true, the Professor would then camp out here in the gardens for the rest of his life for the seaside view instead of his warm bed and office. Though he did desire a bit of seclusion, Xavier had to admit that perhaps a little talk would be nice, and he immediately felt a bit of concern for Althea as she wearily strode inside and leaned heavily a bit against the walls, holding her elbows. Pluto surprisingly choose to go straight to the mentor and leader of the X-Men himself, squatting next to Charles' wheelchair and whining a bit in worry with large, playful eyes as he rubbed his head against the Professor's thigh. Charles' chuckled softly as he scratched Pluto's head, amazed how the dog would ease his fears and consternation effortlessly. It was as if the Disney dog was almost a beacon of hope and positive emotion in a way…

"Why are you here, Althea?" the Professor asked, though a bit wary and bracing himself for future aggravation, "Is something the matter?"

"Well…we're here mainly because my father and the Triplets are missing from the Misfit Manor and we can't find them anywhere at the Pit, and the logistics of the Mass Device says that the last teleportation coordinates were here at the Institute."

The Professor felt a vein throb a bit under his left eyelid as the feeling of aggravation increased, and he closed his eyes.

"You do realize that eventually, this destructive and uninvited visitation to my school need to stop at some point and that taking advantage of our generosity strains the good feelings between the X-Men and the Misfits."

"In our defense," Althea piped up apologetically, holding out her hands in a submissive manner, "not all of us are destructive whenever we visit you, and we actually try to stop the Triplets from going too far. But they are incredibly stubborn and wild, even more so than my Pops. They wouldn't stop even if you begged them over a thousand times, and the only real adults they actually will humor besides the Joes would be Alfred Pennyworth. Can you imagine them actually stopping just because you said no?"

Professor X did concede that she did have a point. Although the nagging, angry voice in him did a lot to remind of the numerous times even Althea and the calm Joes such as Roadblock and Cover Girl had brazenly played practical jokes on them.

"And second, we don't do this to hurt you or the X-Men."

The Professor gave her a stern and sardonic look.

Althea managed a smile, saying, "I'm serious. Just because we steal your food, drop in unannounced, and try to loosen you guys up doesn't mean that we don't respect you or like you. Trying to get the X-Men to loosen up at times isn't that bad."

_And you actually don't want to use the Yellow Materia on this bunch? They would most certainly deserve it! Look how out of control they are already! It would be only a boon if the Keyblades and magic went to people who were more mature and responsible! The Misfits make a mockery of this entire war with the Heartless!_

The Professor shook his head, disgusted at how his dark side was trying to rationalize his reasons to keep the weapon Tessa brought with her a secret and to use the magic regardless of how his allies felt. After all, two wrongs never made a right, and the Professor could admit hat deep down, the X-Men could be very unwelcoming and uptight as Althea pointed out. Not to mention just as destructive as the Misfits.

"And third, though I am not saying that this all excuses what we've done in the past, when it comes down to it, you know we'll fight and defend you to the very end. When push comes to shove, we all care for each other deep down."

"Regardless…it would not hurt if some of you grew up for once," Xavier sighed, resentment and years of frustration budding his voice, and Pluto whined a bit as he continued to snuggle against the Professor. But the Professor felt he couldn't hold his annoyance much longer; the tolls of the war against the Hellfire Club and the Organization were taxing and this was the last thing he needed…

Althea looked a bit downcast as he looked out at the calm waters of the sea and said with some rare depression, "Unfortunately, we'll never live long enough to find out if things keep going at this rate."

There was an uncomfortable silence as both Wavedancer and Professor X looked out the ocean, taking in the sight with a conflict of emotions, so turbulent that it was a wonder their heads didn't swim from the effort of keeping their inner angst inside.

As much as the Professor wished Roadblock was here instead of the girl and the dog, it was still surprisingly agreeable to have their company.

The Professor then turned to his School of the Gifted. All the windows were still dark and peaceful, save one or two rooms that still had the hallway lights and the lights of the main foyer brightly turned on. To his amazement, there wasn't the slightest hint of bedlam and mayhem tonight. Charles Xavier turned back to Althea Delgado.

"Are you sure that Shipwreck and the Triplets would be here?" Professor X managed to ask with some amusement, "Not that I am complaining, mind you, but no hint of screaming and fighting and the usual pandemonium obviously hints that they aren't here as of now."

"Wait for it. It'll come. Nothing ever stays peaceful in our world," grinned Wavedancer. They both chuckled at the memories before turning out to the ocean. Again, it was sort of satisfying to stay out here…

"Why are you worried, Althea?" the Professor asked at last, a bit fretful. Pluto remained silent as he listened on to this exchange between the two. Althea exhaled through her nose before she confessed a bit.

"I guess a lot of things. It's not easy to hold it in and stay the leader and the role model of hope for your group when things are pulling at you everywhere and threatening to tear you apart and cause you to fall apart at the seams. Every time I see a person die, I'm more determined to make sure that we can get everyone's hearts back and win the Gathering because a lot is riding on us, more so than the other allies we have. But add the fact that even I have my doubts and that I'm human…it's a bit exhausting really. There are times I feel a lot of burden is on me especially, much more than the other Misfits, because I'm the leader. Like I said, there's a lot to worry about."

The Professor's eyes softened a bit. To say he could relate to that was an understatement.

The wise mentor then pointed out one silver lining, saying, "But, on the bright side, you and the other Misfits have the gifts and tools necessary to protect yourselves, so there would be less worry on being vulnerable."

_And you'd like to change that, wouldn't you?_ The seductive voice mentally drawled in the back of his mind, and he irately silenced it. Althea looked a bit pensive as she thought of it before she answered back truthfully.

"But there's a lot of responsibility and cost to being a Keyblader and using the magic stuff Pluto gave us too. Don't get me wrong. I'm grateful and all that we have ways to defend our ourselves, but it makes us targets, being on the front lines and being one of the few people the Organization actually regards as threats. And it's scary, to know that so many lives and people we care for are in our hands, to have that burden that everything will ultimately fall on you. And the other Misfits and Joes know this and accept it, but for me…it's especially bad. I…don't know what would happen if Toddles or one of the Misfits died and got their hearts taken. That would hurt me a lot more than any of the Joes' deaths when Blackheart invaded the Pit."

There was a pregnant pause before Althea looked out at the ocean again before confessing.

"And since I'm the leader and apparently hold something that's special and different from a Keyblade, it definitely takes more on a toll on me. Because I have to look and worry more about my family and not to mention everyone else to make sure that we don't get caught with our pants down again. And after how the Heartless and Organization screwed around with the Joes, Charmed Ones, Titans, Justice League, and us, I can't help but feel a bit overwhelmed and burdened at times."

_See?! See?! You'd be doing them a favor if you took away their power, took away the responsibility and trails that come with it! They actually want you to use the Materia to help them! There is no need to ask them for permission, no need to discuss it! They would thank you for making the choice for them!_

Professor Xavier felt disturbed at how much more powerful his jealousy and dark side were becoming. It was disconcerting to say the least, and the Professor was supposed to preach and be an example to his students that he was above those sorts of feelings.

"Are you all right, Professor? You seem guilty," Althea asked.

"How did - ?"

"Ninja training. You can't be a ninja if you can't read people's body language and facial expressions, both outside and inward."

The Professor hesitated. Should he tell her? Should he tell the Joes and the Misfits that they secretly kept the Yellow Materia as a safeguard in case the Misfits failed to protect the world or if they simply weren't strong enough? They deserved to know. They would understand, they wouldn't be that angry, they would see the logic…

_And if you and the X-Men had the magic and Keyblades, wouldn't you be insulted in you were in their shoes? Wouldn't you feel offended? Do you want to risk angering everyone and causing division and discord? It would be easier to do it secretly, isn't it, should the need come? What you're doing isn't evil…_

Wavedancer misinterpreted the Professor's hesitation and gave a semi-apologetic smile as she leaned back against one of the posts of the pergola. She didn't blame the Professor for not being ready to talk yet. She offered, "I get it. But…if you want to talk to someone, I can ask Roadblock or if you want me to leave -"

"No, it's not that, Althea. I…am simply pondering on what you have said. I am also worried about Scott, Jean, and the other students. I know what you mean when you say that the tolls and worries are harder on you when you are the leader or mentor of the family that you watched grow and raise alongside with you. I'd be devastated if even one of them should die or if I am not around to help them. Though the adults and Scott and Jean can do well enough in my absence, I still worry because many such as Rogue, Bobby, and Jubilee have no other place to go, and many still need me."

The Professor was undoubtedly digging his grave deeper and deeper…

Xavier looked back at the Institute where all his charges and students were still sleeping as Althea nodded, touched at his openness while Pluto whined in concern again, resting his chin on the Professor's lap. Wavedancer pointed out, "You also need them. You took them in because they give you purpose, give you a reason to continue with this legacy of running the Institute, give you strength. You need the X-Men because it makes you stronger too."

Xavier didn't make that connection, but he thought about it, he could admit that Althea was right. And it was understandable that Althea would be au fait with that attitude in her life, considering that her life in G.I. Joe must have been incredibly lonely and isolated. She needed the Misfits as much as they needed her. He suddenly felt more benevolent towards Wavedancer, amazed that he was practically seeing a new side of the hydrokinetic.

"Hence I will do anything to make sure that they win and survive this war. Even…if I…" and with this, the Professor faltered. Althea looked up with sympathy.

"I know, I know, X-Men don't kill. That's something you've stood by for the longest time, and I know you have good reasons to be hesitant and afraid that the X-Men will have to do that. Trust me, I know, but Organization Thirteen isn't going to pull any punches, and it will come up. A situation where you'll have to kill. It will happen. But on the upside, you probably won't need to be in that situation since we're in the front of the lines, so even though your lives are in danger, I promise that me and the other Misfits will do whatever it takes to keep you and the other X-Men safe."

"That…"

The Professor swallowed before trying again, inhaling several times to work up the nerve.

"That wasn't…_isn't_ what I was going to say, Wave- "

**_Boom!_**

Both the teenager and the man turned back to the X-Mansion where a loud explosion could be heard and numerous lights from various bedrooms being turned on along with predictably, Trinity's high-pitched giggling and cackling along with several shrieks and yells of rage from the female and male members of the X-Men.

"Ew, yuck! Like, get 'em Lockheed!" screamed Kitty from her room.

"_AUUUGGHHH!_ Our bedroom's entirely soaked! I'm gonna kill those three maniacs!" Ray was heard screaming from his room.

"Caliban _told_ you - !" the Morlock was heard yelling in accusation to his other fellow members of his sewer clan in their bedroom.

"SHUT UP, CALIBAN!"

"You Misfit morons always have to make our lives a living hell, don't you?!" Scott roared.

Avalanche was heard yelling next through the second floor, "Will you come off it?! We're here trying to stop Trinity!"

"BART! Get back in bed this instant! If I were your father, I'd give you a taste of the belt right now!" Sean Cassidy was heard yelling.

"Woo hoo! Woo hoo! Woo hoo hoo hoo!" hooted Bart Allen as he sped throughout the entire mansion, foregoing the repeated warnings of using his mutation.

"Hey, has anyone seen Shipwreck? We found the Triplets, but we haven't found - " began Wanda, except instantly, there was a sharp scream from Ororo's bedroom followed by the telltale clap of thunder and black storm-clouds above the town of Bayville.

_Crack!_ Kaboom!

"SHIPWRECK!" screamed Ororo before she and Evan were seen chasing a rather embarrassed and terrified Shipwreck in the gardens with a combination of lightning bolts and flaming bone spikes.

"Get back here, you perverted sicko!" roared Spyke.

Shipwreck was trying to hurriedly explain as he avoided getting impaled and electrocuted, "Yeow! Stormy, it was an accident! _An accident!_ Yeow! I was just looking for the Triplets! I didn't mean to teleport into your room! It was an accident! Ow! That hurts! I swear, I didn't mean to teleport in your room!"

"**_And right on top of MY BED, sailor! Come back here!_**" Storm screamed as she threw a red ball of electricity from her position in the skies at the bearded Joe as he sprinted for his very life.

"Of course…" groaned the Professor, rubbing his head and cradling it in his hands, not sure if he should be relived it wasn't a Heartless attack or annoyed that it was a Misfit visit.

"I told you to wait for it," chuckled Althea before she turned to the Professor as she was about to help corral her devilish siblings, asking, "Was there something you wanted to tell me, by the way? You were going to say something before we got interrupted…"

"Nothing that can't wait," the Professor sighed. He figured it was more of the irritation than the rationale talking, but as of now, he wasn't feeling exactly charitable as he then commented, "Oh dear…many people in the town are beginning to wake up already, although to be fair, it was only a couple of hours until sunrise anyway."

Wolverine and Callisto were watching this combined and noisy ruckus outside from a safe distance, the pandemonium loud enough to wake up the whole town of Bayville. Logan turned to the Morlock leader, who was absolutely shell-shocked out of amazement and displeasure, and asked gruffly, "And you were worried that someone would want to come invade the school here at night?"

Callisto groaned slightly, grimacing, as she muttered, "You are correct on _that_ one. No topsider in this entire planet is insane and suicidal enough to attempt a hostile assault on your lunatic X-Men!"

---

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are now approaching S.H.I.E.L.D's outpost in Russia. Please remember to check and take all belongings with you and do not leave your seat until the vehicle comes to a complete stop," quipped Nightcrawler as they all teleported into the secret base of S.H.I.E.L.D which was located in a isolated, snow-covered region in southern Russia, close to the city of Novosibirak, heavily shielded with an electrified barbed-wire fence, security systems, electronic eyes, and cameras that were at least ten years ahead of the time for any security system found on any military base and perhaps even the White House and the United Nations. Forge whistled, impressed.

"'_Outpost?_'" Forge blinked, obviously feeling inadequate in the center of operations and relying on his seventies lingo, "Kurt, my man, that is absolutely whacked! This isn't an outpost! This is a really wonderful and fortified base that could rival the security systems in the Mansion or anything Beast, Razor, and I could ever develop!"

Indeed, what the inventor said was true. The entire base in Russia, though a minor branch of the actual S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters, was not something to scoff at as being insignificant and small. The group had teleported into the communications and computer center of the entire station, the chamber full of monitors and consoles that were as big and grand at the monitor room in the Justice League's Watchtower (about half the size of a football field), clean and sterile, the metal polished without a speck of dust. There was even a gigantic, focal holographic monitor at the far side of the room, acting as the chief screen for the entire staff as there were more than fifty people in white lab coats busily working at their stations in the area. And to the side were narrow and tall tinted windows offering a peek at the sunlight and the snow-covered fields stretching as far as the eye could see, without a single tree or shrub marring the barren view of the fields. The entire building, which was a massive dome of four levels and a sub-basement made of reinforced steel, adamantium, and a complex server network with two back-up generators and enough sensors to cloak the entire vicinity and detect a rabbit half a mile away from their position, was undeniably imposing and remarkable. Structured, professional, and silently efficient like a well-oiled machine. Nothing like the typical insanity at the Pit or the Institute.

Still, Dr. Sanderson, the only doctor from Moira's staff who managed to survive the Muir Isle assault, looked pensive and a bit anxious as he murmured, wiping the sweat off his forehead, "Still, despite all this, I cannot help but be a bit apprehensive. All the firepower and precautions in the world would not be enough to stop the Heartless should they show up."

Xi shivered a bit as he walked alongside Dr. Sanderson, and discreetly, his hand so quick that the good doctor could not even feel it, the lizard assassin brushed his fingers against the man's hand, hoping to read his genetic codes. To his confusion and surprise, he could not sense anything.

Jean noticed this as they walked alongside the lizard, and she, Scott, and Althea discreetly slowed their pace towards Nick Fury and his group, who were awaiting their arrivals, and Jean asked the Misfit, "Xi? What's wrong?"

"I…I sense something odd about Dr. Sanderson. I don't know what it is exactly, but I just have a feeling, like something out of place or how an animal feels wary when it senses an intruder enters its haven."

"Did you try getting a genetic reading?" Althea asked, her voice as undetectable except to those around her like a wind rustling among the dry trees in autumn. Xi shook his head inconspicuously.

"Actually, I just tried, and though I don't sense anything from his genes that was a definite match from our former enemies, I…I can't sense anything. Nothing about his genetic code is available for me to read and detect, and though the period of contact was brief, this has never happened to me. I thought that it could be at least Mystique, but then I'd be able to get a positive match. But here, I get nothing."

Wavedancer made a point to not stare at Dr. Sanderson while she appeared to look busy, fiddling with her teleporter watch while speaking in low tones to Xi and the two senior members of the teenage X-Men team. She ordered, "Stay close to him, then."

Jean tried to dissuade the paranoia, whispering, "Althea, think about it. It's probably nothing. I don't sense anything malicious in his forehead, and I could try tapping into his mind, but I'm nowhere as unobtrusive and subtle as the Professor's telepathy and he'd find out. And Moira said that Dr. Sanderson is an accomplished geneticist in the scientific community for several years, so if he were an enemy, then he would be a complete stranger who just popped out of the blue. And the Professor doesn't like reading minds and violating privacy unless necessary, and we don't have proof."

"No, I agree with Althea and Xi," Scott murmured, "After dealing with spies and Cobra's attempts to infiltrate Bayville High as our substitute teachers, I'm willing to bet that if Dr. Sanderson is a spy, he would have several established character histories to fall back on as a disguise so that he would arouse less suspicion. Besides, look at Pluto. He's growling, and that's not like him."

Indeed, what Cyclops said was true. The Disney dog was glaring at Dr. Sanderson and making low and soft growls from his throat, rumbling and uncharacteristically antagonistic, unreceptive even. This wasn't typical of the canine. Pete Wisdom, Cover Girl and a couple of Joes noticed this as well, but to ward off notion of misgiving, Courtney lightly slapped Pluto on his head, scolding softly.

"Pluto, stop that," Cover Girl ordered.

"Welcome to base. And Hawk, Logan, I have a friend who wished to be here to run up with you again," Nick Fury intoned as he stepped aside to reveal a heavily built man wearing a familiar blue and red polymer costume and gloves and boots, his blue eyes merry with fond memory underneath the blue cowl over his head along with the gigantic red, white, and blue circular shield he hefted in his left hand.

A good portion of the visitors recognized him at once; it was Steve Rodgers, the super-soldier from World War Two who was also known as Captain America. And he looked incredibly pleased to see his old time war-friend.

"Cap!" roared Wolverine with a broad smile, laughing uncharacteristically, "Knew a good soldier like you wouldn't stay out of this frickin' war!"

"Wolverine, good to see you!" Captain America laughed with as much enthusiasm for his old wartime friend as he shook the grizzled mutant's hand warmly, his face easing with a large smile.

"Captain America?" blinked Multiple, "He works for S.H.I.E.L.D now? Wow, cool!"

"Did you miss us, Captain America?" the Delgado Triplets intoned sweetly in honeyed voices, and Steve had to grimace at the eeriness of listening to the three demented female adolescents speaking in unison like the possessed child from "The Exorcist" movie.

"Hardly," Captain America intoned with a dry look, remembering why he was grateful to be busy with S.H.I.E.L.D instead of working alongside destructive and hyperactive mutant teenagers before he nodded to one of the two women waiting alongside Fury, continuing, "Logan, you remember Natalia, right?"

Wolverine gave a nod with his head, saying, "Kids, this is the Black Widow, a soldier and one of the best damn operatives here at S.H.I.E.L.D, so you better mind your manners. **_Especially you, Quicksilver!_**"

Pietro was ready to open his mouth to make a lewd comment, but at Wolverine's death glare and unspoken promise of a painful punishment, he gulped and wisely stayed silent. Though one couldn't blame Pietro for wanting to say something about Natalia Romanova for she literally defined the term "_femme fatalle_". She was a slender and curved woman, adequately built, and even the black leather uniform and boots and gloves she donned did little to hide the curves of her chest and hips (which several of the X-Boys, Shipwreck, Hank, and Pietro took full advantage of the sight, much to the annoyance of the females around them). She had shoulder-length fiery red hair and green eyes along with rosy, peach skin, but she did not smile as she professionally greeted the teenage mutant soldiers and freedom fighters. And even from the way she walked and her cool and collected if not stoic attitude, everyone could tell that there was a reason why Wolverine praised her as an effective soldier. She seemed quite deadly, especially with the knife lashed at her side to her belt and the guns holstered to her vest.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," Black Widow said curtly and professionally in thick English with her accent, shaking hands with Professor Xavier and General Hawk before surveying her gaze to all the X-Men and Misfits, as if committing them to memory. Though distant, at least she wasn't disdainful of being with mutants and she seemed polite at least. And to the Misfits' collective delight (bar Lina and Justin), there was another familiar figure who was watching them a little to the distance with a smile on her face, carrying a clipboard in her hands while wearing a white lab coat over her blouse and business skirt. She was a lithe and intellectual woman with semi-curled brown hair, professionally fasted with a hairclip, with square-glasses, and though it had been a while, the Misfits, especially Trinity recognized her at once.

"Dr. Ross! We missed you!" squealed the Triplets as the bespectacled woman found herself as the target of three exuberant hugs by Daria, Quinn, and Brittany. Dr. Betty Ross laughed as she returned the hugs, though it was little wonder that the Triplets would like her since she was one of the few grown-ups who enjoyed playing with them after the Hulkbusters made a pit stop at the G.I. Joe base.

"Trinity! Misfits! It is wonderful to see you again!" laughed Dr. Ross as she gave all of the Delgado Triplets a collective hug. Black Widow gave Dr. Ross a very bothered look; horror stories of the general insanity of the Misfits, especially the Delgado Triplets, were legendary popular reading and gossip here in the organization with enough details and testimony from Captain America and Nick Fury to make even the most hardened S.H.I.E.L.D operative to be unwilling to get within ten feet of the Institute and the Pit.

"You are a _very_ brave and foolish woman, Dr. Ross," muttered Black Widow under her breath, exhaling wearily through her nose.

"So Dr. Betty Ross now works along with S.H.I.E.L.D instead of her father and Major Talbot?" General Hawk asked in a side discussion with the other adults while the Misfits were introducing Dragonfly, Whitelighter, and the X-Men to the Hulk's fiancée and one of the few compassionate members of the military who wished to help Bruce Banner.

"Affirmative. Ever since MacTaggert was able to help Widow with her Legacy Virus to save her life, Dr. Ross joined up with S.H.I.E.L.D as an honorary member of the Avengers to provide assistance with her scientific background as head lab technician for the team, and to work with the Legacy samples to help the Hulk with his condition so that it could be easily controllable for Dr. Banner so that he wouldn't endanger himself or other lives. Dr. Ross apparently hasn't given up on her mission to help the Hulk, and she quit the Hulkbusters team her father created because she could no longer agree to their methods of destroying him."

"Bet General Thunderbolt and Noodle-Head Ned weren't too happy about that one," smiled General Hawk. Fury allowed a small smile as he chuckled.

"I never would have thought it was physically possible to have one's face turn into that shade of purple."

"Wait, Mr. Fury. You mentioned something about the Avengers? I have heard brief reports, but I never seen nor encountered the actual details of the team," Professor Xavier broke in.

Captain America answered, "Nor should you until now; it's one of S.H.I.E.L.D's back-up plans for the Gathering of Twilight. '_Project: Avenger_' is a special superhero team that works under S.H.I.E.L.D and was authorized and assembled together by Fury and I to recruit heroes to help with our organization's cause as well as fighting the superhuman terrorists like Red Skull from taking control of the world. Not to mention we recently started recruiting people such as Giant-Man, Black Panther, and the Wasp for expansion, but we're hoping that we would be able to assist the Misfits and X-Men in the Heartless crises."

Dr. Sanderson looked very interested in hearing this.

Low Light turned suspiciously to Romanova as he asked, "Wait? So Dr. MacTaggert used the Legacy crap on you to save your life? I thought she didn't like experimenting on humans to create super-soldiers or to get results for her research?"

"Low Light, I explained this numerous times," Dr. MacTaggert said hotly, starting to get annoyed, "I designed Legacy to help people with destructive X-Genes or to help repair and strengthen one's body if they are suffering from premature DNA degradation, and like Black Widow, I used the Legacy Virus to supplements her partially damaged genetic material with complementary sequences to that she could survive the damage and retain the gifts the nanites were used on her. It **can't** be used to create mutants!"

"Nanites?" blinked Bree as they looked at Natalia who sighed before she summed up her story.

"Before I joined S.H.I.E.L.D, years ago, I was one of the top soldiers in Russia for the KGB and a Soviet agent, and in order to serve my purpose to protect my mother country, as a girl and a teenager, I was infused with nanites provided by my superior, Alexander Lukin, the result of which was a genetic enhancement that gave me increased dexterity, strength, and coordination far better than the average human for hand-to-hand combat, weapon use, and strategic maneuvering."

"So you're a mutant?" Cover Girl asked, and Black Widow shook her head.

"No, the nanites did not artificially create an X-Gene nor did it cause me to become a mutate. They simply perfected my body for maximum potential and agility, similar to Captain America's enhancements in a way, although…mine came with a price. At first I thought what I was being sent to do was for the security and stability of Mother Russia, but then I discovered as I worked along with another comrade named the Winter Soldier, I learned that we were really mercenaries for General Lukin when ordered to obtain the Cosmic Cube for the Thule Society and a female terrorist named Red Claw. Such a weapon could have killed thousands of innocent people as well as warp reality, and thankfully, Captain America, a good demon named Hellboy who was investigating the Thule Society's moves along with John Constantine, and Fury with several S.H.I.E.L.D operatives stopped Lukin, and I helped them before Sonya could utilize the Cosmic Cube for her own gain and for the Thule Society's. However, in the battle, Winter Soldier was killed."

Captain America looked saddened at the mention of the Winter Soldier, but Hawk's blinked as it came to him at the familiarity of the mention of Red Claw.

"Of course! _Now I remember!_ Red Claw is additionally an adversary of Batman when he succeeded in stopping her from threatening Gotham City with a plague as well as 'The Lion and the Unicorn' missile incident in England! But Batman told me his suspicions that she was dead."

"Unfortunately, she wasn't, and once we managed to effectively destroy the Cosmic Cube, Lukin and Red Claw activated the nanites in my genetic make-up to self-destruct and eat my body inside out, sending me into extreme and agonizing bouts of pain as punishment for my treachery. But I would have gladly done it. I support defending my country, but not at the expense of dismissing free will and the deaths of millions of innocent lives who in no way were involved with this sordid affair. I nearly died until…"

"Until Moira used her Legacy research to fix you, to cure you even, just like she was attempting to do for the mutant children who were under her care at the genetics center back at Muir Island," Bree answered, piecing the puzzle together.

"And considering that the nanites had already enhanced her body to perform beyond the average human, it was theoretically sound enough that the virus would help her recover once we managed to extract all the nanites out of her body as well as fix her DNA so that she would still keep her abilities as a former KGB spy. In other words, the roads were already there; my Legacy just fixed the bridges. And since she had no X-Gene, it was simpler to heal her," Moira finished.

"And because of that, I was able to pledge my allegiance to Fury and join S.H.I.E.L.D so that I could stop those such as Red Claw who dare to tarnish my country's name with such atrocities," Widow finished grimly.

"Unfortunately, with the Heartless going about, that might be the absolute last thing we'll have to worry about," Matt Burke groaned. At the same time, Dr. Ross was discussing with the X-Men and the teenage X-Men on her work with S.H.I.E.LD.

"I joined with the Avengers because not only was I dissatisfied with how my father and Major Talbot were preparing for the Gathering of Twilight, but because of how I wanted to be here to help protest against Agent Gabriel and General Eddington who were trying to push for capturing Bruce solely for control for the military."

"Gabriel? You mean Blind Master?" blinked Whitelighter before he turned to his guardian, "You were involved with the Hulk?"

The African-American ninja master shook his head as he explained, "No, that was a different Gabriel. His full name is Gabriel Jones, and he's a shady agent from S.H.I.E.L.D who was one of the brass authorities behind sending the Misfits to help contain the Hulk. And sadly enough, he had less than altruistic and noble reasons to capture the Hulk, ones that differed from what Ross wanted."

"And why I felt that if Bruce was able to control the Hulk side of him, then there would be less reason to hunt him down and contain him to be used for experimentation or as a living weapon of mass destruction. At least Fury assured me that if we could use the Legacy Virus so that the presence of adrenaline would not trigger his DNA to release the massive quantities of gamma radiation that causes him to Hulk out, Dr. MacTaggert theorized that it could allow Bruce to live a normal life, perhaps even maintain his free will and sentience even if he is the Hulk. Which is why I have to try, to save my fiancé," Betty said worriedly.

"So that's why you're also involved with S.H.I.E.L.D and why you're interested in Dr. MacTaggert's Legacy research. It's because you want to help Mr. Banner so that his Hulk form won't be as wild and maybe easily controllable. But…I'm confused. You're not trying to cure it?" Scarlet Witch commented before asking that last sentence with some suspicion. She had good reasons to be wary, especially since Dr. Ross was the daughter of General Thaddeus Ross, the main leader of the Hulkbusters who wanted the Hulk destroyed and annihilated. No ifs, ands, or buts. And from their past dealings with Ross and his Hulkbusters, it didn't seem possible that they would simply go ahead and grant ways to help the Hulk through gentle means.

However, the fact that they wanted an easily controllable Hulk wasn't safe yet. They remembered how Agent Gabriel Jones and General Ross were trying to utilize a very dangerous and underhanded power-play in capturing the Hulk, if not killing him outright, and after the using of the Misfits as their pawns, Wavedancer and General Hawk both got the disturbed feeling that a Hulk under the military's control would be a bad thing altogether. In fact, the Hulk as a living weapon would indeed be one of the worst things imaginable, for both them and the enemy. Dr. Ross shook her head at Wanda's question.

"No, he can never be cured. Remember: the Hulk isn't a mutant, so there is no X-Gene to manipulate, and thus, the Hulk will always be a part of Bruce and vice versa, but I do think - "

Unfortunately, what Dr. Ross was about to say was left moot as the alarms began to sound, the entire room ringing with the sirens.

"What's going on?" Blob blinked as Fury got the report from one of his staff as he brought up the image on the chief holographic screen above to display from one of the cameras the sight of several men, dressed in black uniforms and helmets with tinted visors while firing powerful energy blasts from laser assault rifles. And all the strange invaders' uniforms bore the red mark of Cobra.

General Hawk and the Joes recognized the erratic and jerky movements too bulky to be any able-bodied human being, the infamous shape and design of the armor, before Cover Girl cursed something quite unladylike under her breath and exclaimed, "Cobra BAT armies! Cobra sent BATS to attack us!"

"And considering that Moira's Legacy is here, then it is of little wonder," Burke murmured.

"**_Bats?_**" asked a rather flummoxed and puzzled Dr. Ross, but Blind Master calmly clarified it for her, taking his steel katana out of the sheath lashed behind his back.

"'_B.A.T_' or B-A-T is an acronym for 'battle android trooper', a robotic soldier created and used solely by Cobra terrorists as mindless and destructive combatants whose sole purpose is to do as much damage as possible, and Cobra Commander often at times uses them to create an army to form tension on the battlefield and increase the odds against us," the ninja master coolly replied.

"Ah, don't worry about it," Shipwreck waved as he took out his Desert Eagle pistols, "We've dealt with them before! Ol' Snake-Face's tried that tactic on us Joes over at the Pit thousands of times, and he's never seemed to notice that it's not really quantity, but quality, and these B.A.T androids are the worst of the worst! They attack anything on sight, they don't determine whether you're a Cobra soldier or a Joe, and they explode if damaged enough."

"Uh…even if there's _a lot_ of them?" gulped Dr. Sanderson, white in the face and looking as if he was going to wet his pants as he visibly shook with fear while pointing to the holographic image above. There, out on the snowy fields, were over a thousand B.A.T robots, all of them marching across the snow and firing everything at the S.H.I.E.L.D base. As far as the eye could see, there was a multitude of the robotic combatants, marching and firing at the electrified fence and energy barriers all around the center and vicinity. A hundred BATS, no problem. Two hundred BATS, perhaps a bit worrisome. Five hundred meant that Fury and his men alone were going to have their work cut out for them. An army of at least a thousand meant that this wasn't going to be easy. Shipwreck weakly chuckled.

"Uh…OK, maybe in this case, quantity does have a thing or two over quality," Shipwreck chuckled.

And all of the crowd of heroes inside could view on the screen that off in the distance outside, at a safe gap behind the BATS were the Dreadnoks: Buzzer, Torch, Ripper, Monkeywrench, Road Pig, and Thrasher. All of them were riding on strange, compact hovercrafts and not their typical motorcycles.

"The Dreadnoks!" shouted Roadblock, taking out his machine gun and arming it as a faint but apparent explosion was felt vibrating throughout the base's foundation, "When I get through with them, I'm gonna clean their clocks!"

"Actually, wait a minute, Roadblock. Anyone see anything odd about this? Cobra has Destro, the Baroness, the Crimson Guard, a bunch of other tools and weapons that could cause some worry, and yet he's just sending the BATS and the Dreadnoks? He's depending on the Dreadnoks to put a full-frontal assault on one of S.H.I.E.L.D's centers, an organization that can eat Zartan and his biker gang for breakfast?" Cover Girl pointed out. It then clicked.

"I'm scanning the rest of the base as well as the field, Sergeant Fury," announced one female technician as she clicked several commands on her keyboard, invoking a few commands through the network's server to activate the electronic eyes.

"And there's good reason too!" another technician yelled his finding, "Sergeant Fury, Captain America, the BAT androids are real, but those Dreadnoks out there aren't! _They're holograms! _What you're seeing on the screen isn't real! They're decoys! They're real enough to fool the cameras, but our infrared and electronic scanners can't detect anything living or with a signature heat signature of a normal human! There's no one out there!"

"Holograms?!" Avalanche blinked, "But if the Dreadnoks outside are fake, then the real ones - !"

"Are like somewhere in the base! They must be totally using this as a distraction to infiltrate this place and try to get those Legacy samples since Cobra was like totally there in Scotland before the Heartless invaded!" Kitty shouted.

"Well, at least on the upside, S.H.I.E.L.D's security defenses on the outside should be enough to keep those BAT robots out of our hair," Amara pointed out.

**_Kaboom!_**

Instantly, after the explosion, the lights and computer consoles flickered before going dark.

"The main generator has been shot! Back-up power in three point five seconds!" yelled one staff technician, and sure enough, there was a loud and audible whining-noise as the two secondary power cores of the H.Q. automatically activated before all electronic equipment flickered and went back on line. Unfortunately…

"Uh…apparently, those three point five seconds were enough to allow the BAT robots to get past the energy barrier and the fence. They're firing at the base now, and they're getting closer!" gulped Quicksilver.

"At least it's Cobra's robots, not Hellfire Heartless," Nightcrawler pointed out. Pietro had to concede that Kurt had a point as the first laser fire managed to penetrate the metal hulls.

"How did they escape our sensors so easily until now?! We should have been able to detect them more than a mile away!" Natalia asked, but Trinity provided the answer as they looked it up with their scanners.

"Something outside is jamming your security sensors! And here's the kicker! It's a magical energy! That's why your cameras and antennas and other mechanisms haven't been as effective as before! There's a magical energy force that's all around the base and helping Cobra's BATS!" cried Daria as another explosion rang outside.

"_Magic?! _Wait a bloody minute! Even the **_Dreadnoks_** know magic now?!" exclaimed an outraged Agent Wisdom as he glared at Pluto who wasn't enjoying the way how the A.U.N.T.I.E agent was already accusing him of something so stupid and illogical.

"That's impossible! They can't even _spell_ 'abracadabra' much less pronounce or do it!" Low Light said with some stern urgency, "And hate to break this up, but we have worse things to worry about! Not only do we have to take care of the BATS outside, we need to split up the levels and find out if the Dreadnoks are inside! And when there's the Dreadnoks, there's Zartan and his crazy family!"

"Agreed. All available men in squadrons Epsilon and Delta, go out and stop Cobra's battalions! Repeat, Squadrons Epsilon and Delta, report outside and stop the enemy!" Fury roared on his communicators, signaling the technicians to beef up the security outside and activate all outer weapons and laser turrets on the perimeter.

"I shall go too," Black Widow said with steel instantly, and Captain America nodded.

"Be careful, Widow. I'll "

"X-Men, we'll go outside and help the S.H.I.E.L.D agents! Wavedancer, are you and the other Joes all right with finding the Dreadnoks and staying here? And sending a few magical helpers out on our side too?" Cyclops asked, turning to the raven-haired female Misfit. Althea grinned, already liking the logic in the plan. Should any Heartless show up, it would most likely be within the vicinity of the base, and therefore, they would meet with the Misfits head on. But if any Heartless were outside, the magical Summons should be able to effectively prevent any of the X-Men from dying.

"Are you kidding? Anything that gives me a chance to use my magic on the Dreadnoks as well as the usual butt-whooping is fine by me! Avalanche, Toad, summon Simba and Genie and send them out to help the Misfits outside in case there's a Heartless attack! Splitting and mix and matching our teams is the best thing to do in this situation!" Wavedancer ordered, and Toad and Avalanche both nodded before they brought out their Amphibionian and Steel Quartz Keyblades.

"Genie!"

"Simba!"

"Give me strength!" they shouted, and with a flurry of brown and multicolored smoke, the two Disney characters appeared before they nodded, knowing their orders instantly by heart, as if they could feel and read through the two Misfits' minds perfectly without being ordered a single word. Professor Xavier turned to Moira.

"I shall have one of the Joes escort you back to the Mansion where it shall be safe."

"Not without the Legacy research, Charles! If Cobra is after it, then the _last_ thing I shall do is go and leave it here for them to take! I am not abandoning the kids' only hope at surviving and living healthy lives after the Gathering!" protested the Scottish scientist.

"It's too dangerous - !"

"Feed me that line, and wheelchair or not, close friendship and history be damned, I _will_ punch you."

"We'll go with her then. I'm an agent of A.U.N.T.I.E with…a few tricks up my sleeve. I'll take her to the laboratory or wherever the bloody Legacy is since she can guide me, and we'll grab it and go," Pete Wisdom said as he, Dr. Ross, and Dr. Sanderson flanked next to Moira.

"We'll go too! We need to provide some cover with our magic and Keyblades! Besides, our magic isn't offensive, so we'll be better off going with Dr. Ross," Quinn said as she, Daria, and Brittany joined with the two female scientists.

"Besides, we like Dr. Ross! She's niiiiiccceeee," chimed in Brittany in a cute, baby voice.

"I'll go too. I'll be more of help protecting them that I can helping the others, and I have a teleporter watch to the Mass Device to I can bring them out. Don't worry, I'll be careful," Low Light added, flanking next to Dr. Ross. Wavedancer gave Xi a knowing look and nodded once as a signal. Xi understood as he disappeared. Forge then went next to Low Light.

"I'll go too," the Native American inventor said with some resignation, "It'll be better for me since I won't be able to provide much in the fighting anyway. And I can't use my anti-matter bombs in close contact around so many people without risking them too. And Fury's got enough people manning the computer systems."

He added these few sentences with some sadness, but nodding, the Professor gave in as a few Cobra B.A.T robots managed to blast their way through one of the walls, invoking Shipwreck to go charging in with his dual Eagle pistols. Piotr then turned with protective and worried concern for his girlfriend.

"_Katya_, follow the others to escort Dr. MacTaggert and Dr. Ross out of here and back to safety once they get the Legacy project! Go with them where you'll be safe!" Colossus ordered with flat steel.

"What?!" snapped Shadowcat, so outraged that she actually dropped her arm before she could fire her glovatrix and whirled angrily on her Russian boyfriend, her movement so fast that her ponytail whipped across her face, "Are you like totally crazy, Peter?! I can take care of myself! I'm staying and I'm fighting!"

"Because I say so and it's too dangerous for you! You'll do better if you help Dr. Sanderson and Dr. Ross go someplace safe!"

"Peter, you are totally **not** the boss of me!"

"_Katya_, please, go! I don't want you hurt! Don't argue with me!"

"Oh bloody hell, Colossus! She's an X-Man for God's sake! Let her fight! She can take care of herself, and I don't need to babysit more kids during this!" snapped a rather exasperated Pete Wisdom. Kitty shot the A.U.N.T.I.E. agent a look of surprised gratitude while Piotr sent the man a look of pure irritation if not dislike. He would have punched the dark-haired Englishman if he could.

"Just go!" Colossus roared as he went to help drive away the B.A.T soldiers from the grounds.

Kitty inwardly fumed. He always did this, and what angered her was that Piotr honestly felt that he was taking care of her by doing this, that he was looking out for her. She was an X-Man for crying out loud, not a frigging piece of fragile glass!

"Look, as much as I'd like to say you're right, just humor the dumb lug or else we'll never hear the end of it," groaned Pete Wisdom, and with that (though Kitty wanted to argue), they all left towards the labs where Moira kept her research and samples in storage. As all three groups split, a thought came to Nick Fury as he turned to Professor X and General Hawk.

"Wait a minute…where's Pluto?"

But Pluto was nowhere to be found. But before Xavier could answer, he heard a shout behind him.

"Xavier, Fury, watch out!" Hawk roared as he got in front of the X-Men's mentor and the S.H.I.E.L.D officer, blocking their view with his body as a last-minute tactic of desperation, but this move cost him as he fell to the ground, screaming as crackling streams of black smoke and electricity began to consume him, eating at his consciousness as the Hellfire spore burrowed into his chest, sending him down a river of agony.

"Oh no…" Xavier gasped as General Hawk's sacrifice from the sneak attack began to cost the Joe general as he began the metamorphosis.

"Holy shit!" exclaimed Fury as he looked to see the man who just infected General Hawk as he tossed back his hood, revealing himself to be a pale-faced man with long, scraggly silver hair past his shoulders and a tapered chin and face, thin and heart-shaped. Along with his narrowed, cat-like green eyes was the fact that his ears were pointy like an elf's. But what was most disturbing was the ancient yet brown scar of a "X" crisscrossing across his face over the bridge of his nose, his face showing nothing but blank, unresponsive, indifference.

"All shall be lost to you…" Saïx intoned as he snapped his fingers, and to Professor Xavier's shock and Fury's dread along with the other technicians in the computer chamber, three additional Hellfire Heartless emerged.

---

"We have it! O Lord be praised! The samples are still here!" Moira MacTaggert exclaimed in relief as she and the others in the group reached the laboratory where the Scottish geneticist remembered doing her work, but before she could take out the box that held the fifty or so different cultures of virus vectors with the Legacy work she had done in Muir Isle. Moira was ecstatic as she withdrew them from the cryogenics storage unit. But before she could withdraw then case, there was a click of a gun behind her.

"Wisdom, stop playing tough spy agent and quit fooling around!" snapped Dr. Ross until her voice died in her throat as she realized that the sound of a hammer being cocked back wasn't coming from the British intelligence agent. It was coming from Dr. Sanderson who was holding a pistol aimed at Moira, Wisdom, Shadowcat, Forge, Low Light and Trinity.

"Dr. Sanderson?" Moira gasped as Wisdom and Shadowcat made an attempt to blitz him, but Dr. Sanderson aimed the pistol at the two incoming figures and made them stop short.

"I wouldn't if I were you. I'm a crack shot. Now, give me the samples for the Legacy Virus," the portly geneticist ordered.

"But…but this is for the childr-!" protested Moira until Dr. Sanderson shot a bullet an inch away from Moira's head, and she stopped short, her heart beating.

"Now…" Dr. Sanderson snarled until an invisible figure knocked him back, ripping the gun from the scientist's hands. The angered man looked absolutely murderous and desperately enraged as the green-scaled Misfit shimmered into full view.

"I knew it!" snarled Xi as he emptied the bullets out of the gun and tossed them away. Dr. Sanderson looked positively incensed before he took out another pistol from the folds of his lab coat and aimed it at the Misfit. But before Trinity, Low Light, or Shadowcat could act, a series of five, glowing spikes, orange colored and radiating a red sheen of heat energy hot enough to melt through steel shot through the air and embedded themselves into the gun and Dr. Sanderson's hand, causing the barrel of the pistol to melt uselessly and for the geneticist's hand to bleed profusely and severely from the two wounds that ate clear through his hand. The group turned to look to see to their astonishment, Pete Wisdom in the front, each one of his fingers glowing with the same telltale spiked claws from the tips, making him appear like a cat that had drawn its claws.

"You goddamned bastard!" cursed Sanderson before he was tackled by Low Light and Xi together. The Triplets, Moira, Dr. Ross, and Shadowcat looked at Pete with something akin to shock, surprise, and confusion all rolled into one.

"You're a mutant?!" gasped Dr. Ross. Wisdom nodded wordlessly.

"And when were you like going to tell us?" growled Kitty, annoyed.

"You know, a better question should be '_why the hell is it your bloody business_'?!" snapped back Pete acidly. Xi then gasped as in the tussle at trying to subdue and pin down the fat scientist, he accidentally grabbed at Sanderson's head only to have the latex mask packed with foam rubber to come off loosely into his claws, revealing the true identity for all to see.

"**_Zartan!_**" growled Low Light, now apoplectic, but without further ado, the exposed mercenary for Cobra, still donning the fat suit and disguise as the former geneticist, managed to knee Low Light off him before taking a smoke bomb out of his pocket and slamming it to the ground. There was a furious discharge of charcoal dust and black pepper as everyone uncontrollably coughed and sputtered at the thick cover of smoke before there was a heavy sound of footsteps followed by Moira grunting in pain at being knocked down as Zartan snatched the tray of Legacy Virus vectors from her hands and fled.

"He's like getting away!" Shadowcat choked, trying to get air as the smoke faded.

"Nothing gets past you, does it, Kitty?" drawled Wisdom with bile. Kitty glared at the British agent.

"**_After him!_**" roared Low Light and Xi as they tore out of the room, along with Dr. Ross and Dr. MacTaggert, both of them killing mad and eager to deliver some payback for the sake of Bruce Banner and the afflicted children patients on Muir Isle. The Delgado Triplets were left standing behind.

"Oh no…now we can't help Daddy and Evan!" whined Brittany.

"Not exactly…" Daria said, her face white and pallid and with a sad look of dreaded remorse, as if she was horrified that she even did the act, as she hesitantly took out one lone Petri dish still containing the vectors in agar medium, more than enough for Trinity to study upon. She secretly picked it from the tray while Moira was still reeling from the shock that Dr. Sanderson was really Zartan, the Cobra mercenary in disguise.

"Oh no, you didn't!" Quinn gasped, "Dr. MacTaggert and Dr. Ross need it to help the children and the Hulk! We can't keep it to help Daddy with his insane plans to woo Storm! Mr. Banner and the children are more important than that!"

"I…I know…" Daria said, her voice wavering, but she didn't sound as sure as she and the Triplets went after their friends and Zartan. And apparently, the chase scene did not just involve their group…

"Mushu, torch his ass!" commanded Scarlet Witch as the baby dragon started peppering the Dreadnoks (which consisted of the real Monkeywrench, Torch, Buzzer, Thrash, Road Pig, and Ripper) as they all ran away from the charging Misfits led by Althea.

"Wow, looks like they took they wind out of your sails, huh, Dr. Sanderson?" Monkeywrench chortled, only to be given a backhand by his leader.

"Oh be quiet and run!" Zartan yelled, still clutching his precious bounty of Moira's genetic vectors as Monkeywrench tossed back a grenade towards the crowd pursuing them from behind (Pietro had to use his super-speed to run up and throw it someplace safe to detonate). The Dreadnoks managed to rush by the very same chamber where Saïx was instructing the Hellfire Heartless to attack. As they rushed by and tore through the hole made earlier through the wall, Saïx remembered his orders as he intoned gravely.

"Ignore them. Kill the Keyblade wielders and their allies," he instructed in a stone-cold voice as the X-Men along with Black Widow rushed back inside after seeing Zartan and the Dreadnoks take off out of the building along with the general screams following inside the chambers where Fury was trying to shoot at one Heartless with a semi-automatic pistol while the Professor was strewn out on the floor, toppled out of his wheelchair.

"Wait, don't kill him! That Heartless is General Hawk! He got himself infected saving me!" Professor X cried as pointed at a hunched figure in the background.

"Oh, holy Jesus H. Christ…" cursed Low Light, white in the face, as the now fully transformed General Hawk revealed his Heartless form, now being much taller than an ordinary man, about ten or eleven feet in height and certainly lording above everyone else. The Heartless was actually humanoid, a perfect specimen of the human male, with a broad frame and shoulders, bulky muscles of corded steel that gave the Heartless a very formidable and intimidating look, and narrowed slits of yellow, glowing and full of malice. It had long, brown hair, dropping past its shoulders along with a square jaw and a human nose and mouth with tiny but apparent snake fangs protruding out. The only articles of clothing the monster wore were a cape of black snake-skin and a pair of loose combat pants, splashed with the military colors of brown, black, and olive-green. And its torso was bare, rippled, and wearing the badge of the red-and-black crossed out heart as a breastplate. However, the Heartless' left arm was grotesque, malformed, a gargantuan webbed, reptilian hand completed with four webbed fingers and claws. And not only did it have ridged, scaly skin, but the Heartless' left hand additionally had four, strange mechanical metal hollow cylinders sticking out of his skin, like sawed-off mouths of shotguns.

And General Hawk's Heartless was an exact doppelganger of a very familiar evil being from the Joes' past as the magnitude of the realization sent all the Joes staggering.

"Venomous Maximus!" Cover Girl exclaimed in shock at the sight of the Heartless.

"Who?" blinked Captain America.

"Past event when Cobra tried to mutate and create a bunch of super-soldiers using a venom mutagen and in the process, Cobra Commander mutated General Hawk too! It figures Venomous Maximus turned out to be Hawk's Heartless!" cursed Shipwreck.

"And it was quite amusing to see him die in vain," Saïx intoned.

"Let me guess: him, we **_can_** kill?" Black Widow drawled as she took out two submachine guns, both of them black, well-polished and cleanly maintained, the micro Uzis each promising to leave Saïx into nothing more that a bullet ridden corpse within several seconds.

"Yes, but good luck trying because -" Jean said, but that was enough for Natalia as she let loose and fired her entire rounds directly at Saïx along with the other S.H.I.E.L.D soldiers to let loose with their guns, the air screaming with armor-piercing bullets that could burrow through a half-inch layer of reinforced steel. Unfortunately, Saïx just distantly stood there, hardly the least bit bothered as he waved off the numerous bits of shrapnel hitting his head, chest, and torso.

"…bullets don't work on him," groaned Jean, "And neither does my telepathy or the Professor's."

"You could have told me that a _little_ sooner," Natalia said with some irritation. Well, that eliminated a good number of weapons she could think of on using on the Organization member. Cyclops acted next, firing a gigantic and intense optic blast directly at the man in the black robes, but with not so much as even a twitch of his mouth, Saïx coldly waved his hand and the optic blast was deflected upwards and blasted right through the ceiling and the upper level of the base, exposing the night sky of stars and the half-moon above.

"Damn it, Cyclops! What are you trying to do, **help** the Heartless destroy the base?!" roared Fury, apoplectic at the destruction.

"This isn't over! You're still outnumbered!" growled Captain America as another Hellfire Heartless killed a technician, stealing his heart before Pietro intervened.

"Aeroga Guardian Hurricane!" Quicksilver yelled, invoking the wind magic to protect whomever he could.

"And there lies your fatal mistake, Captain America…" grinned Saïx at last, showing all his teeth in a vulpine and spine-tingling smile, his green eyes glittering in the cold night and his pointed elf-like ears making him appear like a demon. With a flourish, he took out his metal Claymore sword, and the star-like tip extended and flourished out in deadly patterns of serrated edges and spiky tips. It certainly was painful to look at, and made one's skin curdle at how much it would hurt it serrated with it.

"I am not called the Lunar Divider for naught. Do you feel it? The moon's power…" Saïx said with wicked promise as he began to glow in a mysterious silver sheen, continuing to absorb the moon's rays of light. The Triplets' pink scanners then all gulped as the screens started flashing red, being madly.

Forge noticed this as he leaned over and gulped, asking, "Um…that's not a groovy thing, is it?"

"No, Forge, if something is blinking red and flashing while beeping like Doomsday is coming, it's **not** a good thing," shot back Quinn sarcastically.

"And good reason!" Daria gasped as she relayed her message through the communicator, "You guys, he's gaining more power through the moon! This guy is absorbing the moon's light beams, and he's getting stronger! He's going off the charts!"

"It's like he's going in some ultra-powerful bezerker mode now!" Brittany added. The heroes paled; this wasn't good. Snapping to action, Fury yelled and commanded over his communicators.

"S.H.I.E.L.D operatives, use energy and proton weapons! Tech, activate all sonar and non-projectile defenses in Level Three, Sector A, Room Gamma!"

Wavedancer then commanded to her family, ordering, "Avalanche, Scarlet Witch! Team up your magic with mine! Trinity - !"

"On it! Stopra…Time Freeze!" Daria, Quinn, and Brittany intoned.

"Gaia…Earthquake Force Rush!"

"Fire Crimson Whirlwind!"

"Aquara Water Dragon!"

But to their shock, it still wasn't enough as Saïx fully powered up, none of the magic even remotely weakening or injuring him, as the moon's rays now completely made him unstoppable, and now, Saïx's eyes and face mere absolutely grotesque. His face was contorted in a savage snarl, his teeth bared with strands of saliva dripping from top to bottom, his canines now being noticeable as he hissed and roared like a mad beast, his eyes glazed.

"**_Moon, shine down!_**" Saïx roared and swinging his Claymore, he charged, and to everyone's surprise, he struck the floor of the room repeatedly, invoking waves of white energy to pool and rippled all around, charring and searing everything in its path.

"Scatter!" roared Fury as many of the heroes did their best to avoid the rampaging Organization member. Captain America rushed forward with his shield and returned with a volley of punches followed by several painful swipes with his shield, but Saïx was an expert fighter as he fluidly dodged before swiping hard at Captain America, and even though he performed a series of impressive and gravity-defying acrobatics, he could still barely escape the geysers of light energy hitting him.

And his shield was barely holding on, with Saïx's Claymore still managing to pound it heavily, actually causing a few dents as Steve could barely prevent the energy from singing his head as well as maintain the strength to withstand the jarring and excruciating vibrations ringing from the shield's battering throughout his entire body. In fact, his shield was starting to become red-hot from the energy swipes.

And since Captain America's shield was made out of a combination of vibranium and adamantium, it should have been impossible to damage it in the first place. Captain America wasn't sure how much longer he could hold on.

At the same time, Bambi was trying to ram the Venomous Maximus Heartless with repeated attempts to bash his head into the Heartless' gut, but with the metal instruments in his hand, the abomination shot an orb of force and it trapped Bambi against the wall. The fawn wailed and screamed as the orb continued pressing against his body against the wall, growing stronger second by second. If it continued, not only would Bambi be trapped, but he'd be crushed.

"It's a gravity projectile!" gasped Forge, looking at the orb, "Whatever you do, don't get hit with them or else we'll really be up the creek! They apparently hold and pin down their victims before crushing them to death!"

"Gee, like we couldn't figure that out!" Jean shouted as she tried to use her telekinesis to free Bambi, but it was no avail.

Meanwhile, Blind Master and Spirit were trying to take out one Hellfire Heartless when Widow jumped in, firing from her twin Uzis, all her shots perforating the monster's head and leaving it into nothing more that a messy pincushion in seconds.

"It's still not enough!" Spirit yelled until two plasma blasts from energy shotguns rang out, and the two surges of energy struck the fact of the Heartless with a gory explosion, leaving nothing more than a charred flesh wound above the neck, decimating the head completely. With a shudder, the Heartless died, vanishing, and the three turned to see a sheepish Dr. Ross and Dr. MacTaggert holding two plasma assault rifles they managed to grab from two fallen S.H.I.E.L.D agents.

"Whoa…" blinked Blind Master.

"Charles _told_ you I know my way through an assault rifle and shotgun," bragged Moira.

"You leave Captain America alone, you moonshine-drinking cowpie! Ars Arcanum!" Blob roared, swinging his purple Heavyweight as he charged, glowing in magical luminescence and light on his feet, and though Saïx held his ground, it allowed Captain America to swing his shield like a discus at Saïx's head which he blocked at the last minute. Thankfully, Nightcrawler teleported in and grabbed Blob to safety before doing the same thing with Captain America, allowing Dragonfly and Whitelighter to act.

"Blizzaga Arctic Requiem!"

"Lumiga…Mark of the Sun!"

Unfortunately, both of these

"Damn!" cursed Evan as he expertly and wildly leapt away from a pulsating wall of energy, narrowly missing from eviscerating him in half, hurriedly trying to recall the previous incantation he used in the Bayville sewers, "Damn it, what did I say…oh yeah!"

With a huge adrenaline rush, Spyke skidded to a stop in the balls of his feet before he faced Saïx and roared his memory of the ice magic, "That's enough, asswipe! Blizzaga Icicle Firestorm Fury!"

But to his shock, nothing happened. That one event where he felt the soothing and vibrant upwelling of emotion, power, and transcendence was gone. It was empty. He couldn't do the magic any longer.

"**_Be gone!_**" roared Saïx as he rushed towards Spyke with Claymore, brandishing his heavy metal weapon in a graceful circle-eight pattern over and over again repeatedly, causing massive spikes of energy from the moon to rush towards the bone-armored Morlock.

"Shit!" Evan gasped as he tried to fire several large spears of fire-tipped bone at the ripple of lunar magic, but to his horror, in a split-second, the shafts were consumed by the blinding white energy and completely shattered into ashes, tossed aside like twigs striking a suit of iron armor. And in the next second, Spyke would be consumed by the magic, no matter which way or how far he leapt to the side. Thankfully…

"Daniels, move it!" yelled Quicksilver as he zoomed by with his super-speed and snatched his former rival out of Saïx's path before Evan could be horrifically blasted by the energy blasts of the Claymore.

"Thanks, Quicksilver…" panted Evan as they stopped at a safe viewpoint from the battle, not sure his heart would be able to slow down from being narrowly killed, but the silver-haired Misfit was yelping and crying in pain, hopping up and down while nursing his arms where several deep and bleeding puncture wounds were on the underside of the appendages. In his effort to save Spyke, Pietro's arms pressed against the pointed bone tips that were covering his shell and resulted in getting partially stabbed. Quicksilver, not surprisingly, was being quite vocal at being injured.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! My arms! My beautiful arms! My flawless skin is now going to have scars because I saved _your_ dumb life! Owie, owie owie!" wailed Pietro rather melodramatically and causing everyone around him to wish he would just shut up.

"Oh stuff it, drama queen," snapped back Spyke as Tinkerbell flew down with an irritated look on her face as she healed the injured speedster, bathing his arms with yellow pixie dust and medicating the injuries.

Wavedancer then had enough as she charged towards Venomous Maximus with her knife and ninja skills, realizing that with Bambi out of commission and with her using up her spell with the Water Dragon, she needed to fight offensively without her magic to protect Xavier, and all the other Misfits and Joes were busy trying to fight off Saïx as well as the other Hellfire Heartless. Unfortunately, General Hawk then managed to trap Althea with another blast from his gun, completely unremorseful and showing no sign of being in full control. Wavedancer was unable to dodge it, ad she screamed as the orb anchored her against the metal floor excruciatingly, like a elephant was starting to sit on her. Althea then felt her vision blur as she whispered out of desperation as the Venomous Maximus Heartless was about to shoot at the lone and helpless figure of Professor Xavier.

"Help him…" she whispered.

No one answered her, and through the pain, she couldn't see the golden dog anywhere.

"You can't let him die…"

Pluto emerged behind Xavier from a corner of a wrecked computer station, out of the telepath's view, but looking at Althea with pity as Wolverine and Beast tackled the Heartless that was once General Hawk before it could kill their mentor.

"I can't help him…"

Pluto still hesitated.

"Give him my magic! You didn't want the Misfits to lose me! So do it for the X-Geeks! They love the Professor too! I don't want them to go through that if Xavier's heart gets taken! Give him a chance!" she hissed in pain hurriedly, not sure how much longer she could hold on, blood coming out of her mouth from the gravity orb pressing down on her, threatening to crack her ribcage.

Pluto then smiled softly as he barked, getting the Professor's attention.

"Pluto…you gave me - ?" Xavier said slowly in astonishment, quivering slightly. Pluto's eyes stopped glowing in the purple luminescence as he barked happily, wagging his tail. Charles Xavier bit his lip as his heart now felt so free and uplifted, like a gigantic surge of force was expanding in his body, giving him strength and as if he was floating to realms and the heavens beyond mere Nirvana. The X-Men's mentor shakily scratched the hound's head, not sure what else to do but show his immense gratitude.

"Thank you, Pluto…" Professor X whispered.

Pluto just barked happily in response.

Venomous Maximus roared as he finished throwing Wolverine and Beast off him, sending the two weakened mutants flying backwards from being drained by physical contact with the Hellfire Heartless.

"That is enough…" Professor Xavier said with a threatening voice as he then brought a hand to his left temple and gave in to the wondrous energy bonding to his mind, flowing naturally yet fantastically through his telepathy.

"Gravira…" murmured Professor Xavier softly, and unlike the other people who were blessed with the magical gift of harnessing Elementa magic, the Professor merely spoke the incantation and the words flowing from his heart to his mind rather than shouting it. After all, he was normally a reserved and soft-spoken person; shouting was rarely part of his character.

With that, Venomous Maximus, Saïx, and the two other Hellfire Heartless began to feel a very odd and looming presence in their minds, actually a noticeable buzz in their skulls, not unlike all the other times when the telepath had tried to access their psyche with his telepathy. This was different, stronger, more worrisome, like the calm before the storm, a second or two of silence as if everything around them, even the air, was dead and lifeless and cold.

The Professor could feel it, could sense and read through all of the people around him like an open book, summoning the very forces around the enemies to swirl and congregate around the Heartless, their minds empty and ready to be ravaged. To everyone's surprise, a purple sigil of light began to glow on each of the Heartless and Saïx's heads, a symbol of an "X" embedded inside a circle, the unanimous sign of the X-Men.

"No!" shrieked the now frenzied Organization member as he clawed at his own forehead.

"Pluto, give me strength to save everyone…please…" Professor Xavier whispered, one hand still held to his temple, concentrating hard. Pluto barked as the Professor then finished his spell.

"…Astral Plane Assault," finished Professor Xavier in a quiet whisper, but the look of resolute and fierce determination on his face was enough to rival the bloodlust and fanatic rage of Saïx in his bezerker mode. After that, it was complete chaos.

The entire room began to shimmer with numerous waves of the Professor's telepathic energy, fluctuating madly as if the very fabric of reality was being manipulated, as the Heartless and the Organization member felt all the gravitational forces pound and whirlpool into the emblems glowing on their heads, pounding their inner core and being and heads with throbbing pulses of force, crushing their psyches excruciatingly. And the mental assault could even be felt by the Heartless.

"Whoa!" gasped Forge, "It's like a psychedelic cabaret of strobe lights! Only…less purple."

"Jean, what's going on? What is the Professor doing?!" Cyclops gasped.

"The Professor's using his telepathy! I think…wow, I think it's magic! I think the Professor is using magic! Look, his forehead is glowing like how the rest of ours did when we first learned it! I can sense it! His telepathy this time is hurting the Heartless!" Jean cheered slightly.

With that, there was brief flash of purple on each of the fiend's foreheads, including Saïx and the Venomous Maximus Heartless, before they all screamed, the spell now causing all of them to glow in purple before the gigantic rush of telepathic intrusion and the gravitational forces swirling into their minds became too much. With a gory explosion, the two Hellfire Heartless had each and every bit of their consciousness shattered to pieces and their bodies disintegrated into smoke, vanishing. Venomous Maximus and Saïx however were a different matter. General Hawk's Heartless fell to the floor, quivering and weakened severely, drooling and its limbs twitching uncontrollably while on its knees. Though outwardly appearing all right, it was ruthlessly ravaged in its mind. The silver-haired, scarred Organization warrior gave Professor Xavier a stoic look of calculation before he vanished back to safety.

"I misjudged you, Xavier…" Saïx muttered poisonously as he disappeared. Oh, he would have a rematch with that troublesome mutant soon enough…

"Wavedancer, help General Hawk! I think he is weak enough!" Professor X called out, which was enough for Althea as the orbs vanished off her and Bambi. Tinkerbell moved in, healing the Misfit leader first as Althea, still wounded, shakily managed to point her scepter at the Venomous Maximus Heartless.

"Destiny Kingdom…!" she began, drawing forth her scepter and pointing it directly at the monster that was once her superior. Venomous Maximus, despite its weakened state, tried to shoot Althea, but Toad was ready enough.

"Thundaga Blitzclap Pressure!" Toad roared, rearing backwards and pitching a gigantic ball of orange-colored lightning, and with a howl, the Heartless was besieged with streams of painful thunder energy, stalling it as Althea finished her spell.

"…Heartlock Reform!" cried out Wavedancer, now feeling much better thanks to Tinkerbell, and the Heartless Venomous Maximus shrieked, still trying to hurriedly recover from Toad's Thundaga magic spell electrocuting him, as the ten Elementa kingdoms and the pillar of light engulfed him…

KAWHOOOM!

Unfortunately, at the same time as General Hawk's body slumped towards the ground, the pillar of light beginning to fade and dampen in intensity…

"Aquara Tigershark Tsunami!" yelled Octavia before anyone such as Wavedancer, Quicksilver, or Nick Fury could react, a unstoppable and powerfully churning tidal wave loomed over all of the heroes (despite being indoors on a gigantic underground base), ready to pound and swallow them all.

"This is why I don't like working with the Misfiiiiiiitttttttssss!" Fury cried out before the swelling of water engulfed him and the other heroes, trapping them as the various flows and undercurrents from all directions shoved them all roughly, battering them back and forth, before snaring them underneath the surface, preventing them from breaking for air. Each and every hero and surviving staffer at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base were unable to escape as columns of water magic formed and fenced them all in large groups, struggling for air. Though a few of the allies were able to narrowly escape the water such as Beast grabbing hold of Beach Head (who was nearby) and the Professor before leaping out of the path, Nightcrawler teleporting himself, Dr. MacTaggert, and Dr. Ross out of the water, and Captain America and Black Widow managing to leap away to safety with an impressive feat of acrobatics and leaps. Even Wavedancer, toad, and the Triplets were able to squirm their way out, being accustomed to breathing underwater. Unfortunately, as they managed to fight their way out of the water, most of their friends were still immersed and submerged as well as another problem that greeted the spared heroes…

"Fire bird!" roared Falco as he barreled and tore through the air, completely covered and glowing with fire like a phoenix, as he dive-bombed towards the smaller group of factions while the octopus female humanoid named Octavia sprinted towards General Hawk's prone form.

"Cap! Widow! Think you can handle the bird brain?!" Wolverine yelled to his comrades while Beach Head tore towards Octavia, intent on stopping her with his fists. Jean, Quicksilver, Toad, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, and Whitelighter were trying to help rescue their drowning teammates from the water magic (time was of the essence).

"Yes! Just go!" Natalia commanded tersely as she fluidly strafed to the side and dodge-rolled, tucking in her head and scrunching up her shoulders so that she could efficiently tumble to a safe distance, before she brought out her twin micro Uzi submachine guns, now fully reloaded. She took aim and fired. Falco gasped and squawked and winced as he narrowly dodged the armor-piercing bullets, but considering that these were firing shrapnel at twenty rounds a second, not even the Cornerian pilot could dodge them fully, and he suffered numerous flesh wounds from where the bullets sank into his shoulder, outer thigh, and grazed past his right abdominals.

"Damn it!" yelled Falco before abandoned his attack he tucked in his legs in midair and summoned a reflective shield with his wings, not exactly the same as his Reflega spells before in the past, but one due to a tactic that Fox and Peppy had taught him before with their own unique biology and energy make-up. And unlike the Reflega shields, any projectiles that struck the reflective guard were mirrored back two-fold and only made the protection even stronger instead of breaking it apart.

And this tactic worked wonderfully well. Wolverine yelped as the reflected bullets struck him instead as they flew all over the air, and even Captain America had to stop and falter, blocking a good portion of the incoming hail with his metal shield. Genie then managed to complement this attack before it could strike his friends rather in a safe but silly manner by turning all the bullets into flowers, the whole room filled with fragrant blossoms.

"_A tisket, a tasket, a green and yellow basket…_" sang Genie, annoyingly in a high-pitched voice while cross-dressing in a girl's white blouse and green playskirt with a brown wig, tossing daisies in the air from a wicker basket he was carrying.

"Well, at least we're not getting shot by bullets any more," chimed in Brittany as Black Widow wisely put away her guns, unwilling for Falco to reflect more of her attacks.

"I think I'd rather be shot," Spyke muttered, coughing.

"**_Can you ever act serious for once?!_**" sputtered a red faced Nick Fury as Shadowcat phased him out of his watery prison. The blue-skinned Disney character made a big show of rubbing his chin and looking contemplative.

"'Act serious'…'act serious'…'act serious'…me no understand strange request, Mr. Eyepatch Man," Genie said rather whimsically and lightheartedly, obviously choosing to ignore Fury's words point blank, as he patted the man in sympathy. Nick Fury was so tempted to shoot Genie right there and then.

"If I ever needed proof on why I need to hate Disney, _this_ would be it," Fury muttered to himself, knowing that he would never be able to stomach anything from the "_Aladdin_" movies ever again should he have grandkids.

Octavia was about to grab General Hawk's heart that was shining on the floor when she gasped as she saw out of the corner of her eye, Beach Head fired a rocket from his missile launcher, his last payload missile. Leaping backwards, doing an impressive display of several leaps, she managed to strafe to the side safely right as the missile rocketed past her head by several inches and destroyed the computer consoles behind her.

"Get away from Hawk, you sushi tramp!" growled Beach Head as he charged, waving his now empty rocket launcher as a makeshift club, and Octavia, as powerful as her water spells were, she was not as much of a brawler as Falco. And Beach Head looked killing mad, intending on beating her to the punch to the Joe general's heart. But before she could decide to try to run after him, Wolverine and Beast intervened.

"I daresay that your sneak attack is not only insulting and underhanded, but quite deceitful and Machiavellian as well, Octavia. And this imprudence has gone far enough for the odds are astronomically against you that the good Hawk's heart is a Talisman as well," Beast said simply as he used his massive and gargantuan arms to grab the female Tigershark from behind in a bear hug and held her fast, threatening to crush her body as he held her. Octavia struggled but Beast was undoubtedly stronger.

"Let me go! You don't understand! I have to check that heart!" Octavia yelled, kicking and trying to fight her way through for leverage.

"Highly unlikely, you deluded humanoid of the Cephalopoda," growled Beast as he squeezed harder. Octavia, feeling her torso being compressed agonizingly and making it difficult for her to breathe, then decided to play dirty, desperate to stop Beach Head as he reached the pink crystal glowing on the floor. Reaching downwards, Octavia found the front of the polymer speedo-jumpsuit that consisted of Hank's uniform and grabbed and pulled hard, twisting. Hank's eyes bulged and he yelped in a falsetto tone as the excruciating pain from the groin pull caused his arms to slacken around Octavia before she then took a deep breath and rammed her head backwards into Beast's nose as hard as she could. She heard the sharp yelp and warm fluid drip on her head as she effectively broke Hank's nose, but it additionally hurt her as well as Beast finally released Octavia.

"Ow…how does Falco do this all the time?" Octavia groaned to herself as she then effectively did a hook kick as Beast's temple while he was distracted, and thankfully, she did it hard enough to cause his head to crack sharply to the right before Beast slumped to the floor, dazed and nearly unconscious. Unfortunately, though it freed her, Beach Head was about to place the heart in his hands back into the unconscious general's body.

"Aquara Tigershark Tsunami!" Octavia intoned, slamming her palms on the ground, and instantly, the army Ranger was swept up by another surf of water, and this time, there was no one to help him escape, and with a powerful movement, the flood of water washed him off his feet and slammed him against the wall. Beach Head cursed as fire and torment ate at his shoulders, neck, and thoracic regions of his spinal column from being thumped against the metal side. But now determined like a true Ranger, Beach Head just crossed his arms over the heart crystal and clutched it close to his chest, tucking in his legs in a fetal position to lessen the impact of the water churning all around him. But the more urgent question was how long Beach Head could hold his breath.

Octavia look worried as she continued to keep Beach Head submerged, shaking him in the watery prison back and forth in an effort to cause him to release his heart. But before she could continued, Wolverine blitzed her with claws drawn and ready.

"You're dead, Octavia!" roared Wolverine, and Octavia suddenly became more worried at trying to survive as she hurriedly backed away and riotously sidestepped, shirked, and ducked, attempting to avoid being quartered and gaining as much of a space between herself and the feral mutant. Unfortunately, it was difficult to say the least as Wolverine kept trying to gore her.

Meanwhile, Falco was having problems of his own…

"That's enough, Falco!" roared Captain America as he charged towards the blue-feathered avian with a flying leap, his red, white, and blue shield in front and ready to deliver a rather painful blitz with the Avenger's tackle. Falco's eyes widened beneath the red feathers; his normal energy barrier couldn't handle physical attacks, only projectiles. With that, Falco went for another tactic as he threw out both of his arms.

"Refleg-!" he began, but Captain America reached him first before he could finish the spell, and Falco swore he felt his ribs crack and the breath and proverbial wind being knocked out of his body when Steve slammed into his torso, his chest now exploding with pain and throbbing.

WHAM!

Falco swore that he was close to passing out as he fell and crashed to the ground from his position in the air, stars and blossoming anguish now stabbing fire in his skull and sternum as he found it difficult to even draw in breath. Being hit by Captain America after being introduced face first to his shield wasn't exactly something one can walk away from. Still, he was furiously trying to survive and punch back as he tried to buck off Captain America who was doing his best to pin him down.

"Get off me, you bastard!" Falco snarled as he tried to punch at his opponent's jaw, but the man deftly caught the wing before it could even get close and squeezed, nearly breaking Falco's arm in the process before slamming and pressing it against the floor uselessly. Falco then tried using his knee to position right underneath Captain America's stomach so that he could gain leverage to roll the soldier off of him, but it was apparent that Captain America also knew that tactic very well as he crossed his legs over Falco's and effectively locked them, unwilling to let Falco kick him in the stomach (or groin for that matter).

"Falco, stop this! We don't want to kill you – hey! Quit it!" Steve yelled, abruptly leaving his reasoning incomplete as Falco tried using his other hand to punch and strike at the superhuman with a variety of punches, his fist now as quick as the wind and too blurry for even Captain America to catch. And though he was built and solid muscle, Steve had to admit that the bird's cuffs were quick and quite irritating, thumping repeatedly against his chest, face, and stomach. And with his other arm holding his shield, Captain America couldn't pin down Falco's free wing. And as much as he would have liked to, Captain America couldn't use his weapon to behead the bird.

"Well, that's funny, because if you don't get your fat ass off me, I **will** kill you! Let go!" roared Falco as he continued his swift assault as Black Widow rushed towards with her fists and her knife ready. Captain America then had a brilliant idea as he brought out the metal disc in front of him, putting it between himself and Falco's wing. There was a sharp ringing noise as Falco's fist struck the shield, and this was followed by the split-second sensation of having all his finger-bones break from hitting an instrument made of vibranium and adamantium.

Falco let loose the foulest string of cause words he could summon as he was pretty damned sure that his hand was now severely injured. He gave Captain America a look of hate as he cursed, "**_Augh!_** You broke my hand, you goddamned jarhead!"

"Falco, stop this! You're only making things worse for yourself!" Captain America ordered sternly as he reached over to press against the pressure point between Falco's neck and his right shoulder, intending to squeeze it hard enough to knock the bird out by manipulating the blood flow of his carotid artery. But Falco was now burning and flowing with fire again, and Captain America cursed, feeling the flames eat through his costume. He should have anticipated that sooner had Falco not been struggling and bucking around so much…

"Fire Bird!" roared Falco as he rocketed out from underneath the Avenger, causing him to go flying backwards and taking him by surprise as he crashed, slightly smoking though thankfully he wasn't seriously burned. Black Widow rushed forward with her knife and swipe at the flaming avian, obviously not the least bit intimidated from the fire, but then with his uninjured hand, he did a one armed handstand before ducking and kicking both of his booted feet upwards. Black Widow effortlessly blocked the feet from striking her chin and breaking her jawbone with both of her arms. But then to the Russian Avenger's surprise, this was exactly what Falco was hoping for as both of his feet surprisingly locked around her forearms and using this leg-hold, Falco grunted as he pulled downwards with his legs, his back hitting the floor, and threw Black Widow with his legs. Caught by surprise at this show of dexterity, Natalia had no choice but to be completely taken by surprise as she was hurled against Captain America, knocking the both of them off their feet and crashing into a heap.

"Correction, you patriotic dickhead: I'm only doing what it takes to save everyone, including you miserable lackeys!" Falco spat at the stunned and dazed two Avengers.

Meanwhile, Wolverine finally pinned down Octavia, using the claws of one hand to anchor her to the ground with the two outer claws close to decapitating her on either side of her slender neck and the middle claw pressing ever so slightly on her windpipe. And Logan's other hand was raised over his head, ready to stab the Tigershark in the head. And Octavia didn't dare try to attack and struggle unless she wanted to be beheaded, and she didn't know any other offensive spells. However, the column that was trapping Beach Head was still frothing and agitating wildly. If he didn't drop the heart or if Octavia didn't let go of the spell, the army Ranger would drown. And all the other heroes were still trying to rescue to the others trapped in the previous attack of the Aquara Kingdom Octavia cast.

"Let go of Beach Head," Logan growled murderously.

"If he lets go of General Hawk's heart, I will! I just need to scan it, and if it's not a Talisman - !" protested Octavia, but then Logan cut her off brutally.

"No compromise. Either let him go or I kill you here and now, tramp," Wolverine growled, and Octavia felt her insides curdle. The wild, insane, and wrathful look on the X-Man's face showed that there was no question that Wolverine would murder her if she didn't comply. But if the heart was a Talisman…

Octavia didn't answer, quivering slightly, and Wolverine was about to stab her when Falco zoomed up from behind and delivered a powerful blow to the X-Men's spine, using a combination of his wind magic and using both feet as a powerful push kick.

"Aeroga Shadow Phantasm!" roared Falco, and with a surprised and agonized yelp, Wolverine was sent flying forward off of Octavia and crashing face first into a pile of ruined machinery and computer components. Octavia panted heavily from terror as she felt two nicks on either side of her neck, both of them bleeding slightly but thankfully, they were very minor. Falco thankfully got to her before Wolverine could carry out his threat.

"Are you all right?" Falco asked as he pulled Octavia up.

"Yes, I'm fine," Octavia managed to hoarsely whisper before she looked at the still trapped Beach Head, still clutching Hawk's heart and very close to releasing the pent up breath in his body, precariously close to dying. But the look he gave to Octavia and Falco was clear.

He would die first before he would give up General Hawk's heart. If Falco and Octavia were going to get a chance to probe General Hawk's heart, it would be over his corpse first.

Question was: would Octavia be willing to kill Beach Head for it? Falco obviously wasn't as bothered with the notion, but for the female octopus, it was a different matter entirely. Sacrificing a heart was bad enough, but killing a Ranger who was obviously willing to die for his friend and general?

It was then that the former Tigershark made the decision she knew she could live with.

"It's not a Talisman! Falco, that heart was worthless! I managed to probe it before Wolverine attacked me!" Octavia said, tugging on Falco's arm, "It's not a Talisman, and we're both hurt! We best escape as while we still can! Let them have the heart!"

May the spirits of her dead teammates and Falco forgive her for that little lie. And to her relief, though Falco gave her a questioning look, he didn't object nor suspect that his teammate was deceiving him.

"Fine! Let's go!" the avian commanded, and Octavia used all the concentration and willpower she could muster, her soul heavy and the toll of guilt starting to wrap its chains around her stomach and shoulders for her lie to her only friend, as she manipulated the wave of water to release Beach Head before crashing against the heroes and sweeping them off their feet.

"Don't worry, I gotcha!" yelled Genie as he magically summoned a gigantic parasol and opened it fully, shielding the base operatives, the Avengers, the Joes, the X-Men, and the Misfits from the cascade of water from squashing them, and through they all got drenched, they thankfully weren't injured (though a few such as Kitty and Jamie were knocked down to their knees). But when the water levels lowered and faded away, they were left inside a wrecked operations center with a coughing Beach Head, weakened but still triumphantly clutching General Hawk's heart. Falco and Octavia were gone. But then again, so were all the Heartless.

"Damn. The buggers flew the coop," cursed Burke.

"But not Zartan at least. We've got him with that killer tracer we placed on him before he managed to escape out of our grasp. And from what I can read, he's heading south! Wherever he's heading, he's making his way down south of the country! The Dreadnoks' aircrafts are fast, but they're not fast enough! So if we want to catch them, we gotta book out of here!" Forge broke in with a hint of excitement, glad that at least they had at least some good news.

"South? Of Russia?" asked Multiple incredulously, trying to think of which city would possibly be a safe enough haven for the Dreadnoks.

"But where are they going is the more pertinent question? Are to heading to China? Kazakhstan? Where could they head to that they could have any possible use for genetic samples?" Cover Girl asked.

"Of course," exclaimed Low Light as he slapped his forehead at the recollection, "India! Don't you remember Burke and Wisdom's intelligence reports?! Xamot and Tomax have been rumored to have been spotted in India! That's a country famous for secretive black market dealings! If a renegade mercenary is going to make some sort of profit from stolen genetic samples, then that would be the perfect environment for him to disappear to!"

Wolverine reached to the Ranger first, and though he still had a lot of water in his lungs, Beach Head would be fine after some bed rest and a thorough examination.

"You did good, Sneeden," Logan managed to quip with a smile.

The masked and waterlogged Beach Head managed to cough weakly while lifting his ski mask just enough to expose his mouth so that he could spit out some water and rasped with some pride, "I'm a Joe, and I simply did what Hawk would do for me or any other soldier."

Piotr then strode to Kitty who was still on her side, fatigued and tired.

"Shadowcat, _Katya_…are you all right?" he asked breathlessly, going out of his mind with panic and worry as he stooped down to help Kitty up from her facedown and sprawled position in the semi-flooded floor. Shadowcat did her best to control to rising and snarling anger in her gut as she shakily but coldly responded back with gritted teeth, "I'm like fine, Colossus."

The metal-armored Russian X-Man was still not having any of it as he tried to collect Kitty in his arms, like a baby, as he continued on blithely and obviously not reading the looks on annoyance on Kitty's face, "No, you're not all right, Katya. You're soaked to the bone and completely exhausted. I can teleport you back to the X-Mansion where you can get some hot soup and a blanket while I come back here to go after Zartan. And you can - "

"**_Can you like stop babying me?! I am so totally sick of this coming from you!_**" snapped the valley girl, her blue eyes flashing. Piotr blinked once, twice, at his girlfriend before his face fell and he went silent, hurt. This allowed the moment for Shadowcat to phase out of his brawny arms and landed gently back on the ground.

"Jolly good of you, getting though your 'older brother' like that, love," muttered Pete Wisdom in sarcasm as he fished out the only cigarette that was no completely waterlogged and lit it with a match, inhaling the refreshing nicotine.

"Oh shut up!" snapped Kitty at the British agent. Avalanche had trouble hiding his glee at that blow-up, and Simba, glaring at his partner, broke the lovesick gazing by shaking his entire furry body and mane, causing a cascade of droplets to strike Lance and everyone else nearby and snapping Lance out of his reverie.

"Hey!" Avalanche protested, now dripping.

_I did nothing wrong. It is my duty to stop you from doing something foolish…or acting like an idiot over an air-headed female_, Simba responded back with a grin and quite smarmily to boot through his telepathic connection.

"What's the damage, Fury?" Cover Girl asked, bracing herself for bad news. She wasn't disappointed as Nick Fury's face turned grim, his white hair and the lines on his face now being even more apparent, making him incredibly weary and older than before as he finished receiving the report through his communicator-link in his ear at the despoliation.

Fury stated in a somber voice, tinged with anger, "Over ten of my best men and women here at the base have been accounted for, and there's probably more to come once we get the damage cleared out. The Heartless and that Organization bastard did most of the damage, but Cobra and the Dreadnoks weren't helping matters either. The only thing that doesn't make this as bad as it could be is that I know better than to accept this as a complete loss is that their hearts still have a chance to be regained back from this whole Gathering mess that it's all supposed to be leading to."

"We'll get them back. You have our word, yo," Toad chimed in, but Fury shot him a look of daggers.

"Promises mean little to me in this line of work. I stick with results, Toad. And your Genie wasn't exactly helping otherwise he would have caught those two troublemakers in the first place by now. For a genie with infinite powers, you are certainly incompetent at using them effectively!"

Genie just snorted, turning up his nose and looking insulted.

Beach Head then knelt down next to his unconscious friend and fellow soldier as gently placed the heart over General Hawk's chest with a lot more tenderness than the Joes and Misfits thought was not even remotely capable of the army Ranger to exhibit. But then again, it should have been no surprise; his fight with Falco exemplified how much Beach Head respected and was loyal to Hawk. Instantly, the heart started to glow before turning translucent and merged into the man's chest, forming, to everyone's surprise, a keyhole glittering underneath the dim and broken lamps appeared, glowing with a small but noticeable purple sheen.

"Purple?" blinked Brittany before it clicked which Keyblade would fit it.

"Blob, seal the keyhole! Your Heavyweight will keep this thing under control!" versed Roadblock, commanded sternly to Fred with a rhyme, and nodding, white in the face, Fred nervously held out his Keyblade and pointed it at General Hawk. With a flash, a low humming noise originated from his Keyblade before a purple sphere formed at the tip and shot a beam of light into General Hawk's chest, emitting a loud click. Now locked, the keyhole faded away.

Blob sighed with relief as he said, "Just glad it's over, now."

"No, it isn't Blob," Burke commented worriedly, "Zartan still made off with the Legacy samples from Dr. MacTaggert's research. And who knows how much information he received while under the guise of Dr. Sanderson."

"He never attended the meetings or was invited to the Mansion when the adults had the discussion, so he probably doesn't know anything that you guys discussed," Magma tried pointing out.

"And he never came to the Pit or Misfit Manor either, so he wouldn't learn anything new there," added Daria, frowning.

"But he still has samples from the Legacy Virus! Damn it all! They planned this whole thing! The frontal attack with Cobra's B.A.T.S. androids and the secretive secondary attack by the Dreadnoks that we were able to anticipate! We thought we had the buggers, and it turns out that Zartan disguised as Dr. Sanderson was a third and clandestine incursion that we didn't anticipate!" Agent Burke groaned.

"They're getting smarter," Cyclops groaned, "And Zartan really set this up! None of us saw this coming around the same time the Organization was attacking! We were too focused on stopping the Heartless and that maniac from the Organization!"

Wavedancer then frowned as she remarked out loud, "Actually, I don't think Zartan was in on this with the Organization. Something just doesn't seem right about all this…"

"But how on Earth did they find out that Dr. MacTaggert kept samples of her Legacy Virus here at S.H.I.E.L.D? And how did Zartan know about it? The Institute is protected from the Heartless thanks to Leomon's spell! There's no way for them to find out by eavesdropping on the school!" Jean gasped, squeezing a mass tendril of her red hair in an attempt to get it dry.

"Do you think they're working for Organization Thirteen? That Cobras siding with the Heartless?" asked Amara, nervously wringing her hands. The last thing they needed was the Hellfire Club and the Thirteenth Order increasing their supporters and the number of helpers to give them more trouble.

Spirit frowned as he then gave his opinion, pointing out, "I don't think so, Magma. Whoever that Organization swordsman was, he didn't seem to be on terms with the Dreadnok leader. Zartan seemed terrified, as if he didn't expect to run into him, as he's not_ that_ good of an actor. And from what I can recall of his dialogue, he didn't seem interested in gaining the Legacy Virus otherwise he would have commanded the Heartless to take Zartan prisoner or forcibly taken the Legacy samples from him with his magic."

"That's right!" gasped Bree as she held a compress to Beach Head's throbbing head, "That black robed guy just told the Heartless to ignore him! As if he just let him go, that we were more important! He didn't even _try_ to steal Zartan's heart!"

"You're assuming that Zartan even has one," quipped Wanda dryly.

"This isn't a time for jokes, Scarlet Witch," Low Light broke in gruffly, "And I agree with Bree and Spirit. It doesn't seem typical of those Thirteenth Order assholes; they'd want every heart that comes their way. The fact that this guy and the Heartless just suddenly show an act of mercy on Cobra, a potential rival in taking over the world against the Inner Circle, this really doesn't add up. If anything, they let Zartan escape with the samples of the Legacy Virus for a reason! They must _want_ Cobra to have it!"

"Which is why we need to tail after Zartan and stop him, before he and Cobra can use it as a biological weapon!" Blind Master retorted.

"And how many times must I tell you that it can't truly be used in that manner, Blind Master?!" retorted Dr. MacTaggert sharply.

"Dr. MacTaggert, even if they couldn't use it as biological terrorism, they could still use the Legacy Virus to breed their own mutants, like how Mindbender has tried to do so with Cobra's synthoids. They could use the Legacy genetic samples to breed X-Genes of their own, or perhaps use it as a smart bomb to mutate an entire population like before! Cobra Commander has attempted that in the past with the Venomous Maximus debacle and the attempt to raise the army of venom troopers!" Spirit protested.

"**_Any_** virus can be mutated to cause epidemics and be used as biological weapons! But it can't work in this case! As underhanded and disgusting as Zartan is, he knew what he was talking about as Dr. Sanderson! And Cobra is attempting to use the Legacy to experiment and create mutant soldiers of his own, then they will be severely disappointed! Legacy _can't_ be manipulated to cause mutates and artificially create X-Genes! Romanova is living proof of this! It was meant _to heal and nullify the impact of destructive genes and alleles_, like how I did with Black Widow and the children back at Muir Isle! Put it next to DNA that has no X-Gene and no defects and damage like Black Widow's, and it will be completely unresponsive! If anything, Cobra can only use the vectors and virus samples to help their own human soldiers for medicinal purposes again deficiency or suppress and…target…"

Moira trailed off as her eyes widened in shock as a very horrific and terrible possibility struck her, and her very words actually sparked the same bit of realization among the heroes.

"No…" murmured Captain America, his brow crinkled underneath his mask.

"A virus that only suppress and targets people who carry the X-Gene…" the Professor mused with growing dread.

"And combine it with Dr. Mindbender's chance to screw around with genes along with his genius for genetic and biological terrorism…" continued Cover Girl.

"We have a smart weapon that will either leave mutants powerless…**_or worse_**," Low Light finished grimly, his face white as he remembered that he too was a mutant.

"And all the Keybladers are bloody mutants! No wonder the Thirteenth Order is keen on the wrong people getting the Legacy Virus! The Misfits have more than enough enemies outside Cobra or the Hellfire Club who'd want to use the damned thing on them!" Pete Wisdom cursed as he glanced at the Misfits who were now incredibly uncomfortable as they looked at each other.

"And the X-Men are additionally the **_only_** ones who have gained Elementa magic through that dumb mutt…" Beach Head groaned, gripping his head with one hand in aggravation, and Pluto gave a terse, low growl at the army Ranger, but considering that he had tasted garbage that was much more pleasant to his pallet that the Ranger's hide, he didn't want to risk having another day or two a filthy aftertaste.

"Bad. Heavy. Now I wish we **did** use the Yellow Materia…" Forge managed to whisper with fear to Nightcrawler as Captain America stood up and talked to the Joes and Misfits. Kurt had to admit that the inventor had a point. Even if it wasn't them, the Keyblades and magic could be reassigned to Superman, Batman, Buffy Summers or Faith Lehane of the Slayers, one of the Charmed Ones, Robin or Raven of the Teen Titans. Even General Hawk, a human Joe (and now immune). People who weren't mutants and who were worthy and strong enough to harness the Keyblades. Now, they were stuck in a position where only carriers of the X-Gene were the ones chosen to use the only real gifts that could stop the Hellfire Heartless. And the Inner Circle and Organization Thirteen were apparently trying to do what it takes to exploit that weakness.

"We'll have to trail after Zartan and the Dreadnoks then," Captain America said.

"Go with the Misfits and X-Men then, Captain. Black Widow, Dr. Ross, stay here and help me secure the base. With the area just struck after a Heartless attack, we're now the most vulnerable and this would be the perfect opportunity for additional enemies of ours to attack! We have to secure the base!" Fury commanded sternly, changing his view from Captain America to the two aforementioned women. Although Black Widow agreed, nodding, she looked reluctant, as if she wanted to go along with Captain America.

"Moira, stay with them and see if you can salvage whatever you can to bring back with you to the Institute," Professor Xavier spoke to his friend. The brown-haired Irish nodded, white in the face.

"Be careful, Charles," she replied back, apprehensive.

"Duke, you getting all this? We could really use an assist," Roadblock versed as he spoke in the communicator. He was relaying a private message back to Mainframe over at the G.I. Joe Pit, and the computer expert in return was broadcasting the message to Duke, the next chain in command available since Flint was over at the west coast. Ever since Falco and Octavia left, Roadblock turned on his communicator and relayed the situation.

"All the Joes are still helping to rebuild the base along with the Eloi after the last attack with Blackheart. I could send Willow and the Outriders to escort you if anything, but since they're mutants and it sounds as if the Hellfire Heartless are indirectly involved with this, they wouldn't do you much good if you're tailing the Dreadnoks and if you run into the Organization again," Duke answered back

"Agreed. We'll need non-mutant warriors in order to deal with this effectively. What about the League?" Fury asked, joining in on the conversation.

"They're still rebuilding the Watchtower from the Heartless attack that framed them for the destruction in D.C. and not to mention that a good portion of them are still out stopping several of the League's other enemies here on Earth as well as making rounds to other parts of the Andromeda Galaxy. They're busy at the moment."

"It never fails," groaned Fury.

"Wait, what about a Ghostbuster? Any way we can contact Jenny Calendar?" Roadblock versed, knowing that since a good portion of their recruits were paranormals, their powers and abilities wouldn't strengthen the Hellfire Heartless.

"There is no need to do that. We are listening in with Duke as of now, Mr. Hinton," Jenny Calendar's stern yet amiable voice broke in through the communicators, startling both the Joe and the S.H.I.E.L.D leader from hearing the Ghostbusters' representative from out of the blue. Nick Fury was floored, even outraged as this was supposedly a private and encrypted frequency and the S.H.I.E.L.D base was supposed to be well-protected from any attempt to hack into calls.

"How the hell did you get on this transmission?! I know as sure as hell that I didn't authorize that!" Fury roared, and Roadblock had to wince at the ringing in his ears from the head's outburst.

"I was invited by Duke to join in this impromptu exchange, and my hacker, Michael, was able to hone in the frequency of S.H.I.E.L.D so that we could communicate. And before you tell me that I am violating your privacy, rest assured that the Ghostbusters will not intrude or hack into any of our allies' networks. The Powers That Be would not permit such tactics against those who fight to protect this planet. And Duke gave me full authorization of G.I. Joe and all powers withstanding to form a junction with this electronic conference."

"It's true. I contacted her immediately when Roadblock came in, and she instantly joined in," Duke remarked before addressing to the woman, "Ms. Calendar, we will need help. If Zartan is heading to India and if there are more monsters from Organization Thirteen waiting there, we can't go charging in blindly nor disregard the general populace. It'll be a difficult fight to say the least."

"You will not fight alone, then," Jenny's voice rang strongly, brisk, "Go tail after Zartan and his Dreadnoks in India, and rendezvous with the Ghostbusters over in the city of New Delhi, next to the United States Embassy building, and you do not need to worry about the time being put to waste in meeting them. If Zartan is as cunning and sneaky as you say, then the assistance the Spirit Detectives will provide you with should be a great help. I'm having Michael send them instruction to go at once immediately once they finish their exorcisms. Trust me, should any Heartless or any soldier from Organization Thirteen arrive to hinder your efforts, then they could provide you powerful backup."

"Wait…I'm sorry, but **_spirit_** detectives? Even for Ghostbusters, that sounds far-fetched and corny, Calendar," Fury said with a touch of disdainful disbelief.

"I assure you that they are _nothing_ to laugh at, Mr. Fury."

Captain America could see the logic in that; Saïx was incredibly powerful and brutal, and what worried the masked soldier was that he wasn't sure if he could handle the next round with the scarred sword-wielder. Or any other unknown warrior that was just as unpredictable and powerful from the Thirteenth Order. And he and Black Widow were the only ones around available currently who were not mutants. And the human Joes weren't strong enough to face the Heartless as effective back-up.

Though Nick Fury and Roadblock wanted to refuse the woman due to the fact that more allies joining in the fight could potentially slow them down, Duke's voice broke in strongly, saying, "Agreed. We'll meet up with your Ghostbusters in New Dehli. Roadblock, take the Joes and Misfits with the Mass Device and head to India. Fury, it'll be your call. Even though Cobra is mostly a G.I. Joe matter, I have no problems if you want S.H.I.E.L.D. to join in. But don't lose Zartan; there's no telling what he'll do with MacTaggert's genetic Legacy samples."

Biting back his tongue, the African-American machine gunner responded back, "Understood. Roadblock out."

---

"Experiments 380 to 384 have all failed and been thoroughly defeated. However, we have acquired seventeen hearts from the attack at S.H.I.E.L.D's base, and Zartan has finally made off with the genetic samples he needs to give to Cobra Commander and his pitiful group…as well as any others who may be interested," Saïx intoned in an emotionless voice as he calmly and slowly ambled into the headquarters of the Organization in the white marble room of the Fountain of the Oracle.

"Excellent, the pawn in the move then," Lexaeus remarked with a slight chin, breaking the carved and solemn expression on his square and chiseled face.

"And General Black of the Omega Jugglers says that a representative over at Wolfram and Hart is arriving in India to buy the samples of the Legacy along with quite a few…interesting investors. Zartan may indeed be a very rich man," Xaldin commented, idly tracing his finger over the smooth, cold waters of crystal-clear diamond in the collected pool of the fountain.

"And of course, thanks to our moles in Cobra as well as how Eiling and Waller will be relying on those snake-fools, it will ensure that Cobra commander will the most troublesome and problematic to the Keyblade wielders as well as the X-Men," chuckled Vexen.

Axel twirled a fire-tipped chakram on one finger expertly, as he always had done when he was bored, saying with crude jest, "Of course, if that doesn't work, we've still got our back-up plans with that chrome-domed Xavier and his school of lackeys."

The Superior then thought carefully before turned at last to Marluxia, feeling he would need an opportunity to engage the heroes and should they bring along additional help (and most likely they would), it would be a wonderful chance for Marluxia to finally hone his fighting skills.

"Go accompany Zartan from the shadows, but like Saïx, do not allow yourself to be seen nor give Zartan any indication that we are fully aware of his secretive plans to sell the Legacy information to as many villains and crooks as he can. Should the heroes arrive to stop the mercenary's proposal, arrive and infect one of the defender fools with one of the Hellfire spores as well as taking several of the ready experiments as cavalry. Engage yourself well in this next fight. However, be careful. As your Lunar Divider has just discovered, our opponents of this planet are not to be underestimated and they are slowly growing in number, as to be expected. Keep in mind that Wavedancer herself had killed Sephiroth, our most powerful warrior born from the Heartless, so do not allow yourself to be taken by surprise."

The brown-haired man in the black cloak smirked, but nodded respectfully as he summoned his pink and green flower scythe, the pink blade glinting dangerously among the clouds of pink flower petals that started to surround the Organization warrior.

"As you command, my Superior…" Marluxia said with a chuckle as the flowers swirled around him before causing him to fade from the darkness that enveloped his body as he summoned the portal to Dr. Hamilton's lab.

**Author's Notes: Next Saturday, we head to India where the heroes try to stop Zartan and the Dreadnoks from auctioning off the Legacy Virus to not only Xamot and Tomax for Cobra's behalf, but many other nefarious enemies of the numerous defenders here on Earth. Forge finally has a private talk with Kurt and the Triplets about how sick he is about this entire war and how much he wishes he was never a part of this war, how he could just go to the sidelines and invent instead of fight, but things may not turn out the be the best way for Forge to get what he wants as Marluxia comes in the make things even more complicated by infecting Kurt with the Hellfire spores. Folks, you won't want to miss next week's chapter in which our resident inventor and disaster finally comes to battle for not only his life but for his friends' in the chapter, "Thunder-Forge" and until next Saturday, read and enjoy! Constructive criticism welcome!**


	31. ThunderForge

**Author's Notes: I am very sorry I was so late with this chapter! My fellow readers, I profusely apologize! But I am here, and this story will continue to be updated, and I hope the long chapter helps makes up for it. Don't worry, I'm not dead, and nothing bad happened to me!**

**Fictives: Nuts! We threw that celebration party for nothing!**

**Quiet, you. As it turns out, this weekend, real life bit me quite hard and I discovered that this was a somewhat important chapter considering it was one of the more vital ones! And I did not wish to sacrifice the quality of this chapter since I really got into writing it.**

**Fictives: This piece of schlock is supposed to have quality?!**

**Oh be quiet, all of you! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this long chapter and realize that I do not own the characters "Yu Yu Hakusho" for they are anime characters owned by VIZ media and creator, Yoshishiro Togashi. The reason they are here is because they are fellow Ghostbusters in Sparky Genocide's universe, and the Ghostbusters are again allies of the X-Men, Misfits, and Joes against the Heartless. Hope you enjoy and don't mind the delay too much from writer's block!**

**Fictives: In your case, there's a thin line between writer's block and a lack of talent!**

**I'm warning you, fictives, don't push me! Oh yeah, and to the reviewer named "noone" please feel free to send me an e-mail or a PM using the site's messaging service! I am more than happy to discuss the plot with you since it's already been planned out. I can't get back to you since your review is anonymous. To my other loyal readers, I hope this chapter makes up for everything!**

**CHAPTER 31: Thunder-Forge**

"Tala…" General Eiling of Cadmus intoned with a smile as the purple-haired sorceress appeared before him in the abandoned meeting room back at their headquarters, "What is the status?"

Tala decorously smoothed out her purple robes and smiled, her eyes sparkling with the satisfaction of how their plans were smoothly flowing into successful motion as she answered, "Everything is working perfectly, Eiling. Not only has my magic allowed the Dreadnoks to successfully pull their raid on the S.H.I.E.L.D base in Russia and take Fury by surprise, but they are heading to Mumbai in India as you have requested. And I have received reports that the investors who are interested in purchasing Dr. MacTaggert's stolen research and genetic samples have already collected at the designated assembly point."

"Excellent. Continue using your magic to disguise and throw the heroes off Zartan's trail and cloak the entire city with your magic. With any luck, it should distract the Joes and those heroic fools long enough to allow Zartan and his ilk to sell and spread the Legacy Virus to the various shady enterprises who wish to get it. The more those genetic samples spread, the harder it will be for the heroes in the future. This way, on the very _slim_ chance that they do win the Gathering, we'll have enough enemies using the Legacy for their own twisted schemes to give the heroes further trouble. And frankly, some of us, Luthor and the Organization especially, have intended to make sure that regardless of the outcome, we will survive…Waller not included. However, it is incredibly funny to watch Waller act as our little pawn to help bring the Justice League for their 'crimes' by going to Wolfram and Hart, due to a few suggestive ponderings placed in her ear by Luthor and I. General Black assured me that the Senior Partners will have fun with her before her death."

Apparently, Eiling wasn't very modest in his string-pulling.

"And I?" Tala requested coldly, her instincts rising. Eiling shot her a condescending look of affront before clarifying.

"If we were going to kill you, I wouldn't be saying this and all our other plans in front of your face, now would I, Tala? Now go to Mumbai and follow your orders to cover the Dreadnoks as much as possible. It is impertinent that Cobra especially manages to get their hands on the Legacy, especially since strange and Milo have informed me that Cobra Commander is already on his way to attempting to create his own brand of Heartless for Cobra. Let me assure you that we hold you on higher regards than Waller."

Tala nodded, although she still glared at Eiling with incredibly suspicion, wariness, and skepticism as she turned heel and vanished, teleporting away to India where the Dreadnoks were hiding. However, when she left, Eiling's smirk grew wider.

_Of course, that's not saying much since killing you was part of our plan anyway_, he thought wickedly.

---

"Ugh, this is impossible. We're _never_ going to find them at this rate," Cover Girl groaned as she and a few of the other adults stood on the grounds of the United Kingdom Embassy in the city of Mumbai in the state of Maharashtra. It had only been twelve hours after the attack, and already, all the heroes wearily dawned on the realization that attempting to find the Dreadnoks and Zartan (who was an uncanny and expert in disguise and camouflage) in the urban city of India was like trying to find a needle in a stack of needles. Beach Head was understandably not with them. After being nearly drowned by Octavia's water spells and that he swallowed worrisome amounts of salt water, Bree teleported the unconscious Hawk and Ranger with the Mass Device to the infirmary where Doc and a few of his medical staff would treat the two and make sure Wayne wouldn't suffer from accidental secondary-drowning. Plus, they needed to pick up a few tools as well as needing the portable Cerebro helmet from the X-Mansion so that Professor Xavier could try tracing Zartan's movements since he technically was a mutant with chameleon-like abilities along with his daughter, Zanya. And as Roadblock and Low Light pointed out, if Zartan and his Dreadnoks were involved, then it was a given that his family of Zandar, Zarana, and Zanya would be involved as well.

Unfortunately, this was done twelve hours ago from last night, with the mutants needing to go meet with the Ghostbusters, the Spirit Detectives, in New Delhi at the United States Embassy, before going immediately afterwards to the municipal that was formerly known as Bombay with their new tools. So it was rather understandable that tensions, frustrations, and fatigue would be high since no one had any rest or food and barely enough time for a bathroom break.

Thankfully, Burke and Wisdom were able to use their authority and ties to A.U.N.T.I.E to request entrance for the Joes and Misfit handlers as well as Blob into the embassy building, thus ensuring that the Professor could perform his mental probes in seclusion and relative privacy while the others were exploring the entire grounds of the city, but considering that this was a population of at least ten million men, women, and children, it was going to take some time.

"Any luck?" asked Low Light while the Professor was doing a massive mental probe over the entire city with his telepathic powers, certainly not an easy feat. Xavier sighed and shook his head as he continued to probe.

"Unfortunately, no and I am making little progress," Xavier said, "Not only can I only keep an accurate pinpoint on Zartan only if he uses his mutation so that it can be picked up by Cerebro, but he and the other Dreadnoks are wearing the same anti-telepathy mental scramblers that are similar to the ones you use in G.I. Joe. Add to the fact that for some reason, this city is incredibly fuzzy to my telepathic probes, but this is a gigantic if not colossal crowd of people to sift through. I have been at this for over two hours and I still cannot locate them, although to be fair, exhaustion may be a factor to this."

"_Fuzzy?_" blinked Bree, nervously finger the straps of the butane flamethrower that she was lugging around her back like a knapsack (since this was concerning the Dreadnoks, Bree would need additional weapons to help her fight). Xavier explained.

"I cannot explain it, but normally, when I use my telepathy to probe a small area, it is clear and easy for me to delve around the numerous consciousnesses and sense people's thoughts and detect specific brain-patterns that are as unique and incriminating as fingerprints. Unfortunately, for some reason here in Mumbai, not only do I have to deal with an abnormally large city, but there is some alien energy that is making it rather difficult for my probes, even with Cerebro. It isn't stopping me completely, but it is making things more difficult. Instead of diving into a clear swimming pool to find a quarter, in this case, it is like trying to delve through a muddy riverbank."

"Great, just great," moaned Low Light, "Of course things are never easy."

"Let's just hope the others are having better luck than we are," Blob murmured, feeling his stomach rumble and growl, "It's almost lunchtime and I'm hungry!"

"Patience, Blob. I fear that you may be involved with fighting with your Keyblade sooner than we'd all like," Xavier said worriedly as he continued to scan.

At the same time, amongst the rooftop in order to have an aerial viewpoint of the city from above as well as have some relative privacy from prying eyes and the crowds of civilians and police officers down below, another group of heroes which consisted of Beast, Spyke, Shadowcat, Colossus, Pete Wisdom, Spirit, Blind Master, Xi and Whitelighter.

"I can't see anything from here," Hank murmured to his group as he looked through his binoculars along with Pete Wisdom and Spirit, "And this is the fourth point of observation that we have been too above the slum and destitute areas in the entire region. Suffice to say that this is a bit disconcerting."

"I hope this gets resolved soon," Whitelighter moaned, "I'm so tired, and I've never orbed this many people from roof-top to roof-top before."

"Don't whine and just prepare yourself mentally for battle, Whitelighter," Blind Master commanded sternly to his surrogate and charge, "If we do find the Dreadnoks, then it would mean that a rather ugly firefight will take place, and we don't need you and the other kids getting hurt from this."

Justin ruefully nodded before Spirit remarked, "To be fair, Gabriel, none of us had any rest since yesterday. Not only did we immediately head out to India right after the attack on Fury's outpost where it was night there and now, it is around lunchtime without food nor sleep. We cannot hold the kids out from being slightly exhausted and hungry."

"But we couldn't rest. The longer we dawdle, the less likely we'll be able to stop the Dreadnoks from doing whatever depraved plans they have for the virus as well as the trail becoming too cold for us to follow, so to speak. Although I admit some savory sustenance would be welcome," Hank pointed out.

"I'll say…" Xi muttered, "I'm dying for warm chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk right now."

"Or a hot shower and a long sleep," Piotr added, looking wistful. Agent Wisdom snorted at this, but he covered this little act of disdain by lighting another cigarette with a match from his coat which was still somewhat damp from Octavia's water spells.

"And those Dreadnoks are probably keeping low because they know that we're on their tails," mused Evan, trying to place himself in the enemy's shoes and seeing their motivation, "They know that we'd be after them since the Legacy Virus, and if they want to make it difficult for us to follow them, then they'd probably would do everything they could to not attract attention for themselves by stealing, causing a riot, or starting a fight. It's not only easy for them to be lost among so many people on the streets around lunchtime, one of the busiest hours of human activity, but it's also making sure that whatever they have planned with that virus, they can do it in a city with a lot of poor and slum towns like this."

"But…like why this place? Why would the Dreadnoks like choose this city and specifically a country like India? I mean, India's pretty mellow and peaceful, isn't it?" Shadowcat asked.

Agent Wisdom answered, "Because Mumbai is India's most corrupt city, due to the fact that it is a major location for black market dealing, especially in illegal goods and secrets, one of the most prominent of branches of the world along with others in the United States, Russia, China, and the Middle East. Additionally, Mumbai is where more than half of the country's illicit and black money is generated as well as a good number of its transactions, banking and mutual funds included, as well as Mumbai's ports handle about forty percent of the maritime trade. Add to the fact that it is the most populous city in India, even more so than the national capital, New Delhi, and that a good portion of the metropolis is in dire poverty and overrun with slum lords and shady-towns, it makes it an ideal location close by to the S.H.I.E.L.D base in Russia where those snakes can rest and disappear to without worrying about being found easily as well as do whatever they bloody intend to with those Legacy samples. Effin' buggers. Cobra may be incompetent many times, but when they actually sit down and think, they can be pretty damn well effective. This couldn't have been more perfect for the Dreadnoks…"

"You seem to know a lot about shady dealings and the criminal mind. Hard to believe you are a British agent, a good guy," Piotr said with disdainful suspicion as he glared at Pete Wisdom, obviously not the least bit pleased with being near someone so crass and dark and with barely any scruples. And of course, Piotr wasn't feeling very charitable at the British agent considering that Kitty seemed to get uncomfortably chummy with him. Granted, Pete didn't do it out of purpose and it wasn't his fault, but after his past dealings and brawls with Lance Alvers for Kitty's affections, Piotr couldn't help but be bothered. And Kitty shouting at him and losing her temper simply because he was worried about her still stung, so he naturally was focused his resentment on Agent Wisdom.

"Peter!" snapped Kitty, shocked at her boyfriend's rudeness.

Pete shot a glare back at Piotr before he smugly returned back with his own jab, "Wouldn't be able to be an effective intelligence agent for A.U.N.T.I.E if I did not have an adequate amount of knowledge of the criminal mind. Of course, for someone who claims to be an X-Man, you have a rather ignorant and limited view on humans and their viewpoints as well as appropriate knowledge on how to treat your girlfriend, Mr. Overprotective."

Colossus was now incensed as he reached out to grab the British agent and either punch him in the gut or face before tossing him off the roof, but Blind Master and Spirit intervened gracefully, with the African ninja-master holding his katana so that it was between the X-Man and the A.U.N.T.I.E agent.

"Not now," Gabriel growled, and thankfully, that settled the matter.

"He still has no right to say such things, Blind Master!" Colossus protested.

"And if you're the bigger man, then you'll ignore it and not let it get in the way of the mission to locate the Dreadnoks. If and when we do get this whole Legacy mess settled and Dr. MacTaggert gets her genetic research out of those snakes' hands and into her own, then you can fight when it will not endanger us or anyone else around you," Spirit ordered sternly.

"Bloody impossible to ask from an X-Man, as Bayville civilians can attest so readily," muttered Wisdom as he took a long drag from his cigarette before he glanced at Kitty. Though she had no idea why, Kitty blushed, feeling a little hot under her collar as the Englishman stared at her, and Colossus felt even more inflamed.

"Smoking quite a bit, aren't you comrade?" Piotr said in a passive-aggressive voice, eying disdainfully at Wisdom's cigarette.

"Yes, not that it is any of your business, Colossus. I've gotten enough lectures about stopping and the dangers of smoking from enough people in my lifetime."

"Who's talking about stopping? I was actually going to encourage you to keep it up. Anything that shortens _your_ life-span is perfectly acceptable with me."

"At least on the upside, it's much less destructive and hostile than the relationship between Lance and Peter during the entire love-triangle fiasco," Beast sighed in a low voice as the two males continued to banter and snipe at each other.

"That's still not saying much," Xi grumbled.

Meanwhile, several of the X-Men and Misfits were exploring another faction of the gigantic city of around thirteen million people with a familiar quartet of male adolescents who were relatively seasoned recruits of the Ghostbusters Incorporated…

"Ow! You stabbed me on purpose, you little ratface!" yelped Kazuma Kuwabara, a human, red-haired spirit detective, wearing a white _gi_ over a black T-shirt before he whirled angrily on a smaller and short boy wearing a black sleeveless shirt, black pants and with spiky black hair pointing in a semi-cone shape. A small blossom of blood was seeping its way through Kuwabara's uniform on the outside of his upper thigh.

Hiei coolly did not even face Kuwabara's accusation, his eyes (all three of them with the third one underneath the white headband cloth tied around his head) as he said in an unemotional and flat voice, "It is hardly my fault you blundered against my sword when you bumped into me."

"_Bumped into you?!_ You little piss-faced liar! _You_ bumped into **me**! And then jabbed me in the process!"

"Please. Blaming me for your clumsiness hardly justifies the fact that you're merely an oaf."

"Damn it! Get back here and look at me when I'm talking to you!"

"The mere sight of you disgusts me. I'd rather choose to save my eyes from the trauma."

"Keep talking, smart-mouth, and your head's gonna experience trauma after I use it for a basketball!"

"Funny, I pegged you more as playing dolls and jump rope like all the other girls."

"Why you - !" shouted Kuwabara before his two other teammates and fellow spirit detectives, Yusuke Urameshi and Kurama grabbed his arms to prevent him from angering Hiei and giving the boy a reason to leave the red-haired teenager into nothing more than a pile of bloody body parts.

"You really hate each other, don't you?" Jean asked with a semi-amused look as she watched on this little spat.

"Gee, was it **that** obvious?!" snapped Kuwabara, whirling on Jean Grey with irritation.

Hiei made a soft snort under his breath as he commented rudely, "Not to someone of your small brain capacity, obviously."

"Just give me a reason, you little snotbag!" Kuwabara growled, making a fist as he struggled against Kurama and Yusuke's hold, "I don't need a sword to pound your scrawny ass!"

Not that they were able to explore the neighborhoods _quietly_ without raising a ruckus, mind you. In fact, they were on the receiving ends of a lot of horrified stares and hostile frowns from many natives considering the constantly display of mutants and G.I. Joe on the news and numerous periodicals about the mutant threat and their alliance to the Justice League and the Slayers. Thankfully, no one was foolish enough to try attacking them or anything (although Roadblock and Burke wouldn't have doubted it if it did happen).

"Remind me again why Ms. Calendar said that these 'Spirit Detectives' were to be a jolly good help in our search for Zartan and his Dreadnoks?" Burke groaned.

"Because Calendar said that they'd be a big help, and with Zartan and his Dreadnoks having Legacy, we need everyone to stop those whelps. And the spirit detectives are paranormals with no X-Gene, so if any Hellfire Heartless show up, they can help us fight them without worrying about powering up Organization Thirteen," Marvin versed.

"Still, it is rather difficult for us to take them seriously. Not only are they a bit unseasoned and extremely anti-social and uncouth, but…well, they're kids. That one named Hiei and maybe even Yusuke seems almost as young as Multiple in the X-Men," Captain America said with some wariness, obviously showing hesitation at depending on four Japanese schoolboys who hadn't even graduated high school as of yet. Had they shown up in S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters as powerful warriors, they would have invoked some laughter, despite the well-known wisdom of appearances being deceiving. Burke silently knew better. Even in his human form, he had several sources of information and connections from the demon underground societies that have managed to hide clandestinely on Earth among the humans. And after winning the Dark Tournaments, "Team Urameshi" was widely known and feared; not even Burke himself as Azazel would now be foolish enough to challenge the Spirit Detectives directly.

Magma then noticed that for Ghostbusters were all rather casually dressed, not like the others she had seen so far in her dealings with the paranormal.

"Wait…if you're Ghostbusters, then why aren't you wearing the standard Ghostbuster uniforms we've seen lately?" Amara asked at Yusuke and Kurama. Indeed, it was true. Yusuke, a wiry-muscled boy about sixteen years of age with slicked-back black hair, dark eyes and a mischievous smirk that screamed "wise-guy". He was also wearing a sleeveless white T-shirt, torn and ripped at the arm-holes along with blue jeans and white sneakers. Definitely not a Ghostbusters jumpsuit.

"It's because we're more comfortable dressed in these, partly because it would be easier to fight in and also we thought it would be easier to blend in with the crowd if we look like normal teenagers. Besides, I have to admit that the whole _wear-a-Ghostbuster-uniform_ rule when going on missions is kind of lame if not dumb," Yusuke said.

"I think you kind of miscalculated about dressing to not gain any unwanted attention since you're in the company of the infamous Misfits and X-Men," quipped Scarlet Witch dryly as she indicated to the numerous glares and hostile looks from civilians and officers alike, and noticeably, everyone was giving them a wide berth.

"Hey! That second time was no accident!" roared Kuwabara.

"So says the oafish human whose birth probably was one in the first place," Hiei shot back coolly.

"And of course, your own teammates aren't helping," Cyclops added with stern disapproval before he and Jean and Captain America did their best to break up the brawl, ordering, "Hey, quit this now! We're supposed to be exploring and finding weak points in this strange energy barrier so that your evil third eye or something or other can help us detect the Dreadnoks! Fighting isn't going to get us anywhere, and there are things more important to worry about such as preventing Zartan and Cobra from using it as a way to weaken all of us if not kill and endanger all mutants everywhere! Jenny Calendar and Quentin sent you here to help save the world and fight against the Heartless, not waste precious time by fighting for amusement."

"You're team players, a '_save-the-day_' superhero…" Hiei remarked before he glowered at Cyclops and Jean and Captain America, "I hate people like you. And keep in mind…'Cyclops' that you are not the boss of me."

"My, aren't _you_ friendly," quipped Jean sarcastically with a glower of her own. Hiei just coldly stared at her without saying a word. Kurama, a young boy with a pretty-face and solemn expression, intervened. He was slim and lean, wearing a yellow and green Chinese school uniform and black shoes as well as unkempt and messy long red-hair that oddly gave him a feminine appearance, but he was also incredibly polite and kind, as shown through his manners and proper voice.

"Hiei, he is right. Focus your Jagan on trying to detect the Dreadnoks and see if you can find a weak point past this strange cloud of energy that is covering the entire city and hindering our efforts," Kurama ordered. To everyone's surprise, Hiei just silently obeyed.

"Please excuse him," the unruffled and cool boy with long, red hair broke in, bowing slightly in respect to Jean, Cyclops, and Captain America, "Hiei is going through a difficult adjustment to joining the Ghostbusters, and he normally does not like to be around people, especially humans and strangers. He is simply as worried as you are."

"To echo Burke's words, remind **me** again **why** Jenny Calendar sent them here along with us…" Cyclops muttered, rolling his eyes behind his visor, "God, it's times like this I wish Paige of the Charmed Ones didn't cast that multi-language spell so that we could understand every recruit that the Ghostbusters were insane enough to try to employ regardless of them being high-school drop-outs, vandals, and former murderers! If we wanted to work alongside former bad guys, we would have gone straight to the Misfits!"

"Hey, don't turn your nose up at us, _Mr. High-and-Mighty-Mutant_!" snapped Yusuke, his expression fierce, "Keep in mind that we're doing you a favor being here since Hellfire Heartless don't gain anything from us since all of us except Kuwabara are part demon and our abilities with magic and the spirit worlds! Don't think that because you come from a rich school and that I'm a drop-out and a former punk means you're better than me or any of us here! Hell, I've got more power in my middle finger than you have in your entire body, so I'd suggest you take your head out of your - !"

"Enough," Captain America growled, getting in between them again.

"Do you guys act like this often? Especially Kuwabara and Hiei?" Wanda asked, turning to Kurama. The Japanese spirit detective simply nodded passively.

"Constantly, but to be fair, Hiei is additionally caustic to Kuwabara because Kuwabara has some romantic feelings for Hiei's twin sister. Although I suspect that they truly care about each other deep down."

"Midget!" Kuwabara was heard yelling. Hiei's response was rather noncommittal.

"Hn."

"Blockhead!"

"Hn."

"Butthole!"

"Hn."

"Yeow! You just cut me again! You little rat!"

"Again, you can hardly blame me for your clumsiness of stumbling into my sword."

Yusuke was wondering if Botan and Quentin could excuse him for shooting the two squabbling teammates with his Spirit Gun as he added to Kurama's statement with annoyance, "Deep, deep, **_deep_** down. Ergh, and I thought things would be _stay_ quiet when Hiei decided to stay in the demon realm and when Kuwabara took retirement so that he could study for high school exams."

Roadblock felt he could relate as he informed the Japanese adolescent, "Hate to break the truth and make things worse, but our lives **never** stay quiet in this universe."

Kurama looked at Roadblock before he turned to Magma and asked, "Does he always talk like that?"

"Constantly."

---

"Are you sure they ain't gonna find us, boss?" gulped Torch as he looked around nervously, as if expecting a hero or two to pop out from behind the leather couches or drop down from the skylight above. Zanya, the biker daughter of Zartan irately slapped Torch upside the head.

"Of course they won't find us, you idiot!" Zanya snapped in a low whisper, "Now keep it down!"

"Well, I dunno why we have to dress like this…" groaned Thrasher, fiddling with his brown suit and tie, feeling incredibly uncomfortable, "I hate dressing like a stiff! Can't we just go in our normal clothes?! I feel like a weirdo in this dumb thing!"

Indeed, it was true. All of them, Zartan and his family consisting of Zarana, Zanya, and Zandar along with the Dreadnoks of Torch, Monkeywrench, Buzzer, Road Pig, Ripper, and Thrasher were all uncharacteristically wearing trim business or business casual attire. All of them were wearing glasses and shades as well as uncomfortable shoes and cologne, smelling quite pleasant and with gelled hair slicked back and combed or hidden with realistic wigs. Not a single one of them were in their usual biker attire, and despite several of the Dreadnoks wearing long trench-coats to hide their weapons underneath, they could have very easily passed as legitimate businessmen and businesswoman. And Zartan himself was wearing a latex mask and speaking with a friendly English accent to the receptionist, smiling and flirting politely and causing the young Indian girl to giggle as she told them the directions to their designated conference room was.

Zarana gave Thrasher a pitying look as she growled, hissing under her breath, "Oh yeah, you moron, wear your biker uniform in the five-star hotel of the Hilton here in Mumbai! I'm sure everyone isn't going to notice that a biker in one of the most luxurious hotels in this city and that it isn't going to draw attention and have paranoid nutcases reporting us to the police the minute we're gone!"

The Dreadnoks could concede that viewpoint. It looked costly and expensive to even stand in the lobby, with its crystal chandeliers, plush carpeting, mahogany wooden paneled walls and cream-colored paint, along with a gigantic indoor fountain cascading down a real hill of rock and mossy limestone, boasting gigantic and colorful water lilies and plants. And some of the Dreadnoks were eying the bar in a very awed and coveted manner, considering that it was about the size of small house and boasting with cute waitresses in miniskirts and various liquors from all over the world. Torch got Zarana's point as he ruefully admitted, "I guess we would stick out a bit, huh?"

"Gee, it took your one brain cell to see something that obvious?!" snapped Zandar as they walked down the hallways towards the elevators and escalators, "Here in these disguises, hardly anyone would give us a second glance due to the fact that the Hilton gets expensive and famous clients all over the world on a daily basis! And add the fact that our clients are people of high society and ranking and that none of the Joes would expect us to go in a luxury hotel like this, it's the perfect way to throw them off!"

"And with these investors interested in the Legacy samples, it'll be enough to make us incredibly rich!" Zanya snapped. The Dreadnoks blinked.

"But…I thought we gave all those virus things to Xamot and Tomax and Destro so that they could take it to Mindbender and Cobra to use for their experiments. Didn't they just pay us that huge bit that was enough to even make Zartan happy?" asked Monkeywrench as they clambered up the escalators. Zanya felt a vein throb in her forehead and made a mental note that when expanding the Dreadnoks, they would hire people with slightly more brain power. Zarana turned to Zandar wearily, although she would have loved to kick out the Dreadnoks for this particular meeting.

"You want to explain it or do you want me to?"

"I'll do it…" grumbled Zandar before he explained in a condescending manner to the Dreadnoks, "Look, we said we gave them all the Legacy samples, but like any smart mercenary, we also lied and gave them only half so that we can sell the Legacy Virus to other interested benefactors at a higher price than we sold to Cobra so that we make even _more_ money. The more people we sell this too, the more money we make, understand? That means many more chocolate donuts and grape soda and comic books for all of you, understand?"

"Ooooohhhh…" chorused Monkeywrench, Torch, and Road Pig before the latter Dreadnok turned into his split-personality, Donald before calmly and intelligently addressing his teammates in a proper manner as they headed to the conference room.

"In other words, we a re simply maximizing the amount of money we can gain from our spoiled goods, especially since Dr. Moira MacTaggert is a world-renowned geneticist that has earned her a Nobel Prize in her research and that there are many interested parties outside the Hellfire Club and the mysterious and elusive Organization Thirteen that wish to use such a potential and limitless weapon on the scourge of the mutantkind," Donald surmised before reverting back to his alter-ego, Road Pig.

"Er…but why don't we just pretend to sell them this cold thing and then when they pay us, we just screw 'em over and kill them? That way, we'll get the money and keep the Legacy thing at the same time," Road Pig asked, wishing his could ride on his bike. Zandar and Zarana gave him pitying looks.

"If you want to get yourselves killed, then that's your business, but we're not that stupid! And plus, the Legacy is useless to us, so there's no need to keep it! However, it is handy to sell it to someone who could use it! So why waste money by ignoring a potential trade?" the red-haired female sister of Zartan growled as they approached the doors.

"And unlike our other clients, we're not stupid to double-cross _these_ people. We'd rather live or not bring about huge amounts of people who have the resources to ruin the Dreadnoks' lives and all our hard work for us," Zandar snapped.

"Just how powerful are these big-shots?" Ripper asked before the doors opened, allowing the Dreadnoks to enter in the summit of trade before the biker blinked, for once completely stunned before he said dumbly, "Oh…"

"Yeah, 'oh' is right you numbskull, so don't say anything stup-…hell, don't say _anything_ at all!" ordered Zandar as he and the other Dreadnoks mercenaries along with Zandar entered the congregation of interested buyers of the Legacy Virus. Zanya and Zarana activated a solinium-pulse from a mechanism on their wristwatches, invisible and widespread throughout the entire room, able to whiteout and shut-down any electronic eyes and hidden cameras without even notifying the hotel's security systems since the signal was essentially frozen.

All the investors were seated at the mahogany table, drinking expensive malt liquor and brandy from expensive tumblers.

It was a worrisome group to say the least. Though they were in no way associated with the Hellfire Club or the Organization Thirteen, it did not, in fact, make them any less dangerous. And any civilian who knew what was going on would have shivered at the sight of what this meant for the future of the world and of the heroes of the world.

"You're late," Norman Osborne callously groused, waiting with a cross expression with his arms folded over his torso, dressed implacably in a brown suit and dark tie.

Zandar calmed down everyone with a malicious sneer as he said while taking off his latex mask, "Relax. We had to make sure that the Joes along with Captain America and the X-Men and the Misfits wouldn't be able to follow us."

Takuma Zaizen of the Purifiers smiled as he commented, "How wise of you. The last things we need are those errants and threats of nature and the human race to intervene at a crucial time such as this."

General Kincaid nodded as he said in agreement, "The last time we need are those genetic freaks running this for us. And I'll be damned before I give up a potential way to ensure those genetic freaks will be eliminated once and for all."

As much as Zanya wanted to shoot the army general, she kept wisely silent.

"I'm surprised as to why some of us are still considered rich enough to enter this dangerous game," sneered the blond John Castaway at a man with a scruffy five o'clock shadow and long, white hair tied into a ponytail, dressed in a green suit, black dress-shirt, and yellow tie. Though a bit unkempt, from his build and chiseled face as well as the way he stood, it was clear that he was built and trained in martial arts.

"I assure you Castaway that I have sufficient enough funds and resources that I have gathered over the years and that I have learned from my setbacks. And this Legacy may truly be the means to not only rebuild my fortune, but to get my vengeance as well," Valmont muttered coldly.

The ex-Hunter scoffed with a trite and brittle laugh, "Forgive me for being cynical but your numerous attempts to get revenge on Chan and his J-Team are laughable. It's pretty widespread as to how badly your exploits are not only flat out pathetic, but they make actual popular reading amongst villains you enjoy seeing the incompetent fall from grace."

"And you would know that from your failed attempts to destroy and discredit the Gargoyles in New York. I'm surprised you were able to be pardoned from jail, even with the government's approval. Not even General Eiling's past dismissal of your crimes erased the public opinion of you being an absolute, raving lunatic, especially in New York," Valmont returned, causing Castaway to frown at last.

"I would be careful with your tone of voice, if I were you, Valmont. The Quarrymen are not a group to dismiss lightly," Castaway snarled, bringing forth his electrified hammer and activating it with a click.

"Now, now, there is no need for violence. If anything, I am sure that the best thing all of us want is to purchase the Legacy and then get the hell away from each other as far away as possible. Keep in mind that the heroes are tracking down the Dreadnoks at this very moment, and the sooner we purchase what we came for and leave, the quicker we shall be away from those lunatics in G.I. Joe, the X-Men, and the Misfits. And I for one have no intention of dirtying my business suit in fighting those mutant children or getting caught," Vlad Plasmius said diplomatically, stepping in between the two men and preventing them from breaking out into a full-fledged fight.

Osborne looked coldly at the Dreadnoks before asking, "How much are you asking for each sample of the Legacy Virus?"

Zandar took out a portable, cryogenic freezer-unit, metallic and cube-shaped while lined with lead and steel to protect the fifteen Petri-dishes stored inside.

"About five million per dish," Zartan smiled. Norman Osborne frowned; that was much too expensive and the Dreadnoks pretty much had them all in barrel if they were willing to barter this one.

"That's a pretty high price you're asking for," growled the businessman, "And not to mention that should the Heartless survive and that we all lose the Gathering of Twilight, then this purchase was pretty much for nothing."

"Suit yourself, then. If you won't purchase such a request, then I shall certainly be more than happy to pick up the slack for you, Mr. Osborne, considering that many of us are willing to see through any means that can decrease the mutant and paranormal population. After all, I am additionally here for the Friends of Humanity, Fisk, Lexcorp, and William Stryker as well," Zaizen drawled.

"Have a bit of connections, don't you, Zaizen?" sneered Kincaid. The ex-leader of the SOLOMON branch shrugged.

"To ensure that the Ghostbusters and their wretched group of demons, witches, Slayers, and those that would willingly endanger this world to side with those monsters and cursed beasts that defy nature, Wolfram and Hart made sure to supply the Purifiers with enough resources to eliminate them all."

"Those paranormals are your jurisdiction. My sources and connections in the army will be enough to handle the mutant crises, especially with Trask working under my command," Kincaid dismissed. He was primarily focused on mutants solely, and he felt that the military and GRSO could handle exterminating any threats such as the X-Men and Magneto much more effectively than the FOH and the Church of Purity.

Osborne looked subdued and wrathfully warned at the mercenary group, "Very well, then. But I warn you, Zartan, to not cheat me. You do not want any of us as future enemies against your association should you attempt to swindle us with worthless genetic samples."

"As if they could fool a scientist such as myself," the deranged doctor named Anton Sevarius bragged with a calculating look in his eyes, "I am quite familiar with the aspects of the Legacy Virus and the genetic material to know whether or not the samples are real. And I do not care what the price Zartan asks for; after my initial failings with Thailog and the Mutates, I know exactly what I can do with such a versatile vector. And quite brilliant too. Dr. MacTaggert's genius could surpass even my own."

"And speaking of which, I do not remember you as a particularly infamous bad guy. Who're you?" Valmont asked at a well-built man with light-brown hair, dressed as a soldier, complete with black pants, a black skin-tight, long-sleeved shirt, and a black vest of Kelvar, and wearing black shades. And he was armed with a heavy caliber pistol lashed at his side. The solider regarded the crooked businessman stoically.

Albert Wesker replied back professionally, "I am a representative for the Umbrella Corporation. That is all you need to know."

"So let us begin the bidding. You'll have the samples the instant you electronically transfer the funds to our secret accounts provided to you beforehand," Zartan grinned as he took out his personal laptop to watch over the contracts and business deals as the investors either made the commands to deposit the money into the accounts via cell-phone or by using their own electronic computers, all of it secure, clandestine, and encrypted.

Half and hour alter, with their clients retreating back to their respective base of operations, and with each and every one of the Petri dishes containing the fragile Legacy Viruses gone, making the Dreadnoks now sixty million dollars richer (an impressive haul to say the least), the Dreadnoks were about to retreat back to their vehicles of transport when Zartan stopped them.

"No need to leave just yet. Zandar, Zanya, Zarana, keep a lookout for the heroes, and Dreadnoks, keep your disguises on, but chances are that if G.I. Joe hasn't found us by now, especially since it's been more than thirteen hours, then the trail is cold enough so that not even those Joes were able to catch us yet, especially considering how the Heartless have been giving them enough trouble and in our favors, surprisingly enough. And after making a whole wad of money like this, I think it's time for a little celebration," the Dreadnok leader chuckled, which invoked sighs of relief and exuberant cheering from the six biker mercenaries.

"Yay! I could use a drink!" Buzzer whooped, earning a few suspicious looks from the various members to the crowd all around them. Zandar didn't look especially pleased; he wanted to get the hell out of the city of Mumbai while they still could.

"We shouldn't be overconfident, Zartan," growled the younger brother, "I'm not sure I'd want to be around to see exactly what the Misfits and the X-Men can do with their freak powers they use against those Heartless, especially since we're sitting ducks here!"

"Technically, what can they do to us? We sold all of Dr. MacTaggert's precious virus, our money is secure and can't be retaken by any hacker of any caliber, and we're still armed and amid a city of thirteen million people with easy access of places to hide and scatter to safety. Should any of us get attacked, we can all easily reconvene back at our hideout, and it's a given that the Organization isn't interested in us. What's there to worry?"

"Yeah, we could all use a break!" whined Road Pig with puppy-dog eyes.

"Last one to the bar gets to pay for the drinks!" whooped Torch, and instantly, all six of the lower-echelon Dreadnoks made a break for the closest bar. Zanya grumbled as she walked after them.

"It figures that the first these morons want to do to relax is get drunk. As if we didn't need **another** big sign to the authorities saying, '_Everyone, we're Cobra mercenaries! Please arrest us now!_' Grr…I swear that when I'm in charge, things'll be a lot more effective and smarter, starting with new and more intelligent Dreadnoks!" the girl muttered darkly, obviously not in the mood to be a babysitter.

"Well, now it's settled," groused Zarana, "There's nothing more difficult than telling those six monkeys we pass off as henchmen that they can't have any alcohol. But what exactly will you be doing, oh wise and mighty older brother?"

"I'll be having a bit of fun…" Zandar said mysteriously with a smile underneath his latex mask as he headed towards a very prestigious and renowned establishment that catered to a particular and satisfying trade in India…

---

At the same time, Pluto, Shipwreck, Nightcrawler, Multiple, Trinity, Toad, Wavedancer, and Forge were going around the various alleys in the lower parts of the city, trying to find any indication that Zartan and his Dreadnoks were in the immediate vicinity. However, since they were going down a rather dank and foul-smelling alley with a few rats and overflowing garbage cans, it was hardly a pleasant task. And they were all still too weary and tired from the battle in Russia as well as the little sleep they gained from last night when Trinity and the Misfits invaded the Institute. Forge wished he was back in his cool bed and could have the luxury of sleeping for the next day or so. Originally, he was asked to join this visit to the S.H.I.E.L.D base solely to provide assistance to help extract Moira's Legacy notes and electronic data she kept for safekeeping from the encrypted server since he was the X-Men technological genius (not that a few of the other X-Men wanted to challenge the validity of that title). And despite his lack of being a combatant or being effective in battle, Xavier still sent him here anyway by default to help stop the Dreadnoks.

And Forge undoubtedly felt that this was a big mistake. He was so sick of this dumb war against the Heartless.

"Wow, they could be anywhere," Jamie muttered, nearly stepping into a smelly puddle of sewage water.

Toad looked frustrated as he turned to Forge and asked, "Can't your tracer pinpoint to where Zartan and his Dreadnoks are? We were able to follow them here to this particular city, so it's still gotta work, yo!"

The X-Men's inventor shook his head miserably as he indicated with his electronic map, a crude scanner that in no way reflected the magical and complex scanners of the Triplets as he explained, "No, I can't. The tracer we planted on him is running into a lot of interference, and though I designed it myself and it can withstand magnetic fields and other factors as well as encryption, for some reason, the signal is being scattered everywhere. We know they're in the city, but I can't pinpoint it! The signature is bouncing off everywhere! One minute, it's in Bollywood, next it's close to the shoreline, and next it's in the district with the Bombay Stock Exchange! It's everywhere! I can't pinpoint it!"

Toad then rudely grumbled under his breath since he too was tired, frustrated, and angry that the Dreadnoks managed to get one over them (a sore spot for the Misfits and Joes if there ever was one), "Figures since **you're** the one who built that dumb tracer."

Forge's face fell, and Nightcrawler noticed this before snapping at the Misfit frog-teen.

"Hey, be quiet, Toad! Why don't you just shut up?! If it wasn't for Forge, we wouldn't even know that they were here in this city in the first place!"

"Yeah, but…but it's still not helping since when we really need it, Forge's inventions never work! If anything, they always come up short like everything else, yo!" snapped Toad back, bristling.

"It's not his fault this happens!" Kurt growled back.

"Funny, that's not what the other X-Geeks always say every time something goes boom!"

Forge's face registered more pain.

"I'm sorry, you must have that confused with how you Misfit morons always come in **uninvited** and wreck our home! And the Joes aren't exactly that much better as the typical army hoodlums! You're the _last_ one around here who has the right to harp on other people's failures since you were one when you first joined the Brotherhood!"

"Actually, Nightcrawler's right," Daria broke in before the argument could escalate (though she was so sleepy from traveling straight from Russia to India with barely five minutes respite), "We're picking up the interference from our scanners."

"Apparently, it's a magical signature, a kind of paranormal energy," Quinn said, typing in several commands and indicating the screen which was displaying abnormal levels, "And surprisingly enough, it's the _same_ energy reading S.H.I.E.L.D picked up when the Dreadnoks attacked their base in Russia."

"But it shouldn't interfere with my tracer!" protested Forge hotly, "Remember what Willow from the Scoobies told us? '_Energy is energy, whether it comes from magic or science_'! My tracers can function well even if surrounded by an energy force-field or if in Earth's lower orbit!"

"Not exactly, because whoever cast this magical interference is doing it over the entire city. It's pretty powerful," Daria clarified.

Brittany then stated, "And even though magic follows some basics of the laws of physics, it is also unpredictable and unique enough to defy the laws of science. Not all aspects of magic can be explained by science, which is why they still count as separate entities. Just because your scanner coincides with the rules of the magnetism and electricity and all the other formulas of electronics and mechanics doesn't mean it can hold on its own against the laws of magic."

"Magic?" blinked Shipwreck, "So the Organization is helping the Dreadnoks? But…it really doesn't seem like that they would ally themselves with the Heartless because they can't pay anything, and Zartan and his goons don't have anything of value that would make those hooded jerks and the Inner Circle want to have them around."

"Either that or the fact that there could be people who are not part of the Inner Circle, but who would fit the bill of wanting the Legacy stuff so that they could try controlling the mutant population. And sadly enough, I can think of people who would want that, despite the gravity of the Heartless invasions, like Stryker, the Friends of Humanity, the Church of Purity, Cobra, Hydra, and God knows who else. Any one of them would hate us and other mutants enough to employ a powerful witch or magic-user on their side," Althea said, musing and frowning in deep thought.

Daria and Brittany looked incredibly guilty and uncomfortable at the mention of the Legacy Virus. It was clear that they didn't mention it to anyone else that they had a sample they stole from Moira before Zartan stole it from her.

"It's OK, Forge," chirped Quinn blithely and thoughtlessly, "Our scanners are a combination of both magic and science thanks to Pluto and that weird mysterious voice that gave us the Keyblades, so we can try to see if we can hone in on the signal. Don't worry about your tracer failing like everything else you've built."

Forge gave Quinn a mixture of hurt, anger, outrage, scandal…and misery before he lowered his gaze and irately kicked at the floor, his hands in his pockets before he started walking away from the group. Shipwreck frowned sadly as he realized that the kid took it pretty hard. So did everyone else around Quinn.

"Now look what you just did!" Nightcrawler snapped at the Delgado Triplet.

"I didn't mean to say it!" Quinn shot back defensively.

"Well you did!" Nightcrawler snapped, "_Mein Gott_, with the way you three act, I'm still surprised that Pluto even thought you were strong of heart enough to even be worthy of holding Keyblades!"

And with that the German teleporter left irately, following his friend.

"Fuzzy…" Toad called back.

"What?!"

"Just…be careful, yo. We'll contact you on your communicators if we find anything," Toad said lamely as a way to help dissuade Kurt's anger, but Nightcrawler barely acknowledged it as he stomped off, muttering swear words of irritation in German underneath his breath. Kurt then found Forge moodily seated on the ground near the end of the alley, leaning against the brick wall and his face downcast, moodily sitting with one arm resting against his knee.

"Are you going to call me a failure too?" Forge muttered. Kurt's inwardly was pained, but he kept his cheery expression as he ambled to the inventor.

"You know me well enough to know I would never say that. I mean, without you, I would still be stuck in the Middleverse, so I definitely wouldn't call you a failure. Plus, you're my friend, and friends don't say things like that to one another."

Forge didn't answer, and Kurt decided to offer some more words to soften the insults hurled at Forge's way.

"Don't listen to what that Toad or Trinity were saying. They're just being their annoying selves like always."

"Kurt, it's not just them."

Kurt's eyes were soft and compassionate as he, without hesitation, slowly sat down next to Forge, making sure to not squash his tail in the process.

"Will you tell me what's wrong? I could use a rest of my feet too, _Mein Freund_," Kurt asked, his voice warm and friendly on the German phrase at the end, placing a three-fingered hand on the inventor's shoulder. Forge hesitated, but deep down, he knew that if anyone could get through his rarely shown shell, it was Kurt. Although it really shouldn't have been much of a surprise. Kurt was the one who initiated and led the events of the rescue for Forge to escape out of Middleverse; if it wasn't for Nightcrawler, Forge would still be trapped in that dimensional limbo. And additionally, Forge and Kurt had a bit of a deeper bond than many of the X-Men knew about, but then again, one can't help but be friends when facing lifetime isolation and imprisonment in the Middleverse and escaping by sheer luck. And additionally, out of all the X-Men, Kurt was arguably the most patient and least likely to want Forge's head whenever each and every one of his inventions has caused a massive aggravation or destructive and costly crisis. In fact, though Kurt had a few instances when he was just as thoroughly annoyed from Forge's inventing schemes and fiascos, he was typically the peacemaker and the one to stand up and try to calm the lynch mobs from killing their inventor (and if Forge had a nickel for each time _that_ happened, he'd have enough to make Lex Luthor look like a pauper).

Forge hesitated a bit, not sure how to put it before he confessed, fatigue setting in.

"I'm just really sick of this whole war thing, of being involved in this."

Kurt blinked as he pointed out in disbelief, "But…but I thought you wanted to! I mean, you're in the crowd with Scott and Jean and Peter that wanted to take - !"

"I know, I know," Forge heatedly interrupted with exasperation as he continued, so weary, "But…now that we keep getting into the thick of it, I can't help but really think that I'm not going to do much good here in this fight. It's really whacked that not only I'm in a war that I never asked to join, but when we see more and more people dying around us, it additionally stinks that I can't do anything to really help."

There was a whine next to them, and Kurt and Forge both collectively jumped, taken by surprise, as the figure literally just speared out of the corner of their eyes without even knowing about it and detecting it. But they somewhat relaxed seeing that it was only a concerned and friendly Pluto who actually padded towards Forge before leaning his head against Forge's lap, making pleading eyes for the mutant to pet him. Unable to resist, Forge just half-heartedly scratched Pluto's head in silence before he continued.

"I never really joined the X-Men to fight in the front lines now that I think about it. I wanted to be in a place where there were other mutants like me, but also where I could use my inventions to help out and where I could be happy, just building and inventing things."

"So why did you want to…well, you know…support Scott and Jean then?"

"Because I thought that we could do better and that this whole Heartless thing really freaked me out a bit. It's even worse than the battle for the Nexus in San Francisco, and plus…it sounded exciting at first. And I wanted to seem more important to the team, especially since after the last explosion a month ago that accidentally made a couple of dents in Wolverine's motorcycle, I overheard Logan arguing with the Professor on letting me stay here as an X-Man and whether or not it would be better for everyone if I left to work with S.H.I.E.L.D or someplace else away from the Institute."

Kurt felt troubled and disappointed at that tidbit. But it was true; Forge wasn't mistaken. Indeed, Hank and Wolverine were quite adamant towards the Professor on how Forge was causing much more trouble than he was worth, and even Cyclops and Jean could concede that it was extremely irritating that his ideas and inventions not only caused more chaos on the school, but backfired in ways that seemed to caused the residents of Bayville to be even angrier at the mutants and cause even more anti-mutant hysteria. If anything, Forge's inventions always made matters worse for a good portion of their disasters, and compared to the normal amount of disasters that are brought by G.I. Joe and the Misfits, that wasn't a light statement. Though Jake, Ororo, and Xavier did their best to calm them down, the opinion that it would make everyone else insanely had Forge never invented another thing ever again happy was starting to become rather popular, for the faculty and the students alike.

Kurt suddenly felt ashamed when he realized that he was no better at times, that he was usually on the bandwagon to be quick to blame Forge each and every time one of his inventions made life difficult. And during times of anger, you normally didn't stop to consider the truth that Forge never did any of these things on purpose.

"It kind of hurts when not even the other adults want you. And I'm technically an adult in a teenager's body, so I thought I'd get a _little_ more understanding. Yeah, OK, I cause a lot of disasters, but I didn't think they'd be enough to even want the Professor to get rid of me. And I'm not the only one who causes a lot of trouble in the Mansion," Forge continued.

There was only a general silence before Forge leaned his head against the stone wall and sighed.

"It kinda sucks if you think about it. Can you dig it?"

Kurt, troubled and naturally compassionate, hesitated, his brain trying to form the words before he said, pained, "Wow…I never knew you felt this way."

"That's because no one **asked**," Forge said with some bitter malice.

"To be fair, _Mein Freund_, it's because everyone's always too angry and exasperated with your inventions blowing up and backfiring and causing more problems. We know you're a genius and that you're our friend and one of us, but you can't help but see why everyone, even the Professor gets a bit irritated at times."

"Thanks…" muttered Forge bitterly as he rolled his eyes.

"You could always stop inventing, you know."

Forge's eyes seared into Kurt before he said in a rare voice of passionate anger and injustice, "You might as well as me to stop breathing, then. You might as well be asked to stop eating burgers from the Gut Bomb because it's not healthy for you. You might as well forbid Kitty from getting behind the car and driving or going to the kitchen and saying she's banned for cooking anything for life. Or ask Bobby to stop playing pranks and icing the bathroom. Or ask Tabitha to stop blowing up objects and things with her powers if she's irritated or impatient. Or ask Wolverine and Jake to stop fighting and bickering and arguing over the beers in the refrigerator. Or ask Jamie to stop spying on people and blabbing secrets. Or all the other annoying things and habits the other X-Men or even the Misfits have that never seem to catch as much flack as I do."

Kurt was starting to see Forge's point of view. Put it in that perspective, it was certainly unfair. Pluto whined before he stood up and licked Forge's face several times, finally causing the inventor to smile and chuckle as he tried to push the heavy dog from kissing him anymore. Well, no one could argue that Pluto wasn't cheering him up a bit…

Forge sighed, "I think that's another reason why I'm not sure I even want to fight in this whole war against the Heartless. Not only would I be useless, but I'm not sure anyone else really trusts in me fighting for them. It's complicated, you dig? I want to be important enough where no one thinks I'm worthless, but not on the front lines since my passion and ideas to save this world is really building things, not grabbing a gun or a Keyblade and going right in the middle of some groovy battle. But from the way everyone gets on my case, I'm not even sure my inventions even **can** save everyone."

"We don't think you'll be able to even have that choice in the near future," Daria said sadly from above, and Nightcrawler and Forge both jumped before they looked above to see the Delgado Triplets, Daria, Quinn, and Brittany, sitting on a wooden windowsill, and listening in on every word. Forge was incensed and embarrassed as he heatedly remembered (and was thankful) that not even once Kurt and he ever mentioned the word "materia".

"Mein Gott! How long were you three up there?!" demanded Nightcrawler, hands on his hips. Pluto just smiled.

"Around the time when Forge was explaining to you on how his last lab disaster put some dents on Wolverine's motorcycle and how Wolverine and Beast were trying to convince the Professor that Forge should be kicked out of the X-Men," Brittany replied, but she didn't seem all that pleased about saying it. If anything, she was looking at Forge with pity, which sort of made Forge even angrier.

"Here to laugh?" the X-Men's inventor retorted.

"Actually, we're here to inform you that Toad and Wavedancer got a message from Captain America on their communicators. We found out that the Ghostbuster named Hai and Hey or whatever it is was able to find a weak point in the magical barrier here in Mumbai to locate something suspicious in the lower region of the city downtown, around the shady parts. And the Professor was able to use Cerebro to authentically pick up Zartan's brain patterns in an upscale and fashionable brothel, of all places," Daria reported.

Forge and Nightcrawler's eyes crinkled in surprise and disgust.

"_A brothel??_" echoed Kurt, "You mean…Zartan just went to a…a…"

"A place to sleep around? A whore house? A place to shack up with a hooker? Yep. We wanted to come here to let you know that we're all coming over there to investigate, not that some of us like Magma, Cover Girl, and Bree are pleased to even go to such a building. And Wanda's trying to keep Pietro in line from doing anything stupid," Brittany broke in.

"Fine, we're coming," grumbled Forge, but as Trinity left, Quinn turned around and addressed Forge.

"Forge, I just wanted to say that I didn't mean to make you feel bad. I'm sorry that I did. And besides, we Triplets can kind of relate to you and on why inventing is so important to you, that it's a part of you and that you shouldn't given a hard time for it. And at least without your inventions, Kurt would still be missing, Razor wouldn't have been able to start over, or when you helped free Jean and Al and the others back at Apokolips, and that at least some of your inventions to **do** help. But…what Daria said was right. You being put into a war that you don't want to fight is hardly fair, but life isn't always fair either. And on the upside, you invent because you want to help your family. **_We_** just invent because we'd like to destroy stuff."

Quinn added this with a little impish and devilish grin, but Forge was hardly amused.

"Whatever," Forge muttered, and Quinn left, although she did seemed a bit aggrieved that her apology wasn't accepted readily. Forge still seemed glum until Kurt placed a furry, three-fingered hand on the Native American teen's shoulder and stopped him before Kurt spoke with compassion and clemency.

"Hey, Forge…I did want to say this: thank you for trusting me enough to share with me and telling me what you feel. Though I won't be perfect, I will keep what you say in mind next time you invent something and I do promise to not take for granted. Okay?"

Forge blinked before grinned a little ruefully and nodded, "Thanks."

Kurt laughed merrily as he said, "Hey, it's a blessing, to have a friend who understands you, faults, quirks, and all."

---

"What do you mean you can't tell us if this man was here or not?" Cover Girl's words were harsh as she and a few of the other adults were demanding and harassing a young, beautiful woman wearing a red and turquoise-blue shalwar and sari at the desk of the main lobby of the establishment where Hiei the Spirit Detective and Professor X were able to trace the mental path.

The woman regarded them coldly, brusquely replying back in perfect English though with a trace of a British, cockney accent, "Exactly as I have said, madam. I do not remember. We have many clients coming to this establishment, many of them high ranking officials and businesspeople on trips. I do not take the pains to memorize each and every single man or woman that comes through these doors."

Wolverine seethed; though the secretary wasn't lying, she was making things harder by refusing them entry for search and seizure. And the doors that led to the rooms was a sliding door of thick, bulletproof glass and polycarbonate thermoplastic, a laminated wall that could have withstood many of the Joes' firearms and chance were, needed to be activated via electronic commands and were watched over by cameras and several armed women and men. Guards obviously.

"Need we remind you we're members of the United States military along with A.U.N.T.I.E and S.H.I.E.L.D, an anti-terrorist unit that works alongside the United Nations? We can take you in for harboring a wanted mercenary for Cobra and for obstruction of justice," Low Light said sternly.

"Do you have a warrant? Do you have any authorization from the local chapter of the Mumbai government and enforcement?" the woman pointed out coldly.

The adults remained silent, signaling an unspoken "no" as the secretary smugly continued with a prideful smile.

"Then you have no jurisdiction. Now unless you plan to request our services or unless you have an official warrant, please depart, do not bother us and leave our business alone."

Waiting and listening in on the background, the other teenagers were nervously looking around their rather scenic environment rather uncomfortably.

"Let me get this straight: _this_ is supposed to be a brothel?" Kuwabara asked, his eyes displaying a rather odd expression. Nothing like this was in Sarayashiki, that was certain, and it was making him even more wary being here on Ghostbuster business. Jenny Calendar wasn't going to be readily pleased with this little tidbit during their field work.

"I know what you mean; this certainly makes a very odd first impression. I don't know whether to be disgusted or impressed," Jean remarked with conflict at the plush and well furnished room, spacious and appearing to be more likely to be found in the waiting lobbies of top-quality spas or hotels and resorts. There were beautiful chandeliers and lamps everywhere along with scented candles and a roaring hearth of a stone fire-pit along with two fireplaces blazing cheerfully. The armchairs, couches, and recliners were clean and covered with warm sheepskin. Not only was it inviting and well-lit with mixtures of sweet odors, but there were vases bursting with fresh flowers, polished tables of wood lined with gold, lavish rugs and even an espresso machine, a bar, and a computer station with high-speed Internet connection and cable modem.

Quicksilver couldn't help but joke, "I guess the prostitution and hooker industry really go for the bling-bling."

"That is neither funny nor appropriate, Quicksilver," scolded Dragonfly, frowning at her teammate.

"And by then, Zartan can escape!" protested Pete Wisdom at the woman at the desk.

"That is not my problem. And before you even think about attempting it, should you try using your mutant powers to forcibly make way into our premises, not only will I alert the local police and tarnish the names of the X-Men and the Misfits, but additionally, all of the guards and myself included are armed and have the civil right to defend our clients and our property through any means necessary, violence included. And despite your Professor X being a telepath, we are also mentally shielded."

Everyone blinked before Blind Master remarked, "My, you're well prepared."

"In this industry, we have a wide range of clients. You X-Men and Misfits are hardly the most abnormal of the audience we attract here in Mumbai."

"Uh…wait…" blinked Spyke, trying to comprehend that for once, even with his grotesque bone shell and spikes, a human wasn't looking at him with disgust, fear, and loathing, "You're not scared of how I look? Even though I'm a mutant, you're not…scared of me?"

The woman gave him a sardonic look of disbelief as she clarified in a sarcastic tone, "Sir, I am a woman living in a slum area of a heavily populated city where criminals and gangs run rampant, and I additionally am the secretary of a very deluxe and distinguished brothel and prostitution ring. A mutant is **hardly** the worst thing compared to one extraterrestrial client we had here called Lobo in which we highly regret now in retrospect and in which we're still paying off the repair bills. Compared to the gangs and some of our clientele that come by our brothel, you are certainly much more decent and normal. Oh, and speaking of our clientele…"

The woman demurely waved at Shipwreck and Agent Matt Burke who were in the background with the kids.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Delgado and Mr. Burke. It has been a while since I have seen either of you back here again."

Everyone irked and turned to look at the two men with outraged, scandalized expressions of shock or disbelief at the Joe sailor and the British agent, both of whom were looking incredibly sheepish, their faces beet red and humiliated. Wavedancer, the Triplets, Cover Girl, and Bree did not look even remotely pleased, and even Pete Wisdom had to grimace at his mentor.

"Uh…heh heh, it was a month after my divorce with your mother, Al…" chuckled Shipwreck uneasily under the daggers and red-face of ire Wavedancer was throwing at her father.

"Another one of your many side-missions, Agent Burke?" Wisdom asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, do shut up, Wisdom! What I do in my free time after a mission has been accomplished in neither yours nor A.U.N.T.I.E's business! And I wouldn't be that shocked and outraged on the moral ground if I were you considering Constantine told me of how you did a little experimentation with him back in college and - !" Burke retorted.

"STOP! Bloody hell, you promised you wouldn't bring **that** back up again!"

If anything, many of the X-Men looked at Pete Wisdom with very wary and uncomfortable eyes, and two of the Spirit Detectives, Yusuke and Kuwabara, backed a bit away from the intelligence spy. In his haste, Yusuke accidentally bumped into Whitelighter who gave him a tired look.

"There's nothing wrong with it, Mr. Urameshi. I'm gay too," Justin sighed, and the black-haired spirit detective and Ghostbuster skittered away quickly from the Misfit as well. Pete Wisdom growled at Justin, inflamed and embarrassed.

"**_I'm not gay_**, you bloody hoof!"

"But…I thought Constantine was a man…" Scott pointed out hesitantly, only to earn a hard and bitter look from the agent.

"Look, it was a time in university when I got a little drunk, I was an idiotic youth, and it only happened once considering that Constantine's bisexual, and I learned the hard way that I am straight, no ifs, ands, or buts! It was an experimental mistake, and one that I **still** regret to this day! Though not as much as I am being here with you crazy lot."

"'**_Hard _**way'? 'No ifs, ands, or **_buts_**'?" cackled Pietro, nearly rolling on the floor in laughter, "I dunno, Petey, because it sure sounds like - "

Quicksilver then found himself staring directly into five, glowing spike-tips from Wisdom's hands, the fingertips inches away from Pietro's eyes and forehead and ready to shoot out on a moment's notice. And the glow from the heat spikes bathed Wisdom's cold, calculating, and fuming look on his face, making him even more intimidating.

"Finish that sentence, and your face will be used as my next dartboard," Pete Wisdom growled.

"You know, normally, I'd intervene, but I'd admit that my brother had **that** one coming," Scarlet Witch commented.

"I am asking you nicely again: please leave," the secretary commanded sternly, arms folded across her chest and her eyes and face resolute and unyielding. It was clear that there was a nonverbal "or else" at the end of that request, but she didn't need to say it as the guards at the door acted tense, bringing forth their firearms which consisted of both hand-held magnums and assault rifles. One man even carried an AK-47.

"So now like what do we do?" Shadowcat asked the adults.

"Simple: kill them all," remarked Hiei loudly and causing the woman at the front desk to raise her eyebrows in affront until Shipwreck uneasily waved off her suspicions, chuckling in discomfort.

"He's joking of course," the Joe sailor tried to convince the receptionist. The woman still looked unsure and incredibly cagey and suspicious.

Bree looked at Hiei before clarifying in a hard tone, "Something that **doesn't** require breaking the law or murder, Hiei. And last time I checked with Jenny and Quentin, Ghostbusters weren't allowed to kill humans."

"Hn." A trademark, noncommittal response, no doubt.

"Well, she is right about one thing: we don't have jurisdiction to investigate the premises, and unfortunately, there's no law that will allow us to perform search and seizure without a warrant. I could try to contact Fury and inform him of the situation, but that might take some time to authorize. And the last thing we need is S.H.I.E.L.D, A.U.N.T.I.E, or G.I. Joe to go through a scandal and invoke international legal battles. And the Joes are already mistrusted enough with their allegiance to the Justice League," Captain America said.

"Don't look at us. Ghostbusters can't do anything that doesn't involve a ghost or a paranormal," Yusuke added, catching the speculating look on Burke and Wisdom's faces.

"Is there a possibility that Hiei's third eye thingamajig is wrong? That Zartan **isn't** here?" Multiple asked, only to receive a death glare from the aforementioned Spirit Detective. Well, that was an obvious answer.

"And I don't think we can have good conscience to allow my X-Men or the Misfits to use their powers to vandalize and force their way through. We can't injure, in the loosest sense of the word, innocent people to find Zartan," Professor Xavier added, invoking a furious protest from Quicksilver.

"Oh come on! What choice do we have?! We can't let Zartan and his Dreadnoks escape with the Legacy Virus and we can't just stand around here and do nothing! What else can we do?! It's not like Zartan is going to drop down from the sky and - !"

But what the silver-haired Misfit was about to say was interrupted by a series of screaming from nearby, audible even despite the fact that the ceiling was between the heroes and the room upstairs before there was a series of loud thumping and then followed by a loud explosion that literally caused the ceiling above to cave in from a distance of the heroes before two figures fell through the sizeable hole through the roof, plaster, paint, and dust fogging up the room amid the charred wood and metal support beams.

"What are you mutants trying to do?!" shrieked the receptionist.

"It's not us, lady!" Blob bellowed as the two figures that were arguing and fighting (more like brawling in a death-match) loudly, one of which was a male and the other was female.

"Damn it, Mystique! What are you trying to do?! **Kill us both?!**"

"No, just kill **you**! How dare you come here and do this to me?! And blow my cover?! Do you have any idea how much blackmail I got on government officials and money from this job?!"

"You actually think I knew it was you?! I would have tried blowing you up with my grenades myself had I known you were that hooker! Thank God you're a lousy shot!"

"Bastard! I could say the same thing about your aim! Oh God, I hope those birth control pills still work! I can't believe I let you touch me, you pig!"

"I can't believe out of all the cities and towns you had to sleep around as a prostitute, I had to run into **you**, you harpy!"

The dust was starting to clear, revealing, to everyone's shock, two very familiar nemeses of the X-Men, Misfits, and G.I. Joe.

"Whoa…" blinked Toad.

"Oh…my God…" Shadowcat gasped, her eyes so wide you could see the whites all around her brown pupils.

Roadblock just uttered, "Damn, that's a sight that I could have gone without seeing!"

"**I'm** grateful I'm blind," Blind Master commented.

"Lend me a chopstick, and I think I may join you," Hank said dazed, suddenly very, very nauseous. Kurt just stood shock-still, like a statue, one eye twitching as he looked on the scene with the other heroes. Pietro, unsurprisingly, opened his big mouth and made things worse as he snidely commented on this with a happy grin as Trinity whipped out their three pink camcorders.

"God, thank you for the fabulously good timing! And for giving us front seats to Mystique's utter demise from whatever little grace she had, not that it was a big fall to begin with!"

Everyone was so stunned at seeing man and woman fight that none of them bothered to tell Pietro to shut up.

For what the crowd was seeing was an unmasked Zartan and a blue-skinned Mystique in her normal form, both of which were in an obvious state of undress from the fact that neither of them were wearing pants, and Mystique was clad only in her bra. And judging from what they spoke in their conversation, it wasn't difficult to surmise that they merely stumbled into each other in this very building by pure bad luck and coincidence.

God apparently had a _very_ sick sense of humor in this universe.

"Damn you! I'll have to run back to Magneto because you ruined this for me!" Mystique screamed shrilly as he tried to break Zartan's neck by aiming a skull-shattering turn kick at Zartan who blocked it deftly.

"I can't believe I touched you! I can't believe I even went there!" Zartan yelled as he brutally punched Mystique at her head, only to miss and have it strike her shoulder instead.

Nightcrawler's voice had trouble coming out of his dropped jaw and gaping mouth, and all that the German mutant could articulate was a series of strangled noises and choking sounds of mental trauma.

"Does anybody want to stop them before they kill each other?" Captain America asked.

The unanimous response from Burke, the mutants, and the G.I. Joe handlers came quickly.

"Not really."

"Uh…forgive us for being confused, but who're those two exactly?" Kuwabara asked as he and the other Spirit Detectives looked on in confusion. The X-Men and Misfits hurriedly explained.

"That blue lady you see is Mystique, a mutant shape-shifter and terrorist who used to work for Magneto, but now she's a mercenary! And she's Nightcrawler's mother!" Xi explained.

"And the man Mystique is fighting is Zartan, the leader of the Dreadnoks who stole the Legacy samples, the one we were chasing in the first place!" Jean hurriedly explained.

Kurt's left eye twitched as he continued watching the scene of Zartan and Mystique, both half-naked, trying to kill each other, his yellow eyes dilated and glazed with shock.

"So…Mystique are married then? Zartan is Kurt's father?" Kurama asked, blinking.

Piotr shook his head as he hurriedly explained, "No, Kurt's father is Burke, you know, this Burke of A.U.N.T.I.E who's a secret spy and who's additionally a demon named Azazel who was banished into human form as punishment!"

"So…Zartan and Mystique hate each other? So they're enemies then?" Kuwabara tried again.

"Well…technically yes, but they didn't before when they slept around together for the first time while the Misfits were just starting and Mystique and the Dreadnoks were trying to take over Cobra," Shipwreck added.

"Damn you! You ruined me!" Mystique screamed as she tried to bludgeon Zartan with a pewter pot containing a rosebush.

"As opposed to you scarring me for the rest of my life, you bitch!" Zartan bellowed as he tried to bash Mystique's head in with a fire extinguisher.

Kurt's left eye twitched even harder as a vein was shown popping out of his forehead, underneath his fur.

"The _first_ time??" echoed Yusuke, "So…they're exes then who now hate each other? And Burke is Kurt's father even though he's a demon and his mother is the mutant terrorist Mystique which explain the blue skin and fur? Actually, I can see a family resemblance."

"Actually, that's because Magneto did some experiments on Nightcrawler when he was a baby which made him turn out like that when Mystique was still pregnant with him in her womb, yo," Toad said.

Kurama looked even more confused as he clarified, "So Nightcrawler _isn't_ supposed to look like this even though his mother is a mutant? Because this Magneto did experiments on him as an embryo inside Mystique's uterus?"

"Oh no you don't!" Mystique harped as she kicked the gun Zartan had in his hands, about to shoot her, only to have it misfire and shatter one of the chandeliers.

"Which one of you two will be paying for that?" asked the receptionist in the background. Thankfully, everyone ignored her.

Kurt suddenly felt a very painful throbbing in the veins of his left arm for some reason, his entire appendage going numb.

Scarlet Witch said, shrugging, "I guess since Kurt's has a half-brother who isn't a mutant, although we have no way of knowing if the experiments really did anything to make things worse exactly."

"Half-brother? A _human_ half-brother??" Hiei asked, looking puzzled and perhaps a little lost as Zartan tackled Mystique.

"Yeah, a despicable hate-monger named Graydon Creed who leads the Friends of Humanity and whose mother is Mystique while his Dad's Sabertooth, my mortal enemy and a grade-A asshole and psychopath to boot," growled Logan.

"Isn't the Friends of Humanity an _**anti**-mutant_ society?" Kuwabara asked.

"And Kurt's brother **leads** it? Even though his own parents are mutants?" Kurama asked.

"Pretty much," Trinity chimed in unison.

Unfortunately, it was enough for the Spirit Detective leader, Yusuke, as he suddenly felt very lightheaded and gripped his temples with both hands. To say that this trivia of Kurt's family tree was convoluted would be an understatement.

"My head hurts…" groaned Yusuke.

"And to think that originally, I thought **we** had complex family issues," Hiei added with sympathy as he looked at the scene of Mystique and Zartan still fighting.

"Wow…what are the chances that two people who absolutely hate each others guts would enter in the same city disguised and whore each other out before falling right in front of a group of heroes trying to prosecute them?" Forge blinked.

"These sorts of things always happen to you X-Men and Misfits, don't they?" Burke drawled.

Piotr couldn't help but quip, "Actually, I think this one set a whole new standard for weird and awkward."

It was then that Kurt did the only thing he could. He turned an absolute sickly color, his face blanching with horror, before he went to a nearby potted plant and vomited in disgust and horror, retching and heaving madly.

"If that bamboo plant is damaged from your vomit, you are most certainly paying for it!" the female Indian secretary called out sternly with disapproval at Kurt.

"Uh…I think his brain's broke, yo…" Toad couldn't help but quip in sympathy.

"Yeesh…poor guy," winced Kuwabara, "He's gonna need therapy."

"Hm…a mercenary or a mutant terrorist? I honestly don't know which one to feel sorry for…" Bree managed to comment through her disgust and disbelief at Mystique and Zartan still fighting.

"I can _certainly_ tell you that I have no pity for Mystique," Burke said, disturbed and yet sort of enjoying the sight of two people who certainly deserved each other.

Yusuke made a face before he looked at the X-Men and Misfits and remarked, "No offense, but you mutants have the weirdest and strangest adventures. Are you sure you're not cursed or anything? Because I call this a pretty twisted chance of Fate."

"I ask myself that every day," Cyclops grumbled, "Especially with the existence of the Misfits! If that's not a curse, I don't know what is!"

"Love you too, Summers," growled Avalanche with sarcastic bile and malice.

"Damn it!" roared Zartan as Mystique pushed him off her by placing her foot on his stomach and pushing out with a powerful kick that sent him flying only to come crashing into the coffee table. Unfortunately, to make matters worse…

"Watch out!" yelled Captain America as he got in front of the group, using his shield, and a split second later, a bazooka missile ricocheted off the smooth and sturdy disc of vibranium and adamantium before it struck the ceiling again of the brothel lobby, causing the entire roof and ceiling above to collapse again, this time even more than before when Zartan and Mystique initially fell through, the whole top in flames and raining down sharp rubble.

"I got it!" yelled Jean, telekinetically shielding everyone while the X-Men and the Trinity brought out their Telsa barriers from their glovatrixes to protect themselves from any bits of wood or rock and concrete that managed to work its way through the invisible barrier Jean erected. Thankfully though for Zartan, it was the perfect allowance of several seconds of distraction in order for him to make an escape. The mercenary looked up towards the direction of the projectile to see his green haired Zanya wielding a bazooka, now dressed back into her biker apparel along with Zandar, Zarana, and the other Dreadnoks.

"Run Pop! I can't believe we have to cover your useless butt again!" Zanya growled.

"Fine way to talk to your father!" grumbled Zartan as he fled.

"Uh…" Zandar blinked before he looked back and forth between the exposed Mystique and his brother before it clicked and he groaned, saying, "You slept with Mystique **_again_**?!"

"**_Hey, I didn't know it was her, so shut up and run like hell!_**"

"Oh no, you don't! You're not leaving me behind with them!" Mystique snarled as she pursued after the feeling biker gang of Dreadnoks, invoking many shocked screams, cried, and loud exclamations of horror and surprise outside from the many civilians around the streets.

"Give me strength!" Wavedancer, Toad, Xi, and Avalanche called out, summoning their respective staff and Keyblades with a flash of light before Althea ordered to the Disney summons, "Follow the Dreadnoks and stop them!"

"Roger and understood! This is G-Man to Wave-Girl, signing off!" Genie cheered as he, Simba, Dumbo, and Bambi chased after the mercenaries and Mystique from the opening as the other heroes we're trying to make their way through the rubble.

"Are you all right, Mr. Xavier?" Kuwabara asked as he and Colossus helped extract his wheelchair out from the piles of stone and concrete.

"Yes, I am. Thank you, and thankfully, there are no injuries so far," the mentor of the X-Men remarked.

"After them, then! We can't let lose them again!" Roadblock ordered as they all fled towards the entrance. Nightcrawler was still feel incredibly nauseous and sick from what he had just saw, and he weakly couldn't protest much as Fred simply picked him up by the collar of his uniform and dragged him outside to join in on the chase.

"Uh…we apologize about the damage, ma'am," Dragonfly weakly tried to apologize.

"Is there any chance you are not going to report us to police about the little skirmish?" Kurama asked, expecting another hostile outburst.

Instead, the woman smiled as she intoned, "You misunderstand. What goes on _inside_ the building is none of your jurisdiction. What goes on _outside_ of this building is entirely fair game for you mutants and S.H.I.E.L.D. And please be sure to give those two miscreants a sound and painful beating on our behalf for the destruction of our lobby and rooms. And of course, I shall be maxing out your Mr. Zartan's credit card to the limit since it shall be sufficient compensation for the damages he caused. Have a nice day, and be sure to hurt him and this Mystique badly, please."

"Hmph, you're evil," smirked Wolverine as he tore off along with the others. Outside, there was a gigantic and packed crowd of people giving the Dreadnoks a wide berth and watching the sights with various noises of surprise and amusement and disdain while officers were rapidly approaching the scene of disturbance. Not that anyone could blame the Indian residents of the neighborhood from stopping and staring, especially with famous Disney characters of Genie and Dumbo firing spells and bursts of water at the Dreadnoks from above and with Bambi tried to avoid getting decapitated by Buzzer's chainsaw while Torch was busy trying to keep Simba at bay with his flamethrower. Mystique, still in her blue-skinned glory, was still trying to kill Zartan by using a fire-axe she somehow mysteriously managed to grab in her dash with Zartan trying to kill Mystique with a spare firearm. Of course, there was no assistance from his henchmen since the Summons were keeping them busy.

"What the hell?!" cried out Zarana as she tried to mow down the Genie above her head with the AK-47, only to have the blue-skinned and whimsical spellcaster easily shield himself by magically materializing a gigantic red and white striped parasol in front of himself and deflecting the hail of gunfire, "Disney characters?! The Misfits are trying to attack us with **_Disney characters?!_**"

"That's so insulting, I don't even know where to begin!" Zanya growled as she tried to blast Dumbo with another missile from her bazooka, only to have the baby elephant send the seventeen year-old Dreadnok flying backwards with a powerful waterspout, the stream of pressurized water striking her in her abdomen.

"Trust me, fighting **you** isn't exactly something we can really boast about either," Genie quipped with a lighthearted smile as he turned all of Moneywrench's bombs and explosives and grenades he had strapped on his body as his own personal reserve for fighting into nothing more than rotten eggs, squishy tomatoes, and moldy vegetables with a click of Genie's fingers.

"Yeow! They're no joke either! This lion's a psycho! **Yeow, my butt!** That fleabag bit my butt!" yelped Torch as he ran for his life, his blowtorch now in pieces thanks to a powerful swipe from Simba's claws, and now, Torch was running with a big hole in his pants along with the ripped fabric of the Dreadnok's clothes still hanging from Simba's fanged mouth.

_Yuck, this human needs a bath_, Simba grimaced mentally to himself as he spat out the seat of Torch's pants.

"Good boy!" crowed Avalanche as he and the other heroes finally caught up with the Dreadnoks.

"What a disconcerting and niggling state of affairs! The Joe soldiers have arrived along with the X-Men and the Misfits!" gasped the biker named Donald before he switched to his split personality of Road Pig.

"And more freaks! Paranormal freaks from the Ghostbusters too from what we've heard!" Road Pig added, hefting his concrete sledgehammer. The spirit detectives, Kuwabara most notably, did not appreciate being coined that particular term.

"Hey, who're you calling freaks, you Hell's Angel reject?! Spirit sword!" roared Kuwabara as he summoned a blade into his left hand, the entire weapon consisting of pure, crimson spiritual energy. With a hurl of his arm, Kuwabara hurled his spirit energy blade at Road Pig's cinder-block hammer, and with a crack, it fell to pieces the instant the red energy speared into the head of the Dreadnok's tool.

"Hey! No fair!" cried out Road Pig. Kuwabara just smirked as he summoned another blade of crimson spirit energy.

"Look, stop gawking and run for it, you twit!" Zandar yelled as he tried to shoot at the heroes with his own gun, only to have it become engulfed with a fireball, searing his hand and melting into a pile of metal thanks to a lone fire attack by Magma.

"Need I point out that you're surrounded, losers?" Amara smirked as Captain America then flung his red, white, and blue shield directly at Zandar who was trying to shoot at the crowd and at the heroes as a desperate tactic to invoke a stampede, effectively slicing through the bazooka before it could fire, "You don't have anywhere left to run to!"

"And you're not leaving anywhere until you tell give us back the Legacy Virus that you stole from Dr. MacTaggert, you jerks!" Spyke growled as he and Pete Wisdom used a combination of several fire-tipped spikes and several searing pointed barbs from Wisdom's fingertips to impale and gouge through Buzzer's chainsaw and Thrasher's assault rifle, causing them to melt away. A headbutt and a hind-kick from Bambi finished the job, leaving the two winded and on the ground.

"Ow…beaten by Bambi…ow…I'm _never_ living **_this_** down," groaned Thrasher, holding his bruised stomach. Zarana then tried to take out a smoke pellet before flinging it hard against the blacktop, but to her surprise, nothing happened.

"Oh please, did you honestly expect **_that_** to work?" smirked Jean as she held the smoke pellet with her telekinesis, one hand extended towards the Dreadnoks and stopping the fragile pellet from cracking, hovering an inch off the floor, "That move is so old that I don't need to be a telepath to read your mind and know you'd resort of to the old 'create-a-smokescreen-and-run' tactic. You tried it before back in Russia, but it won't work now. You're not escaping that easily."

It was clear Jean was still a mite sore for the time when the Dreadnoks tried to sell her to the Double Helix mutant brothel several years ago. The Dreadnoks began to get a little worried as Jean tossed the smoke pellet away into a drainage grate on the street leading into the sewers. They were surrounded with no chance of escape, and it was pretty clear that their weapons meant jack-squat against all of them. Professor Xavier's voice was stern and angry as he addressed them.

"Return back Moira's Legacy samples you stole from Russia!" he demanded.

"Piss off, baldy!" Ripper spat.

"Yeah, we're not giving you the money we got from selling them either!" snorted Torch, but Zandar, Zarana, and Zanya all irked at the revelation as police officers began stepping out of their cars before pointing them at the Dreadnoks _and_ the heroes.

"You sold them?!" chorused several of the allies, not growing incredibly angry, Professor Xavier and the Joes most of all. Now there was no hope for the children of Muir Island to be healed via gene therapy sooner than expected.

But then before any of the heroes could react, Nightcrawler, who was shivering and trying to recover from seeing his mother half-naked and from the realization that she and Zandar had sexual relations when he was suddenly surrounded by a strange cloud of pink flowers before he felt something painful and hot burrow into his back right between the shoulder blades. Nightcrawler fell to his knees, screaming, and the audience turned to see the fleeting image of the Hellfire spore burrowing into Kurt's body.

"Son!" yelled Burke as he tried to reach for Nightcrawler, but the instant he touched the sphere of plants, we was sent flying back with a deep flare of pink-colored magic, only to land into Beast's furry arms as the instructor caught the agent.

"Kurt! What are you X-Men doing?! Help him!" cried Mystique in worry, instantly forgetting her intentions of murdering Zartan, allowing the mercenary leader to escape.

"I can't orb into the cloud! I can't get him out of there!" Whitelighter gasped.

"And I can't force it open with my telepathy either!" Jean gasped, realizing that the shower of blossoms were resistant to any of her telekinetic probes.

"No!" Multiple yelled as he tried to run to Kurt, but Low Light grabbed him and forced the mutant adolescent to stand still, despite Jamie trying to struggle out of Cooper's grip.

"You can't do anything, Multiple! He's been infected! Stay back!" the Joe sniper barked, but he could understand Jamie's grief at the sight. Wolverine growled in a feral manner, spittle building at the corners of his mouth as he drew out his claws at the now weaponless Zartan and the Dreadnoks.

"You did this, didn't you?!" Wolverine roared, "You led us out here so that the elf could get infected by your bosses, didn't you?! You work for Organization Thirteen and the Heartless, don't you, you traitor punks?!"

Wavedancer was shocked as she yelled at Zanya, "Why are you helping the Heartless?! I never thought you Dreadnoks could be **that** stupid!"

"WHAT?!" screeched Mystique as she glared at Zartan who was floored. This wasn't good…especially since the heroes were erroneously jumping to conclusions. And they would be angry enough to kill (or come close)…

Monkeywrench actually blinked and genuinely looked confused as he blurted out, "Huh?! What're you freaks talking about?! We don't know nothing about the Organization Fourteen or whatever they are!"

"Huh?" Wavedancer, Cyclops, and Kuwabara said in unison, but Wolverine and Blind Master could sense it, the fear, the confusion, the complete and utter surprise that something attacked them that was not planned by their own There was no way the Dreadnoks could be that good of actors; Logan could even smell the fear radiating off their skin.

"What the hell?!" Yusuke cursed at the curtain of blossoms surrounding the X-Men before turning to Kurama, "Is this a demon attack?"

The Ghostbuster looked absolutely horrified, a rare sight for the normally calm and sensible boy, as he said in a hushed whisper, "No…it is nothing from the spirit or demon realm. Be careful. This is not an easy foe. I can barely maintain an accurate reading on how powerful this enemy is."

"Oh trust me, you pitiful kitsune demon half-breed. I am anything **but** easy…" Marluxia intoned as he materialized in the center of the whirlpool of flower petals, his hood lowered and the black folds of his cloak billowing in the gusts of wind caressing his flower magic. In his hands, he held his most prized possession: his flower scythe, with a handle of the purest spring green and the blade long, curved, and glinting dangerously under the sunlight. It was visible to everyone, the heroes, the Dreadnoks, and the entire crowd of officers and civilians.

"Bastard!" growled Agent Burke, his face red with rage.

"Oh dear," Beast gulped at the sight.

"I can't feel him, even with **my** sense! This thing's no spirit!" Kuwabara gulped, his eyes wide.

"You know, even though this guy's a fruitcake and wields a _pink_ scythe, he's actually a lot more appropriately dressed as a messenger of Death than Botan ever could be. And at least _he_ doesn't say 'bingo'," Yusuke couldn't help but quip at the black robed warrior from Organization Thirteen. Avalanche made a loud exclamation on Simba's back, recognizing the man at once.

"That's Marluxia! The guy Lemon warned us about back in San Francisco!" the geokinetic yelled.

"And now you all will know why that Digimon swordsman fears me. He is nothing but barely an equal to my power and might," Marluxia bragged with little shame or pompousness as he expertly twirled his scythe into a ready position in one hand. The Joes and the agents from A.U.N.T.I.E were not going to let them have an opportunity to attack. And neither did Hiei and Avalanche and Simba for that matter.

"Let him have it!" roared Low Light as he, Cover Girl, Roadblock and Agent Burke cut loose with a plethora of bullets from their guns at the Organization member. To their shock, he simply deflected them without any conscious effort, the petal swirling around as a force-field. Then Hiei charged.

"Hiei, stop! He is not like other demons or spirits we have dealt with before!" Kurama cried out, but it was too late to warn his friend as Hiei foolishly rushed, faster than the eye could blink, his right hand made into a fist and black flames encasing and bathing his forearm at the same time, Simba roared before he charged with Lance riding on his back, swinging his Steel Quartz Keyblade.

Hiei roared as he jumped towards Marluxia and aimed a cross punch while in mid-air, muttering with a vibrating voice, ringing with power, "Fist of the Mortal Flames!"

"What is it with fools yelling their attacks before performing them? Well, all the better for me, I suppose…" Marluxia sighed with lugubrious sympathy as he took advantage of the alert before he seemed to move as a blur, leaving a trail of shadows of the exact space where he used to be split seconds ago. Then he lashed out with his scythe, ready to slice the Spirit Detective in two, only to realize that Avalanche blocked the swipe himself with his Keyblade, and the Organization member had to back off sharply in order to avoid Simba's claws.

"I did not need your help," Hiei said with a touch of affront as Lance and the lion landed next to the boy as Hiei drew out his katana.

_You're welcome_, muttered Simba telepathically, causing the demon adolescent to widen his eyes in surprise. Considering that he was blessed and cursed with the "Jagan" third eye in the middle of his forehead, it allowed him to telepathically hear the Disney lion's message in his head.

"Your pet _talks_?" Hiei blinked, shocked.

"He's my **partner**," Avalanche clarified in a hard voice.

_And this "pet" has a name…as well as teeth_, growled Simba, adding his voice with a telepathic snarl at Hiei.

"Let me try!" then yelled Avalanche as he leaned out and placed on hand on the firm ground and blacktop of the street, invoking his magic as he yelled, "Gaia Earthquake Force Rush!"

"Aquara Water Dragon!" Wavedancer yelled, getting into the act as she pointed a glowing finger at the opponent, and instantly, the curved and torrential current of water roared out towards Marluxia and combined with the explosions and eruptions from the crackling trench speeding towards the Nobody.

_Kawhoosh! Kaboom!_

Unfortunately, as the dust and heat cleared away, Marluxia was left still standing amid the spherical cloud of rotating and revolving flowers and blossoms, fully protected and the petals of pink now glowing dangerously. Brittany gulped as she looked at her scanners.

"Uh…Wavedancer? You guys?" she reported, "His magic is wood…and wood gets nutrients from water and earth…you just made him _stronger_."

"Oh, son of a bitch!" cursed Shipwreck.

Torch's eyes went wide as he gasped, "He…he just took all those attacks! Holy blazes, that bloke from the Thirteenth Order just took on all those attacks from the Joes and those freaks without even a scratch! Attacks that hurt us!"

Zandar and Zarana's faces blanched, for once in a long while, showing some fear. This was not like most enemies they had faces, and unlike past foes, they couldn't bribe the Organization assassin with money or exploit his weakness.

"Uh…so whaddya we do know, boss?" asked Ripper, so scared and terrified, he was quivering and on the verge of wetting himself at the sight of the Organization member.

"Run, you idiots! Let the Joes deal with this!" snapped Zarana as she and her family and the Dreadnoks sprinted, along with Zandar trying to tighten the belt over the seat of his pants (no easy feat while running for your life), but unfortunately for them, Marluxia wasn't finished. With a snap of his fingers, two additional Hellfire Heartless appeared out of portal of black smoke and darkness, gigantic, muscularly brawny, and roaring like bloodthirsty animals with wicked claws and teeth.

"Heartless, begin the Harvest," intoned Marluxia coolly as the crowds of civilians and officers all around them started screaming and shrieking in panic before they started running and fleeing for safety, pushing, shoving, and almost stampeding on each other to get away from the now infamous evil creatures displayed on the worldwide news daily.

"Dumbo! Stop that Heartless and save the Dreadnoks!" Wavedancer yelled.

"Simba, Proud Roar!" commanded Lance, and instantly, the baby elephant and the lion both created an attack of a watery sonic boom that sent an unstoppable wave of force to come barreling towards the Hellfire spawn, but unfortunately the attack missed as the Heartless simply scurried to the left to avoid it. This thankfully for the Dreadnoks gave Zartan and his biker group to escape.

"They're getting away!" Shipwreck cursed.

"We can't worry about that now! We have to settle the Heartless predicament! And Kurt's still infected!" snapped Spyke.

Marluxia then turned to Nightcrawler as the X-Man now finally stopped screaming, ordering as he caused the curtain of flowers to fall away from the teenager, now revealing his terrifying glory.

"And as for you, you work for **me** now, Nightcrawler…" Marluxia intoned.

"No…" gasped Mystique.

"Elf!" roared Wolverine in shocked anger as the former X-Men now fully transformed for everyone to see, the Heartless seed inside him now completing the forced metamorphosis of the mutant teenager. Kurt Wagner was now a Heartless that remarkably looked like a horned demon (and Burke was inwardly floored at how much Nightcrawler closely resembled one of his fierce minions in the Neyaphem dimension where he once ruled as Azazel). Tall, gangly, emaciated, but over fifteen feet tall with two gigantic horns atop of its head, wicked claws on its hands and feet, and fierce looking yellow eyes over a mouthful of malformed teeth and pointed elf ears, covered with a long mane of red, scraggly hair. Kurt's skin was now black with red, crude tribal markings of war tattooed from the head to the ankles, and over its body, it wore war armor of tarnished copper, steel, and brass, complete with chain mail and a tattered red cape. And on the breastplate of its armor was the gigantic symbol of the crossed-out heart. And in the Heartless' hands, it held two fencing sabers, long, thin, and razor-sharp enough to slice through stone and metal.

And Marluxia tossed back his mane of hair before he issued his orders.

"Heartless, spread throughout the city and harvest as many hearts as you can…"

With that, Marluxia twirled his scythe and raised the blade high over his head.

"**I** shall deal with these fools."

"Run! Scatter! Don't let him get close!" yelled Captain America as they all dodged, running far, with the good Captain and the Misfits lagging behind to give everyone else a chance to escape while drawing out their Keyblades to cover for their friends. Which was probably a good thing since the instant Marluxia raised his weapon, a gigantic blade of pink-colored energy fell from the sky, about at least twenty feet in length, curved like Marluxia's scythe, and sharp enough to split the air before them, creating a vacuum.

KASHAAACK!

"Oh my God…" whimpered Amara. Where they all were seconds ago was now a gigantic crevice, smoking and too cleanly sliced and serrated to be made by a simple tremor. There were very little cracks along the edges of the gash, and it was so deep that it even penetrated and severed the sewer line below which was at least ten feet deep.

"Bloody hell! How do we fight that?!" yelled

With that, the three Hellfire Heartless scattered to three different directions, intent on setting themselves upon the Indian people as quickly, gruesomely, and destructively as they could. The two generic Hellfire Heartless ran and charged, smashing through walls and buildings. The demon, saber-wielding Heartless however, evilly cackled in a high pitched war-cry before it disappeared two miles away from its current location in the city in a large and dark plume of vile smelling and familiar clouds of brimstone.

The heroes were shocked.

"What the hell?!" Wolverine roared, but Cover Girl pieced it together.

"Damn it! Kurt's Heartless has teleportation powers too! That means it'll be harder to track him down!" the female Joe cursed.

"We'll have to split up then!" yelled Cyclops over his communicator, "We need at least a Spirit Detective to stay with us, but the Keyblades and the others need to go stop the Heartless! Split up, and Jean and I will handle this with Colossus! Wavedancer, you have the staff so follow Kurt! He needs you to cure him! Professor, go with her! It'll be the safest! The other Keyblades need to go to stop the Heartless, and we'll stay here!"

"Agreed! We'll go! It's the best path! We'll leave accordingly! Cover Girl, I'll stay here and help Cyclops!" Low Light nodded.

"I'll fight too! That's my son this Organization member infected!" Mystique yelled as she came up to Cyclops, still holding the axe.

"As if, Mystique!" growled Quicksilver as he, Toad, and Blob got in front of the blue shapeshifter and brought forth their Zephyr, Amphibionian, and Heavyweight Keyblades. The shapeshifter was stunned as she looked these strange weapons and the fierce, killing looks on the members of the former Brotherhood. She had heard reports about how the Misfits had mysteriously gained strange powers that enabled them to fight the Heartless and the Organization, beings that even Magneto or the Justice League had difficulty fighting. It wouldn't be hard to imagine how much it would hurt her, a mutant woman. Lina thankfully ended the situation by getting in between the shapeshifter and her teammates.

"Fighting won't get us anywhere!" yelled Dragonfly as Piotr in his armored form picked up a police car before flinging it at Marluxia with his strength, only to see the warrior in the black robes neatly slice it in two with his scythe.

"And don't mistake this as a truce," Mystique growled poisonously at her former wards, "I am merely fighting a common enemy for what he did to my son! This changes **_nothing_** between us!"

"Oh, how I'd love to shove this Keyblade down your big mouth!" snapped Quicksilver, but immediately, they all left to fight their battles as Mystique set herself upon Marluxia with her axe.

Yet it was becoming worrisome. Even in the course of several minutes, hearts were flying up towards the sky everywhere, innocent civilians losing their hearts at the two generic Hellfire Heartless used black lightning and their claws to set themselves upon any human being they could. And the swashbuckling Heartless that used to be Nightcrawler was literally mowing down the masses with his fencing swords, swiping without abandon.

"Take this, jackass!" Kuwabara yelled, brandishing his red Spirit Sword wildly, the weapon now as tall as the Spirit Detective himself and glowing hotly before charging. Unfortunately, the Hellfire Heartless was surprisingly adroit and flexible as it narrowly evaded the teenager's swipes. It was a rude surprise; Kuwabara realized that the Heartless (or at least this version) were probably just as difficult as the participants of the Dark Tournaments. The Hellfire Heartless snarled as it managed to back off a safe distance before it shot its extendable arms towards the Spirit Detective who gulped before brought down his sword hard on one arm before it the other tried to grab him. Thankfully…

"Move!" Cover Girl yelled as he took her shotgun and with barely a second, fired dead-on into the Heartless' wrist, and instantly, the Heartless screamed as its hand was nothing more than a severed stump and bleeding from having its fingers shot off. Then Cover Girl pulled a grenade from the pocket of her jacket before activating it with a push of a button and then hurling it at the distracted Heartless' feet before grabbing Kuwabara by the nape of his neck (the Spirit Detective was amazed that the woman could lift him up single-handedly as if he was a sack of feed) before sprinting to safety right before the grenade exploded at the experiment's feet.

KABOOM!

"Bugger! That did it!" Wisdom marveled at the injured Heartless before Fred moved in along with Captain America.

"Gravira…Orbs of Force Crusher!" and the Heartless screamed in a high-pitched roaring that could not even be remotely human as the purple balls of intense and crushing gravity magic besieged on the weakened Heartless, sending it to its knees before the Avenger expertly tossed his metal shield in a fraction of a second with a powerful fling of his arm. Like a discus, the weapon flew like an arrow, its edges glinting in the sunlight, directly at the monster's neck.

Shack!

"All right! Ya' got him, Captain!" cheered Blob as the Heartless literally lost its head before it died and evaporated into black smoke with a sickening groan, perishing from having Captain America's weapon decapitate it neatly. The shield returned back like a boomerang into Steve's hand.

"But not the hearts, though. So many people lost their lives…" mourned Magma as she looked at the numerous pink crystals that were floating up towards the sunlit blue sky before fading away, leaving many civilians around them devastated and crying and injured.

"Focus on the living now, Magma. Worry about the dead later," Captain America commanded softly before the group fled towards the next Heartless.

At the same time, the group of heroes that we sent to chase after the demon sword-wielder Heartless that was once their pacifistic X-Man, Nightcrawler. No matter how many times they attempted to catch and teleport with the Mass Device towards the monster, they were unable to catch it in time to sufficiently restrain the experiment. Each and every one of the four times the group appeared at a place, the demon Heartless was already there, hacking and slashing at crowds of terrified and panicking residents and city dwellers with its fencing blades, the field littered with hearts.

"Stopra…Time - !" called out Trinity, but before they could finish their incantation, with a poof and a gigantic cloud of brimstone, the swashbuckling Heartless vanished, leaving an array of pink essences of the fallen humans to float into the air before they disappeared.

"Damn it! He's too fast!" cursed Wavedancer.

Beast added with a groan, "And the Hellfire creature can just teleport to areas of high population density without any restraint in order to gather more hearts for the Organization! **Any** area within a two mile distance could be a likely target!"

"Actually, we got him on our scanners!" yelled Quinn, "He's in Versova Beach! We just detected him!"

"Let us go then!" Xavier commanded as they used the Mass Device to the coordinates Trinity relayed back to the main console and control back at the Pit with their scanners. With a bright haze, they suddenly found themselves in the sand and surf, one of the city's most prominent fishing communities, only to see that many fisherman and couples on the beach were falling prey to the demon fiend.

"Genie, stop him!" Toad commanded to his Summon, and the Genie merely just snapped his fingers and clapped twice, invoking a cloak of magic across the entire beach as a time-flow distortion spell against enemies, thus slowing down Kurt and preventing him from altering the space-time continuum to teleport between dimensions.

"There, I just did a anti-dimensional distortion spell on the place! Good ol' Nightcrawler won't be able to teleport anymore!" the djinn crowed, but then to contradict his statement, the demon Heartless teleported again, disappearing into a cloud of smoke. Genie was stunned, throwing a confused and puzzled fit, his eyes popping out and his jaw dropping to the ground that would have done any "Looney Tunes" cartoon proud.

"Sweet mother of mercy and all the little side dishes put together! How the magic lamp did he do that?! Nothing could have gotten past **that** spell! We're talking phenomenal, cosmic powers here!" the Disney spellcaster exclaimed in surprise and amazement, but Burke then realized why.

"Demon blood!" the British intelligence agent exclaimed, "The boy's got demon blood in him as well! He's quarter-demon, so his Heartless is not only a mutant Heartless, but a demon-Heartless as well! And demons are inherently born with their own immunity to some magic! And considering that you were bested by the Organization members and some of their servants like that Blackheart bloke, then of course your magic won't suppress him! That makes him a powerful Heartless!"

"And we got his bearing again! He's in the downtown portions of the city, near the National Stock Exchange!" Brittany yelled as her pink scanner flashed.

"This is getting' infuriating," grumbled Shipwreck as he and the other heroes teleported again, only to come to the middle of the conglomerate district where the Heartless was attacking everyone it could with its fencing sabers, invoking more and more hearts as people were sheared and cut down. Corpses fell to the floor before they disintegrated, releasing more and more heart crystals. The Misfits tried again while Genie rushed forward, dressed in a dogcatcher's uniform and carrying a huge net on a stick.

"Thundaga Blitzclap - !" began Toad.

"Stopra…Time - !" recited Daria, Quinn, and Brittany at the same time, but to their extreme disappointment and aggravation, the Heartless knew what was coming before he disappeared again in a vile plume of brimstone smoke before any of the spells could take effect.

"He disappeared again, yo!" groaned Shipwreck.

Xavier worriedly turned to the Misfits before saying, "I am beginning to see the downside of needing to verbally incant your spells in order to activate your Elementa magic."

"Argh! We'll like **never** catch Kurt at this rate!" Shadowcat wailed.

"I agree! This is too counter-productive and it won't get us anywhere! We need a way to keep Nightcrawler in one place and stop this cat-and-mouse game now before things get worse!" Blind Master said with dire urgency.

Scarlet Witch added, "**_And fast!_** The more we hesitate, the more people are going to lose their hearts!"

"But how, yo?!" Toad asked, his voice cracked and strained with loss and a lack of ideas, "Not even Genie's magic can freeze him in place, and every time we get close, he just teleports away again! He's too fast for us!"  
But Forge then gasped, his eyes wide, as the mother of all light bulbs proverbially lit above his forehead, the adrenaline and his desperation to help his friend suddenly blessing him with a massive amount of inspiration and brilliance. And it couldn't have come at a better time.

"No, we have to find a way to stop his teleporting!" Forge broke in strongly, getting everyone's attention, "If you stop Kurt from teleporting, then he can't run away! And then we'll be able to weaken and cure him!"

"Uh, hello? Earth to our resident mad, little inventor…" Genie said in an annoying and capricious tone of voice as he lightly rapped Forge's head with his knuckles, "Hate to break this to you, but we don't **have** a spell to break through the Nightcrawler's teleportation! If phenomenal cosmic powers can't stop this kid, then I can't think of any magical spell that I can use and summon to stop the little demon Heartless!"

Brittany also added, "And as long as he keeps running away like this, none of us can use any of our Elementa magic to get close to him! And we can't freeze him because we need several seconds to do it!"

"Correction: we don't have magic, but we do have _technology_ that **_can_** neutralize Kurt's teleportation! Don't you guys remember?! I did it before! Like at the Sadie Hawkins Dance at Bayville High that came up because I developed a special machine - !"

"That tried to manipulate Kurt's teleportation frequencies and abilities as well as kept him in limbo in that dimension that had that all those red lizard dinosaur animals that attacks the school! I remember now!" Multiple exclaimed, slapping his forehead.

Wolverine grumbled as he realized that there was only one thing left to do, and he was extremely loathed to take it as he pointed at Forge. He said sternly, "I know, that for years to come, I'm going to regret saying this and that I will never say anything this stupid again in my entire life. But Forge: **_we need your goddamned invention, right here and right now!_**"

"Wow, never thought I'd hear Wolverine of all people say that one…" Multiple blinked as Forge nodded, eager to do whatever it took to bring his friend back, before Daria, Quinn, and Brittany flanked Forge and teleported to the Mansion with the Mass Device.

Meanwhile, the select group of heroes were having a few problems fighting Marluxia and realizing that indeed, he was incredibly difficult and powerful, not to mention incredibly swift and confusing with his various flower attacks.

"Spirit Gun!" roared Yusuke before he took aim with his right hand, pointing out his forefinger and middle finger like a pistol before a blue and nascent bulb of spirit energy appeared and fired a powerful streaming blast directly at Marluxia. But to the detective's surprise, the Organization member calmly blocked the attack by twirling his scythe in a circular pattern, forming an effective shield as he easily knocked aside the incoming projectile.

"Hmph, guess he's not as much of a pushover as I thought," smirked Yusuke as he expertly jumped and dodged Marluxia's swipes, although he then cried in pain as one particular slash managed to graze his forearm, drawing blood from the deep laceration.

"Urameshi, you fool! Don't get cocky!" yelled Kurama.

"Leave him alone, jerk!" yelled Bree as she stepped in with her butane flamethrower before she pointed it at the enemy and pulled the trigger, invoking a powerful burst of flame directly at Marluxia's back, ready to incinerate him to ashes. Marluxia snarled, his face dark, before he stopped attacking Yusuke and summoned a current of petals to rip Bree apart, but to his surprise, the flames were much stronger as the petal were engulfed by the stream of butane fire before they plopped lifelessly to the floor, shriveled and charred.

"Magic or not, flowers are useless against fire!" Bree bragged, "And wood is vulnerable to fire, especially from a flamethrower!"

Marluxia cursed, realizing he easily underestimated and dismissed any threats caused by science. Which allowed Kurama to move in…

"Rose whip," intoned Kurama as he held out a hand that contained a lone, brown seed of a rose in his smooth palm, and instantly, with a humming sound of demon magic, he was able to have it grow into a long, thorny whip in about a single second before he expertly cracked it against the air and flung it at Marluxia, the thorny briar acting like a fluid snake, deadly and intense enough to slice through metal. Marluxia tried to dodge, moving seamlessly back and forth in various directions as he glided through the air. But to his shock, the plant flail followed him in every direction, and though it was plant magic, it was entirely different from his flower spells. With a snarl, Marluxia used his scythe to slice the whip asunder, with a series of swipes and hacks so quickly that Kurama could not even process them. To the Sprit Detective's shock, the pieces of his rose whip fell to the floor, but then he noticed with some slight satisfaction that one thorny piece managed to puncture the Organization assassin in the shoulder, though no blood was visible.

Marluxia hissed maliciously with a snake-like smile, "Clever, half-breed."

And without warning, the cloaked warrior snarled as he swung his scythe at the two spirit detectives, invoking a cloud of pink flower petals, a whirlwind of scented blossoms that was so widespread and moving quickly that there was no way Kurama and Yusuke could safely avoid it. However, Jean Grey covered this wonderfully by flying in front and encasing all three of them in a telekinetic bubble, shielding her allies before with a concentrated look, forced the flowers to go flying back at Marluxia, who adroitly cast them aside with a wave of his hand.

"Energy is energy, whether it comes from mutant powers or magic, Marluxia," Jean growled coldly before she telekinetically gripped Marluxia's glowing scythe with her mind and suppressed it forcibly, and no matter how hard the Organization member tried, he couldn't free it. It was stuck and he was pretty much weaponless, which allowed Colossus and Low Light (transformed into solid adamantium) to bring their fists together hard on the slim green staff portion of the weapon.

CRACK!

The head of the scythe broke under the swift delivery of the heavy, metal fists, leaving the portion containing the long blade to fall to the sidewalk, leaving Marluxia with a useless wooden stick.

"Ha! Not so high and mighty without your rod, huh, jackass?!" Cooper crowed, but the words died in his throat when Marluxia just smiled and invoked his magic, causing the scythe blade on the ground to glow with a green luminescence before it vanished and reappeared to the broken weapon, attaching itself back together and making it all new and whole once again.

"Who is the jackass now, Joe?" Marluxia sniped as he flew towards the sniper and the X-Man, but Cyclops wasn't finished.

"It's still you!" snapped Scott as he let loose a powerful and devastating optic blast from his visor, and though Marluxia tried to block it, he was surprised to see how powerful the energy was, and the propulsion of the beam of sunlight brutally sent the Organization member to come crashing through the nearest wall of the closest building. Or make that through the nearest wall and the next two before plummeting through a window.

Yusuke gave Cyclops the thumbs-up sign, grinning, "Good one! You trashed his ass!"

Kurama actually smiled as he said to the X-Girl, "My thanks, Ms. Grey. You too, Mr. Summers, Mr. MacBride, Mr. Rasputin, and Mrs. Steen."

"Kid, ya' don't have to be so polite around us!" scoffed Low Light.

"And no thank you for me as well, you little demonic Ghostbuster brat?!" snapped Mystique in the background. Kurama just coldly stared at her.

"Not really…unless you wished for it to be insincere."

Meanwhile, at a rather crowded area in the district of Bollywood, but already word of mouth and fear of the nearby Heartless attacks was enough to send a lot of people skittering and madly running to any building or haven, the heroes waited alongside Forge and Trinity. Forge was holding a strange, mechanical done-shaped device, metallic and like a vest of armor while making some panicked, last minute modifications with his mechanical arm as well as making sure that the straps were elongated and tightly secure enough. He just prayed that this would work…

So much was riding on this plan which the heroes were briefed in about a minute.

"Are you sure this will work, Forge?" Wolverine asked, already beginning to not like the idea.

"Logically, it makes sense! If you and Forge were able to stay in a prolonged environment in dimensional limbo when we accidentally let out those strange fire-dinosaurs at Bayville High during the Sadie Hawkins dance, then it should also be possible to set it so that it can prevent that Heartless from teleporting and prevent Kurt from going to limbo in the first place! Instead of allowing the dimensional rifts to open, it'll just keep them locked, like a door!"

Burke frowned, a bit confused, as Justin blinked and asked, "Wait…**_fire-dinosaurs_**?"

"Before your time, and we don't have room to explain," Althea commanded before she turned to her three sisters who were all busily attempting to scan and calculate with their pink scanners and asked, "You sure the Heartless will show up here?"

"There's about a fifty six percent chance!" Daria said, looking up her scanner, "Kurt's teleported to a number of places already, and it logically makes sense that he would need to go to high populated areas to gain the most hearts, like any mindless drone! And this is the only place nearby within a two mile radius that he hasn't struck yet! And…he's coming! There's a rift coming, not too far from us, next to the studio!"

"Now, Whitelighter!" Forge yelled, in which Justin risked using his mutant power right as the Heartless appeared right in front of them a split second later, only to see the heroes standing before it, weapons and Keyblades drawn.

"Middleverse machine, latch to Kurt's back!" Whitelighter commanded, and with a blue shimmer and a whine of soft noises, the entire contraption disappeared before reappearing onto the sword-wielding Heartless, looping snugly across its chest and firmly settling onto its back before activating with a loud noise. Alarmed, the Heartless tried to teleport, but with a loud whine, the Middleverse machine covered the demon Heartless, preventing it from escaping.

The swashbuckler was trapped and stuck.

"It worked! By Jove, good work, chap! **It worked!**" Burke yelled jubilantly.

"Now, yo! Thundaga Blitzclap Pressure!" Toad yelled, and Justin and Wanda joined in with their magical attacks.

"Lumiga…Mark of the Sun!"

"Fira Crimson Whirlwind!"

With a gigantic flare of orange, yellow, and red, a column of fire, encased with crackling electricity and surrounding a beam of sunlight, sped towards the demon, a combination of thunder, fire, and light magic. However, with a wild and furious block, the demon crisscrossed its two swords in front of his and to everyone's amazement, though the three-pronged magical attack actually burned it, the two metal weapons managed to act as an effective cover. The swords began to glow red-hot from the energy striking it and parts of its rippled flesh was beginning to blacken and singe. But to everyone's dread, it was still alive…and not severely weakened enough to be cured.

"Damn…" cursed Wolverine.

Unfortunately, the more and more the swashbuckling Heartless attempted to teleport, the Middleverse pack on its back was started to fizzle and overheat madly, overloading from the numerous attempts for the Hellfire Heartless to teleport with its mutant power. To everyone's shock, a gigantic vortex, black and swirling with a powerful gravitational pull emerged from Forge's mechanism (an unseen backfire, no doubt, from being in contact with a mutant Heartless' magic), right behind the demon abomination. Burke's eyes went wide with shock; he had a pretty good guess where that portal would lead…

"No, it can't be!" the A.U.N.T.I.E agent yelled as he rushed forward towards the portal in heart-thumping excitement, almost thinking it was too good to be true. But Forge was closer as he tried to rush toward the monster once Kurt who was now holding itself in pain as it was being unwillingly pulled between dimensions.

"Nightcrawler! Stop! Don't do this, man!" the inventor yelled.

"Forge!" Daria yelled.

"You moron! Stop!" Quinn yelped rushing towards the inventor.

"We can't do any-!" Brittany was about to exclaim while trying to pull on the X-Men's hand to slow him down, but with a bright flash, the portal expanded before it swallowed Kurt, Forge, Trinity and right before it closed, a golden-furred streak shot past Burke, like it was a mere blur, before diving into the portal.

"Pluto?!" gasped Althea as she saw the dog dive into the portal before vanishing into the space and rip in time, sealing itself shut with a mere whispering noise, leaving nothing behind. The infected Hellfire drone was gone, and with it, Forge and Trinity as well.

Jamie shouted with loss, "No! They're gone! And we don't have a way to bring them back!"

"No!" yelled Burke in frustration as he pounded his fist on the stone street, half because he lost a way to help his son (no matter what, no one could argue that Burke didn't have some feelings for his mutant son), but also half because he was so close to going back to the demon realms, his home and kingdoms. Wolverine looked at Matt Burke wit narrowed eyes. He didn't trust Burke any more than he threw him, and he had a gut feeling there was another reason why the British agent was so distraught.

"Trinity…" whispered Wavedancer, shivering inside and hoping to whatever deity she could think of that things would be all right.

Meanwhile, Forge and Trinity found themselves alone in the murky blackness with the monster who was once their kind and pacifistic mutant friend.

"It worked! Kurt can't teleport anymore! He's trapped!" Forge yelled jubilantly, but then his happiness died quickly when he and Trinity realized that they were the _only_ ones who were trapped in the demon dimension along with Kurt's Heartless.

All around, there was nothing but barren and lifeless earth, dry and bitter, and pools and rivers of molten lava and rock running all around them, making the entire region unbearably hot, but thankfully a potent light source as the skies above were black, containing no stars, sun, or moon. They were clearly not in Mumbai, no humans, no skyscrapers, no smell of the salty breeze…

They were in another realm, another dimension, quite possibly the same one Kurt used so frequently to teleport from place to place. And for some reason, it was familiar…

There was a sudden bark, and Forge found himself having his legs being rubbed against by Pluto, nuzzling against him.

"Great…" moaned Forge, "Instead of Wavedancer or Scarlet Witch or even one of the Joes and Spirit Detectives, we get the dog!"

Pluto gave the inventor a nasty look and stopped nuzzling against him.

"I didn't mean that the way it sounded, Pluto…" Forge griped as the demon Heartless suddenly spotted the four and roared, its mouth wide and its eyes glinting dangerously, making it absolutely horrific and intimidating.

"And unfortunately, we're trapped **with him**…" groaned Quinn.

"And Wavedancer's back in the human dimension fighting the Heartless and Marluxia! She can't get to us from here! So we can't cure him now! And we don't have Summons!" Daria groaned.

"You know, in retrospect, we really should have thought of this possible setback before trying this little plan…" mused Brittany in an annoying voice.

"Oh shut up!" snapped Forge, Daria, and Quinn, as the Delgado Triplets took out their Trichrona Keyblades with a pink flash of light. There was only one thing left to try considering that their time freeze was passive, and thus, would only work to stall and gain some time before it would wear off. And none of the other Misfits or Bambi was with them, so they mana supply would be limited. Daria, Quinn, and Brittany looked at each other before it clicked in their minds that they had a magical ability and Pluto could transfer their ability to a person of his choosing. And Forge was the only one with them.

"Pluto…" chimed in Daria, Brittany, and Quinn sweetly but with urgency, and Pluto, being no fool, knew what they were going to ask. But unfortunately, Forge then realized why this whole land was so familiar to him.

"You guys! We've got bad company!" he shouted, pointing at the landscape all around them, to reveal strange, humped creatures bearing a similar likeness to a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but much smaller about five feet or so, red-skinned and with wicked sets of teeth and claws. Their claws on their hands and feet were bone white and they were all powerfully muscled and ravenous, as if fresh meat was something they did not receive very often.

"Crap, these are the same dinosaurs that attacked the Bayville High Sadie Hawkins dance!" yelled Forge as he took out his few and only antimatter bombs and threw them at the pack of animals, attempting to cause them to back off. Trinity then acted as they brought their Keyblades together.

"All for one…!" started Daria.

"…and one for all!" finished Quinn and Brittany.

"Trinity Limit!" they called out, a gigantic and massive attack of pink time energy flowing everywhere, enraging the demon Heartless and scaring away all the fire lizards around them, causing them to retreat significantly enough to draw a breath of relief from Forge. Unfortunately, Kurt's Heartless then lunged, ready to impale Forge with its sabers.

"Forge, watch out!" yelled Quinn as she and her sisters actually managed to block the attack with their Keyblades and hammered away valiantly, scurrying and dodging as fast as they could, trying to stall the monster as Forge and Pluto (who was in front and protecting the X-Man) backed away slowly. Furious and now livid from the numerous jab wounds Trinity gave it, the experiment then slammed its fencing sabers on the ground, creating an explosion of red energy that unexpectedly sent the Triplets flying before crashing hard onto the ground a bit off into the distance, leaving them stunned. The Heartless was about to stab them when Forge the his last remaining antimatter bomb, scoring a direct hit and sending the Heartless on its knees as Forge and Pluto sprinted to Trinity.

"No!" Forge cried as he rushed to their sides, only to find all three of them knocked out and unable to fight anymore. Daria's head was bleeding, and Quinn's arm was badly broken. The Heartless roared as it walked towards Kurt while the pack of fire reptiles all around him moved in for the kills and to feed off any remaining carcasses.

"Oh man…this is not even good…I'm gonna die…" wailed Forge, but then Pluto barked before Forge then noticed a very strange and euphoric sight. The dog's eyes were glowing in a bright orange color.

With a soft noise, a beam of light shot from Pluto's eyes before it rested in the middle of the teenager's forehead, turning into the emblem of Thundaga.

"Whoa…righteous…" was all Forge could say in seventies slang, amazed and shocked that Pluto was giving him magic, his heart so elated and relieved it made the X-Man feel light-headed, as the orange symbol of the magical thunder kingdom began to shine on his forehead, amid the brown skin. Pluto's eyes then stopped glowing before he barked once sternly.

It was almost as if the dog was saying, _I gave you the gift. You'd better use it now._

Forge nodded, his heart pounding, as he faced the recovering demon Heartless. The monster was now propping itself up with its fencing sabers and just about ready to charge again at the unconscious Triplets, Pluto, and Forge with all of the red demon-lizards watching expectantly, hoping to feed off the carcasses of the losers (fresh meat was a rarity in this realm). Forge, for once, wasn't scared and determined to bring his friend back as he felt the power flow from his forehead to his mechanical right hand.

"Heartless, here's a message from the seventies: **peace, love, and granola!**" Forge yelled as snakes of orange lightning began to glow around his robotic hand, making it glow orange as the words came to his mouth from his heart, his core being feeling like it was bursting with the most pure emotions and passion. It was like the same high he felt whenever he got an invention to develop from his mind and built it into reality before being a complete success (or failure), only it was a hundred times more uplifting.

"THUNDAGA…!" Forge yelled. To his amazement, his right hand began glowing before, without needing conscious willpower, it began to change, creating a new implement and forming a square mouth end of a gigantic firearm, the opening cube-shaped and each side about half a foot long. And Forge knew that he never equipped him arm to ever form something such as this as the metal parts finished clicking and clanking together to form a large mechanical gun of where his hand used to be, all of the metal glowing in orange light and bearing a gold stamp of the symbol of the Thundaga kingdom on it.

A magical piece of technology. Who knew?

"ZEUSIAN…!" Forge yelled, pointing the mysterious gun at the charging Heartless who was advancing closer and closer towards Forge, still adamant on killing him and the Triplets. Though injured, it was still determined to assassinate and decapitate the inventor to shreds. Forge could feel the power building with a loud whine, the winds and air picking up all around him and the mouth was glowing, building and shining so brightly it hurt Forge's eyes before he finished the spell.

"…TURRET GUN!" Forge yelled. To his shock, a gigantic tendril of thunder, glowing orange and thick and powerful, snaked out of the mouth of the gun before it delivered a crackling and painfully intense beam of thunder magic directly into the middle of the demon Heartless' chest, right into the emblem of the crossed-out heart. It was incredibly powerful; not even Storm could summon a shaft of lighting this colossal, and Forge nearly fell on his butt as he had to brace one of his legs back as support in order to stop the force of firing to push him off his feet.

The streak of light continued to pulsate and crackle madly, encasing the sword-wielding Heartless with torrents of electricity, more powerful than the amount of energy generated from the lightning of any storm-cloud, and many, many more times painful before it slowed down and ceased, leaving Forge panting and hyperventilating to calm his beating heart. The opponent dropped to its knees with a shudder, the monster now severely weakened but still alive. It swords, the fencing sabers it used to try to block the attack, were now useless and charred pieces of smoking metal.

The meek and bumbling inventor of the X-Men won.

"In…credible…" whispered Forge in shock. But that feeling did not last long as he realized that the neighboring demon lizards, all of them with their eyes glittering and their teeth glazed with drool as they licked their chops hungrily, were advancing towards them. With so many, it was clear that Forge wouldn't be able to hold them off, and the Triplets were still unconscious. Forge attempted to try the spell again.

"Thundaga…Zeusian Turret Gun!" the X-Man yelled.

To the teen's shock, nothing happened. Not only did he fail to sense or feel any sort of upwelling of emotion and transcendence inside him, but his right hand reverted back to normal. He no longer had the magic.

"Oh, crap! What do I do now?!" shouted Forge, starting to panic.

But to his surprise, Pluto then closed his eyes, arched back his head, and howled, his voice echoing eerily throughout the entire demon realm, and all the red, carnivorous lizards made small shrieks of surprise before they halted in their tracks and cowered in fear. Forge himself even had to admit that Pluto's howling was…haunting and odd, sending shivers down his spine and making his skin crawl, though he had no idea why. Still, it was effective. The strange, inter-dimensional dinosaurs weren't going to swarm and rip him and the others to shreds.

But Forge then got another surprise as Pluto continued baying and baying, over and over again. To his shock, he, Trinity, Pluto, and the Heartless that was once formerly Nightcrawler began to glow in a white essence, their bodies outlines with a halo of pure, holy light. With that, the Heartless, Pluto, Forge, and the Triplets disappeared and faded out of the dimension before the lizards could ravage them.

And back in the real world in the city of Mumbai…

"Hey, what's happening?!" gasped Quicksilver as he and Dragonfly uses their Strike Raid and Sonic Blade techniques to kill the second Hellfire Heartless (thus releasing another heart), only to find themselves being surrounded by the same white luminosity and glow. With a flash, all of the heroes, each and every one of the X-Men, Misfits, Joes, Spirit Detectives, and Captain America was teleported and brought back to the slum neighborhood where Jean, Cyclops, Colossus, Low Light, Bree, Kurama, and Yusuke were fighting Marluxia. And to their surprise…

"Look!" cried Xavier, pointing at the scene to reveal that Forge, the Triplets, Pluto, and Kurt's Heartless appeared back into full view, all of them brought back home by Pluto in the human realm. Marluxia's eyes widened in surprise.

Apparently, the mutt was more powerful than the Superior realized.

"Forge!" yelled Cyclops as he rushed over to his friend, the teenager exhausted and still on his knees.

"Are you all right?" Hank asked worriedly as he looked him over with a scrutinizing eye, and breathing a sigh of reprieve at seeing now broken limbs, no serious injuries, no life-threatening wounds. Forge, despite his exhaustion, looked at everyone in surprise.

"You…you were worried? But…Kurt's the one that's been infected!"

"Of course we were worried, you dumb idiot!" Magma scolded, "We didn't want to lose you too!"

Forge just smiled at last, truly feeling that he belonged and that he was accepted. Yes, there would always be fights and anger and irritation and general demands for his head, but at least the message couldn't have been any clearer. When the chips were down, he would always be one of them.

"Whatever you idiots need to do, do it now! Help Kurt!" shrieked Mystique as she, Captain America, the Spirit Detectives, and Wolverine set themselves, brawling upon Marluxia.

"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!" yelled Wavedancer, pointing her staff at the horned demon Heartless, arching its head back and screaming as the ten Elementa symbols followed by the pillar of white instantly swallowed it in its exorcism…

Kashoooom!

"Kurt! He's like back!" Shadowcat exclaimed in relief as Nightcrawler limp and lifeless body landed heavily on the ground.

"And he's cured! The spore's destroyed!" breathed a sigh of relief for Colossus as he saw the gray, fleshy spore, which landed on the ground next to the pink, glowing heart crystal on the ground, cracked and disintegrated, releasing an ephemeral cloud of black smoke.

"And all thanks to Forge's invent-…damn, I can't believe I just said that," Wolverine remarked, grimacing, as if he just said something that was the mother of all oxymorons.

"**We** can't believe you said that," broke in Multiple as he and a few others gave the teacher a very odd look. Forge managed to find the humor in that as he gave a mock frown and sarcastic smile.

"Gee, thanks…" he drawled.

Marluxia was most displeased as he then decided enough was enough, and with a flick of his hands, a wave of flowers sent all his opponents flying, only to come crashing to the ground. He then lunged towards Kurt's body, his scythe ready to destroy the lifeless X-Man and take the teen's heart.

"That heart is mine!" Marluxia barked, only to find himself sidelined by Mystique, heavily injured, but still willing to fight for her son's life, ramming and steering the robed warrior off course with a flying kick.

"Don't you dare touch my son's heart! He's too good and pure to be taken by someone like you!" Mystique screamed as she used a variety of martial art moves to distract and batter her enemy with, allowing the Spirit Detectives to move in.

"Ojigi Plant," called out a voice, and the Marluxia's shock, before he could move, a plant from below sprung out and encased him within its leaves, wrapping around and threatening to snare him. Marluxia tried to teleport away, but he was surprised when the plants were preventing him from escaping.

This demon boy was apparently not like other paranormals.

"I have him," intoned Kurama, sternly trying to maintain his hold on Marluxia as the red-haired kitsune half-breed continued to summon more and more thorny tendrils from the ground to snare and cage the Organization member.

"Now! Hit him together!" Yusuke commanded his teammates before he summoned his spirit energy into both of his fists and fired two continuous streams of intense force, calling out, "Shotgun Double Barrel!"

"Spirit Sword!" yelled Kuwabara, summoning a gigantic blade of red energy before he hurled it at Marluxia like a harpoon, swift, sure, and as straight as an arrow.

Hiei then coldly and forlornly removed the bandages of his right arm, revealing a tattoo of a black dragon before in began to glow into a dark luster, casting a rather eerie feeling sense of foreboding and malice. Hiei then pointed his right palm at Marluxia and said calmly in a deathly whisper, "Black Dragon Wave."

With a powerful roar and a concussive burst of air so powerful, it nearly caused a few of the heroes to fall backwards in fright, a gigantic serpentine dragon made of black demon energy, almost similar in shape to Wavedancer's water dragon, emerged before rushing towards the Organization member and combining with Yusuke and Kuwabara's spirit attacks.

There was a tremendous explosion as the area around Marluxia was completely besieged and overwhelmed with the energy attack.

**_KAWHHHOOOOOOOMMM!_**

When the dust and smoke cleared, amid a lot of coughing and muttering of surprise, Marluxia was gone, leaving nothing but a deep and charred crater. Hiei summoned the black dragon back into his arm before bandaging it, hiding the mark from view.

Spirit murmured, "By the Great Spirit, that was undoubtedly powerful! You could defeat Magneto and Apocalypse if you wished to!"

"Is he gone?! Did you kill him?!" Jean asked.

"Hardly, X-Girl," a voice spoke above, and they all looked to see Marluxia still standing there, hovering above the ground with a cross expression.

"Until next time…" Marluxia intoned before he vanished. Forge then noticed that a familiar Tigershark was standing next to Kurt's body, holding his heart.

"Hey, give that back!" yelled Forge at Octavia, getting everyone's attention. Octavia just gently tossed the heart to Forge who caught it gratefully. It was clear she finished probing the essence of Nightcrawler.

"It was no Talisman," she said with some sadness and disappointment as she then jumped and left, vanishing over a building as she leaped.

"She's gone…" sighed Bree.

"Yeah, but so are Mystique and the Dreadnoks…" groaned Roadblock as Tinkerbell finished healing the Triplets while Shipwreck and Althea fretted over them.

"And so is the Legacy Virus! God only know what people shall do with it now! We have no bloody way of finding out where they sold it!" Agent Wisdom complained.

"It could be worse," Kitty said softly, "At least Kurt's like totally all right now."

Pete Wisdom found he couldn't argue that; it was a good point to be thankful for.

Captain America looked at Hiei and whistled, impressed, as he remarked, "Ms. Calendar was right. You Spirit Detectives are definitely extraordinary. I'll talk with Fury about the possibility of recruiting several paranormals for the Avengers."

"Do what you wish, but we are certainly not interested," Hiei said coldly, not looking at the blue, red, and white clad superhero as he lifelessly continued to stare at the spot where Marluxia disappeared. Kurama sighed as he gently reprimanded his friend.

"Hiei, do not be rude to our allies." Hiei just turned and walked away. It was clearly evident that even to his own teammates, the spiky-haired Japanese Ghostbuster was not a people-person. Meanwhile, Yusuke looked at the Joes, X-Men, and Misfits with deep thought.

"This is a whole new kind of warfare. I can tell you all that nothing like the Heartless or the Organization ever existed before in the demon and spirit worlds. They aren't natural in any sense of the word, and I'd doubt that even the strongest demons from our realm would be able to effectively kill the assholes from the Thirteenth Order easily without getting their collective butts kicked."

"So they're not demons?" Bree asked.

Kuwabara looked a bit pensive as he added, "Nope, and the scary part is, if they aren't natural to even the spirit worlds, then that means they're above and beyond anything we've ever encountered. And if **we** had problems with killing Heartless, then it'll be a given what will happen if they get loose into the spirit and demon realms. Not even the goons we faced off against in the Dark Tournament were **this** powerful."

"That's right. It would be a massacre, and regardless of what you would assume, demons and spirits do have hearts as well. And their worlds are connected to this realm, so it wouldn't be difficult for them to invade those dimensional planes if they wished to," Kurama said worriedly.

"But you guys are like uber-powerful and like some junk! Jenny at the Ghostbusters said that you're all really strong Ghostbusters!" blinked Shadowcat, looking at the four male teenagers. Yusuke gave Kitty a baleful and miffed look of irritation.

"We're spirit detectives and have demonic powers, but we're not invincible, X-Man. We're still human in the loosest sense of the word, and we're not gods, so don't think we're indestructible and that we can't be vanquished, you ditz."

"Don't call me a ditz, jerkface!" Shadowcat snapped.

"Kitty, stop! That's enough!" Beast scolded the valley girl before a full-scale argument and insult war could break out, thankfully sparing everyone's sanity and eardrums. Forge was relieved, surprised that he didn't faint right then and there with exhaustion, as he placed Kurt's glowing pink heart essence on the middle of his friend's chest. As it faded into its rightful body, an orange keyhole appeared, crackling with the little noises like static electricity.

"Yo, this one's mine!" Toad gasped as he felt his green and orange Amphibionian Keyblade quiver and vibrate as it began to glow, acting towards Kurt's keyhole. Toad held his Keyblade out towards the X-Man's limp body and there was a erratic but eye-popping swirl of orange lightning snaking around the head of the weapon before it dispersed. Instantly, a similar ring of thunder magic swirled around Kurt's chest before there was a loud and final click before the keyhole also dispersed.

The spirit detectives looked with varying degrees of amazement, from Yusuke's narrowed eyes of disbelief to Kurama's stoic and calm face of acceptance.

"So _that's_ a Keyblade…huh, never seen anything like that in the spirit world," admitted Kuwabara, interested.

"I'm surprised if you've ever managed to remember seeing anything considering that you've got the memory of a brick," muttered Hiei unapologetically, and not surprisingly, much to Yusuke and Kurama's slight irritation, this invoked another bickering round between the two rivals and friends.

"And you've got the personality of one, dickhead!" Kuwabara snapped, rounding on the sword-wielding teenager.

"Oh dear, what a devastating insult. Your wit is about as sharp and effective as your less-than-average fighting skills," drawled Hiei, showing not even the smallest amount of fear or humor at his sarcastic drawl, which made his redheaded antagonist even madder as he drew out his red spirit sword.

"How'd you like me to ram this up where the sun doesn't shine?!"

"Seeing as how many times you _actually_ succeeded in hitting a Heartless or that Organization member with it, I'm willing to bet that would just be another effort as wasted as you."

"Doofus!"

"Hn."

"Jackass!"

"Hn."

"Shorty!"

"Hn."

"Can't you say anything else, you retard?!" Kuwabara roared at Hiei, inflamed at how he wasn't generating anything as a satisfactory response and becoming frustrated.

"Very well. Screw you."

Yusuke felt a vein throb in his forehead as he gritted his teeth and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He knew that despite a year or two of this, he could never develop a tolerance…

"Remind me to thank Koenmon for assigning us to the Ghostbusters for this stupid Gathering of Twilight crap. At least in the spirit world, we wouldn't be putting up with this torture…" Yusuke managed to hiss through gritted teeth, wondering if he would be excused for shooting his teammates just to shut them up, as the brawl between Kuwabara and Hiei got even uglier.

Kurama still looked unbothered and peacefully resigned as he shrugged and said, "Lord Koenmon said that the Heartless will be threat that endangers the human, demon, and spirit worlds, so as such, this is an issue we can't ignore. It's either this or the death of everything as we know it."

"Funny, I don't remember death being _this_ painful," muttered Yusuke before he roared at his two squabbling teammates, "IF YOU TWO DON'T SHUT THE HELL UP, I'M GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS! THAT MEANS **BOTH** OF YOU!"

"Just you try it!" snapped Kuwabara.

"Something tells me that you Ghostbusters will do just fine with us," Cover Girl couldn't help but quip as Trinity, now fully healed thanks to Tinkerbell, was up and hooting while running away from a rather irate Pete Wisdom and Cyclops, the two of them drenched with slime from the Triplets' glovatrixes.

"And to think I formerly thought that demons were the most destructive, insane, and wildest race in this entire world," Kurama commented as Yusuke tried to break up the fighting between Hiei and Kuwabara, only to get pulled into it and end up pounding Kuwabara along with Hiei.

"Trust me on this one. Compared to the Misfits and X-Men, we'd be considered relatively commonsensical…" Agent Burke said as he stroked his unconscious son's hair, relieved that he was all right yet at the same time, inwardly swearing vengeance on the Organization for daring to attack his son in this manner.

High above the rooftop of a nearby skyscraper, Mystique looked on with relief at her son being cured of the Heartless, and though she harbored no love for the heroes, she was at least grateful that they did end up saving Kurt, one of the only two children she had and one who at least somewhat had loyalty and kindness to her. But those strange powers and the forces called the Keyblades…

Mystique made a mental note that the Misfits were even more dangerous than before, and though she was no longer allied with Magneto and she was not able to gain any information on Destiny, she decided to keep her options open on allying herself with Magnus or even with the Dreadnoks if she wanted to save herself from being killed. With that, she transformed into a bird and flew away before anyone could spot the crow beating its wings as fast as it could away from them…

---

That night back at Xavier's Institute, Kurt, now conscious and awake, felt a bit lonely in the infirmary ward, as he tried to huddle under the cotton blankets of the medical bed. Normally, he would be sleeping like a log, especially since it was past eleven at night, but after recovering from his transformation into a Heartless, Kurt was anything but relaxed enough to go to sleep. Plus, since he missed lunch and dinner, his stomach was protesting and growling with hunger and there was little he could do except lie in bed since Hank locked the infirmary's television to force Kurt to rest and stay up all night watching movies and cable out of boredom. And Hank and the Professor both forbidden Kurt from teleporting regardless of how fine the teenager was feeling several minutes after he woke up to see their relieved and worried faces.

Though Kurt was sorely tempted to teleport to the kitchen, just to get something for his stomach and to eat something other than the bland tray of fruit and soup that Hank left for sustenance. Until the door to the medical bay slid open with a gentle "_hrummm_" noise to reveal a sheepish and pleased Forge standing in the doorway.

"Hey, Kurt. What it is?" Forge said, smiling as he walked up to Kurt's bed, his hands behind his back. Nightcrawler blanked on the seventies lingo.

"Huh?"

Forge sighed a bit before he clarified, "How are you feeling?"

"All right, I guess. Still, it's kinda lonely here since I just woke up an hour ago, and everyone went to bed already."

Forge coughed nervously and uneasily, but he decided it would be better to tell the furry X-Man the truth as he said in a hesitant voice, "Uh…I think maybe you should stay here for a little bit for another day or so, especially since everyone here at the Mansion and over at the Pit as well as our friends in the League, Titans, and Ghostbusters know about…Zartan and Mystique in India."

Forge expected Kurt to be angry and completely humiliated, and the Native American inventor wasn't disappointed. Kurt made a very painful wince, as if he wanted to rip his hair out before bashing the front of his skull against the metal walls of the infirmary before he made an aggravated, choking growl and cradled his head in his hands. He only needed to ask one word.

"Jamie?"

"To be fair, we tried bribing Multiple and Trinity, but Pete Wisdom and the Spirit Detectives…well, most of them except that Kurama guy, also let it slip since they actually found the whole thing really funny. And we didn't have enough money to bribe all of them. Plus since Toad and the other ex-Brotherhood still have a sore spot against Mystique, even though they tried to force Trinity to keep quiet, in the end, they're kind of enjoying that Mystique and Zartan screwed each oth-…er, sorry, wrong choice of words."

"_Gott helfe mir_," groaned Kurt, wondering if he could slit his wrists since God apparently wouldn't answer his prayers to killing him now and sparing him the mental damage and the wounding of his pride, before asking, "How much do people know?"

"Trinity sent footage from their camcorders and copies of the pictures from the brothel via e-mail to all of us and even to Cobra and posted it on a website. They got over ten thousand hits already. Agent Burke actually sent consolation flowers to the Dreadnoks' base in Florida with a card saying, quote, 'you poor bastard'. And Rogue now wishes she actually did come with us to India so that she could have killed quote 'my whore of a mother' unquote right then and there, but she stopped ranting and screaming after several hours and a Danger Room session."

"My life has undoubtedly gotten more complex and traumatic, and what makes this even sadder is that now being a quarter-demon actually sounds better and better. I might consider going to therapy after I recover from this."

"That bad?"

"I'm willing to settle for sessions with Psyche-Out from the Joes."

"Ouch. Man, that **_is_** bad. I'm not surprised you're not screaming loudly enough to wake up the dead like you did when Willow told you that you were part demon because of Matt Burke secretly being Azazel."

"I think that'll come later when I'm not so tired and hungry. Being infected with a Heartless spore really tires you out, and add the fact that I'm starving, but I'm forbidden from leaving the infirmary, it's hard for me to find the…energy to…scream…"

Kurt trailed off when he realized that a rather tantalizing and heavenly smell of grease and salt was wafting throughout the room, and it hit his nose full force. The German mutant looked at Forge who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh…I think I know of something that could definitely cheer you up," Forge said with a big smile, and Kurt was pleasantly surprised when his inventor friend brought out two objects in view of the blue-furred mutant. One was a "Three Stooges" DVD, one of Kurt's favorite television series, and the other one was a tray with two root beer sodas and three orders of double-decker burgers from the Gut Bomb restaurant in Bayville along with two orders of fries and a couple of apple pies, a mouthwatering feast from Kurt's favorite and most coveted fast-food joint. And since the Gut Bomb closed here in Bayville since Kurt ate the manager out of house and home, Nightcrawler was more ecstatic.

Kurt swore he would have kissed Forge's feet in joy as metaphorical angels trumpeted their horns and bells rang above. Forge smiled, knowing he hit the right note, as he entered the code to unlock the hibernation mode and popped in the DVD in the infirmary's DVD player of the secured television installed in the ceiling.

"Figured you'd totally like this a lot more than some bland infirmary food Beast'll bring to you. Three of the burgers are for you, extra cheese and mustard and tomatoes, just the way you like them. One burger will be totally enough for me while we have our own private 'Three Stooges' marathon, just us without anyone horning in," Forge said. Despite being infected with the Heartless spores only hours ago, Kurt truly felt like he was in heaven as he greedily unwrapped one of the meat sandwiches.

"_Danke._ See? Even if you're not exactly on the main team, you're important to us nonetheless, explosions and disasters included. You were found worthy to fight the Heartless with magic, so nothing is a better sign of you being a strong person."

Forge grinned as Kurt dug in his burger hungrily before he echoed the teleporter's wise words from before as he nibbled on a fry.

"Hey, it's a blessing to have a friend who understands you, faults, quirks, and all."

"I'll drink to that," Kurt said with warm promise as the two clinked their soda cups together.

---

Marluxia, with his shaggy, chestnut-colored hair flying behind him, strode rather gracefully and in a dignified manner through the dark portal and into the headquarters of Castle Oblivion, this time in the throne room of Organization Thirteen. Marluxia stopped before his teammates and leader and bowed to his Superior.

"Experiments 385 to 387 have all failed and have been defeated, my Superior. The X-Men, Misfits, Joes, and their allies have managed to defeat the two Hamilton could spare along with curing the infected X-Men with one of the Hellfire spores. However, I was quite able to hold my own in battle, despite being winged closely once or twice. The Ghostbusters are starting to prove more and more to be a troublesome thorn in our sides, especially since most if not all are paranormals and thus as quite adept at battling magic and the Hellfire Heartless," the scythe wielding assassin reported, fingering a painful gash across his shoulder where Kurama's rose whip had struck him.

"Gee, not having much humility in tooting your own horn, huh?" Axel sneered, tilting his head to the side. Marluxia brushed off the snide comment as he looked closely at the pink blade of his scythe, slightly irked that the spirit detectives as well as the X-Men and Misfits had actually succeeded in creating miniscule chips in his cherished weapon. No matter; he would fix it. And then the heroes would pay with their miserable lives for tarnishing his beloved flower scythe.

"I have at least successfully managed to hold my own against the X-Men and the Keyblade wielders for a good while. I have good reason to feel confident in my abilities, especially since infecting the mutant called Nightcrawler turned out better than expected. We have obtained about one hundred and six hearts from the city."

"Regardless…" intoned the Superior, hands clasped behind his back, his voice deep and stern and laced with disapproval, "You were a little sloppy in you little incursion with the allies and defenders of this world, and in this mission, we have no room for mistakes in the Harvest and the search for the Talismans. True, you have fought well, perhaps nearly as well as me, but to allow yourself to even be damaged is a sign that there are weaknesses that can be exploited from you and your fighting style. See to it that in your next battle with them, you will be as unpredictable and volatile in your attacks so that it gives them less to anticipate."

"Of course, my Lord," Marluxia said without any emotion or sullenness as he bowed again. The number one ranked member of the Organization then was about to decide his next chosen agent for the Harvest. But Marluxia surprised the Superior.

"My Liege, allow me to try again with the next assignment. I personally request another immediate round with the X-Men and the Misfits. This time, I shall be more successful with my second chance, both at the Harvest and at fighting those pitiful mutants," the scythe wielder said cordially as he bowed again to his leader. The Superior's dark eyes lit up in surprise as Xigbar protested.

"Hey, wait for your turn like the rest of us!"

Zexion gave the eye-patch toting Organization sharpshooter a very disgusted and shocked glance as he asked incredulously, "You actually want to be chosen for a run-in with those lowly and insane stumbling blocks?"

"I am the Graceful Assassin, after all, Zexion," Marluxia intoned, answering the question for Xigbar, "And this is only my first battle with those X-Men, so it would suit me perfectly fine to indulge myself into another battle, especially those cursed two, Falco Lombardi and Octavia. That is, if it is to your pleasing, my Lord."

Larxene couldn't help but snidely comment, "He's either a moron or a brownnoser."

"Enough, Larxene," growled the leader of the Thirteenth Order before he turned to Marluxia and nodded his consent.

"Very well. Do not fail me or my expectations. Wait with Professor Hamilton until you have the next available Heartless spore and another regiment of experiments to take with you to your next objective."

"And where pray tell is it?"

"In a country called Nova Roma," the Superior chuckled, "In fact, this assignment was personally requested by the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club herself. Should you do this right, it will not only mean vengeance for Selene but perhaps the largest boon of hearts we have ever gained yet…"

**Author's Notes: Since I was a little late with this chapter, I will update the next chapter on Saturday, November 25th, after Thanksgiving, since I will not be able to meet the weekly basis this Saturday! And the meeting between the Dreadnoks and those characters are not mine! But they are a hint to what I shall be bringing in future stories of the Misfit-verse! And on the 25th, we will see Amara as she struggles between her happiness and her parents' as she is asked to leave to go back to her country and take up the mantle of princess to her people. Pietro, of course, makes matters worse, but when the Heartless attack, it's a race against time as Amara and her friends go to her kingdom to save her people and her friends, especially when Tabitha become the next victim of the Organization! Check back on the 25th for the chapter, "The Fall of Nova Roma" and until then, read and enjoy! Constructive criticism welcome!**

**Fictives: In other words, flame him! Tell him how much you hate this story and make him give up!**

**That's it! Where's my mallet?!**


	32. The Fall of Nova Roma

**Author's Note: I apologize for the lateness of this chapter, my fellow readers! My explanation as to why is below, but in the meantime, I do not own the characters, Felicia the cat-girl and Wendell the Wolfram and Hart lawyer. Felicia is a character from the American and Japanese "Darkstalkers" cartoon and manga who joined with Sparky Genocide's "Ghostbusters United" universe, and Felicia is property of Capcom and DiC. Wendell of Wolfram and Hart is an OC that Sparky created in his universe who fits in the "Ghostbusters United" universe. That said, enjoy Amara's chapter and chance of the spotlight in…**

**CHAPTER 32: The Fall of Nova Roma**

Several days later, at the firm of Wolfram and Hart, the current CEO of the branch in Los Angeles was introduced to a rude surprise (and there really was no end to them ever since being forced into taking this position). Harmony Kendall, his blond vampire secretary, babbled on endlessly in high-pitched and annoying apologetics while the two uninvited visitors strode in through the front door to his office.

"Sorry boss, but I couldn't stop her! Not only is she with the army and government and everything, but she has one of those warrant thingies that I can't ignore! And plus, Wendell said that she and Flagg or Bragg or whatever his name is can be allowed to see you!" the blond secretary whined.

This was rather unorthodox. Wolfram and Hart was fully protected by not only the nuances of paranormal law, but they had enough allies and powerful politicians in the United Nations and governments from various countries, including the United States, that would ensure that whatever crimes they could be charged with would not even live to see the light of day. And this applied doubly for any unwelcome and illicit guests to step through the doors of the firm's lobby, much less to barge right into the office of the CEO of the current branch. After all, the demonic law firm had a very well-known rule of procedure: all trespassers will be killed and eaten to hide away the evidence.

But then the CEO looked to see who was with Wendell to understand why the lawyer from the branch in New York would be playing along. And from the look on the vampire's face, Wendell was giving the CEO one look to keep his mouth shut and go along. And as much as he loathed to admit it and would have preferred death again, Lindsey McDonald knew that this would be the only chance of getting revenge on Angel and his allies. And being Blackheart's slave for the Organization made it even more caustic and bitter to swallow. But then again, the thought of Angel finally paying for everything…

"Ms. Waller, Mr. Rick Flagg," intoned Lindsey as he cordially but with some passive aggressiveness indicated to the chairs where Colonel Flagg (_not_ the same General Flagg who was friends with General Hawk, of course) and Amanda Waller seated themselves in a brisk and professional manner in front of the chief of the Los Angeles office. Lindsey then waved off a befuddled Harmony away with a wave of his hand. Wendell just smiled and remained standing next to the two human visitors as Flagg took out a sealed envelope with the Great Seal of the United States stamped on the opening.

"That's Colonel Flagg to you, McDonald. Now drop the act and let's get right down to it. You don't like us due to the fact that we're sticking in our noses into your business, and we certainly don't care much about your other dirty laundry from you or your Senior Partners. But since the New York firm can't provide us the information we need due to their protection by Congress, we simply persuaded Wendell to grant us access into the Los Angeles branch where we know perfectly well that you have the data we need in our plans against the Justice League," the army officer said coldly and without much remorse.

Amanda Waller smiled with a touch of smug satisfaction, implying, "And since this branch had recently been destroyed due to the terrorist attacks and how your predecessor, Marcus Hamilton died and how his close ties and blackmail threats that held the people in Congress in his pocket have all been evaporated, Luthor himself has so wonderfully supplied to us that unlike the New York firm, the L.A. branch of Wolfram and Hart is no longer under any exemption from an order from the President of the United States."

Lindsey opened the envelope, breaking the seal, to reveal the legal documentation. It was a letter close, or literally in Latin, _litterae clausae_. Lindsey glanced back at Waller and Flagg before looking at Wendell out of the corner of his eye for the briefest moment. The vampire lawyer was grinning from ear to ear as he helped himself to a tumbler of expensive liquor from the small mini-bar. It was clearly evident that Luthor had not told Waller and Flagg the real identities of the Senior Partners or the fact that Wolfram and Hart was a demonic and paranormal law firm. And from what he could discern, it was plainly obvious that Luthor and General Black of the Omega Jugglers set Amanda Waller up; this couldn't have been established any more perfectly, and like any typical pawn, Waller foolishly thought she was in complete control.

The CEO looked over the letter close direct from the President himself. Everything seemed to be perfectly in order, and knowing that if General Black and Luthor were involved in sending these two here, then the Senior Partners must already be fully aware that this was happening. Lindsey then said with a bit of aloofness, "Funny, I do not recall any government agency that I am fully aware of that is named 'Task Force X'."

"And it is none of your business," Waller stated with iron, "Look, you have information we need on the Ghostbusters, and the Ghostbusters have information we need to make sure that the Justice League founders are brought to pay for their crimes on Washington D.C. and to further prevent their recruits from going rogue."

"Well here's a funny thought, Waller. Rather than just use the President to give you a right to this information solely for your little pet project, did it ever occur to you to just ask the Ghostbusters?" drawled Lindsey sarcastically in a biting tone. Flagg frowned as he made his point.

"Then it defeats the entire purpose of our plans being clandestine in the first place, McDonald, especially since the Ghostbusters and their paranormal delinquents and demonic children are closely allied with those metahumans who are one step away from becoming the Justice Lords. And considering that this is a direct order from the United States government, you really have no choice in the matter to provide us with what we want to know. Everything else that does not relate is your own business, and frankly, we could care less. You can't fight this."

And thus, it freed Wolfram and Hart from legal repercussions since it was the Inner Circle that placed the bug in their ears. Irritated, but realizing that as any corporate puppet, he needed to keep his mouth shut and play along (and he still wanted to deliver payback on that damned vampire with a soul), Lindsey pulled out a form-feed contract bearing the notary of the Wolfram and Hart corporation.

"Before I do what you request, you do realize that you and Flagg need to sign an exemption contract with the firm, clearing us from any consequences that may arise from this and that if we do give you our support, it is due to your legal order and not from our own decision. The Ghostbusters hate us enough as it is, and I know there are many of our allies in governments all across the globe that would be quite disappointed in you and the Colonel if the Ghostbusters have legal justification to attack us and become a bigger thorn in our side. And knowing you and the people you work for, the last thing you want are the allies of the League to strengthen by cutting **us** down," the man stated and was surprised as Waller picked up a pen, clearly pleased that she was stepping closer with her goal to reign in and control Superman and his conspirators.

"Of course. And we are pleased to see that you're making the wise choice of the easiest decision to serve your country like any true patriot."

Wendell inwardly smiled as he sipped the malt liquor. Oh, how much he would relish this along with the Ghostbusters' faces when the time came…

---

"**_You. Did. What?_**" Shipwreck echoed incredulously for the umpteenth time in the room of his daughters Daria, Quinn, and Brittany in Misfit Manor. It was the next morning after the harrowing battle with the Heartless and Marluxia in Mumbai, and after a long rest, the Misfits and the handlers were eating a bountiful breakfast along with the other Joes in the mess hall, cooked by Roadblock, Blob, and B.A. However, since Trinity created a little explosion inside the house with a spare cache of dynamite that somehow managed to escape Althea and the Joes' detection, Shipwreck was chosen unanimously to handle the situation while the other members of the team made themselves scarce for their morning meal. Even Polly the parrot flew straight for the cafeteria; he'd rather enjoy a peaceful meal for once as opposed to being around while Shipwreck needed to deal with his insane Triplet daughters.

Thankfully, it all worked out according to plan as Daria, Quinn, and Brittany needed to tell their father something very important in private regarding the Legacy Virus sample that they acquired on their excursion to Russia at the S.H.I.E.L.D base. Regrettably, the Delgado Triplets also needed to tell the truth to their father on what exactly they had done to the virus sample due to circumstances beyond their control.

Predictably, Shipwreck wasn't pleased and now the Joe sailor was cradling his head in his hands as he wearily sank into the small plastic chair that was meant to be used with Trinity's pink tea table and felt suddenly very, very tired. It was a funny scene at least, watching a grown and bearded man having a migraine and sitting at a child's seat while trying to deal with the influx of information that was swimming around his head. Yet this was not a time for humor.

"You stole Dr. MacTaggert's Legacy Virus before Zartan stole it from her back in Russia when that moon Organization guy infected Professor Charley?" Shipwreck asked, trying his best to bite his tongue from losing his temper. After all, he was partially to blame for all this because he wanted to get into Storm's good graces.

Trinity's answer was hesitant and meek, exactly like typical children who were faced with the daunting decision of either coming clean with the completely truth or facing the consequences of grounding and sore backsides for a day or two. And they had good reason to be nervous and hoping that their father wouldn't blab this one out. They had done some pretty heinous and mischievous and immature pranking in the past, but this kind of set them to a whole new level of bad intentions. They chimed in uncertainly, "Um…yes?"

Shipwreck felt his temples throb again and wondered if his skull was going to burst apart as he asked with great restraint, "And this is the **_only_** one you managed to nab? The only one that hadn't been sold by Zartan and his Dreadnoks to God knows where to Cobra and whatever enemy who was hoping to make a weapon against mutants?"

"Um…yes?" said the three girls in unison, incredibly embarrassed and petulant, if not ashamed.

"And yet even though you knew that Dr. MacTaggert and Dr. Ross need it to help the Muir Isle kids and the Hulk, you didn't hand it over to them even though it would have been better to do it in the first place?"

"To be fair, we thought that if we got to Zartan and his Dreadnoks first, we'd assume we'd be able to get the Legacy Virus stuff back before they could do anything with it, and thus, Dr. MacTaggert would get her genetic Petri dishes back, and we'd be able to keep a sample to help Evan with since you already paid us," Quinn nervously chuckled.

"This isn't a joke, Quinn," moaned Shipwreck, suddenly feeling heavy and weary, like an old man, "And just to reiterate what you three just told me, you can't give back the Legacy Virus sample back to Dr. MacTaggert even if you wanted to? **_Please_** tell me I misheard that…"

The girls winced collectively and they all glanced at each other before Brittany spoke tentatively, "Actually, you're right for once. We…can't give back the Legacy Virus vector samples because we already…used what was left of it before it could have been completely lost. The samples that managed to survive without extensive damage from being exposed to room temperature and when we helped Forge in that demon Middleverse dimension we already mixed with…Spyke's DNA were managed to extract from one of his bone spikes we got in battle."

"At least this time, we didn't have to take it away from Evan with force like we did with Wolverine's DNA in order to make that serum to cure Captain America when he was still frozen," offered Daria, but this was hardly good news in Shipwreck's eyes. And his headache was getting a bit worse…

"Before I lose my mind permanently, can you explain to me one last time why you can't just make copies of the Legacy Virus and give it to Dr. MacTaggert and to Dr. Ross? And could you also explain why the sample you had was already damaged to begin with?"

Daria explained, "Um…remember how Dr. MacTaggert always keeps the vectors and genetic viruses in cold storage? Well…there's a reason for that. Apparently, because we ran around in hot pursuit of the Dreadnoks when they fled to India, we didn't really stop to consider the consequences of putting the Legacy under heat. Apparently, like all virus vectors, heat makes the viruses unstable in that is causes their protein capsids to dissolve and the genetic nucleic acids to degrade and become unstable. And even though it was in my pack…I…kinda didn't think at how damaged it would get from running around all over India in the afternoon and from fighting Kurt's Heartless in a dimension that was hot from all the lava that was surrounding us."

"_Huh?_" Shipwreck asked in a strangled and hoarse whisper.

"In other words, exposure to heat and warmth makes the Legacy break down," Quinn said with remorse, "In fact, we were lucky enough to create this serum to suppress Evan's mutation overdrive as it is. The samples we could salvage from the Petri dish were heavily damaged that it took a miracle for us to use the main and important DNA regions that were functional and important enough to mix the DNA we could retrieve from Evan's bone shard we got earlier from the fight in Mumbai. There was barely enough to mix with the serum as it was, and even that was too heavily damaged for us to replicate so that we could create a sample for Dr. Ross and Dr. MacTaggert using PCR cloning and DNA replication. All we could really do was use it to make the serum. Science has limits, Daddy. It can't do everything."

"_Huh?_" It was apparent that they needed a simpler metaphor, so Brittany tried this time.

"The gist is that the ship was sinking, and rather than let the cargo sink with it, we bailed some of it out and used it before it could get lost and damaged forever," the Delgado sister said. That was enough as Shipwreck gave out another moan again.

"On the upside, at least you have a way to help Evan with the serum, even though its temporary and will probably only last for a few hours…" Daria tried to point out optimistically.

"And what about Moira's kids and her patients?" groaned Shipwreck, his hands resting on the back of his head, his form hunched and shoulders lowered, "Bart Allen is still alive and didn't get his heart taken, and his mutation is killin' him because of his super-fast metabolism. Can't you clone or copy that serum thingie for Evan and use it to help Bart or the other kids if they come back? Maybe even the Hulk for Dr. Ross too?"

"We **can't**," Quinn said sorrowfully (she truly meant it) as she shook her head, "It's already been mixed with Evan's DNA from the bone shards we were able to extract from the spike we got. Which means it's now been specifically placed into a form where it can only work for Evan's unique DNA. A person's DNA and genetic make-up is unique, Dad, so it wouldn't work on the Hulk and Bart even if we tried. Not to mention we don't have any more surviving virus samples to create more in the first place. If we waited any longer to try to fix or clone the Legacy using PCR, it would have been too late and we wouldn't have been able to use Legacy at all. It would be degraded too much to be used for anything. It was _that_ unstable from going around in Russia and to India and from fighting in the demon dimension with all of Princess Fluffietta Tinkerbell's family. It was either use it to help Evan for a bit since we had a copy of his genetic material on hand or don't use it at all and let it go to waste."

"And…we didn't want to admit that we stole the Legacy Virus and get us and you in trouble. And we thought that we'd be able to get the Legacy back from mean ol' Zartan so that everyone would be happy! We didn't mean to lie to everyone about this! It's just…one thing led to another. Daddy, what's done is done. If we knew this was going to happen, we would have told Dr. MacTaggert and given it back when we were in Russia! We didn't want to hurt everyone because of this!" Brittany tried to explain.

"Why didn't you put the sample you stole in storage and cold stuff before we got to Mumbai then?!" Shipwreck nearly shouted with disbelief, "That was it wouldn't have been damaged, you could have copied enough to make for everyone, and then you wouldn't be screwing over everyone else and making me and yourselves feel guilty!"

The Triplets blinked and looked at one another before they felt incredibly stupid and sheepish.

"You know, in retrospect, that probably would have been the smarter option…" Daria admitted.

Quinn felt like a first class heel as she commented with the feeling of wanting to give herself a good, swift kick in the behind, "I can't believe we didn't think of that. We're supposed to be geniuses after all."

"I guess if you think about it, the factor of exhaustion from chasing the Dreadnoks and the excitement and urgency of the whole thing made it easy to forget," Brittany pondered aloud.

Shipwreck just gripped his scalp in aggravation, nearly distraught and suddenly feeling incredibly burdened on his shoulders as he moaned, "If I ever needed proof that geniuses with brains don't always have common sense, _this_ would be it…"

Trinity then tried one last time, all speaking in unison, "We're sorry, Daddy…"

Shipwreck gave them a stern glare that could have melted them where they stood as he breathed in heavily through his nose, trying to remain calm, as he said with building frustration, "You three are incredibly lucky I don't want to yell and scream right now because I don't want to let anyone else know how much you just did a very bad thing, even though it couldn't be fully helped. And what gets me is that I don't know who I'm more mad at: you three for doing this or me for opening my big damn mouth in the first place because I wanted Stormy to like me more! Al would kill me, Hawk would rip me a new one, and then they'd give what's left to the X-Men, Fury, and Dr. MacTaggert to finish with my remains!"

"Uh…that was pretty much why we didn't want anyone else to know. Unless there's a way for you to get all the blame and leave us free and clear…" Daria tried to joke, only her father wasn't laughing.

He glared again at a rather petulant and mopey-eyed Daria, Quinn, and Brittany.

"I hope you can live with doing this because I'm having trouble to do so," Shipwreck said darkly, "And I'm not feeling very good about myself right now since I'm the one who wants to keep a lid on this after knowing how Charley and Moira are feeling about this right now. To tell you the truth, a part of me doesn't even want to give Stormy the serum to help Evan with his mutation long enough to settle things with his folks cause I know there's no way in hell that I'm doing this entirely for the right reasons!"

That was true. While the teenagers and the students of both mutant teams went to bed, exhausted, Moira broke down and wept a bit in private as the Joes as well as the X-Men elders, Scott, and Jean reluctantly gave her the bad news. The Dreadnoks sold all her samples of the Legacy Virus. Now there were no genetic nucleic acids that she had spent years isolating and altering using recombinant technology and transduction with her research were all gone, vanished away to line the Dreadnoks' pockets at her patients' expenses. It wasn't easy to deal with the fact that something you worked so long and hard on was instantly taken away form you, only to be used to glorify others' selfishness in ways you never intended. And the fact that the kids should still need it once the won their hearts back at the Gathering made it even more tragic. Though Moira and Sean both said that they could still try continuing their research with the computerized data they still managed to salvage from the computer servers on Muir Isle, it was still depressing to start back from the beginning again. Even one sample of the genetic vectors could have helped as a template.

Unfortunately, Trinity squandered it before it even could be used. Shipwreck sighed as he looked at his daughters. They weren't evil, and yes, he was at fault for even asking them to try such a thing and for not having the brains to just ask Moira for a sample in the first place, but still, this was incredibly selfish and the four of them knew it. All because Shipwreck wanted to get into Ororo's good graces and help Evan deal with his parents (in which he _still_ had not revealed to Mr. and Mrs. Daniels that he was back at the Institute).

Trinity was actually sniffing with remorse, and Brittany offered, "If you want, we can just…pour the serum in the drain right now so that no one can use it, so that you don't have to feel guilty about being that selfish."

"**_I didn't say that!_**" snapped Shipwreck, backpedaling. Daria, Quinn, and Brittany all gave Shipwreck a collective look of deadpanned disbelief and exasperated disgust.

"You're obviously not _that_ ridden with guilt," quipped Quinn in a disdainful and smug tone.

"Oh be quiet," muttered Shipwreck, "And remember: we can't breathe a word of this to anyone."

None of them realized that a figure in the house was carefully overhearing this entire conversation through the ventilation shafts of the air conditioner inside the house…

---

Two days later, Kurt was well enough to leave the infirmary that late morning, and indeed, many of the X-Men, adults and students alike, were incredibly joyous at the event. Though they were saddened by the events of losing the Legacy Virus to the Dreadnoks, it was still something to be grateful for. And Kurt was happy to be back with his friends again, although he spent a good half-hour hunting high and low for Jamie for blabbing about Mystique and Zartan (in which Kurt still needed periods of alone time for screaming and had already called the Pit to ask for a session with Psyche-Out). Plus, everyone missed the joking and whimsical furry teenager and to have him up and running was indeed a welcome sight.

However, when news broke out that Kurt was now up and running, this brought the Misfits and the G.I. Joe handlers to come as well, invoking an unexpected and unsolicited visit, bringing forth well wishes from the army and a chance for the Misfits and the Joes to mooch off some food from the X-Men.

Predictably enough, this led to another messy series of fighting, arguing, and confrontation as various members of the X-Men and Misfits brawled, fought, and chased each other due to the typical clashes and rivalries. Cover Girl, Low Light, Roadblock, Bree, and Spirit were in the office of the Professor along with Hank, Moira MacTaggert, and Sean Cassidy, all of them deciding it would be best to stay out of the way during the ruckus and anarchy and uproar.

And drinking from the Professor's liquor cabinet was an excellent way to pass the time and ensure that there would be no reason to step outside where the mayhem and fighting was taking place until it died down. And to be fairly truthful, it was somewhat amusing to overhear the disarray of yelling, arguing, and the numerous explosions and the sounds of something breaking from the sidelines.

_Crash!_ The Professor inwardly winced; that sounded like something porcelain…

"Now look what you did!" Roberto snapped.

"What** I** did?!" Ray snapped back, obviously having a difference in opinion, "Look what **_you_** did! You're the one who broke it!"

"You're the one who fired that electricity blast at me!" snapped Roberto.

"You're the one who dodged!" snapped back Ray, and this led to the sounds of another scuffling as Sunspot and Bezerker then resorted to fist-cuffs and punches.

"Both of you, stop this fighting now!" Tessa was heard scolding as she tried to pry the two teenagers apart, "Darn it Charles, of all the times you do _not_ allow the use of tranquilizer guns or telepathic suggestions!"

**Kaboom!** Several seconds after the explosion nearby (that the adults below could feel a bit of the vibrations from the detonation), there was a round of insane and gleeful cackling from the Triplets followed by a roar from the garage.

"Trinity!" Scott yelled with the highest degree of fury he could ever reach, "My car!"

"My SUV!" screeched Jean.

"**_They're pink!_**" they both screamed in unison before the chase began.

"Hey, it's a fashion statement! You should be thanking us!" giggled Brittany as the two X-Men pursued after them with murderous intent.

Jean was heard shouting her threat, "When I find you three, I'm wrapping you all in duct tape and locking you in the trunk of the nearest car for the next week!"

"Why Pluto gave **you** three nutcases Keyblades I'll never know! No idiot who has more than half a brain would ever think you Antichrists are pure of heart!" Scott bellowed with wrath.

Wham! This one came from the study above the Professor's office…

"Stay away from Kitty, Rockhead!" Piotr was yelling.

Bam!

"I didn't **do** anything, Metal-Mouth!" Lance yelled back.

Poom!

"Peter, like stop it!" Kitty was screaming, "I accidentally ran into Lance! He didn't do anything! He was holding me because he was preventing me from falling and he caught me before I could fall! Stop it!"

Whump!

**_Leave him alone!_**

The Professor had to blink and wince at the volume Simba roared his telepathic cry before there was another series of furniture breaking intertwined with the sounds of bass growling and purrs along with shrieks of Kitty and protests from Lance as the Misfit vainly tried to pull his Disney summon off Colossus, who had now transformed into his metal armor to avoid getting cut and injured from the gigantic and heavy furry lion pinning him down to the floor.

"Lance! Like get Simba off Peter! He'll kill him!" screamed Kitty.

_Don't insult me, you vapid female!_ Kitty was probably fortunate that she wasn't telepathic so that she couldn't hear the lion's insults. Lance was heard commanding in hopelessness as he tried to pull his Summon off Piotr (this was one of the downsides of having a summon who had a will of his own and came and go as he pleased: he wouldn't listen to your command).

"Simba, down boy! Down!"

"Augh! He's crushing me! Nice one, Pebble-Brain!" yelped Piotr. Wrong choice of words on Avalanche's part, obviously…

"Uh…I mean, up, Simba! **Up!** Don't kill Peter! Maul him, yes, kill him, no!"

"Lance, that's **_so_** totally not funny!" Kitty snapped.

"Jake, please, I just want to talk!" pleaded Justin, begging. This came actually directly in the room next to the office, and Whitelighter's appeals were actually audible enough to be heard through the plaster.

Jake's feral and uncharacteristic snarl cut the teenager off as the kat snapped back, "Fur and tail, leave me alone, Moore!"

Blind Master (unsurprisingly) got into the argument and made things worse, shouting, "Hey, don't you dare talk to my son that way, fleabag!"

"Can't you argue somewhere else?!" snapped a frustrated Althea who was along with Todd in the room, "We're trying to plan for our wedding here!"

"Actually, this reminds me: we better change the seating arrangement thing so that Blind Master is nowhere next to Allo or Razor," Todd said smoothly, and one couldn't tell if the frog-teen was joking or not.

"I'll add it to the list of guests we need to watch out for," Althea sighed as she wrote in down in a white ledger, which, humorously enough, included quite a number of couples and threesomes already that the two engaged teenagers needed to be wary of introducing into the same room together. A few of these were: Roberto and Ray, Ray and Tabitha (they were exes), Angel and Giles, Angel, Buffy, and Spike (the Ghostbusters told them that the Slayer still didn't know of the aforementioned vampires' survival and that introducing all three of them together would be akin to a tornado of drama), Aqualad and Speedy of the Titans East, Shipwreck and Wonder Woman, and Booster Gold and Blue Beetle in the Justice League away from _any_ female.

"Die, Drake! You're dead when I get my hands on ya'!" Fred could be heard yelling as sounds of a very intense chase scene thundered down the hallway right in front of the doors to the Professor's office, followed by Bobby's screaming for help.

"It was an accident! It was an accident! I was aiming for Jamie! _I was aiming for Jamie!_ Don't kill me, don't kill me, don't kill me!" hollered Bobby as he ran for his life.

"Funny how you always have these accidents when I'm around, ice-boy! Get back here so I can pound you!"

"Blob, stop this right now! Bobby said he was sorry! He even offered to clean off the shaving cream! What more do you want?! Put down that end table now!" Lina was heard yelling after her teammate.

"Would this be bad time if Caliban told you - "

"**Shut up, Caliban!**" chorused all the Morlocks in unison, including Callisto. Apparently, none of them were in the mood for another "_I-told-you-so_" from their lizard-like Morlock.

"Does this happen **every** time the Misfits come over?" sighed Sean as he looked at the Professor with weary resignation as he stopped sipping his gin and tonic, wondering how much alcohol he would need before the buzz would allow him to calmly come to terms to living in this lunatic asylum, "Right now, I would dearly love to have some hint that perhaps Theresa and Rahne were _exaggerating_ in their letters, phone calls, and e-mails to your students about the happenings at the Institute."

_Smash!_ The tinkling of broken glass indicated that it was probably another window.

"Pretty much," Xavier murmured but then he gave a miffed and baleful glare towards the Misfit handlers in the room with him and said with some slight resentment, "And of course, it would help that you and the Misfits try to schedule your visits as opposed to dropping in unannounced and taking advantage of this school's hospitality."

"To be fair, Professor, we _try_, we really do," Bree said with some understanding on why this was taxing to the X-Men as she finished her alcopop drink, the clear alcoholic drink running down her throat, "It's just that manners don't really stick well with a lot of the Misfits, no matter how many times we tell them. But on the upside, they do know the general rule of cleaning up any messes they create. And the Misfits mostly know when to stop before things get too out of hand, and they only wish to visit because they want to see the X-Men because they're worried as opposed to making your lives unbearable."

Cover Girl also added, "And if anything, if you want, you X-Men are welcome to come visit us at Misfit Manor where you can bug us for a change of scenery since the X-Men are probably suffering from cabin fever too. Hawk wouldn't mind; you know he's been repeatedly offering the X-Men to stay at Joe headquarters if things get too stressful here in Bayville. That way, it'll all balance out, and the X-Men would be able to spend time with the soldiers at G.I. Joe as well as the kids. Maybe for a day or two, and we've got enough room since the Eloi and Slayers come by for training on a regular basis."

Professor X, Hank, and Sean all collectively winced at that concept. They could already picture how much **more** out of control the kids would get with the Joes, Eloi, and the Slayers adding to the mix.

"On second thought, having the Misfits here isn't so intolerable after all," Beast quickly covered.

"Oh let them stay, Charles," groaned Moira, sniffing, as she got another shot of brandy, "I just lost my Legacy research and the hopes of helping Bart and the other children who were unfortunately killed by the Heartless as well as berating myself for the fact that I had no idea that Dr. Sanderson was really Zartan in disguise, and I haven't stopped kicking myself for that mistake ever since. I daresay that living here and being immersed into the typical pandemonium of the X-Men and Misfits can make my descent to hell any worse. If anything, it's a little refreshing, actually…"

The Joe adults felt pained at this, feeling very sympathetic and sorry for Dr. MacTaggert. If one was actually _grateful_ for the fighting and chaos and mayhem that arose from the X-Men and Misfits' interactions with each other, then it was a sign that one hit the proverbial bottom.

Meanwhile, one particular X-Girl wasn't part of the general confusion and havoc happening in the Institute. Amara was just morosely lounging on her bed, atop of her covers and fingering a three page letter in her hands, written on expensive parchment and with the royal seal of Nova Roma at the bottom. A letter from her home country, from her parents, the royal and esteemed King and Queen. But instead of give her some pleasure at hearing about news from home, she was actually quite depressed, almost too much to even cry. It was one of those morose times when you felt empty and frozen inside, and your mind was in a fugue state so all you did was just sit down and ponder aimlessly. Right now, Amara wasn't so sure how she should tell her friends and teammates, especially the Professor. She couldn't hide this.

Sorry to say, Fate decided that a much more brutal way for the truth about her predicament should come out. Amara felt a burst of wind breeze slowly by her and the letter that was in her hands had suddenly vanished. Magma blinked out of her reverie. A gust of wind? Did she leave the window open by mistake?

Quicksilver's smug and annoying voice then started dictating a very familiar and personal sentence, which immediately caused the brown-haired, tan teenage girl to shoot back up into an upright position from her bed, her eyes wide and horrified, as the words instantly played on her memory.

"'_Amara, our loving daughter, how are you? We hope this letter finds you well, and that you are having a wonderful time at your school._', yadda, yadda, yadda," recited Pietro in a bored manner as he read out loud for everyone nearby to hear him from the letter that she had received this morning, the telltale parchment in his hands. Amara felt a vein throb in her temple. Of all the times Pietro had to bug someone, why her and why now, of all times?

Amara slowly and dangerously got off her bed, defensive and furious.

"Pietro…I'm only going to say this once: **_give me back that letter_**," the hissed the seething and teed off girl. Pietro just grinned before he drawled in a childish and maddening manner.

"Say please, 'loving daughter'…"

Whoosh!

Amara hurled a blast of fire directly at the silver-haired speedster, and as anyone could predict, Pietro cackled and hooted before sidestepping with his super-speed at the split second her arm moved, and instead of hitting his head, the fireball just hit the wall on the opposite side of the hallway, creating a scorched and somewhat seared hole through the wood and plaster and paint, creating a foul smell.

"'_It is now spring here in the country, and the berries are coming out well…_', yadda, yadda, yadda. '_Alexandra and Cassiel (they both give their salutations) are organizing a berry-picking excursion and ask if you would like to come visit to try a new cake recipe they created…_', yadda, yadda, yadda. Boy, you really have a boring country, you know that, Amara?" Pietro was heard dictating and taunting in a loud voice at the end of the hallway outside Amara's bedroom, and the X-Girl was now livid as she ran to her doorframe. A few people who were still residing in their rooms, such as Cannonball and Kurt and Forge, peeked out in bothered curiosity.

"Pietro, give that back!" she snarled, now powering up and her hands glowing with fire, "By the gods of Nova Roma, can't you bug someone else for once?!"

"Not really because everyone else is busy, so I had to settle for you since you were nearby," Quicksilver smirked before dashing off with his super-speed and hooting, still having Amara's private letter in his grasp and hooting in a frenzied way that would have done Daffy Duck proud, "Woo hoo, woo hoo, woo hoo hoo hoo!"

"**_GIVE IT BACK!_**" Magma screeched in a high and enraged, scandalized octave as the chase scene began. Pietro zipped into the kitchen where Xi, Artie, Torpid, Bart Allen, Rina, Bambi, and Jubilee were sharing a package of peanut-butter cookies while Amara was charging towards the sound of the Misfit's obnoxious voice.

"'_We hope you managed to receive the special herbal tea that your mother had sent to you earlier for your rash problem whenever your skin breaks out due to dry winds and changes in weather…_', yadda, yadda, yadda! '_We also hope that you are wearing enough warm clothes, even though it is spring, and that you are careful to not catch cold. You remember how many times you had problems with nasal infections so easily as a child…_', yadda, yadda, yad – ooh! According to this, they're reminding you of the time you got such a bad head cold that your nose swelled up two times and made you look like a warthog!"

"Die Pietro!" screamed Amara as she arrived into the kitchen, and Pietro ran off hooting, dodging the fire as the tow barreled past the shocked group. Bambi stopped chewing before he gave Xi and Rina a look of puzzlement. He could _never_ get used to Pietro. Artie, the Morlock child, actually was a lot more lucid as he used his powers to generate the holographic, universal image of a metal screw and a baseball with a twirl of his pink fingers.

"Yes, there's no shortage of them here, Artie," Jubilee sighed, deciding to not get involved, as she reached for another snack. Bart giggled.

"I could take lessons from him," the adolescent speedster cackled.

"And if you are smart and have a good survival and preservation instinct, you will find it is better **not** to imitate Quicksilver once Amara gets hold of the whiny, silver-haired runt," Rina grunted with a glare aimed at Bart.

During this discussion, Pietro then dashed off to the living room where a good portion of the New Mutants were residing in along with Theresa and Wanda were either reading magazine on the couches or playing Halo 2 on their X-Box before continuing with his recital of Amara's confidential letter from home. Wanda was actually with Rogue on Kitty's laptop, drinking a mug of hot tea, and collaborating with the gothic X-Girl on an e-mail

"'_We hope you are doing exemplary on your studies and enjoying the integration of the modern world…_', yadda, yadda, yadda. _'We are doing well, although the war of the Heartless has reached our ears, and we are sorry to tell you a rather difficult decision that we have decided would be best…_', yadda, yadda, yadda. '_Duty as a princess and part of the obligation of the royal family…_', yadda, yadda, yadda. '_We wish you to tell your Professor that we want you to leave the Institute…_', yadda, yadda, yadda. '_You cannot ignore this responsibility as you are needed to help train to rule your homeland and your country for the future role_'…uh-oh…"

Pietro stopped short as it just clicked in his mind what he had just revealed to all her fellow New Mutants and to Amara's friends and close teammates. Judging how he was blithely reading out loud from the letter without the words actually registering at the same pace of his mouth, it was a given that he would reveal something too personal and cross the line before he could stop himself. And unlike Trinity, Quicksilver didn't have time magic.

The other mutants blinked before the same comprehension hit them as well. Amara finally managed to run up to a stunned Pietro and frantically ripped the letter from her parents out of his hands, her entire body shaking.

"Stop it!" she cried, more desperate than angry, her voice hoarse, but the damage was already done.

"You're…leaving?" Jamie blinked, shocked and pained as he paused the game on the X-Box console. Many of the other occupants in the room seemed devastatingly surprised, Tabitha most of all since Amara was one of her closest and dearest friends, one that stood by here ever since she temporarily left the X-Men to join with the Brotherhood.

"Amara…you're taking off?" Tabitha asked.

Amara turned red, her eyes brimming, as her voice temporarily left her, as she choked, clutching the letter to her chest, "I…I don't know. I…**_darn you, Pietro!_**"

"Uh-oh!" gulped Pietro before he zoomed off with Amara and Tabitha running after him in hot pursuit.

"Come back here, Speedy!" yelled Tabitha, creating an energy bomb in her hand, "No one gives my girlfriends grief, at least not without forfeiting a couple of teeth!"

"Have you been talking to Roadblock?" Pietro yelped as he dodged a hailstorm of fireballs.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! **Kafoom!**

Wanda idly looked on the scene as he sipped her tea before she said easily to Rogue who was typing a note saying Wanda was still just as anti-social and rude as ever, "Five will get you ten that they destroy one of the cars in the garage."

"If you accept my guess that they'll probably break something of Logan's instead, then it's a bet," Rogue agreed.

"Deal."

Kaboom! Tabitha's time-bombs mixed with Amara's fireballs missed their mark and hit something else…and from the sound of Pietro, Amara, and Tabitha's cries and ramblings of shock and terror, it probably wasn't a good thing.

"**_MY BOOZE CABINET!_**" Wolverine roared loud enough to everyone on both levels of the X-Mansion and perhaps even outside on the grounds and gardens of the school to hear the bellow and roar of the most hazardous and vociferous rage that one could rarely ever hear from the X-Elder.

Yes, it definitely wasn't a good thing. And Tabitha, Amara, and Pietro had front-row seats…

"Oh boy, they didn't…" winced Rahne.

"They _did_…" sighed Jamie.

"You win," Wanda said simply as she handed Rogue a five-dollar bill. That was probably the fastest bet she had ever lost in her life.

"Thanks, but you had a good guess too," Rogue said without much thought as she pocketed the money.

Then both Rogue and Wanda blinked, coming to the same realization at the same moment, before they turned to each other.

"Did we actually just have a civil conversation without the usual insults and fighting?" Wanda asked.

"I think the fact that we both enjoy watching our idiotic sibling dig his own grave brings us on some platform of a truce has something to do with it," muttered Rogue, rolling her eyes, as she clicked the "Send" button to relay her e-mail to Raven back over at the Titans Tower in Jump City.

"It was all his fault!" Amara was heard yelling, pointing at Pietro.

"**_My_** fault?!" yelped Pietro in a high, strangled octave, "You and Psycho-Blondie were the ones that used your powers and hit that thing!"

"If you didn't run, then you'd be the one blown up instead of Badger's booze!" snapped back Boom-Boom.

SHINKT!

The sound of Logan's adamantium claws popping out of the grizzled mutant's hands ended the blame game and sidetracked arguing, the ringing noises of cold metal being drawn spine-tingling, final, and the metaphorical death toll.

"We're sorry…" Pietro, Amara, and Tabitha all chimed in, trying to beg for mercy, with honeyed voices and eyes that could have rivaled the ones of Bambi himself.

Unfortunately, later that afternoon (and the rest of the Misfits and the Joes have returned back to the Pit)…

"This is all **_your_** fault, Pietro!" snapped Amara as she, Tabitha, and Pietro were busily cleaning the ruined and scorched hallway as punishment and part of a probation for using their powers inside the X-Mansion. And knowing how Quicksilver could take advantage of his super-speed, he was forced to do clean-up with fifty pound weights latched on his arms and legs and with Wolverine watching close by to make sure he didn't goof off. And once they were done cleaning up the ruined furniture, the hallway, and rebuilding Logan's beer cabinet, Amara and Tabitha had to clean the Danger Room for the next month as further probation while Pietro had been sentenced to KP duty (along with Roadblock and Shipwreck) for a month as well as sensitivity training with Psyche-Out for a week. Also, since it was agreed that Pietro caused the whole mess in the first place, he would have to fork over his allowance and any money he earned from odd jobs to pay back Logan and replace the liquor.

In Pietro's point of view, that was actually _worse_ than the KP duty.

"Geez, it's not my fault you don't have a sense of humor - " began Pietro, muttering darkly before Amara, still inflamed and hot underneath her collar then let loose a hiss as she grabbed the bucket of soapy water she was using to clear the scorch marks off the rug.

_Splash!_

Quicksilver sputtered and coughed as he was now drenched and completely soaked with blackened, greasy water, outraged and disgusted and fuming that he couldn't dodge it because of the weights wrapped around his wrists and ankles. But what inflamed him the most, more than the fact that his hair and skin and clothes were ruined, was the fact that he knew deep down that Amara was right to be angry at him, especially since he just blabbed on a subject that was taboo for a lot of people.

Pietro knew that he wouldn't want anyone to be blabbing about his personal matters, whatever issues that remained now or had been before in the past, with his father, Magneto.

"'**_Sense of humor_**'?!" snapped Amara, still livid and incensed, "You call blabbing out my personal letter from my Mom and Dad to everyone within hearing distance **_funny_**?! Telling everyone for me that my parents want me to leave the Institute so that I can go back to Nova Roma and fulfill my duties as part of being a princess?! Breaking the news before I could?! You're such a jerk! A thoughtless creep! You…you…you're exactly like Magneto, you dumb, horrible, thoughtless S.O.B!"

Pietro's right eye twitched, and the muscles from one side of his jaw clenched. How dare she? All right, so his prank may have been thoughtless, but **that** was crossing the line! But before he could offer a sharp retort, Logan's voice rang out strongly from the hallway were he was monitoring the three offenders' progresses.

"**_Less talking, more cleaning, all of you!_** And when you're done here in the hallway, start cleaning up the den and the broken glass and then wax my bike before you can call it quits for dinner!"

The three mutants then worked alongside in rueful silence, with Tabitha and Amara shooting Pietro dirty looks as they did their best to rub the scorch marks (it was harder than it looked). A canine whimper and a whine from nearby caused all of them to look up to see that Pluto was looking at them with some sympathy, wagging his tail as he stood on all four legs in the hallway. The surprising thing was that none of them ever heard the hound approach into the corridor, and in the dimness, he was almost shining, like a halo of gold.

"Go away, Pluto," muttered Amara, embarrassed and humiliated all the same, and pained, Pluto made a soft whine before he trotted up to Amara and licked her cheek, causing her to flinch and mutter a few discomfited words as she hurriedly wiped off the dog slobber off her face with the back of her hand. Gracefully, Pluto padded off to the sidelines and turned around three times like any classic canine before lying down on his stomach and watching the three teenagers. But the one look his shot Pietro was a deadpanned glare, a look that managed to jab through the Misfit's defenses and say "_You know better_".

It was surprising at how much shame and how well Pietro could be put through the guilt trip from Pluto. It was almost uncanny, and though the Joe handlers and Lifeline could always make Pietro feel guilty enough to accept liability and be willing to be held accountable for his behavior and actions, it was impressive that the dog could do it with just his eyes. At first, the albino mutant wanted to ignore Pluto, but again his heartstrings reminded him that he did step the line with Amara's privacy and that Pluto did bless him with a Keyblade and the Elementa magic and trusted him to make the right choices.

Pietro just frowned to himself. He didn't mean to hurt Amara and bring her out onto the carpet like that. He just wanted to have fun and it just sort of got out of hand. And he certainly didn't feel pleased with himself. Still…

"I'm sorry," he said with the best of a sincere voice he could muster (apologies weren't really his thing). Tabitha blinked, looking up from tearing out the ripped wallpaper and the peeling paint from the hole in the wall. That was certainly unexpected and astonishing. She could count all the times Pietro ever apologized to her on one hand. Amara however, wasn't very gracious, still raw and sore from Pietro's past actions, and a simple apology wasn't going to cut it.

"Apology _not_ accepted, you hyperactive dingbat, so leave me alone!" Magma snapped, making a fist.

"I said **quiet**!" roared Wolverine, "Next time you open your mouths, I'm sentencing all three of you to yard work as well! **Keep yer traps shut!** I mean it!"

The three then continued for several minutes as they continued to wash and scour, using their buckets of soapy water (Amara had to share hers with Tabitha since she threw it at Pietro) and hard-bristled brushes. They only got one third of the hallway done, especially since Amara's fire sort of spread a bit since flames especially liked wallpaper and carpet fibers. Still, as they worked and making her voice as low as possible, Tabitha leaned over to Amara and whispered in her friend's ear.

"So when did you get that letter from your folks?" Tabitha asked softly, so hushed that it could have been mistaken for a gust of wind. Thankfully, Wolverine didn't say anything immediately afterwards, so it must have been safe to talk at that volume. And thankfully, it was only audible to Pietro and Pluto. Amara looked miserable before she confessed faintly.

"Yesterday in the mail. Considering it takes a month to get a letter to and from Nova Roma, it means my parents have been pondering this for a while and want me back soon if it can be helped."

Pietro just stubbornly kept quiet. Any talk about parents was a very sensitive issue for him (for obvious reasons), so he just continued to put his mind to trying to rub out the black marks on the rug with his brush and a foam of bubbles. Still, as much as he didn't want to, his ears betrayed him as they picked up on each and every word Magma and Tabitha said.

"So…are you going to go?" Tabitha asked, and one could tell that though sad, she was bracing herself, preparing for either answer so that she wouldn't be disappointed no matter what.

The girl from Nova Roma hesitated a bit before she whispered, "I don't know. I really don't, but…how can I argue with my parents? They only let me here because they wanted me to regain control over my mutant powers so that I wouldn't endanger myself or anyone else in the kingdom. Plus, they thought influence from other societies and cultures would broaden my views enough to make me a suitable diplomat and future ruler."

Pietro scrubbed harder, trying his best not to listen.

"And plus, I can't argue that I'm next in the royal line and that I need to start learning, and as much as I tried to put it off, I can't be an X-Man forever. My mother and father aren't as young as they used to be, and the earlier I'm taught, the better in case anything happens. I'm needed to be the future Queen of Nova Roma, and I can't abandon my people, my parents, and some of my good friends there like Alexandra and Cassiel."

"Alexandra and Cassiel? Who're they?"

"My childhood friends ever since I was growing up in the royal palace. Even though my mother and father were the King and Queen, they treated me like an ordinary person which was…actually something I liked. I even told them about my mutation, and I was surprised they didn't freak out about it. They said it was a gift from the gods and that they were so jealous and wished they could have powers too. Alexandra and Cassiel weren't royalty, but they were happy and no one in Nova Roma suffered since everything was plentiful and there was hardly any crime. But they showed me stuff that I hardly got to do as a member of royalty. All the things my mother and father would have never approved like chasing after wild game and exploring the forests like animals, going to the mountains and staying out late watching the stars until my parents sent the guards to hunt me high and low for my return, dancing and listening to music in the city festivals and getting sick on eating too much wine and sesame-seed cakes and bread. It was fun…like here. No rues, no worries on maintaining a proper image, no hassles of running the country, nothing but what I wanted to do. Not what my parents wanted."

Pietro scrubbed harder; this was exactly why he didn't want anyone else in the Brotherhood to know that Magneto, their esteemed leader and main bad guy, was his father. Of course, unlike Amara's parents, Pietro never received any sort of acknowledgement and gentle encouragement.

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing to be a princess, 'Mar," Tabitha said, cocking her head, "Let me guess: this wouldn't happen to be one of those clichéd things we see in romance movies all the time in which a prince or a princess falls in love with a commoner and decides that some things are more important than being a king or queen, right?"

"Something like that," Amara admitted, trying her best to keep her voice down, "but the main thing that gets to me is that…I'm torn between doing what I want and living up to my parents' expectations."

Pietro sworn that last one was a direct jab to the heart, and he flinched, biting his lip so hard that it was a wonder it didn't bleed. Pluto glanced at the Misfit speedster out of the corner of his eye. The Disney canine noticed.

Amara just pondered a bit sadly before she admitted, "That's one of the downsides to having parents as royalty. Not only do you face a lot of pressure, but you're trained to fulfill your parents' expectations on what to do and disappointment and failure aren't really well received, especially since a whole country and kingdom is on your shoulders. Not to mention I hate it whenever my parents expect me to act what they feel is best, that I have to live to their hope that I'll be able to carry on their legacy. And since I'm the only child, there's no one else to do it."

There was only silence before Amara said sadly, "But I can't just abandon the kingdom. Who knows? Even though it's not what I want, it's probably better for everyone if I leave the Institute and follow my parents. I can't deny that being a queen has some perks, and at least it's for…a good cause."

"Then you'll just end up resenting it."

Both Tabitha and Amara stopped and blinked at Pietro, who was the one who uttered that one statement. His voice was flat, expressionless, and he just stared blankly at the carpet as he continued scrubbing with a little more force that necessary, leaving a hole in the fabric. Pluto looked at Pietro silently from the sidelines, unnoticed.

"It's not going to kill everyone if you think of your own needs first. It's not a bad thing to be selfish sometimes, unless if you don't mind being a doormat to Mommy and Daddy Dearest," Pietro said with a sneer. Though deep down he was trying to make a point, kindness and empathy weren't exactly the speedster's strong parts of his personality. Even Wanda had problems on getting him to open up his sensitive side (when she wasn't trying to injure or pummel him, of course). Tabitha just looked at the albino teenager with a conflict and myriad of emotions; she couldn't tell if Pietro was being helpful or his usual pain in the ass. Amara just hissed back defensively, obviously taking the statement the wrong way.

The girl heatedly shouted, "Why don't you just shut up, Pietro?! Like **you're** one to talk! The fact that you - !"

"Shh! Quiet, Badger's gonna hear us!" Tabitha said hotly, looking warningly from the stairs as if Logan was going to pop in any given moment, ready to deliver more punishment when he discovered that his three troublemakers were spending more time chatting that cleaning.

"Oh please, he didn't say anything for the past five minutes, and this guy's got the hearing of a bat! If he didn't say anything at us whispering for the past five minutes, then he's not going to say anything now!" scoffed Pietro, dismissing Tabitha's caution. Amara blinked before she realized that Pietro's logic on that reason was actually quite sound.

"Actually…where is Mr. Logan?"

"Right here, Amara," Wolverine broke in out of the blue right behind them. All three of them jumped up and squealed in fright before they managed to calm down their beating hearts from being taken by surprise. It was uncanny at how the grizzled man could do that.

"Uh…we're almost done - " Magma tried to cover, scared, but Wolverine's look then turned grave, uncharacteristically sympathetic and glum as he knelt down and put a hand on Amara's shoulder to prepare her and to make eye contact. This wasn't going to be easy…

"Don't worry about that now, Amara. I'll cut to the point: we just got some bad news over our communications with Jump City and the Watchtower a minute ago. Chuck just got the message to me and the others and the Joes and the Misfits are getting ready. Heartless have been spotted in Brazil, in Nova Roma."

"No…" gasped Amara, hands to her mouth.

"Amara, we're coming over there right now, but Martian Manhunter said that it must have been hours before the beginning of it. And I'm breaking it to you because I'd thought you'd want in this. You'd better suit up and take that glovatrix that blasted hairball taught you to built."

Amara nodded fiercely.

"How did you guys find out the Heartless were there though?! Last I checked with Amara, Nova Roma's a really ancient city that's not too big on phones and all that stuff!" Tabitha asked.

"It was Martian Manhunter in the Watchtower along with Cyborg in Jump City. They were able to hone in on a very faint trace of Heartless activity in the country using their monitors and a scan traced the unique signature. If it wasn't for them, we would have never gotten wind of it! Magma, they're gonna be coming with us to help out along with a Ghostbuster named Felicia that Calendar is sending out to us."

"Fine! Let's go! Please!" Amara begged. Logan grunted, but then Amara felt a hand touch her shoulder only to see that Tabitha was trying to get her attention.

"I'm coming too. Us girls gotta stick together, just like how I told Wonder Woman before. Me and Sammy and the other New Mutants will help pound these Organization creeps nine different ways to Sunday, so you won't be alone in this. Okay, Amara? We'll get 'em," Tabitha promised fiercely, protective and angered for Amara's behalf.

The dark-haired girl nodded again, though inside, she had feelings of dread and worry eating away at her anger and willingness to go rush into the heat of battle.

---

"Oh no…" Amara gasped as they teleported into Nova Roma, into the heart of the very city, next to the giant statues of Julius Caesar, Hercules, and Selene (the lunar deity and not the Hellfire Club's Black Queen). The three statues were one of the defining historical artifacts and monuments of the quaint and primeval city, located in the main plaza and epicenter of the antediluvian metropolis, one of its defining traits. Except that now, all three of the stone and intricately carved statues were charred and rendered into noting but three misshapen piles of rubble, completely demolished as well as the rest of the city all around them.

The entire rescue team was stunned as well, though Magma was the most agitated and out of her mind. Nova Roma was a colony hidden well in modern Brazil, deep in the forests, away from most human eyes and shielded with defenses and magic (due to spells cast by Amara's ancestors). And like the colony of the Roman Republic when Caesar ruled, the entire country was still set in pristine, early ways of ancient Rome. Amara remembered from her fond memories of how the buildings were mostly built with stone and marble and concrete, artistic and without glass or metal but still magnificently carved with wonderful pillars, sculptures, and arched bridges. Though the roads were either dusty dirt or cobblestone, they were clean and provided sidewalks, packed with bazaars and draped tents and where numerous people, men, women, and children wearing white tunics and sheepskin would have happily shopped and chatted during their daily activities. It would have been the picturesque scene of any textbook picture of the idyllic life in the Roman Empire. Though it was not advanced in modern conveniences such as the telephone, the computer or the car or the telephone, it was still Amara's home and the land her parents ruled over wisely and justly.

But that was completely changed now. The first thing the band of heroes spotted was that the sky was littered with floating hearts, each crystal a small but intense pocket of power, pulsating and glowing in a rhythmic cycle of pink light. There were hundreds of them, floating towards the sky and into oblivion as they vanished into the Organization's hands as part of their sick harvest. In the distance, all around them, the X-Men, the Misfits, and their allies could hear faint but multiple rounds of screaming and yells of pain, victims obviously from the Heartless killing them. The buildings were completely demolished along with the statues, and there were ripped canvases and overturned pots of water, food, and fruit everywhere, and there were one or two fires from smoldering wood from where the Hellfire Heartless' black lightning attacks struck. Thankfully, there were no traces of blood or corpses anywhere they could see (and smell in Felicia's case), but death by losing your heart was still just as horrific and ghastly.

"Cyborg, status?" Robin of the Titans asked. He, Beast Boy, and Cyborg volunteered to help escort the mutants and G.I. Joe along to Nova Roma, leaving Jump City under protection of Starfire, Raven and Silkie. The robotic half-human was analyzing the scanners built into his right arm, the green screen trying to pinpoint any heart beat, the temperatures of a human body, and more importantly, if there were any signals of any Heartless hidden away for an surprise attack.

"Nah, no one's around here, and the attacks happened a while ago. No recent forms of body heat, all around the city is cold and abandoned for some time. And I'm detecting that all the footprints and recent marks of an evacuation heading towards the northern part of the country, y'all," Cyborg stated.

"And there is no one sentient and alive I can sense with my telepathy. I am sorry, but I fear that Organization Thirteen may have had too much time to steal this population's hearts. By now, they must have devoured half of the entire Nova Roma population," Martian Manhunter said with calm but sadness as well.

"Why are we just standing around here?!" screamed Magma at her teammates and allies, "We aren't doing anything just analyzing stuff! We need to go to where the Heartless are! Stop acting like cowards and help my family! We're wasting time!"

But before Magma could rush towards the source of the screams, J'onn gently grabbed Amara by the arm as to prevent her from doing something foolish as he said softly and gently, "Amara, I understand your worry and pain, but we cannot rush out without taking precautions. We will do no good if we ourselves are killed and have our hearts stolen."

"And we need to make sure that this isn't a trap," Scarlet Witch said as she, Wavedancer, Avalanche, Toad, Xi, and Whitelighter brought forth their Disney summons, "Let's face it: with the Heartless here, the Organization's here too to counter and stall us, if not get us outright."

"That's right. Knowing them, they're just waiting for us to arrive so that they can ambush us. They're not stupid. Everyone, be on your guard," Robin muttered as he took out a volley of red Birdarangs from his utility belt in preparation. Cyclops and Wavedancer nodded to their respective teams before waiting tensely too.

"I can also smell a huge bunch of smells and body odors from the north as well. Chance are that if there are any survivors, they all headed to someplace where they could hole up as some sort of final haven, like a bomb shelter or some sort of stronghold. The fact that the scents are cold and faint mean that they must have evacuated some time ago," Felicia, the catgirl and one of the newest recruits for the Ghostbusters stated. Previously one of the Darkstalkers, she was chosen by Jenny Calendar and Quentin Blud to help with the Gathering of Twilight and the war against the Heartless. Not only did she contain powerful attacks of Spirit Energy, but like any true catgirl, she was a vicious and ravenous fighter, agile, swift, and not one to take lightly in physical battle. She had faced on Jedah Dohma and Morrigan and Lilith Aensland herself and lived to tell about it. She was a full grown and athletic, well-defined woman with rosy-peach skin and over her arms and legs, as well as modestly covering her chest and rear and lower nether-regions were patches of trimmed, cropped, short white fur, as white as freshly fallen snow. But instead of hands and feet, Felicia had gigantic paws, ending with blood-red claws, razor-sharp and deadly. In addition to a white tail and white cat-like ears, she had a mane of thick, bushy, bluish-purple hair that fell past her shoulders and cascaded down her back, like a lion. And the fact that she was so scantily clad and had a well-endowed chest got many of the males' attention, especially the New Mutants and Beast Boy and Cyborg.

"Damn…and it's about late afternoon now, close to sunset. Which means they must have attacked hours ago. And Nova Roma's lack of technology to get a distress call out made it even better for Organization Thirteen," Blind Master cursed.

"North?" blinked Spirit before he turned to Magma and asked, "Magma, what exactly is in the northern end of Nova Roma?"

Magma gasped as it came to her, recalling what her parents have gone over before with her when she was young and her knowledge over the entire geographic of the country coming back to her mind's eye. She exclaimed, "The royal palace! That's where the main evacuation plan would lead everyone back to in case there was a massive disaster! The palace could act as a last stand for a stronghold if anyone wasn't able to leave the kingdom and flee to the numerous hiding shelters and sanctuaries we hid all around the forests and in the mountains! The Heartless are heading to the royal palace! Please we have to hurry! Everyone's losing their hearts!"

"Magma, calm down! We can't rush out there! We have to be careful! Trinity is scanning the area right now to see if there's any traps here like before in Russia and India," Cyclops ordered gently, trying to pacify the Nova Roman teen. He, Jean, Rogue, Gambit, Nightcrawler, Boom-Boom, Cannonball, Sunspot, Bezerker, and Wolverine were the selected X-Men chosen to help accompany Magma to her home kingdom, and all of them were armed with their glovatrixes.

"**There's nothing here!**" Amara screamed, turning quite impatient and beastly, "We're not doing anything to help my Mom and Dad if we just stand here! My parents and my people have no chance against the Hellfire Heartless! There's no trap or else we would have been attacked by now! My family is up there!"

Quicksilver then felt a paw nudge his thigh, and he looked down to see that Pluto was giving him a pleading look, as if to suggest…

"Not a chance in hell," hissed Pietro, "**I** need it more!"

Pluto angrily snorted at Quicksilver in response.

"No, Cyclops is right!" Felicia growled warningly, "We need to be careful, especially since we need to stick together and scattering off is probably exactly what the enemy wants us to do! Divide and conquer is the most logical thing in this case, especially since the spirit Detectives told me that the Organization is incredibly sneaky!"

"Couldn't the Ghostbusters have sent more than one paranormal to help us?! Heck, even Quentin could be welcome!" Bezerker griped, and like all typical catgirls, Felicia hissed at the New Mutant in annoyance, inflamed.

"Hey, we have to continue fighting Wolfram and Hart's cronies all over the world for illegal activities since they're trying to take advantage of this whole Heartless crisis, and in between fighting and foiling the firm's attempts to cause even more chaos all around the world, we also have to stop other baddies under Ghostbuster jurisdiction and recruiting more people to help us out with stopping the Thirteenth Order! I'm the only capable one who wasn't on a mission, and there was no way I was gonna let Harry come along!"

"Harry?" blinked Sunspot.

"Harry Grimoire, my friend and the heir to Merlin, the wizard…" the catgirl and Darkstalker clarified before she trailed off, a shiver of cold feelings running up and down her spine like no other evil entity had ever triggered inside her before. And Robin, Wolverine, and Martian Manhunter both sensed it as well; it was coming directly above them.

Genie thankfully stepped in wonderfully in the split second before anyone could try anything, bringing up a gigantic black umbrella from his magic and crying out, "I GOT IT!"

Automatically, as Genie unfolded and expanded his tool, a wave and hailstorm of flower petals and pink blossoms rained down upon the small group like meteorites, each sharp and glowing in magic, as deadly as a red-hot bullet. Only the Disney character's umbrella protected them from the full intensity of the attack as the cascade of magic dangerously pounded outside the protection of the shade.

"Huh? **Flowers?**" Cannonball gasped, and it immediately struck the others who was attacking them.

"Everyone, get close and under the umbrella!" Roadblock commanded to the group of teenagers, "And prepare yourselves, cause Marluxia is a nasty and sneaky fella!"

"Dude, you need to eighty-six the rhyming," groaned Beast Boy, only to find that Roadblock was shooting him an annoyed and thoroughly irritated glare.

"Right now, I think you need to eighty-six the wisecracking, and get your little green butt to fighting and attacking!" the machine gunner barked. Roadblock was apparently true to form, through and through.

Bezerker couldn't help but rub in snidely to Magma, "Go ahead, Magma. I believe you were saying something funny about the Organization not expecting us and laying out a trap…"

"Shut it, Pikachu!" Amara snapped, making a fist and coming close to knocking out some of Ray's teeth.

Unfortunately, the flower petals stopped raining only to come swirling around everyone, taking them all by surprise, a billowing cloud of fragrant dust and petals engulfing them all and cutting at their flesh. Though Low Light automatically turned to stone, Beast Boy transformed to an armored rhinoceros, Cannonball barreled out with Magma (who was the only one close enough he could make out and grab), and Martian Manhunter phased himself out with Bree and Gambit and the Triplets, the rest were trapped inside the haze of pink plants and wood.

"Augh! It hurts! **It hurts!**" screamed Ray as he shot out bursts of electricity randomly, actually coming close to hitting his own teammates and allies as the energy came close to striking them.

Rogue yelped as a petal grazed past her cheek and forehead, drawing blood, "Yeow! They even cut me! And I'm the invulnerable one!"

"Yeow! You ain't kiddin'! **Ow, that smarts!**" howled Blob as his exposed arms and face were now sporting multiple gashes and lacerations. Strangely enough, the only ones that weren't affected were Bambi the deer fawn and Pluto.

"I can't see! I can't even get my bearings!" yowled Felicia as she rubbed her paws over her nose and face over and over again, trying to wipe off the blood and the overwhelming fragrance of petals hitting her sense of smell and touch overbearingly. The cloud just got thicker and thicker as the petals and flowers clouded over all of them, and it would only be a matter of minutes before the very flesh off all of them were ripped clean from their bones. Thankfully, Lina then acted sensibly.

"Blizzaga Arctic Requiem!" Dragonfly cried out, and to everyone's amazement, as she gracefully played her bow along the ice strings, the blizzard magic let loose a powerful and devastating cloudy mist of ice and snow instantly, relieving the heroes from the sneak attack and coating all of Marluxia's flowers with the cold. In seconds, the streams of light-blue energy caused a terrific ice storm that blew back the flowers and left them cut and bleeding, but thankfully alive as the ground was littered with ice encased petals and dead wood.

"Dude, you stopped it! Thanks!" gasped a hyperventilating Beast Boy as Tinkerbell, upon Justin's command, began bathing everyone with her pixie dust and healed them, each hero glowing with fairy magic as their cuts and lacerations began to close and heal, erasing the pain.

"Hmph…you heroes obviously haven't learned much from our last encounter," a familiar voice bragged with impudence, actually applauding outlandishly and in a slow, mocking manner. Everyone recognized Marluxia at once, and before anyone could say anything, Cyclops and Magma (who was incredibly incensed) let loose a combination attack of optic energy and a continuous stream of fire, both streams of heat intertwining towards the warrior from the Thirteenth Order. However, the man simply teleported away at the last second (obviously knowing that was going to happen) only to reappear above the heroes.

"You missed…and you failed to notice what is happening to your friend," he drawled as he pointed at the shaken Boom-Boom, who had fallen to her knees and began whimpering, her eyes now glassy yellow and the shadows of darkness starting to pool and swirl all around her, like a whirlpool of black.

"Tabby!" Jean cried out as Daria, Quinn, and Brittany scanned the bomb-maker, only to find that their worst suspicions were confirmed.

"He infected her already! Tabby's got a Hellfire spore inside her right now! He infected her during that petal distraction!" Quinn yelled as the metamorphosis evolved and progressed before their very eyes, so quick and abrupt that it was almost instantaneous. Marluxia shrugged easily, as if proud of himself, as he summoned his flower scythe to appear out of thin air.

Without a word, Marluxia swiped the air several times with his weapon, the long and dangerously blade curved pink glowing, and to everyone's shock, several telltale curved shears of energy rushed out towards them, creating vacuums in the air and ready to decapitate them all where they stood.

"I got it, yo! Thundaga Blitzclap Pressure!" Toad yelled, instantly reacting quickly thanks to his ninja training, rearing backwards on one leg before hurling a massive blitz of thunder magic, orange and crackling dangerously as it zipped forward and struck several of the energy attacks at once, causing a massive explosion. Felicia summoned a terrific wave of white Spirit Energy with one paw, the multicolored slash from her claws rushing forward while Low Light easily took out his sniper gun and fired a single bullet into one incoming attack, neutralizing it with impressive marksmanship. Cyborg and Sunspot took care of the rest with a terrific combination of sonic energy and solar radiation, saving all of them, though it was a close call.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to make some sort of typical villain rant right before you attack us like all idiotic henchmen?!" snapped Roberto as he shot another pulse of orange and black sunspot energy, which Marluxia deftly evaded from with impressive speed.

The assassin bragged simply, "I needed to distract you long enough for your little X-Girl to fully transform."

J'onn cursed in his native tongue as he and the others turned to Tabitha; he should have seen that coming. It was difficult to not read your enemies' moves when they were resistant to telepathy.

Indeed, the newly infected form of Boom-Boom was now completely different and unorthodox from before. Her Heartless was now a feminine acrobatic juggler, the kind one would expect to find in a circus. Except this Heartless circus attraction was much more demonic. The Heartless was actually pale white and slender and curved, like a sickly albino being, though its eyes were wide and glassy, almost like a sad countenance with no nose and a gigantic mouth with feminized red lips. A blue tear drop was painted on the Heartless' face, right beneath the right eye, like a clown. And the Heartless was additionally wearing a skintight black outfit with black ballerina shoes and a black, poofy skirt, like a trapeze artist. The hair of the monster was blond, but pale and more sickly and unnatural as it fluttered over the exposed shoulders, and the Heartless then began to laugh. A disgusting, spine-tingling, high-pitched laugh of the damned, squeaky and yet haunting, like nails on a chalkboard.

And on the middle of the Heartless' forehead was the red-and-black crossed out heart, draped around the abomination's head like a headband. And the symbol was additionally stamped on the numerous glowing balls, like spheres of fire changing from red to orange to yellow to peach, that the experiment was juggling in between its hands.

"Tabby!" yelled Cannonball in horror, but the Hellfire experiment paid no attention to its former friends as Marluxia intoned to the creature that was once Tabitha.

"Perform your act, my little puppet…" he chuckled at the private joke as he hefted his scythe.

"Aye yi yi yi yi yi yi!" squealed the Juggler Heartless (which was a first since this was the first time any of them had heard a Heartless talk) before it started throwing the glowing orbs it was tossing to itself at the heroes. Jean automatically tried to deflect it with her telekinesis only to realize to her shock that her mutant powers did not push them away. If anything, the contact with her telekinesis made the balls glow even brighter.

"Oh…fudge!" Jean yelled, deciding to remember her manners and not curse, forgetting that striking the weapons of the Heartless was still just as the same as striking the Hellfire Heartless directly itself as Quicksilver instantly acted next.

"Aeroga Guardian Hurricane!" the Misfit speedster yelled, and instantly, a silver bubble of wind engulfed and shielded all of them, reflecting back the orbs and bouncing them backwards, only to strike various buildings, causing massive explosions and desecrating the tents, buildings, shacks, and marble pillars all around them instantly, the stone toppling down to nothing but rubble.

"Nice going, ya hyperactive yahoo!" snapped Rogue, flying above the ground to get a better view, "Why don't you destroy the _rest_ of the city while you're at it?!"

"It's not like I did it on purpose, sister-dearest! And besides, I'm not exactly in the mood to being blown up into itty bitty pieces!" snapped back Pietro as Bambi dropped several mana orbs at the speedster's feet before hopping towards Toad and Dragonfly, refueling their magic. Pietro added special sarcastic venom to the "sister-dearest" tag. Pluto gave Pietro a whine as Amara had to literally fight and struggle against Shipwreck and Wolverine trying to physically restrain her. Magma was that intent to trying to reach the palace. Quicksilver just snapped back heatedly.

"**_No! Go ask someone else!_**"

Pluto gave Pietro a look as if to say that he didn't want to ask someone else. He wanted to ask Pietro (aggravatingly enough)…

"You guys, they're gone!" broke in Robin as the winds died down. Sure enough, Marluxia and Boom-Boom's Heartless had completely vanished, and off in the distance, more and more screams from the royal palace continued as several additional pink hearts appeared in the sky.

"Damn it!" Beach Head cursed, "It was probably too much to hope that the jackass would just stand around and let us hit him!"

"And by keeping us here, it just gives those Hellfire Heartless more chances to steal and kill people for hearts! Those Thirteenth Order lackeys ain't gonna make this easy!" Rogue griped.

"Hold on, no sense in standing around then!" Genie yelled wiggling his fingers, invoking a rainbow of colors, "It'll be worth the risk! I'm teleporting us there to the royal palace now! Please place all trays in the upright position and buckle your seat belts as we prepare for landing, kids!"

With a snap of his fingers, the Disney character immediately transferred the mutants, the Joes, the Titans, Felicia, and Martian Manhunter with a cloud of blue and gray smoke, only to bring the group of heroes directly into the courtyard of the royal palace itself, where many of the fellow soldiers, using spears, halberds, and bows and arrows, were trying to drive back the two Hellfire Heartless at the front gates to the bastion. The courtyard was crowded with survivors, cowering and hiding with fear as the palace of marble and stone and elegantly carved wood, contemporary to the architecture of the Coliseum, and the courtyard was bathed with lush grass and flowers. Unfortunately, the wood and iron gates of the palace were starting to cave in and splinter due to the two Hellfire Heartless trying to claw and beat at it with their incredible, ungodly strength. A few of the soldiers automatically surrounded the teleporting heroes and aimed their arrows and halberds at them (and it was hardly a wonder since the Nova Romans were already terrified and that some of these visitors who popped out of thin air were hardly human-looking).

"Wait! Do not attack them! By order of the King and Queen, lay down your weapons!" ordered a deep and heavily accented voice, stern and charismatic, and though wary and slightly skeptical, the soldiers in their bronze armor, helmets, and red capes lowered their spears and bows. Sunspot blinked as he turned to Amara.

"Bows and arrows?" he asked incredulously.

"We're not exactly advanced on technology here, Roberto! Since we're a colony based on the Roman Empire, we don't depend on anything the Mansion has for security or guns, tanks, and bazookas like G.I. Joe!" Amara protested before she realized that her parents along with her two cherished friends, Alexandra and Cassiel were coming towards her, their faces expressing mixtures of joy, surprise, worry, and dread. Amara's parents were King Lucius and Queen Considia, both of them wearing regal crowns of gold and silver, respectively, along with white tunics and capes of fur and leather sandals. Both of them has similar physical attributes to Amara with tan, dark skin, brown eyes, and thick brown hair, and King Lucius had a beard that gave him a slight similarity to Shipwreck himself. Though Amara's eyes were wide and playful, doe-like even, her parents eyes were aged and serious from years of toil and ensuring that peace would reign in their kingdom from all their efforts and hard work. But they seemed happy, even exuberant, to see Amara nonetheless.

And of course, in better times, Amara would have been joyful to see her two friends, Cassiel and Alexandra, girls she had known since childhood as she had confided in Tabitha earlier in the day. Cassiel was a tall and lithe teenager, extremely slender with long blond hair and blue eyes and pale skin while Alexandra was more defined and brawny, obviously the more athletic and rambunctious of the pair, a tomboy. But despite the precariousness of their situation, they both hugged Magma with relief.

"We missed you," Alexandra managed to say despite her fear (it was the first thing that came to her mind), though she couldn't stop her hands from shaking as another soldier screamed in the background, dying from a Heartless' black thunder that somehow managed to snake past a hole in the gates, killing the man and exposing his heart.

"You brought the X-Men! And others from G.I. Joe and your Ghostbusters! Are they here to help us?!" Cassiel asked, white in the face. She remembered each detail Amara wrote back to them about the various allies and friends (or lack for a better term) they made with other groups outside the X-Men. Magma nodded as she turned to her mother and father beseechingly.

"These are members of G.I. Joe and the Misfits I told you about in my letters! And Martian Manhunter, Felicia, and the Titans are here to fight for us as well! Dad – er…Father, Mother, you can trust them! But how bad is the situation?" she asked, her heart thumping against her ribcage.

King Lucius gave his daughter a sad yet reproachful glance as he said gravely, "We have been badly decimated, Amara. Out of the entire entire colony, there are only several hundred Nova Romans left, and our palace cannot hold the monsters at bay much longer and many of the villagers are hiding within the rooms inside the castle. And the mysterious man with the scythe has been making things just as difficult. Whether or not your appearance here could have helped lessen the disaster, we shall never know…"

Amara winced as if she was slapped; though he unquestionably loved her, her father was definitely leaving the disgrace as the hidden footnote. After all, she was supposed to be the princess to her people, and even though she got the letter only yesterday, her father voiced repeatedly that he wanted her back many times in the past as soon as possible. Queen Considia gave her husband a glare as she bowed to the heroes.

"Welcome to Nova Roma, friends, heroes, and honored guests. I only wish it were in better circumstances…" she said worriedly.

"We shall help in any way we can and protect you all as much as possible," J'onn said gravely, but a terrific and deafening explosion from behind ended the conversation abruptly as the soldiers and nearby civilians perished from the energy bomb that completely obliterated the wooden barrier and the humans' bodies, disintegrating their flesh and blood and revealing their treasured hearts. As the curtain of pink essences lifted into the sky along with the civilians and fellow public running for their lives away from the entrance, screaming and in a panic, there at the gates stood Marluxia along with his two generic Hellfire Heartless and the Heartless that was once Boom-Boom.

"Aye yi yi yi yi yi yi!" cheered the juggling Heartless as it expertly throw the glowing orbs it was tossing with quick and fast underhanded lobs at the palace. But Robin and Cyborg were quicker as they teamed up instinctively, knowing that they couldn't outrun the bombs and that the Misfits needed to save their magic since it was apparent Marluxia was trying to wear them down. With a Birdarang and Cyborg's cannon, they managed to create a sonic boom team-up attack large enough to destroy and set off the projectiles before it could touch them. Still, several bombs managed to snake past…

"Watch out!" yelled Low Light as they dashed off, with Martian Manhunter grabbing the King and Queen along with Cassiel and Alexandra for safety with his strength.

Bezerker yelped as he hurriedly tried to dodge the exploding bombs that would have either messily blown him into bits or cause him to die by losing his heart, "Yeow! _It figures!_ A psycho-girl makes a psycho-Heartless!"

Cannonball snapped back furiously, "You better watch your mouth, Crisp!"

"Hey,** I** used to date her, so that gives me the right to make that commentary, Cannonball!" Bezerker growled back as Beast Boy, in the shape of a pterodactyl, grabbed the X-Man with his claws and flew him to an aerial position to safety. Robin then turned to Wavedancer and Cyclops as he took out his trusty staff and several more Birdarangs from his utility belt.

"Follow the normal procedure?!" he asked.

"Right, except with one big difference!" Cyclops yelled before ordering to the X-Men, "X-Men, split into Alpha and Beta formations! Alpha, get your glovatrixes and fight against Marluxia again along with your powers! Beta team, help evacuate the civilians to safety and fend off the Heartless any way you can!"

"I'll help out with the Beta team! Jenny and Quentin's orders!" Felicia yowled in a feral manner as she literally rolled into a white, fluffy orb and sped like a bowling ball towards the pins as she zoomed towards Marluxia, leaving a trail of smoke in her wake. She was rolling _that_ fast.

"Beast Boy, Cyborg, help against the Heartless! I've got Marluxia! Titans, go!" Robin ordered.

Wavedancer commanded to Scarlet Witch and Dragonfly, "You two go with Beach Head! The rest of us, take the Heartless down! Yo Joe!"

And with that, the heroes scattered as Xi then summoned the glowing garland of leaves around his black hair to fall around him and swirl dangerously before flying out like shrapnel at one Hellfire Heartless.

"Woodra Leafblight Revolution!" the lizard Misfit roared, but to his surprise, a wall of pink flowers automatically appeared and sprang up from nowhere and screened the experiment from Xi's magic, neutralizing the Woodra blast with an equal force of energy of its own. Left unscathed, the black-skinned monster proceeded to snare a woman and her child with its stretching arms, killing them both instantly.

"What?!" gasped Xi.

"It had no effect! The wall of flowers protected the Heartless from getting hit! And your wood magic doesn't affect Marluxia's magic!" Quinn yelled, looking up from her scanner, as Xi hurriedly did a fantastic leap above, high in the air to avoid the Heartless' elongated arm from grabbing him before he snarled, summoning forth his Rainforest Scale Keyblade and brought it down hard on the black-skinned appendage.

Schlorp!

The Heartless roared piercingly as Xi effectively lopped off its arm, leaving the severed body part writhing uselessly on the ground for several seconds before it disintegrated into plumes and plumes of darkness, fading in thin air. Xi whirled angrily at Marluxia in the distance who was chuckling softly.

"Please," preened Marluxia as he cocked his head to the side in amusement, "Did you honestly think that I wouldn't learn from my previous battle with you sorry Keyblade wielders in India? That I'd just stand back and let you Misfits and X-Men destroy the Heartless and interrupt my job to harvest hearts? You'll find I am hardly predictable."

"Good, because I am hardly conventional as well," Martian Manhunter said with calm anger as he flew towards Marluxia and barraged the robed man with fists as he flew back and forth, hammering at the opponent. And Marluxia was surprised that even blocking the Martian's attacks were extremely painful. Several managed to catch past his fighting skills and caught him excruciatingly on the arm and shoulder, enough to shatter bone. Thankfully, Marluxia was not human and didn't become crippled from his injuries, but still, he didn't know that J'onn had superhuman strength that could rival Superman's. And the extraterrestrial was not letting up. With a snarl Marluxia tried to slice at J'onn, and immediately, the Justice Leaguer phased, expecting to have the blade go past him.

He was severely disappointed as the scythe cut him through his torso agonizingly in half and nearly killing him.

"**_AAARRRRGGGHH!_**" J'onn cried as he toppled to the ground, his upper body now separated from his lower body as he reverted back to solid form, shaking and in extreme bouts of pain. Though he wasn't dead and beings of the Martian race had extraordinary endurance, J'onn was too injured and close to fainting from shock as he grimly tried to pull himself together literally. Marluxia didn't look like he was going to give the alien a chance as he swooped downwards, ready to finish the job.

"You're not touching him, flower-power!" Beach Head roared as he aimed with his bazooka and fired a glowing projectile that Roadblock had used once before…

Marluxia scoffed; not the same missile trick again, and he decided to just end it as he used his scythe when he was suddenly encased in an energy net, one that actually prevented him from teleporting out of harm's way and burned him, searing his flesh with energy. Considering this was the same magical web that trapped Leomon, it was sufficient enough to distract Marluxia from his attack while Tinkerbell flew to the green extraterrestrial and healed him with her pixie dust. Thankfully, it prevented him from certain death as the magical essence knit his body back together miraculously.

"Thank you…" gasped the Martian as his wound healed, as if Marluxia had never cut through him before, and grateful, Tinkerbell hugged J'onn as best as she could around his cheek, invoking a chuckle. It was sort of touching to J'onn to have this litter Disney fairy showing show so much concern. Meanwhile, now trapped in the net, Wanda acted next.

"Fire Crimson Whirlwind!" Scarlet roared, invoking a wave of flame to engulf Marluxia, and though he managed to rip the net off with his blade and tried to summon a whirlwind of flowers to protect him, he was instantly bombarded with heat and fire magic, invoking some additional wounds as he narrowly avoided complete incineration.

"We learned a few new things too, Marluxia…" bragged Wanda with a sneer, "Mainly that wood means jack against fire and ice."

The Organization was calm and composed as he frowned deeply. These heroes apparently trained from their mistakes on battle, so he rushed toward and summoned his scythe and sent a crippling energy blade at the two, tearing up the ground in its wake. Luckily, Felicia was able to grab Scarlet Witch and Beach Head before they could be subjected to the attack, leaping out of the way with the two in tow. A split-second alter, there was a deep, cleanly-sliced trench in the ground and stone where they once stood.

"You OK?!" the Darkstalker asked, and both Wayne and Wanda nodded wordlessly before the second black fiend from the Organization roared and advanced towards them, arms and claws ready.

"Don't worry, I got this one!" snarled Felicia, moving as swift as the wind, her paws barely making any sound as she bounced back and forth, a blur of white and blue so fast that not even the Hellfire Heartless she was facing could process her movements. Enraged, it tried to grab the Ghostbuster, but that proved to be a fatal mistake as Felicia fluidly somersaulted past the clawed hand and scurried on the arm until she reached the Heartless' gruesome face. With a snarl, Felicia used the ogre's face as a scratching post as she set upon the eyes and clawed madly with her hands and feet, repeatedly scratching and gouging and ripping in a matter of seconds, bits of black flesh flying. Felicia then adroitly leapt off the Heartless' face before it could grab her, delivering a solid back-kick to its head as she somersaulted behind.

"Dude, good one!" Beast Boy yelled as he transformed into a hawk and flew above the Heartless' head before transforming again into an actual brontosaurus and with a mighty roar, the prehistoric lizard fell and slammed down on the monster, killing it as the thirty-ton animal crushed it to death and caused it to evaporate. And Beast Boy, surprisingly enough, did not possess an X-Gene to bequeath to the Hellfire experiment.

"Stopra Time Freeze!" yelled Trinity as they cast the time spell on Marluxia, hoping they could freeze him so that he could be an easier target, but the assassin was clearly prepared for that tactic as he teleported out of the way only to reappear behind ready to kill Trinity where he stood, only to be met by Wolverine, Rogue, and Robin with his staff.

"Not a chance, Marluxia!" Robin yelled as he attacked and jabbed at multiple pressure points at Marluxia, his staff a yellow blur and intent to cripple, exactly like how Batman had trained him before in the past. And the warrior was amazed that the Teen Titan was so swift and agile, and adding with Wolverine's adamantium claws and Rogue's fighting, it was a hard-pressed battle. And the other X-Men looked like they were ready to join in along with Dragonfly as they rushed forward while the other heroes were doing their best to take care of

Meanwhile, the juggling bomb-making Heartless was making its way towards Amara and her parents as she did her best to help them escape with the other civilians, only to see that the Heartless was making its way towards them.

"No, Tabby stop!" yelled Cannonball as he tried to rocket towards Amara and her family, but then Marluxia managed to scarcely escape the volley and bombardment of brawling as he them summoned another wall of flower petals to surround the entire citadel, cutting the heroes off from rescuing Amara as he then flew at all of them, brandishing his scythe with a fury, creating an onslaught of pink energy blades to go flying everywhere.

With the wall of petals in place, there was no way to reach towards Amara. Whitelighter was about to orb himself, Blind Master, Wavedancer, and Cyclops inside the palace, but without warning, Marluxia intervened and stopped the Misfit from teleporting, causing all of them to scatter and fight as Justin yelped and blocked with his Keyblade as best as he could to prevent his head from getting sliced off. Wavedancer tackled her teammate out of the way before Whitelighter could completely succumb to the salvo.

"I won't make things _that_ simple for you," sneered Marluxia as he continued to strike against all the mutants, particularly the Keybladers.

"He's attacking everywhere! There's too many!" yelled Cyclops, trying to blast each energy curve that came close, and realizing that it was futile as he then summoned his Telsa barrier from his glovatrix to protect himself and a old man who tripped and was unable to run.

Genie wailed as he realized he couldn't teleport Amara and her parents out to safety with his magic, blurting out, "Yikes! This guy's tough! I can't penetrate the wall thing! So teleportation is a no-no!"

"Weed killer bombs, away!" yelled Ray, Roberto, Jean, Rogue, and Sam in unison as they cocked their glovatrixes and fired several pellets full of acidic chemicals specifically designed to harm plants. To their shock, though a good portion of the blossoms withered away, the wall still remained strong, regenerating the hole made from the glovatrix missiles instantly before Rogue or Jean could attempt to force it open or dive through.

"Oh no…we can't get to them!" Jean wailed as Cyclops' optic blasts proved equally ineffective.

"And Marluxia's not giving us an inch!" gulped Avalanche as the Misfits kept trying to avoid decapitation and dismemberment. Pluto just forlornly stared at the sidelines as Pietro managed to duck for cover next to a fallen stone pillar, barely avoiding the blades. Pluto whined again one last time, and already exasperated and seeing that Amara was closer to getting killed along with her parents, the guilt and conscience finally broke through.

"All right, all right! Just don't expect me to enjoy this, you dumb fleabag!" snapped Pietro, giving Pluto the evil eye. Damn, if this Disney hound wasn't stubborn. Pluto just smiled as his eyes began to glow a bright red, like rubies.

"Run for the palace!" roared King Lucius as he took up a sword, "I shall fight the beast myself!"

"Lucius, stop!" Queen Considia wailed as her husband valiantly rushed forward as an attempt to buy the Queen and Amara some time to barricade themselves for sanctuary. Unwilling and helpless, Amara screamed at anyone, anything for help, but instantly thought of one in particular.

"Pluto! Give me magic, please! Don't let my parents die! Help me save everyone! Please!"

And like magic, the miracle occurred as Pluto gently sent the ability into Amara's heart, sensing her desire to help her country.

The mutant adolescent suddenly felt a wave of transcendence and emotion wash over her as the mark of Fira began to shine brightly on her head. Before the Heartless could kill her, she then spoke the words that began to take shape in her mind.

"FIRA…" yelled Amara, powering up and her entire body glowing with the light of her heart and a thousand fires and volcanoes all at once, red, crimson, and lethal. The earth all around her quivered, and despite his power and experience, Marluxia felt his brow crinkle unconsciously in worry. The rising heat could mean only one thing, and the red mark of the Elementa Kingdom of fire on the girl's forehead only cinched it.

Without a word, Marluxia swooped down with his scythe, ready to rend and slice the girl in two before she , but Quicksilver and Mushu were faster.

"I'm on fire!"

"**Strike Raid!**"

To Marluxia's surprise, Pietro's Zephyr Keyblade, bathed in Mushu's dragon fire, literally flew as fast as the wing, forming a red and lethal disc. Marluxia stopped short, and invoked an orb of petals to surround himself and ward off the Keyblade. That turned out to be a rather costly mistake as he had easily forgotten the fact in the rush of being caught off guard that the Keyblade was covered in fire. And wood magic was particularly weak against fire and ice magic…

Marluxia hissed in pain as the Zephyr cut through the shield of flowers with barely any trouble, like a hot knife through butter, and though he managed to evade narrowly by moving his body sideways as fast as he could, the weapon still winged him, leaving a scorched and gruesome gash on his shoulder.

"LAVA RINGS…" continued Magma, thankfully safe to finish off the incantation. Instantly, the ground all around her rumbled and cracked open like a flimsy eggshell, revealing the hidden trove of lava underneath the dirt, creating geysers and fountains of fire. Magma raised a glowing hand and made a counter-clockwise circular motion with her arm, still in a trance. And automatically, the lava around her flew up into the air and levitated of its own willpower, as if alive, forming a circle in front of the X-Girl. The stream of lava was brightly glowing, molten, hot, and in Celsius temperatures in the hundreds if not thousands before to everyone's shock, the stream broke apart before forming twelve orbs, revolving and spinning in a calm and arranged manner.

Magma then brought both of her hands together and pushed with her will, finishing off with a final scream, "…NOVA!"

Instantly, the twelve orbs of molten rock converged as a single unit in front of Amara's hands, vanishing with barely a whisper, before the twelve orbs became twelve rings of lava, sharp, deadly, and searing, each flying towards Marluxia as a barrage of razor-edged hoops. Five or six hoops to deal with were possible to avoid without injury, but twelve rings was certainly unwise. With a snarl of frustrated disappointment, Marluxia teleported away and the rings immediately struck the juggling Heartless instead before it could kill the Aquillas, each and every hoop of flame and lava hacked and slashed and incised the juggler Heartless with multiple lacerations, nearly killing it fully…

_Nodon'tkillTabbydon'tkillTabbydon'tkillTabby_…

Amara repeated this plea with fright and terror over and over in her mind, praying that the gods would hear her, and to her relief, the rings vanished immediately as they set themselves upon the other Hellfire Heartless, horrifically chopping it to pieces and severing through its limbs and arms and chest, leaving gory and glowing lacerations and slashes with their edges burning bright orange like molten rock. But before dying, the Heartless managed to let loose a final blast of black thunder, gathering it strongly and building up towards a group of people near the palace.

"Aeroga Guardian Hurricane!" yelled Pietro as he attempted a spell…only to find that nothing happened. His face blanched, the blood draining.

"Oh no…not now!" Pietro practically shrieked, turning white. Of all the times Pluto _had_ to give to Magma…and none of the other Misfits had magic to defend and deflect against the blast since Trinity used up their magic, and Bambi was off in another part fighting Marluxia along with Avalanche, Robin and Toad. Pluto whined apologetically; in order for Amara to save her parents, Pietro had to give up his ability to cast his spell. And it needed time to return back to the original host.

Quicksilver then opted to rush with his super-speed and try to grab as many people as he could, but the Heartless fired the split second he got close to Cassiel and Alexandra.

"Oh geez!" yelped Pietro as he stopped short and praying that it would be enough, he brought his Zephyr Keyblade in front and just prayed it would work and block the attack enough to prevent him from losing his heart. Thankfully, as the black lightning struck the immediate vicinity, it was able to protect him from being killed, the white and silver weapon protecting him fully, causing the energy to circumvent and dissolve harmlessly. The other Nova Romans were not so fortunate…

"No!" screamed Magma, but it was too late as the two girls, Cassiel and Alexandra, cried as the black lightning from the Hellfire Heartless struck them instantly before they disintegrated along with the other residents of the neighboring villages. Amara felt like throwing up as her vision blurred from watching the hearts of her friends and the unfortunate souls who were caught by the lightning attack. The Heartless actually gave out a demented laugh as it died, as if gleeful it took out as many people with it.

"Oh, oh, oh…" Amara sobbed as she gingering held herself, her nose already running and a hot ball of emotion blocking her throat and windpipe.

At the same time, Wavedancer yelled, pointing her scepter at the juggler Heartless, getting into position as she attacked, "Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!"

The Heartless let loose an ear-piercing final scream as the ten colorful rainbow symbols of the magic kingdoms followed by the trinity of the crown, Heartless, and Nobody engulfed it…

**Kaboooom!**

"It's Tabitha! She's back!" gasped Jean joyously as she sank to her knees, weak and overcome with emotion as Tabitha's body dropped back to the ground, unconscious and showing the heart crystal and the gray spore that was infecting her. With a pop, the spore cracked and disintegrated, leaving a cloud of black smoke before it disappeared.

"Boom-Boom's heart!" gasped Nightcrawler before he teleported out in a cloud of brimstone before arriving next to Tabitha's body and heart, but Marluxia intervened first. With a snarl, he summoned a cloud of pink petals to engulf and rip Kurt's flesh from his bones, and gulping, instinctively he grabbed Tabitha's body which was the closest thing and teleported away. Marluxia reached for the heart while the cloud of flower petals kept his opponents back, but then he felt Bambi's head painfully ram him in his back unexpectedly, shoving him away from the heart crystal on the ground.

"What?!" Marluxia snarled as he tried to summon another bunch of blossoms again, but to his surprise, the deer fawn literally _dove through_ the attack, the petals unable to hold Bambi at bay before he shot through the magic and brutally caught an unprepared warrior directly into the sternum with his furry head. Marluxia felt the wind being forcibly and viciously knocked out of him, his chest on fire, as he crashed to the ground from his position in the air, leaving a few cracks in the cobblestone and concrete blocks in the impact.

_Damn that deer_, Marluxia thought as he expertly and impressively bounced back up, twirling his scythe around and around, the blade and staff portions swishing the air dangerously, either promising a painful bruise or losing a direct body part via decapitation. With the Organization member flung himself at the heroes, trying his best to keep the heroes away from the heart. However, then the tide turned as two figures struck out…

"Fire Bird!" squawked Falco as he dove down, his wings spread out and allowing maximum velocity as he speedily flew towards Marluxia, his body bathed in fire and zooming like a rocket, unstoppable. And wood was weak against fire…

"Not this time, you avian pest!" snarled Marluxia as he slashed with his pink scythe, but thankfully (or unfortunately if you asked a lot of the X-Men and Misfits and Joes), Falco managed to evade the blade, twisting his body in midair in order to minimize the amount of space his feathered form would take up before he delivered a series of downward kicks at Marluxia's head, his boot as swift as the wind and a blur. Marluxia snarled as he blocked with his forearm, apparently at a disadvantage since his scythe was meant for attacking at lengthy distances, and Falco was too close to effectively cut him with the blade. However, in the distance, Octavia managed to steal Tabitha's heart during the commotion and finished probing it with a cry akin to grief and extreme disappointment.

"It's not a Talisman!" she yelled before she dodged and expertly back-flipped away from Robin and Felicia who were using their respective staff and claws to stop the Tigershark before she flung the crystal back at Robin who caught it deftly. Then Octavia raised her arms over her head, summoning a gigantic wave of aqua-marine colored water, the air filled with the overwhelming stench of salt water as the wave loomed over all of them…

"Aquara Tigershark Tsunami!" she yelled.

"Yeow! I **_hate_** water! Get her away from me!" screeched the feline Ghostbuster as she scurried away as fast as she could, like the Devil was chasing her himself, and clambered up a tree, her heart panting, as the floods precariously came close to sweeping her away. Thankfully, Jean and Wavedancer managed to use their telekinesis and hydrokinesis to divert enough water away from their friends and the surviving Nova Romans as well as the palace. Marluxia smirked as he slashed at Octavia who dove away from the energy.

"Did you forget? Water magic doesn't hurt wood," Marluxia bragged as the waves soaked him and his petals with droplets and rivulets of foam, mist, and water.

"And if case **you** forgot, asswipe…" grinned Bezerker, charging up dangerously and seeing that this was his chance, "Water _conducts_ electricity…"

Marluxia paled, especially considering the fact that he was completely soaked in water and that he had no immunity to mutant powers. And before he could even teleport, Bezerker had already let loose a gigantic and horrendous surge of electricity from his hands before he even finished his dialogue.

BRRRRRZZZZTTTT!

"Aaaarrrggghhhh!" roared Marluxia as his body went into spasms and jerked back and forth wildly before the electricity subsided, the man sinking to one knee and supporting himself with his scythe from toppling over and his body smoking. It was hardly a wonder since Ray could even hypothetically take Storm's hardest lightning strike without a burn and channel attacks up to the thousands at the voltage level.

Robin then yelled out as he handed Tabitha's heart to Amara for safe keeping.

"Gambit, Cyborg, time for a **_Cajun_** Sonic-Boom! Like we did before against Trigon!" Robin yelled on his communicator, and instantly, the fellow Titan and X-Men both nodded, instantly seeing what Robin wanted them to do. Gambit and Robin both sprinted for some momentum before Robin did an impressive leap into the sky and threw several of his red Birdarangs while down below, Gambit fully charged an entire pack of fifty-two playing cards with pink bio-kinetic energy and hurled them in conjunction with Robin's projectiles, skillfully aiming so that the stream of energy cards nowhere got close to the Birdarangs.

"It's all yours, _mon ami_! Make it count, _Monsieur_ Cyborg!" yelled Gambit before Victor took control of his sonic cannon at the highest setting and fired. Like clockwork, the sonic energy set off the kinetic cards and the explosive Birdarangs, creating a sonic boom tinted with pink biokinetic energy, many more times powerful than any normal sonic boom.

And of course, Marluxia was going to get the absolute brunt of it. But to everyone's shock, Marluxia just smiled as he raised his scythe high in the air and brought in down directly on the brunt of the crippling wave of energy right before it got too close. To everyone's shock, he completely split the sonic boon in half, the blade of his pink flower scythe being so magically sharp that he actually divided the attack and caused it to detach into two, skirting around his robed body without even touching him. Though a few parts of his body were obviously singed from the kinetic energy, he was still standing.

"Dude! No way!" Beast Boy gulped, nearly freaking out as his jaw dropped. That was Robin and Cyborg's most powerful attack, and Gambit's addition only made it more powerful, intense enough to even hurt Trigon the Terrible. For Marluxia to even be able to do this was beyond uncanny.

"_Merde_…" blurted out Remy in shock as Marluxia realized that with only one heart left and with Falco and Octavia on the field, the battle was pretty much more trouble than it was worth. And at least he managed to provide a very difficult skirmish, far more than the Superior would be expecting. With a smile, Marluxia teleported away in a stream of pink flowers and vanished.

"So is it over, y'all?" asked Cyborg.

"I think so. He's gone…and so are Falco and Octavia for that matter. We can't find them on our scanners," Brittany stated as she looked at the pink computer screen while Amara placed the heart of her friend's chest, invoking a purple keyhole as it faded into Boom-Boom's flesh and blood.

"Oh yeah! Tabby's Elementa magic over at Themyscria was Gravira, so this one's mine! I got it!" Blob yelled as he took out his Heavyweight and pointed it at the unconscious Boom Boom's keyhole. Instantly, a beam of light emerged from the head of the weapon and traveled directly into Tabitha's body before the keyhole flashed and clicked shut. With a glimmer of purple auras, the keyhole vanished and sealed away Tabitha's heart.

Later on in the day, Martian Manhunter, Roadblock, Wolverine, and Robin were talking to King Lucius and Queen Considia about the string of Heartless attacks as well as their current situation and predicament. Amara was watching this meeting close by, but her mother informed her beforehand that after the massacre of their country, they would need to ensure that the survivors would be taken care of and Wolverine and J'onn said that S.H.I.E.L.D, the League, and G.I. Joe would help them find temporary refuge. And Considia also said that she would help convince her husband to allow Amara to make her own choice as to whether or not she wanted to stay at the Institute for a little while longer, especially since she could see how much Amara needed to be safe and how she cared about the X-Men as her second family.

Amara shivered as she hugged herself. Her people, Alexandra, Cassiel, and her parents…

She had to get their hearts back. She saw the look of devastated loss on her father's face when he saw the aftermath of the battle. So much of the country, gone and wiped out in a flash. And her two childhood pals were dead now, and all because of…

"Hey, Amara? You…you all right? I mean, not that I care or anything since Roadblock and the other Joes are forcing me to do this, but…your folks seem like they'd cut you some slack after the Heartless went completely free-for-all on your home and all that."

Amara stiffened before she turned around to see that Pietro was mulishly facing her. And before the speedster could say another word, in Amara's grief and rage, her hand flinched before she slapped Quicksilver hard in the cheek, nearly causing him to stumble. Instantly, any remorse or feelings of reluctant sympathy he had for Magma vanished along with any sense of his pride.

"I hate you…" Amara hissed, "Because of you, Cassiel and Alexandra died! You had magic! You didn't have to rush off like an idiot with your Keyblade! Why didn't you use your magic to protect them?! Why did you do something so stupid?! They died because of you!"

"It wasn't my fault!" Quicksilver yelled back, inflamed, "I didn't do anything!"

"That's exactly the point! **_You didn't do anything!_** You don't deserve a Keyblade, you hateful creep! You - you're even worse than Magneto! You're as selfish as he is! I wish you died instead of Cassiel and Alexandra because then everyone would be better off! Including Magneto! He'd be happier that his embarrassment of a son wasn't around anymore!"

And with that, Amara broke down sobbing.

Pietro blinked. Then he scowled before he hissed hatefully, "Fine! I've got better things do to like KP duty than hang around with a spoiled princess! By the way, don't bother with trying to set up funerals. No bodies to bury, remember?"

With that, Pietro angrily stalked off while Amara sobbed and wailed in the background with Cyclops and Jean trying to comfort her, giving the Misfit albino angry and incensed looks at his back. As he passed by Pluto, Quicksilver spat with venom at the Disney dog.

"For the record, I blame **you**."

Pluto's head lowered a bit as he looked at Pietro before switching his gaze to Magma as Pietro just stubbornly continued on, not caring and refusing to turn back.

_Tell her_, the voice inside him tried to barter softly (his conscience no doubt), _Tell Amara that the reason you couldn't use your magic was because you surrendered it to her to save her mother and father. Help her see that she is wrong and don't let her remain bitter. Help her grieve. Be a friend to her. Turn the other cheek and correct her._

Pietro just stewed in his typical stubbornness and continued walking away from a hysterical Amara, almost ashamed to admit that her crying was music to his ears and that he wasn't going to tell her what he did just so that she could apologize while he still had the hand imprint of the right side of his face.

_Tell her._

"I'm not **that** noble. Besides, at this point, she wouldn't even believe me," Pietro muttered to himself under his breath as he continued to walk away, leaving Amara to weep amongst the ruins of her former homeland.

---

Later that night, past curfew, the doors to the Danger Room had mysteriously opened with a loud creak, rumbling slightly as metal grazed against metal, but then Amara's voice softly rang out throughout the room, activating the computerized security systems so many times as Jean, the Professor, Jake, and Hank had instructed the New Mutants to do in case of any emergency.

"Computer, user log-in. User-code identification, X-016-Magma. Password…"

At this, Amara gave a soft choke before she continued softly, "Nova Roma, Cassiel, and Alexandra."

The pain was still raw.

The computer systems of the Danger Room called back in a digitized, female voice, intoning, "_Activating voice recognition system. User-code accepted. Password accepted. Authorization confirmed. Welcome, Amara._"

So far, so good. And since the Professor and the other members of the faculty were in their beds asleep, and Wolverine was out with Jinx for more plans on their future wedding, no one would be the wiser about Amara's little snooping unless Beast checked the logs, but it was done every Sunday morning, and today was Monday morning, so it would be buried under the tens of logs. And besides, if anyone asked, Amara could always come up with the valid excuse that she lost her earring and wanted to see if it was dropped in the Danger Room during practice, frantic and unable to sleep while trying to look for her jewelry.

"Computer, activate lights," Amara commanded, and within a second, the entire metallic room which was about as big as a professional football stadium, flooded the entire metallic chamber that could house all the vampire Slayers in the world at once as well as containing enough advanced circuitry and electronics and weapons systems that could have rivaled the technology at S.H.I.E.L.D and the Justice League's Watchtower. All right, it was a big room, and she didn't know where to start looking unless she asked the computer system itself.

It was worth a try.

"Computer…identify any hidden compartments in Danger Room."

There were several tense seconds before the system responded back without the slightest emotion as the female and mechanical voice responded back, stating, "_Invalid command. System cannot process request, Amara._"

Okay, maybe this was going to be harder than she first thought as Magma tried again, asking the computer systems another command, saying, "Computer, identify location of any safe or security compartments inside the Danger Room"

"_Invalid command. System cannot process request, Amara._"

Amara felt her jaw tighten as she then snapped, losing her temper and the pain of seeing so many of her fellow men, women, and children of her home dying before her very eyes before she yelled hotly, "**_Computer, tell me where is the Yellow Materia!_**"

There was a period of several prolonged seconds before the computer then spoke something different. At first, Amara was elated…only to have her joy come crashing down when she comprehended and registered what the computer had just asked.

"_Authorization needed. Password required. Please provide password, Amara._"

"Password: Nova Roma, Cassiel, and Alexandra," blurted out a confused Amara.

"_Password invalid. Authorization needed. Password required. Please provide password, Amara._"

"Damn it!"

"_Password invalid. Authorization needed. Password required. Please provide password, Amara._"

Oh, how much she wished the password was a choice phrase right at this very moment, but unfortunately, computers would get the joke (nor be anatomically correct to take a phrase seriously to begin with). She tried another suggestion.

"Uh…password: X-Men?"

She then winced at the obvious stupidity in that possibility of that being the password. But in her defense, it was the best she could come up with on a whim.

"_Password invalid. Proceeding system lock-down._"

"**What?!**" gasped Amara, but unfortunately for her, the lights ceased, and the computer shut down its activity, already alarmed at the attempts of an unauthorized user and ceasing all functions and processes in order to secure itself and the Mansion. Leaving Amara in the dark and frustrated as she tried several times for the computer to activate upon her verbal command, but the computer in lock down was unresponsive and silent, refusing every single command, scream, yell (and occasional curse word and bit of swearing) out of the Nova Roman princess' mouth. But thanks to her temporary lack of judgment and foresight, her yelling completely obscured the arrival of three figures from the doorway of the Danger Room, the reinforced-metal gate still ajar.

"Amara?" the Professor's calm voice broke through the one pause in her tirade, and shocked, stunned, and humiliated, the teenager turned around, her heart to her throat to see the Professor, Tessa, and Jake Clawson looking at the teenager with varying ranges of pity, confusion, and heartfelt concern. Tessa was wearing her bathrobe over her nightgown, and the Professor was the same likewise with his dark one over his pajamas. Jake was wearing his boxers and a white, sleeveless T-shirt. But it was readily apparent that they had somehow managed to awaken from bed to investigate and find the New Mutant making an unauthorized visit to the Danger Room. Amara felt her face flush and grow hot as the Professor sighed and motioned with his head for his student and charge to step outside into the lit hallway, Tessa pushing his wheelchair all the meanwhile. Amara had no choice but to follow.

And when Jake was busy closing the door gently so that it wouldn't clang and crash against the frame, the Professor sighed again and looked at his student with a mixture of sternness and worry as he made his trademark steeple with his fingers. He, Tessa, and Jake were no fools.

"Would you like to explain to me why you are breaking the rules of curfew, Amara?" Xavier asked softly with no trace of anger, but he was disappointed nonetheless as he gave a chance for the girl to tell him the honest truth. Amara actually did consider lying until she realized why it was considered unwise to lie to a telepath. Her lower lip quivered a bit before she composed herself and looked down at her feet ashamed, speaking in a hushed voice.

"I was looking for the Yellow Materia."

"Kitten…" Jake breathed heavily, scolding but pained as well, and Tessa looked a bit scandalized as the Professor closed his eyes. He could feel the hurt, the anger, and justification already forming in Magma's mind as he fought to control himself from reprimanding the girl. After all, with such a huge loss, it would be wrong of him to tell Amara that she shouldn't let her feelings get the better of her, especially since she was heavily grieving.

"As much as I understand you're pain, Amara, please understand that it would be dangerous and irresponsible, not to mention wrong, to use the Materia in such a manner when - "

But Magma's temper and hurt flashed as she exploded back at her mentor, nearly shrieking, "_'Wrong'?! **'WRONG'?!**_ Professor, I can't believe you! My fellow Nova Romans, people of my family and that I grew up around, Alexandra and Cassiel, they all died and had their hearts taken! You call that wrong?! You're damn right it's wrong, just like how it's wrong that we have to continue this charade, that we have to just blindly depend on the Misfits! If the Misfits tried harder, they could have saved them, saved everyone! Pietro didn't do anything with his magic! He just let Alexandra and Cassiel die! He doesn't deserve that Keyblade or his magic! He's just a selfish jerk who lucked out because Pluto was stupid to give it to him over one of us in the first place!"

"And yet stealing and reassigning the magic without his consent would be justified? Did you stop to consider that perhaps maybe there was a reason Pietro couldn't help at the time? That you can't blame Pietro and the other Misfits for this? It is unfair," Tessa gently tried to reason, but Amara was inconsolable as she wiped her eyes furiously.

"And what about Cassiel?! What about Alexandra?! What about me Mom and Dad?! What about Tabitha when she got infected?! What did they do to deserve this?! What did** I** do to deserve this?! Professor, it's not fair! It's not fair to me or the other X-Men that we have to just stand back and endanger people we care about and just watch the Misfits screw up at our expense! It's not fair! **_It's not right!_**"

"Kitten, two wrongs don't make a right. There's no guarantee that you wouldn't get hurt using the Yellow Materia or that it would work exactly how you wanted it to. And Pietro may have failed, but he seems to be trying his best with the other Misfits," Jake said brotherly, trying to calm the student down as he stooped down in order to be eye level with the adolescent, one paw on his shoulder.

"Their best isn't good enough!" Amara cried, trying not to weep but failing miserably, "At least if the Keyblades and magic were in more competent hands, then we wouldn't have this problem! And it's not fair! Pietro got off scot-free while everyone in Nova Roma died because the Organization and Hellfire Club know how to exploit the Misfits! It's not fair!"

"Kitten, stop. This won't bring back your friends, not the Yellow Materia and not crying yourself sick. You don't know how to use it, and your friends and family wouldn't want you to endanger your safety over a dangerous magical item," Jake tried to soothe Magma as he attempted to hug the girl, but she forcefully shoved him away as she whirled on Tessa.

"No, but **she** knows how to use it! Shaw and the other Inner Circle creeps gave her information on how to use it! She could do it for us, take away the powers that Pluto gave to the Misfits and give them to us or people who just won't stand by and let innocent people die like Cassiel and Alexandra! If you were any sort of a person, you'd do the right thing and help us! Give Earth a better group of heroes! Give Pietro exactly what he deserves!" Amara yelled hotly, her hands clenched into fists.

Tessa coldly looked at the New Mutant recruit before she forcefully emphasized, "And if I were any sort of a person, I would tell you that I won't do such a thing because it is not right to the Misfits and that if your friends and parents could see you right now, they'd be ashamed of you."

Amara twitched for several tense seconds before she choked and ran out of the hallway, furious and hurt, but not before she spat at Tessa with malice and sobbed, "I wish you never came here! I wish you never were the Professor's student! I wish you just dropped off the Materia and left us alone! I wish you weren't an X-Man!"

And with that, Amara fled, disappearing into the darkness while Tessa looked absolutely taken aback and hurt at such a statement. The Professor's face fell; he didn't know whether to be livid or pained at Amara's grief. Jake, thankfully, knew that the Professor needed some time alone with Tessa to soften the blow delivered by Amara and that he wouldn't be helping matters listening in.

"I'll go to Amara, Professor," Razor murmured before giving Tessa a compassionate look before walking hurriedly out of the metal corridor. Charles Xavier looked forlornly at the darkened hallway for several minutes in silence before he turned wearily to Tessa whose back was facing him, standing still and like a stone statue. Her face was in her hands, appearing distraught and trying to compose herself, and the Professor never felt so helpless.

After several pregnant seconds, the Professor managed to work the words through his dry mouth and throat.

"Amara knows better than to believe what she has just said. She is merely grieving for her people and her friends who have perished from the Heartless invasion. She was raised and taught to be better than that, to lash out like that. Tessa, I am sorry that you were hurt by that," Professor X said gently, but Tessa took her hands away from her face and gave her mentor a conflicted look of pity, anguish, anger, and miffed insult all in one priceless and baleful glare.

"You shouldn't be apologizing for her in the first place, Xavier," Tessa said in a clipped and restrained voice, laced with a hint of outrage, "She is the one who is wrong, the one who broke the rules of curfew, and the one who needs to apologize. Not you, even though I do concede that I should have never brought the Command Materia here in the first place."

"I cannot fault Amara for her grief, Tessa. I cannot make her apologize when she is still sorrowful over the fact that she lost her home and many individuals that she has cared about and grown up with. I am not going to force her to say something that she is not at fault and has no control over!" protested Xavier in Amara's defense, and Tessa looked even more scandalized.

"You actually agree with Magma, don't you?" she gasped in a horrified whisper, "You actually think that it would be better if the Elementa magic and Keyblades went to heroes other than the Misfits, don't you?!"

The Professor frowned to himself as he looked at the floor, abashed and a bit shamed, but he managed to voice carefully, "I only wish to do so if there was no other choice, that it was a last resort, and that perhaps it would be better if the magic and the Keyblades were separated, as to lessen the burden and responsibility on Wavedancer and her team while increasing the numbers of people who could help damage the Heartless. Tessa, I do not wish to use it if it does hurt us! Please understand that! I would only use it if it helps everyone on a whole! Power is greatest when you share it, not hoard it or confine it to a select group of people!"

"And this _isn't_ sharing, but outright **_theft_**! We have no right to decide that we could use it more! That is entirely left to Pluto!" Tessa yelled.

"If we weren't pure of heart enough to handle the responsibility of the Elementa magic, then Pluto would not have even blessed it to us when the situation called for it! Tessa, I just ask you to not hold it against Amara for thinking pragmatically in what could possibly be the better solution if things do not improve!"

Tessa's voice grew cold as she intoned softly but with enough intensity to knock down a brick wall, "Best solution to whom exactly? You or the Misfits? Let me note** Xavier** that we are not as pure as you think if we forget that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And pride is one of the worst sins of mankind…"

Professor X was painfully snubbed and distressed at how Sage called him by his last name out of disparagement and temporary contempt, and he just remained silent, hurt, as Tessa just walked away, leaving Professor X alone in the hallway, the rifts between himself and his first pupil growing from the war and from each other.

---

"Experiments 388 to 391 have all been destroyed, my Liege…" Marluxia reported before he bowed a bit in respect to his Superior as he strode into the inner sanctum and plush furnished surroundings of the Black Friar's Club where the Inner Circle and Organization were gathered. His black robe with the silver zippers was still slightly tattered and singed from the numerous attacks he gained from holding his own against that entire legion of Keyblade wielders and their allies. The leader of the Thirteenth Order nodded his consent as he turned to the scythe-wielding soldier.

"You have done adequately well, Marluxia. Granted, you still taken more hits than I would have liked, but it is promising nonetheless. You have improved your tactics this time in battle with the X-Men and the Keyblade wilders, and as such, it shall be difficult for the heroes to hone in on your tactics while you yourself have taken advantage of the weaknesses and potential pitfalls of engaging the mutants directly. And you yourself have managed to hold back Falco Lombardi and the Tigershark, Octavia," the baritone-voiced man said underneath his hood, his red eyes gleaming in the shadows. Marluxia grinned; earning praise paled in comparison to the actual killing and the success of gaining more hearts to make all of them complete beings once again.

"And I am indeed grateful," smirked Selene, purring as she ran her fingers through her black, thick tresses, "This is certainly more than enough to satisfy my vengeance on the wretched family and minions who banished me from my rightful place. And to see that little bitch, Aquilla, have her entire kingdom and home reduced to a select handful of useless drones before she and the rest of her ilk die at the Gathering was wonderful to experience and view. That one look on that X-Girl's face was nothing short of priceless and memorable."

"And Marluxia has gained the most bountiful batch of hearts for the Door as of yet," Vexen stated in a droll manner, "Over ten-thousand hearts had been collected by the Heartless right before the Hellfire experiments were completely destroyed. The entire realm of Nova Roma has been nearly exterminated."

"And speaking of the servants of the King, how goes the search for the Talismans of Twilight? Have we discovered yet which three hearts they reside in?" General Silver asked. Axel shook his head in a nonchalant "who cares?" manner while Xaldin, after giving his red-haired teammate a scolding look, answered for his group.

The black-haired hooded man with dreadlocks responded, "We are actually quite close, General Silver. The Oracle and our scrying sessions have been able to make noticeable headway now that we have more and more of the power of the hearts in our possession. With each time our collection grows, not only are we closer to summoning the Door to the Light, but our Heartless and the Oracle strengthen with each essence we collect and have within our grasp."

"It won't be long. With each increase of our reserves, we not only add to our numbers, but we can use the Oracle to probe even more acutely than before. I'll bet that we'll even be able to get to the Talismans long before those two clever sneaks of the King along with that dumb mutt even catch on," Xigbar scoffed.

"**_Don't forget Leomon_**," growled Blackheart, his red eyes glowing hotly with anger and vehemence, "**_That meddling Digimon is still out there seeking the Talismans as well as the Sovereign and Champion…_**"

"Still, we need to be careful. Those Talismans and the supposed Chalice would result in massive setbacks on our side, and I for one would be more comfortable if we had plans to deal with additional and unforeseen players in this chess game," muttered Sebastian Shaw.

"Massive setbacks, but not insurmountable," Lord Imperial said at last before nodding to Harry Leland and Donald Pierce, continuing, "Thanks to Hamilton and Eiling, Waller will certainly do our work for us in our plans for the Ghostbusters. And of course, the Black and White Bishops will see to it that Waller's chosen will succeed in their plans."

Luthor chuckled as he said, "And of course, all your bases shall be covered, both legally and physically."

"Excellent, then. We will strike when the Talismans are detected and found," the Superior said before he turned to the white-haired and goateed gambler named Luxord and commanded, "Once you have received the spore, go to the bays and swamplands close to the city of New Orleans and wait. I know you have a bit of a score to settle with the Cajun X-Man known as Gambit, and General Black has informed me that the Guilds of the Assassins and the Thieves will be meeting for the tithe quite soon. Not only will this mean another influx of hearts, but it shall be another blow to Xavier's brood."

General Black, the Omega Juggler, then added, "And for good reason. Lately, both the Guilds have become too powerful for our liking, and the heads of the Assassins have been pointedly ignoring our requests to help escort many of our operatives into the city while the Thieves have outwardly stolen valuable artifacts from many of our prestige associates around the lower south of the United States, despite our warnings. They are becoming expendable."

"As you command," Luxord nodded as he vanished in the shadows.

**Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, despite the amount of time I needed to take on it because here's the reason why I was so late, and I only find it fair that I tell you readers why. I work full-time as a database administrator, but two weeks ago, I got promoted to software programmer as well, so as a result, I now an at a position where I will be doing a lot more projects and get paid more (YAY!) but need to be trained much more extensively. That's why I didn't have so much time writing this chapter and why it took so long to get it up; it's because I have less time to write since I'm going to be taking classes and working the workload at my new job.**

**Fictives: Yes! Thank you whatever favorite deity we have!**

**But I am still going to continue writing this story and maintain the chapter a week schedule! Just, don't be surprised if I get a little late from now on in the future, all right? And again, I apologize for the lateness of this last chapter, but I will finish this crossover! All 85-plus chapters of it!**

**Fictives: Nuts…**

**Quiet all of you. Next Friday/Saturday, things get hairy for Gambit as he is brought back to New Orleans during the tithe ceremony between the Guilds of the Assassins and the Thieves, but Rogue is not the least bit pleased as she and the X-Men run into Belladonna. But when Remy's life is on the line as Luxord infects him with the Heartless, can Scarlet Witch and Rogue manage to save everyone in the Bayou despite love, betrayal, and all the emotions in between? Find out in the next chapter, "Bellarogue and Belladonna" and until then, read and enjoy! Constructive criticism welcome!**


	33. Bellarogue and Belladonna

**Author's Notes: First off, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all my cherished reviewers and readers: Red Witch, asha-man72, Sparky Genocide, NebulaBelt, Luc Star, L1701E, Theodore Hawkwood, ZKChromedragozoid, Xenomorph, Angelus-alvus, Stormshadow13, ColdFusion180, LycoX, Smeesnoops, dark672, and everyone else who was kind enough to find my work favorable and understand how real life bit me more than once. I love all of you guys! Secondly, I do not own the characters from the anime "Inuyasha" for they are the property of artist and creator, Rumiko Takahashi; the reason they are in this universe is because again they are members of the Ghostbusters from Sparky Genocide, and the Ghostbusters are established allies to the X-Men, Misfits, and Joes. That said (and hopefully, the worst is over for work, so I probably will be able to get back to a weekly schedule again), enjoy the chapter of our favorite X-Man, Rogue! This is my Christmas present to all Rogue fans out there!**

**Rogue: MY ideal present would be if you didn't write about me for one chapter, Mr. "I-Have-No-Life"!**

**Quiet you. Ever heard of peace on Earth? Readers, enjoy!**

**CHAPTER 33: Bellarogue and Belladonna**

"**_WHADDYA MEAN YOU LOST IT??!!!_**" screamed Shipwreck loud enough to be heard outside the Misfit Manor from the Triplets' room, his yells so piercing that Spirit and Cover Girl, who were watching Claudius and Barney and Polly in the den, both slightly jumped, startled at the intensity of the sailor's yelling. Claudius and Barney, like all young toddlers, stopped at the instant their father bellowed, but then lost interest as they realized it didn't concern them as they carried on with playing with Pluto. The golden-furred animal growled playfully a bit, but he managed to gracefully remain serene and friendly as Beak giggled and squeezed Pluto's neck hard in a hug while Claudius eagerly tugged on Pluto's black tail.

Cover Girl took a wary glance upstairs as she asked her Native American friend, "Think we should go up there and help Shipwreck deal with the latest crisis from Trinity?"

"No, and frankly, I'm not in the mood," Spirit wearily groaned as he rested his elbows on his knees and rubbed his temples, already mentally running through the list in his mind of what they needed to do, "We've already have a big enough helping of duties and necessary responsibilities around without needing to deal with Daria, Quinn, and Brittany. Not only do we need to brief with Generals Flagg and Whithalf, Nick Fury, Agent Burke, and Agent Wisdom from S.H.I.E.L.D and A.U.N.T.I.E coming to the Pit each day in order to help collaborate the Joes' efforts to help fight against the Gathering with other military units across the globe, but Giles and Wood told us that a few Joes along with Agent Burke would be welcome in arguing for the Watchers' Council in the United Kingdom Parliament since they're still running into a lot of government resistance from England that see the Slayer Academy as nothing more than a potential terrorist organization. And Giles, Wood, and Faith are still trying to deal with the class-action lawsuit filed by the families of the slayers who died when Slade, Marluxia, and the Initiative invaded the school. And then not to mention we're still trying to convince the United States Congress and the United Nations that the misfiring of the nuclear cannon from the Watchtower was a set up by the Hellfire Club and the Organization. And you know how _that_ one is faring."

Courtney nodded grimly. More and more, political pressure was appearing everywhere for the Watchtower to be decommissioned and for the Justice League to take some sort of accountability for the accident, regardless of whether or not the Justice League pulled the trigger. Apparently, with all the deaths that resulted from Pierce and the Inner Circle's manipulations and not to mention the irreplaceable damage to the monuments of the nation's capital, people still needed someone to blame and the easiest target was automatically the Justice League who was probably the most likely group to offer some sort of possible restitution. Add in the fact that there was still suspicion and mistrust rampant and that useless and charlatan figures and politicians were trying to make a name for themselves by stirring up the fervor against the Justice League with talks of registration and support for Lex Luthor's presidential campaign and the Humanitarian Party, it was getting to be a hassle and it was treading into dangerous waters for the heroes who united to fight against the growing threat of the Heartless. Granted, General Hawk made it clear that he had no regrets about standing with the League, but it was still troubling since now a lot of background enemies were either plotting against them or to circumvent the heroes' planned efforts. Not to mention the fact that people were so conveniently pointing fingers at each other rather than addressing the more important issue of the Heartless killing everyone was enough to make Cover Girl want to throttle someone while screaming some sense into their faces.

Spirit was right; with so much going on (and Cover Girl wasn't dumb enough to turn her backs on Polly and the children for one iota of a second), the last thing they needed to add on to their exhaustion was try to settle whatever mess the Delgado triplets had gotten into now. And since Althea and the other Misfits were out in the obstacle courses with Willow the Eloi and the Slayers, it was just the three Joes alone in the house with the kids and the Triplets. And Trinity was banned from the obstacle course for a week since they accidentally let loose their motorized Sylvanian Families play-dolls complete with miniature flamethrowers and sulfuric acid guns loose at the grounds of Hawk's office until they did the necessary fixes and KP duties. Still…

"Think we should at least go up there and see if he's got a handle on the situation? Need I remind you that this is Shipwreck we're talking about. He can _barely_ handle the kids by himself without Althea," the ex-model clarified wearily again.

"And again, need I remind you that what could Trinity have done now that hasn't been done before? Whatever crisis has happened now, Shipwreck has probably gone through that situation over a hundred times before in Trinity's long twelve years, so he'll know what to do. Now c'mon, we need to get ready for the others coming back from training so that we can go with Roadblock to talk with General Flagg and Whithalf," Spirit clarified as he picked up Beak and Claudius, already beginning to suspect that they both needed a fresh diaper.

Meanwhile, back in Daria, Quinn, and Brittany's bedroom, complete with pink accessories and lab equipment that was supposed to be confiscated, Shipwreck was once again sitting at a tea chair two size too small for him while gripping handfuls of his hair in his hands and his face clouded with cheated guilt and despaired misery. Shipwreck normally wasn't a man to give in to his emotions and he would rather walk barefoot through hell than cry, but damn if this wasn't cutting close to that one.

His daughters, Daria, Quinn, and Brittany, stood with slight embarrassment and disgrace with meek expressions and their hands either clasped nervously behind their backs or twiddling their thumbs in embarrassment. They knew that their news wasn't going to be well received before, but it was still disheartening to see how much it was taking its toll on Shipwreck.

The Joe sailor suddenly wondered if all the alcohol in the world would be able to help him accept this string of bad luck as he breathed therapeutically, in and out, before he managed to slowly ask again, "Let me get this straight, just to make sure that I'm not having a nightmare: the serum you created to help suppress Spyke's mutation for about a day or two from the sample of the Legacy Virus you stole from Dr. MacTaggert…is missing? After everything we've been though, the endless rules and ethics I've broken because I got this stupid idea to help Evan and have Stormy like me, after fighting the Heartless and the Dreadnoks and the Organization, after running through Russia and India on a wild goose chase…my three daughters who I have the desire to hug and strangle right now, lost the serum?!! **_You. Lost. The. Serum??!!!_**"

"Yes," gulped Quinn. They didn't feel any better about this than Shipwreck, especially since by losing something this important, they just screwed over a lot of people who needed the Legacy Virus for absolutely nothing. He now felt like a first-class heel.

Karma was pretty funny and sadistic in this universe.

"Are you sure you didn't just misplace it _somewhere_??!" the bearded man said, his eyes and expression wild, grasping at straws, and his heart sank when all three of his daughters shook their heads.

"We searched everywhere we could think of and nothing," murmured Brittany with some sadness and guilt, "We tore apart our room and laboratory looking for it, and we don't know where it is! We checked every inch of our room and all our clothes' pockets, each and every room in Misfit Manor, including the attic and basement, the safe, the lab…"

Daria carried on, ticking off each place with her fingers, "We looked in the mess hall, the galley where we did KP duty, General Hawk's office, the dojo, the ladies' shower rooms, the men's shower rooms…"

"Oh God, I'm not even going to ask," groaned Shipwreck, close to a choke, as he hunched his shoulders and lowered his head again, this time clasping his hands at the back on his head and wondering if it would be productive enough to bang his head against the wall for the next hour or two because a drink was definitely not going to make this one go away. And that was actually a rarity for the Joe soldier…

"Of course, it could be a possibility that it got destroyed during…well…one of the numerous escapades here at the Pit like the incident yesterday when Polly ran off with Sergeant Snuffles and Beach Head chased after him with his shotgun. It is possible since one of the shotgun pellets made a hole in our bedroom," surmised Quinn.

Shipwreck gave the girl in front of him an annoyed and miffed glare; this **wasn't** helping.

"Or like this past weekend when Avalanche ruined the garden and Wanda accidentally caused the house's plumbing to backfire with her hex-bolts when they both tried to get back at Pietro for the powered-milk-in-the-bedsheets prank," Daria admitted, recalling how they spent that weekend outdoors since the interior of the manor needed extensive repairs and the fact that the second story got flooded.

"Or when Blind Master and Spirit accidentally got a bit too out of control with cooking dinner on the night right before Nova Roma got attacked by the Heartless. On the upside, they now know the difference between baking _powder_ and baking _soda_," Brittany recalled, not noticing the annoyed frown deepening on Shipwreck's face.

"Or when Cover Girl accidentally started that electrical fire when she shot the TV with her rifle on Monday," suggested Quinn.

"That doesn't sound like something Cover Girl would do. She's usually less destructive than that…" pointed out Daria.

"Malerie Surprise was doing a special wrinkle moisturizing cream infomercial and used a picture of Cover Girl's face as the '_Before_' photo."

"_Now_ that sounds like Cover Girl," admitted Brittany. Shipwreck then lost his temper as he yelled, red in the face.

"Or maybe it was because you three did something incredibly stupid that blew up the dumb thing yourselves like the dynamite cache in your room or your Sylvanian Families figurines that blew up Hawk's office and took out a good portion of the attic wall when they got loose!!" Shipwreck bellowed, now at his wits' end. Now that he thought about it, the possibility of the serum accidentally being blown up to smithereens and lost forever was beginning to sound more and more likely…

"Hey, **_that_** one wasn't our fault, Daddy!!" Daria protested in affront and insult, "We have no idea how those figurines got loose, and we didn't turn them on deliberately! What, if something from our inventions goes wrong, it's automatically our – **OK, don't answer that!!**"

The Delgado Triplet added this last addendum with post haste when she saw Shipwreck give her telltale glare and before Daria herself realized that in all aspects due to their personal history, it was the most logical assumption. Shipwreck just moaned, rubbing his face, depressed beyond measure until he heard a whimper of guilt from his triplet daughters.

"Do you hate us?" Quinn sniffed, looking as if she wanted the earth to swallow herself and Daria and Brittany up whole and to vanish off the face of the Earth. After all, not only did this waste Evan's chances, but Dr. MacTaggert and Dr. Ross' as well. Trinity couldn't help but feel like heels after all this…

Shipwreck looked up, horrified and shocked that his children would even think that. He was aggravated, disappointed, and angry, yes, but it was more at himself than his daughters and he gently ambled over to them before he embraced all three of the Delgado Triplets in his arms.

"Of course I don't! You rugrats know better than that!" Shipwreck protested fervently and with a bit of warmth before he allowed himself a sad smile after a minute of comforting the girls, "I guess…we'll just have to call this bad luck, since it's only to us Misfits and Joes that we could have something like this happen. And truth be told, I guess I probably deserved this for stealing a piece of the Legacy Virus so that I could try and help Spyke and get Stormy to not zap me at every chance she's ticked off."

"So everything's OK?" Daria asked for confirmation, wiping her eyes.

"Everything's OK, Quinn," Shipwreck murmured like a true father, tussling her ponytail with one hand.

"So, we're not gonna get punished?" Brittany asked with hopeful optimism, doing the Bambi-eyes shtick for all it was worth, and the Joe adult sighed, realizing that though there was enough fault and blame to go around, it did ultimately fall on his shoulders.

"Nah, if anything, I'm the one who deserves to get the crap from this," Shipwreck exhaled with some weariness and sadness, but no matter how long it would be, he would still have a bit of guilt and gloom from this whole Legacy half-assed, half-baked idea. This easily topped the list of the "Ten Stupidest Things Ever Done", if not the most thoughtless and selfish.

Trinity beamed in relief, though they all still felt incredibly remorseful and shamefaced.

"We'll make it up to Dr. MacTaggert and Dr. Ross, Daddy! We promise!! It's just…we don't know what exactly. But somehow, **_we will!_**" Daria promised.

"At least on the upside, Daddy," Quinn sighed, nuzzling her head against her father's shoulder, "No one else know about the serum, so it's probably better or else we'd get a lot of people mad at us…"

Quinn would have no idea just how close she would come to eating those words were about to be in the near future.

---

Rogue just glared at the two S.H.I.E.L.D agents who escorted her alongside the sterile, metallic corridor towards Destiny's quarters. Even with General Hawk and the Professor's vouching and the fact that she was alone, both of them were armed with electric tasers and several non-projectile, energy firearms. And to add to the aggravation, Nick Fury was there with them. Rogue was dressed in her normal green and black civilian gothic shirt and skirt along with black gloves and black boots, and in one hand was a small bag of French croissants and pastries she purchased earlier that morning for her and Irene during this visit.

Rogue was still quite inwardly fuming at how her foster mother, Irene Adler, was being held at the S.H.I.E.L.D satellite base (one of the many) in Earth's lower orbit, similar to the Watchtower space station that served as the headquarters for the Justice League. The stainless steel walls and floor equipped with electronic eyes, cameras, and sensors everywhere along with the rather bleak and empty view of space and the planet below were hardly considered a welcome and comfortable home for Irene, especially since it infuriated the X-Girl that Destiny was Fury's prisoner in all senses of the word. Fury and the two guards finally came to a non-metallic door, and to Rogue's slight surprise, she discovered that Destiny was under some intensive safeguards and safety measures. Not only did Fury enter in the encrypted password to the electronic locking mechanism to the door as well as swiping his identification card into the bar-code slot at the keyboard wall-console pad, but he additionally did a retina scan with his good eye and pressed his bare palm against a gel-like pad that was positioned underneath the keyboard panel.

"Had to take some additional precautions with Destiny since any terrorist such as Magneto and Mystique would be wanting a invaluable and vital precognition mutant for their own side," Fury explained as the reinforced deadbolts, each five inches long in diameter, began recoiling back away from the door and into the supporting arch of the frame, "Not only is there no trace of any metal around her room and a reverse-polarity field to ward off any sort of magnetic interference, but only I know the code to Destiny's door and if Mystique tried shape-shifting, she wouldn't pass the palm scan or the DNA scan. Hell, if she cut my arm off, the sensors would refuse to unlock her cell on the account that it wouldn't detect a heartbeat and a pulse. And of course, I'm not gonna even inform you of the additional magical barriers and classified defenses set up around the rest of the base that makes Ms. Adler's cell considered relatively as minimum security."

"Really beefed up, didn't you?" Rogue couldn't help but snidely comment, really trying her best to suppress the urge to call Fury a familiar four-lettered word and have him kick her out and kissing her chance of seeing the closest thing to a mother she ever had for a good while.

"After the Heartless attacks and the Dreadnoks infiltrating our base in Russia, let's just say I'm doing my best to cover every possible base and thinking of safeguards that don't necessarily depend on you X-Men or Misfits, Keyblades and that Elementa crap be damned. You're free to talk to Ms. Adler as long as you wish, but I would like to warn you right now that your thoughts and conversations will be minimally monitored by our resident telepath recruit and our cameras."

"What's the matter?" Rogue said in a hard tone as the door slid open gently and with barely a whisper, "Don't trust me? Think I'd do something like spring Destiny out of jail if I felt like she wasn't being treated right here? Even if I'm an X-Man?"

Fury's amused and smug smirk along with his rather jovial tone of voice if anything annoyed the Southern Goth even more as he gave his response, stepping back a bit to leave Rogue alone as the teenager entered the cell.

"So glad you understand. Now we're on the same page," he said, and with a wave, the three S.H.I.E.L.D agents left, the metal door shutting shut behind them and leaving Rogue alone with Destiny. Rogue wondered how the hell a jerk like Fury ever became the head of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Hello, Rogue," Irene smiled from her spot on the plush, comfortable armchair and Rogue turned from her view at the solid wall to only see a rather surprising and unexpected sight.

If this was supposed to be a cell, it certainly didn't seem like it. The entire room was warm and inviting, not the least bit bare and cold like the X-Girl was originally expecting. All over were comfortable pieces of furniture, not the type that was stiff and professionally uncomfortable, but the type that could be found in any homely living room and a king-sized bed. The room was carpeted and smelled pleasantly fragrant of nectar from the several vases of flowers and honeysuckle that Irene tended to in her quarters as well as a scented candle or two. And of course, along with a small but tidy bathroom, there was additionally a computer, a television, and even a separate kitchen complete with a coffee maker.

Rogue was impressed and relieved as she went up and hugged her foster mother. Despite looking a bit older and the lines on her face being more defined, Destiny actually seemed content and happy as she gladly returned the embrace, careful to not make any contact with Rogue's bare skin before she led Rogue to a small table which already had a nice tea set spread.

"I knew you were coming," Destiny said simply. Rogue shook her head at herself for forgetting sometimes that Irene was a precognition mutant, but then again, based on recent events, it was understandable that Rogue would feel a little swamped and harried from thinking one-hundred percent clearly.

"I missed you," Rogue said at last, though a bit embarrassed to mention it out loud. She wasn't the type to share her feelings readily, and Irene was one of the few who the mutant teen allowed herself to be open with. Irene smiled as she handed Rogue a full teacup.

"I know, Rogue. And I appreciate that sentiment. I missed you too, although I could not visit you due to Magneto and Mystique searching for me. Going to Fury was the most likely path in my visions where I had the strongest possibility of not only living a relatively peaceful life, but in order to ensure that all mutants could truly survive in the future. That was why I left Magneto and Mystique in the first place: because I could see that the future would not be beneficial to mutants or humans alike if I continued to help them, that they were starting to become as evil and tyrannical as the Friends of Humanity or the various enemies you have run into before, like Darkseid and Trigon."

"Is that why you're here at S.H.I.E.L.D? To help out Mr. Fury? And with the Heartless? Are they treating you right and all?"

"Yes, I may be essentially a prisoner here, but Colonel Fury is hardly cruel and sadistically opportunistic. I assure you that I am happy and safe here. The bargain is that in exchange for S.H.I.E.L.D's protection and board, I provide to Fury and his teams all the information I can about Magneto's activities and future attacks if I can along with any information about the Heartless and the Thirteenth Order. The information with Magneto was fruitful enough for Fury to consider me valuable, especially since it was enough for S.H.I.E.L.D to ward off any of Magneto's attacks on various energy plants and factories and laboratories by himself and his Acolytes. Not to mention it did lead to have Fury's organization discover a few secret bases he established on Earth, such as the one Piper Halliwell accidentally discovered on her rendezvous with her husband in the Caribbean. And thanks to Tessa's"

"And anything with…well, the Gathering?" Rogue asked hesitantly. It was a morbid question and Irene's face fell as she lost her appetite for the croissant that she was eating as she looked at her foster child.

"Unfortunately, no. None of my visions can provide me any additional information about the Hellfire Club or the occurrences with the Organization and the Heartless. Keep in mind Rogue that if there is something that is too powerful for me to sense and predict, such as the First that the Slayers have fought before in the past or Darkseid, my visions cannot give me a clear picture of any sort of what is to come. I do not have complete control of my visions and what I can see. The Organization and the Hellfire Club are all enshrouded by darkness, so their future along with ours is untraceable. I cannot see anything that gives us hope and is a sure sign that the Heartless will not win and that the Earth won't die."

"That bad?"

"Worse. I think the repercussions of this mean the end of…everything. Every planet, every star, every place where existence of any life resides in, the darkness threatens to swallow all of it. This is a new threat, a new kind of warfare that could be more powerful than all the enemies you have encountered put together, and Fury along with the other heroes know this. They are worried, and my visions do not give them any clues since I cannot sense anything about the Organization's goal or these Talismans and this Sovereign and Champion of Twilight."

"At least we have the Keyblades," Rogue said, though she didn't sound too confident, knowing that they were solely in the hands of the Misfits instead of more capable heroes. Irene blinked behind her glasses before looking morose. She seemed to be struggling with herself before she then spoke her admission.

"As I have shared with Fury before, the Keyblades I feel are not all that they appear to be. You have been told that any weapon can be used for good or evil, and the light from the Keyblades is no exception. In fact, all my visions that do involve what little they show about the Keyblades display that you, the X-Men, the Misfits, and the Joes are the epicenter of this, that you all are in this last whirlpool of light and the darkness is closing around all of you. And from what Fury told me that the Inner Circle and the Hellfire Heartless are specifically targeting you, I fear that you and your X-Men are dragged into the heart of this situation. Er, no pun intended, of course."

"Can we talk about something else? I haven't seen you for a long time, and this is kinda depressin'," admitted Rogue. As much as she liked being pessimistic, this was really too dreary. She preferred to not think about it right now, especially since she had enough of the stupid Heartless at this point.

"My apologies, Rogue. So how are you?" Irene asked sincerely, smiling.

Rogue nodded easily enough as she recollected, "Pretty good, considering what's going on outside the Institute, and the fact that the Misfits and the Joes are literally driving us crazy every day, although considering we can't really leave the school safely anymore, it's kind of something to get out minds off going crazy with cabin fever. Tabitha's recovering from her infection, and she's well enough to leave the infirmary today. The Institute's still as insane as ever, can't get any privacy no more, I'm still talking with Raven, Raptor, and Dana…oh yeah, and Remy says hi, even though he couldn't come with me because he had to leave for an emergency thing with his family in New Orleans. Huh, it was a big surprise. Didn't know he even had any."

Destiny's face darkened a bit, frowning with disapproval at the mention of Gambit's name, and Rogue noticed, starting to get a sinking feeling in her gut though she did her best to remain impassive.

"Mr. LeBeau hasn't told you about his past, did he?" the blind mutant woman asked, though it was a rhetorical question due to her visions, Destiny was still very much interested in Rogue's answer. She was a bit saddened and disappointed when Rogue's pale face suddenly flushed and awkwardly, she stared down at her knees, hesitating.

"Well, no…we don't talk much about his past. I…he's said he's not ready to share some things yet, and I respect that," Rogue admitted.

Perhaps it was better that Remy wasn't here along with Rogue as Destiny could admit that she had the sudden urge to shove her cane up a certain body cavity of his…

"Rogue, I don't doubt that Mr. LeBeau loves you - "

"Can't we go back to talking about the Heartless and the Gathering of Twilight again?"

"- but I don't think he's being entirely truthful about his past."

"Irene, stop."

"I just don't want you hurt - "

"**STOP!!**"

Rogue winced; that was louder than she would have liked. And sharper as well. Irene looked stunned before appearing a bit hurt. Rogue did her best to soften the blow.

"I trust the swamp rat, and he's one of the few things that I can trust, Irene," Rogue said with conviction, "I know ya' mean well, but I can't force him to share stuff if he doesn't want. We've all got secrets, and I know I haven't let him on a lot of stuff from my past yet."

"A secret is one thing, but a secret that will hurt you in the future is another - "

"Then let _him_ be the one to tell it to me when he's good and ready, not you. There are some things I'm not ready to know, and that I don't want to know, so please, just hold off on whatever you saw in your future visions and stuff. You don't need to tell me if I don't want to know."

"But - "

"Irene, please, don't spoil one of the few good things I got goin' for me."

"You may be wasting you life - "

"It's my life, and I can waste it however I want!" Rogue snapped heatedly, wiping her eyes in frustration. Destiny looked regretful and remorseful that she even brought it up in the first place, but she focused her gaze behind her dark glasses at the Goth X-Girl and bit her tongue.

"I did not mean to upset you," Irene said, "I thought you would just like to know the truth since honesty is an important issue with you, and I can't lie to you or keep things hidden like before, especially since that was the very thing that drove you and Kurt away from Mystique."

Rogue silently nodded, but inside, as much as she did value the truth and completely honestly, the seeds of doubt and hesitation were already inadvertently planted…

Truth was a double-edged sword.

---

"**_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!_**" Kurt was heard screaming as Rogue teleported back into the main foyer of the X-Mansion, and she frowned, wincing from the volume and apparently annoyed. Apparently, even despite the typical fight or two at the Institute (a sure sign that the Misfits and Joes were here), Nightcrawler was still screaming loudly enough to wake the dead.

"What's goin' on with Kurt?" groaned Rogue, covering her ears at Amara who was passing by. The Nova Roman princess then explained as best as she could, leaning closely to the Southern mutant so that she wouldn't need to scream herself hoarse over the yelling.

"Kurt's doing his therapy with Psyche-Out from the Joes over in the den. Remember the story about when he and the others went to Mumbai and they all accidentally saw Zartan and Mystique half-naked and trying to kill each other?"

"**_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!_**" Kurt could be heard hollering again.

"Kind of hard to forget how much of a tramp my mother has become, so yeah…" grumbled Rogue, wishing Kurt would lose his voice from all that hollering.

"Well, this is part of it. Apparently, from what MNN told me, part of his therapy involves letting lose all his frustrations and to not allow his emotions to be bottled up."

"**_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!_**"

"In other words, screaming and yelling and crying until he's worn out?"

"Got it in one."

"Is it even helping?"

"The Professor and the other adults know that this is important for Kurt since he needs some way to deal with the fact of seeing his mother and Zartan from the Dreadnoks in that state, so they don't want to interfere. And Psyche-Out says it's helping a little."

"**_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!_**"

"In other words, more proof that Psyche-Out's a total quack," Rogue said, deadpanned.

"Pretty much," Amara agreed, but then she broke her gaze from Rogue and stiffened. Rogue turned to see a rather irate Tessa, her clothes now covered with multi-colored shaving cream, heatedly scolding a rather agonized Pietro (presumably in pain because of the fact that Sage was taking him rather excruciatingly by his ear with one firm hand). And no matter how much Pietro tried to wriggle and struggle, Sage held fast to the little troublemaker. And from what Rogue remembered of the incident with Nova Roma and with the sneaking into the Danger Room, it would be hard to say which one Amara wanted to see the least. Indeed, Magma's eyes were narrowed and burning with resentful anger as she scowled.

"I gotta go," she said in a flat voice, eager to get as far away from Tessa and Pietro as possible, "Tabby's out of the infirmary now, and she said she wanted to go watch a movie and pig out on ice cream later today."

"Tell her I said hi," Rogue chipped in, not sure what else to say, especially since she could feel for Amara and that Pietro wasn't on her list of favorites by default. Amara nodded before she left quickly.

Rogue could catch phrases of the conversation as Tessa came stomping by with Pietro in tow.

"Honestly, of all the rooms you had to strike with shaving cream bombs, did it have to be **mine**?!" Tessa nearly shouted with rage, doing her best to keep her temper and emotions in check, as the young woman dragged the albino mutant to get a stern talking to with the X-Elders and the Joes.

"Ow!!" Quicksilver whined, squirming and trying to escape (but Tessa had a grip of iron), "Ow, quit twisting so hard!! Can't you take a joke?!! Ahhhh, my ear, my beautiful ear!! _Owie, owie, owie!!!_"

"You are highly lucky that I'm trying to practice what I preach and be a good role model to the students or else I would have shot out your bloody kneecaps at this point, Mr. Maximoff!!" Sage yelled, still incredibly annoyed, as she dragged the protesting Misfit along her wake. Rogue had to raise an eyebrow at this; Tessa at least got some points for trying to be mature with her dealings with the Misfits…

"Tessa, is…Remy back?" Rogue asked as she passed by.

"No, he hasn't shown up from New Orleans yet. Oh, and don't go into your room yet. Yours was one of the many this miscreant has targeted," Sage replied, adding a very hard twist to Pietro's ear on the word "miscreant" and invoking a yelp of agony from said Quicksilver. Rogue rolled her eyes as the two left; so much for moping a bit in her room in solitude…

"**_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!_**" Kurt was heard screaming again as the skies outside began to darken and rumble with the sounds of approaching thunder. Shipwreck must be bothering Ororo again.

Rogue rolled her eyes as she muttered heaven-wards, "God, is it too much to ask for a single place at this nuthouse that is idiot-and-psycho-free?"

Now horrible frustrated and annoyed, Rogue decided that unfortunately, the only place she could get some peace and quiet without being bugged by any of her teammates or the Misfits would most likely probably be the study on the second story of the Institute. With uncomfortable chairs, rows of books and manuscripts and texts for schooling and research material, not to mention a lack of any TV or radio meant that no one rationally would decide to stay there for a bit of fun. Very few, if any, of the Misfits would want to head there immediately for a good time to talk or annoy the Mansion's inhabitants, and last she checked, the only members of the X-Men who thought that reading books was fun were Jean, Hank, Ororo, and the Professor.

With that in mind, Rogue sort of hurried her pace through the main foyer, up the stairs, and through the hallway of the west wing, dodging several glovatrix missiles, an energy blast, and the occasional ninja star or two in Gabriel's attempts to nail Jake on her way, doing her best to avoid the mindless arguing, shouting, and fighting throughout.

She was starting to see Cyclops' repeated wish on that the Misfits never existed, they would all be a lot happier.

And unfortunately, she was going to agree with that sentiment even more strongly when she managed to close the heavy wooden doors of the study shut only to turn around to see that Wanda and her Disney Summon, Mushu, were quietly seated in an armchair. Mushu was contently curled on Wanda's neck, reading over her shoulder while the Misfit turned the pages. At the slam of the door, both Mushu and Wanda looked up, and Wanda merely shrugged and continued.

"So much for this place being psycho-free," Rogue muttered under her breath, too low to hear. She was still in a bad mood. Scarlet Witch still was prudent enough to guess the low murmur was hardly flattering.

"Why don't you just leave, Skunk-Head?" she responded back tersely and now scowling, trying to read her current page. Mushu looked a bit uncomfortable as he carefully unfurled himself from his partner's neck. Rogue, already irritated, just shot back her own round.

"Why don't you? In case you've forgotten, you don't live here. **I do.**"

"I was here first. Deal with it."

"Spoken like a true moocher."

"I'm sorry, you must have me confused with Pietro…or your Cajun boyfriend."

Though it was a low blow, Wanda hardly admitted that she cared (in which Mushu couldn't help but feel a little disappointed in her). Rogue felt her temper flare up.

"Witch!"

"Dingus!"

"Hag!!"

"Ratface!!"

"Look in the mirror, basket-case!!"

"You want to try something?!! **Well, bring it!!**"

"**Gladly!!!**"

"Ladies, ladies…" tried Mushu, standing upright on one of the long, study tables of mahogany, his forepaws out and trying to placate the situation, only to be subjected to glares from both sides, with Rogue's fists clenched and Wanda's hands glowing in blue chaos-energy.

Wanda said slowly, trying to rein in her irritation, "Mushu, you know I care for you, but shut up."

"Shutting up. I'll just go over here and start ducking for cover…" Mushu gulped automatically as he scurried away like a squirrel and hid behind a sturdy bookcase. He just wished Rogue and Wanda wouldn't blow up at each other at nearly every chance they got. Still, as Rogue and Wanda waited on pins and needles, tense and hostile, they both secretly could admit that neither of them really wanted to fight right now, but for different reasons. Plus, it was certainly going to cause more trouble and bruises than it was worth.

Wanda and Rogue just stood in nerve-wracking anxiety and pressure, no more than several feet apart, waiting for a punch or a hex-bolt that was supposedly to arrive and give them justification to resort to the usual violence.

Rogue did her best to sound nonchalant and unworried as she sneered, "So what are you waiting for?"

"You first, sister-dear," Wanda snapped back disdainfully, but she held the same dragging your feet demeanor as the X-Man, and there was only a minute or two of embarrassing and awkward silence so long that Mushu actually peeked cautiously from the corner in confusion.

"Truce?" Rogue offered at last. Wanda half leered in relief.

"Finally admitting you're scared?"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Still, Wanda nodded and both she and Rogue, more than embarrassed at showing their brief vulnerability to each other, hurriedly backed off. Rogue made a point to sit at the furthest place away from Wanda which happened to be the table closest to the window at the far end of the study. Rogue just slumped in a chair and rested her head against one hand, propping her head up on one elbow, deep in thought.

Wanda continued reading "_Angela's Ashes_"; she knew better than to involve herself, and frankly, she wasn't the type to pester where it didn't concern her.

Unfortunately, Mushu didn't know Rogue as well as Scarlet Witch did, and like all concerned idiots, he had to open his big mouth as he ambled towards Rogue, his clawed feet pattering on the wooden-paneled floor. The miniature baby red dragon cocked his head to the side as he scampered up onto the table surface and looked at the Goth.

"Yo, whatsa matter, Rogue?"

"Back off and get back into your little Keyblade, you little snake!" Rogue snapped, obviously not in the mood.

"**_Dra-gon._** Dragon, not snake. I don't do that tongue thing," corrected Mushu, idly and by instinct flicking out his forked tongue before continuing obliviously, "So let little ol' Mushu guess: you're depressed over your mutation? I mean, the no-touching thing can be a real downer now that I think about it."

"Get lost."

Mushu tried again, proving that his mouth was bigger than his common sense, reaching out with, "Is Destiny being treated really bad at the S.H.I.E.L.D prison-thing?"

"I said get lost!"

"Uh…your boyfriend cheating on you - ?"

But that was the magic suggestion as Rogue gave a small snarl and grabbed Mushu with one hand wrapping around his neck and lifting him off the table like a ragdoll, her eyes flashing angrily.

"Urk…" rasped Mushu weakly as he was being strangled, "OK, mad at Gambit, not at me…strangling the wrong guy here, Rogue…"

"Rogue…" warned Wanda dangerously, looking up from her book, "Let go of Mushu or else I'll give him the order to burn your hair off."

Though Rogue had a good idea of where to tell Wanda to take her demand, she irately let go of Mushu, who landed heavily on the table and gasped for air, rubbing his throat. Rogue didn't look at the Disney dragon as she then folded her arms across the table surface and rested her chin on the apex, frowning gloomily to herself.

It was irritating; no matter how hard she tried, Irene's words were haunting her mind. She loved Irene, no mistake about that, but Destiny would have no idea how much her words were driving Rogue insane. She lov-…

She _liked _Remy enough. And Remy liked her too, didn't he?

OK, maybe she pounded on him more than normal, and she could have been a bit less caustic and antagonistic towards his flirting and demeanor. But he liked her still, didn't he?

"Quit moping. You look pathetic," Wanda groaned, almost feeling sorry for Rogue.

"No more than you do, you nutcase, so shut up and leave me alone," Rogue shot back, grumbling.

"Can't believe I'm saying this…" muttered Wanda, rolling her eyes before she continued, "But Remy wouldn't cheat on you. He's crazy enough about you as it is, though it baffles the mind what exactly he sees in you."

Rogue just grumbled incoherently as she continued to sulk and brood. She heard that sort of pep-talk and optimism before, and frankly, it didn't do much to convince her and quell her doubts. Scarlet Witch groaned, mentally cursing that no one else was around to do this.

"Fine, you want proof? Remember when he used to work for Magneto?"

She took Rogue's silence as agreement.

"Even though you were an X-Geek, even though he was pretty much defying Magneto and risking his life, he still did it in the end, right? He still ended up joining with the Professor, right? Don't you remember why?"

"Uh…because your Dad's a psycho lunatic who doesn't care squat about his Acolytes or the people he works with once they become useless and that he's just a power-hungry, delusional hypocrite who's willing to kill all humans to 'help' mutants?"

"_Besides that_, Rogue."

Rogue didn't answer. She knew the answer as well as Wanda as it then came to her, the times when Remy met up with her at Toad's grave in the gardens when they learned that Magneto threw Todd out of the jet after the Sentinel incident, how Gambit was with her when she and Destiny had a final heart-to-heart in Bayville High before Destiny had to go in hiding, how Remy stayed through Rogue's side throughout the whole trials with Cobra infiltrating the school, the Sentinels, the roughness of training at the Pit, gaining her new powers of invulnerability, super-strength, and flight when she was Magneto's prisoner…

Rogue just stubbornly and irately fumed, realizing that Wanda had a point (as much as she hated to admit it).

"Thought you couldn't be that dense," Wanda said, satisfied at last as she got back to her book while Mushu looked at both of the girls warily, wondering if these two would ever stop jabbing at each other.

"Oh, shut up. At least I **have** a boyfriend. And if you tell anyone about this, and I'll pound you in ways that could make Superman wince," Rogue said waspishly, although she could admit that Wanda's talk did shed some light on her fears. Still, no way she'd thank her half-sister on principle, mind you.

"Whatever," Wanda muttered, obviously not the least bit intimidated. There was silence for a little bit before Rogue then broke it with her own question.

"You ever been in love?"

Wanda looked reluctant to answer before she decided why not since no one else was in the room.

"Yeah, I guess. It's a scary feeling, though…"

"Anyone we know?"

"Course…and no, it's not Remy or any X-Geek or anyone on my team. I'm not **that** brain damaged."

"I'd gladly argue that one. So who _is_ the unlucky sap?" Rogue countered, smiling wickedly for some good blackmail material.

"Like I'd tell you."

"Just want to make sure to file the restraining order ahead of time."

"Zombie queen."

"Witch."

"Gothic copycat."

"Certifiable lunatic."

"Drop dead."

"You look like you already did."

"With **you** as family, it's a wonder why I haven't committed suicide first."

"Times like these, I can't decide if you two hate or love each other," Mushu commented out loud, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up, Mushu," chorused both Wanda and Rogue together in unison before they glared at each other. However, they both didn't realize that a furry, four-legged animal was quietly eavesdropping this little heart-to-heart, tail thumping…

---

Gambit's mind was racing as he tore his way through the brush and various flora obstacles of the Bayou, his mind filled with worry, dread, and loathing…all for one idiotic father who couldn't learn to keep his common sense in front of his desire to one-up the Guild of the Assassins. He was just grateful that the Professor didn't ask too many questions when Remy asked if he could take one of the miniature VLJ aircrafts that Jake, Hank, and Forge designed a while ago thanks to specifications of the League and the Joes due to a family emergency. Though Logan growled and started interrogating him, the Professor was gracious enough to cease any inquisition for the sake of privacy and said with finality that Gambit was on the senior team of the X-Men, that he had done many careful hours of flight practice under Razor's instruction in order to fly the jet by himself (Logan blamed Jake for that one wholeheartedly), and that in times of the Heartless crisis, more than ever, family matters were important. As long as Gambit promised to not be reckless with the aircraft and to remain in constant contact with his communicator, he could go.

Remy remembered to land the hover-jet (a hybrid thanks to Hank, Forge, and Jake's geniuses) in a secluded area that was far from the city and close enough to the coordinates of the ceremony (not that Remy could ever forget it) in the middle of a secluded area in the Bayou Lafourche, a small delta of firm land among the brackish water and hidden partially under the grove of swamp oaks and maple along with the willow trees. And contacting the Professor to let him know that he landed safely and that he remembered his responsibility to let the adults and the X-Men know that he was already would ensure that no one would suspect that he was in trouble and that they needed to go check up on him.

Of course, Remy was hoping that there wouldn't be trouble, though he knew better as he trudged through the swamps thick vegetation, using the hidden trail he and only the select members of the Thieves' Guild had known about. He could still recollect the phone conversation he had with Boddy (and Remy was still shocked that his brother managed to get the contact information of the Institute)…

_He got caught stealing the artifacts needed for the tithe from the Assassins!! And Belladonna isn't budging on our negotiations! Talk some sense into that crazy fille, Remy!! She's your fiancée!! She'll only listen to you! And if you don't show up for the tithe, then Jean-Luc's going to die and the Thieves' Guild will be ruined because of you! You wanna be able to live with that? Our families and children will all suffer if you don't clean up this mess while the Assassins get the last laugh!! He's your father too!_

Gambit felt dizzy and heavily drained as he trudged through the trail before he focused on his father (for lack of a better term for it) and cursed.

_Damn you, Jean-Luc!! God help you if this is the last time Remy put his neck out for you like before!!_

With that, Remy managed to make his way towards the clearing in the middle of the swamplands where a rather interesting congregation was taking place, amid a wide colossal circle of torches and altars of incense. There were all the members of the Guild of Thieves and the Guild of Assassins, two of the most influential groups in the Bayou as well as one of the most powerful and arguably corrupt associations in the United States. Though normally they hated each other to the point of murderous loathing, it was apparent that underneath the light of the full moon for the day and year of the tithing, they were willing to do whatever it took to quell their extreme feelings of hate and rivalry for maintaining the purity of the ceremony.

The Thieves were wearing similar black body-suits of leather and polymer along with utility belts containing all sorts of tricks such as lock-picks, grappling hooks, rope, and glass-cutters along with collapsible metal staffs for fighting, and over these body suits, all of them wore long brown trench-coats. The Assassins on the other hand were all wearing similar attire of black and red with long capes of regal velvet, used only for elegant parties and or flair. And additionally, their clothing was additionally laced with Kevlar armor and a number of belts to hold their high-caliber firearms, rifles, handguns, and knives, all of their weaponry plainly visible in the torchlight.

Remy blinked; this wasn't like the normal tithe ceremony that he remembered as a child. Something was incredibly fishy about the apparent difference in this affair…

Then Remy saw Jean-Luc, his good-for-nothing patron, being led to the front of the assemblage by two assassins, wearing shackles on his wrists and in chains. Damn it, why couldn't he keep his hands to himself and try for once in his life to not piss off the Guild of Assassins?

It was then that Remy saw her, taller, graceful, refined, more curved and developed than the last fleeting time he could recall before he was banished from the South for killing Julien in self-defense. She was wearing an elegant body-suit of leather and metal, the stainless steel of her uniform's armor along with the knives and gun strapped to her thigh glinting under the torchlight. She had lips of blood-red and rosy cheeks along with a narrow, thin face and blue eyes of ice, and her golden hair had grown longer past her shoulders, with the bottom half of her tresses corn-rowed in dreadlocks. Yet despite the age and the craziness of the past several years, Gambit would never forget her, not in a million years…

"Remy," Belladonna said, her voice professional and collected, no trace of warmth or leniency due to the past they had shared. Gambit supposed that he should be grateful; he didn't want this to be more complicated than it already was going to be. Still…

"So dizzy…what's going on?" Remy asked, his head throbbing until Boddy placed a golden ring with strange markings written in its underside into Gambit's palm.

"Protective spells your fiancée cast all over to make sure no one gets in and interferes with the tithe, _frère_. Take this to protect yourself from them, Remy," Boddy said, his older brother nodding encouragingly. Remy gave the well-built, fair-haired man a skeptical look; he trusted Boddy about as much as Jean-Luc. But Boddy showed Remy that he was wearing a similar ring on his finger, so shrugging, Remy placed it on his right ring finger, and immediately, the dizziness faded.

"All right, I'm here, Belladonna," Remy said cordially, "Now let my father off, _chere_. He's not worth killin' for…"

The Cajun X-Man trailed off when Jean-Luc marched forward and raised his hands. To Gambit's astonishment, the shackles weren't even locked in place; they were completely loose and slack, not even clamped shut. With a brief shake, the handcuffs and metal chains fell off Jean-Luc's hands and clattered lifelessly on the floor. Gambit blinked, stunned and taken aback with amazement. Even a thief couldn't break out of assassin-restraints that quickly and boldly in front of everyone! Yet then Remy noticed that his father's face was resigned, calm, and a bit regretful, not the type of expression for once being held captive under threat of death. But, if the Assassins didn't hold Jean-Luc prisoner, then that meant…

"I'm sorry, Remy," Jean-Luc said emotionlessly, "But you're too valuable to the Guild, even with the banishment from the South. And we decided that not even you could be left out of the most important tithe of all of our clans' history."

Gambit's eyes widened in shock before narrowing in anger.

It was a ruse.

"You're not leavin' me again, Remy," Belladonna said with a mixture of pain and angry vengeance, glaring with poison as she then simply made a fist with her right hand, invoking an aura of yellowish light. Remy then felt a very odd throbbing in his ring finger from the ring Boddy gave him. Before he could even move or attempt to take the ring off, the ring flashed in the same yellow glow as Belladonna's hand before each and every nerve in Gambit's body felt as if it was on fire, and Remy lost all sense of restraint as he arched back his body and howled in excruciating torment, streams of magical energy raking through his muscles and making him sink to his knees.

"Damn…" rasped Remy as tried to prop himself on his hands to prevent himself from falling unconscious as Belladonna walked over to him, frowning with years of bitterness and hurt. Boddy explained stoically.

"Only your ring was enchanted, Remy. It was the only way to make sure you didn't bolt."

"And for good reason, like you did on our wedding day when you left me on the altar!" Belladonna said with heated rage as she then lost her temper and kicked Remy in the midsection, causing him to grunt in soreness. God, that hurt; Belladonna must have been angrier than he expected…

Belladonna said with simmering, cheated, ire, the memories of having her heart broken coming to her mind instantly, "You honestly didn't think about me, about how much I loved you?!! I didn't care if you killed Julien!! _Mon dieu_, you actually did me a favor considering he was the worst brother I could ever have!! I waited for you!! I argued against my mother and father so that I could revoke your banishment!! I would have fought alongside you if you stayed!"

Belladonna kicked Gambit in the stomach again. God, that felt good…

"Even if you had to flee, why didn't you come to me and ask me to go with you?! Why didn't you tell me you were leaving?! I waited for three days before I had to face the truth that you weren't coming back!! Why didn't you at least contact me?! I would have liked to be given the decision! Maybe I would have left with you, maybe I wouldn't, but you still could have told me!!"

"Ow…you still mad, _chere_?" Gambit managed to utter, wincing from his sore abdominals as the pain from his ring subsided enough to prevent him from blacking out. Belladonna's glare softened as she admitted from the depth of her heart; she could never fully hate Remy.

"Yes, but not enough to make me forget that I still love you, and that I'm your rightful fiancée and that you belong here. Once the tithe is complete and both of our guilds are safe, you can stay here with me where you belong and away from the X-Men and that bitchy tramp called Rogue. **You. Belong. To. Me.**"

"Begin the ceremony," Jean-Luc said in an impassive tone, obviously showing that his heart wasn't really in this, as he and Belladonna gave each other shifty glances before they came to the stump of a very old cypress tree, black and dead and leaving a wide circle about thirty feet in diameter. What Remy noticed immediately about the stump of the cypress tree was that it contained a ring of candles burning brightly all around it and the wood was scorched with strange markings and magical words in Latin. Belladonna and Jean-Luc took out their knives and effectively cut a finger for each of them. Holding out their hands over the wooden surface of the stump, they both let several drops of blood fall on the markings, and like magic, the scorched words began to glow. Possibly more of Belladonna's work with the supernatural…

Then Boddy and an Assassin both carefully laid out three items on a small, stone altar a few feet away from the trunk. There rested three strange items that Gambit could see, despite the pain, were strange looking artifacts. One was an iron branding iron, the type that was used to mark cattle when immersed into coals to glow red-hot, which depicted the letter "M". The second was a small shard of pink crystal so minute and tiny that Remy was amazed that he could even pick it out from the cloth of white linen it rested upon, glittering softly in a pink sheen. And the third artifact was a rather old looking leather pouch filled to the brim with a strange powder that looked like sand…

Remy, despite the pain, couldn't help but feel baffled. What were the two guilds planning to do?

"The branding iron of Merlin, a piece of a powerful mystical crystal from Japan, the sandbag of Dream. Hopefully, Zarathos is right about this," muttered Jean-Luc.

"Would you rather give the kids to that damned asshole, Wendell?" snapped Belladonna. Jean-Luc had to grumpily concede that the Assassin leader had a point. Belladonna continued.

"It won't be long. Once the clock reaches the stroke of - " but what the girl was about to say was hurriedly cut off as there was a slight whistling noise which rang in the air, startling Belladonna, before a wooden arrow embedded itself into the wooden surface of the tree stump. Immediately, the glowing marks faded and grew dark, temporarily losing their mystic strength as the spell was nullified.

"Let Gambit go," Kagome said coldly, and all the Assassins and the Thieves turned, bringing out their weapons and firearms, to reveal the strangest bunch of trespassers they had ever witnessed, even by their standards. Not only were the Misfits and the X-Men and the Joe handlers among the scene (with the X-Men consisting of Storm, Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean, Nightcrawler, Rogue, Shadowcat, Colossus, Cannonball, Boom-Boom, Bezerker, Multiple, Wolfsbane, and Iceman), but the Eloi named Willow was there too. Pluto, the Disney dog, was next to Willow, tail thumping and panting. And of course, the five Ghostbusters, Kagome Higurashi, Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Kilala, and Inuyasha made it the oddest sight for the Bayou residents, especially since Shippo was a fox-demon, Kilala was a gigantic beige-colored cat with paws bathed in fire, and Inuyasha's red-coat and katana sword and white hair made him stand out. And Sango's gigantic boomerang of bone wasn't helping either.

"Leave him alone or you answer to me, you tramp!" Rogue growled, cracking her knuckles, gritting her teeth at Belladonna. Belladonna was so tempted to use her magic on Rogue, but then considering that one Ghostbuster was able to interrupt her spell, it said clearly what powerful allies the X-Men had. Plus, she didn't like the looks of the Keyblades in the Misfits' hands, especially with the rumors she had heard…

"**_Get out, intruders!_**" snapped one Assassin, aiming his gun at the mutant teenagers, "You're not welcome here in this land!! This is ours, and you have no business here!!"

"When you involve one of our own, that makes it our business," Ororo said diplomatically, "We will not fight you, for the X-Men are peaceful unless provoked. But we will not stand by and let you abduct our friend."

"How did you know?! I told that fool not to tell any of you!!" Boddy snapped.

"We had…a feeling. Plus the Ghostbusters sensed a bad mumbo-jumbo coming from here, same time Gambit said he was going to New Orleans. Wasn't hard to put two and two together. That's why we brought so many people along. With so many people in your Thieves Guild, it was going to be obvious that we're gonna have a ruckus on our hands," Fred said proudly.

"Glad we did too," Wavedancer murmured, noting that there had to be at least over a hundred people in this glen. Even with all of them together, it was going to be a difficult fight should these two groups decide to attempt to kill them (and that was the most likely scenario).

"But…how did you find Remy?" Gambit managed to gasp.

"Uh…Jake and Forge always pin each jet with a tracer that can be tracked down easily. From your landing site, we were able ta' pick up your trail," Sam said sheepishly.

"And you don't have an Outrider as a father without picking up a few tricks," Willow giggled a bit, "The plants practically told me where you were headed, and they literally let us pass with no problem."

"But…my magic…!" snarled Belladonna.

The strange Japanese man wearing a purple and black priest's robe and stole while carrying a strange staff of gold then held out several strips of paper with Japanese spells written on them in his hand.

"Oh, you mean the protective spells?" Miroku asked smugly, "The ones that were supposed to kill us if we activated the magical traps and were supposed to prevent us from entering? They were powerful, but I was able to deactivate them with my own magic."

"And a side note," Rahne added with her own smile at Belladonna and her Assassins, tapping her nose, "The bombs, land mines, and other stuff you placed on the trail to take care of anyone who crosses here has a human scent I could smell a mile away with my little nose. You might want to watch out for that next time."

Belladonna cursed; she didn't know that Wolfsbane was already back at the Institute at this point…

"There's not going to be a next time!" Inuyasha barked before he pointed at the artifacts and yelled, "One of those was stolen from us! Hand it over!!"

"How about not? And need we remind you that the Guild of Assassins can kill easily without any trouble. We'd do it now, but we won't endanger our one chance to save our families, so if you try to destroy it, we will kill you without a second thought. But I'll give you a chance to back down and leave Remy with us where he belongs instead of you X-Men!" snapped Belladonna.

"Not a chance!" growled Xi, but Belladonna's words made some of the Joes' eyes widen in shock and amazement.

"Guild of Assassins?" blinked Low Light, "THE Assassins?!"

"Is that a bad thing?" Bobby asked warily.

"They're one of the top murder-for-profit groups in the entire world. A lot of organizations and terrorists have their contact information, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of them were Jugglers. They're even more dangerous than Cobra and his Dreadnoks if possible," Roadblock said, lapsing on verse due to the seriousness of the situation.

Iceman winced, saying, "A simple 'yes' would have sufficed."

Todd looked at Remy and Belladonna before he asked, "And you know them, yo? Gambit, how the heck do you know these Assassin dudes? What, is that chick your sister or somethin'?"

For a moment, Remy actually considered lying, but then thought better of it.

"She's…Remy's fiancée," Remy murmured in a low voice, his head hung low and ashamed.

"**_FIANCÉE??!!!_**" chorused all the mutants and Joes in shock, some more angry than others. Rogue didn't just say anything; how could you when you felt the ground crumbling underneath your feet?

"_Oui_. Before Remy joined up with Magneto…" Remy said, his face burning and his head hung with shame. He couldn't bear to look into Rogue's shocked face.

Rogue went pale, her blood like ice in her veins and her throat going suddenly dry. She could have been like a statue carved out of ice, and the only thing running in her mind was the memory of how Irene wanted to tell Rogue about Remy's past via her visions and that this was probably what she wanted to tell her.

Mushu, who was partially hidden in Wanda's red trench-coat, then stuck his head out upon hearing this.

"Uh…this is a bad thing, right, Scarlet Witch?" the dragon asked, whispering in the Misfit's ear.

"'Bad' doesn't begin to cover this one," Scarlet Witch admitted, suddenly feeling sorry for her half-sister.

This state of astonishment was broken by a scream of rage as a blue furry form suddenly dashed out and tackled the kneeling Gambit, sending him off his feet and crashing backwards, flat on his back, as he struggled with Kurt attempting to punch and choke him.

"I knew it! I knew it, I knew it, **I knew it!!**" shrieked Nightcrawler as he kept pummeling Remy's torso and face while ingeniously using his tail as a noose to wrap tightly around Gambit's neck, with Gambit doing his best to try to kick and shove Kurt off of him.

"Kurt, no, stop it now, ya' idiot!!" roared Rogue as she grabbed Nightcrawler by the back of his uniform and haphazardly flung him by more than twenty feet backwards, the blue teleporter yelling as he flew in a lopsided arc before landing on the grass with a thump. Or he would have had Jean quickly not used her telekinesis to catch him and cease his fall. Remy panted, rubbing his neck which were already starting to show red welts from Nightcrawler fingers wrapping around his throat.

"_Merci, chere_. Remy - "

But what Gambit was about to say to express his apologetics and gratitude was hurriedly cut off as a solid right hook cracked his head to the side sharply, invoking a new sharp spike of agony as he felt the blood run out of his mouth. He even swore that she knocked out a tooth or two. As stars flashed in front of his hazy sight, he suddenly felt himself being jerked by the front of his trench-coat before Rogue sent him flying high into the air like a ball with a single, powerful uppercut, causing him to ascend at least ten feet before he landed onto the ground with a painful thump, shoulder first.

Whump!

And unlike Nightcrawler, Jean wasn't going to intervene as she just stood there with arms crossed over her chest and frowning with disapproval at Remy.

"Uh…aren't you going to protect Gambit and stop Rogue?" asked Justin, only to meet a sea of glares and angry looks from various females in his party, from both the X-Men and even Kagome, and Bree and Cover Girl.

"I'm on Rogue's side for this one, Whitelighter," Jean said with final brevity. Storm angrily turned to Wolverine, not agreeing with the popular sentiment.

"Logan!!" she admonished.

"He's been askin' this for some time, 'Ro. Knew he really couldn't be trusted…" Wolverine gruffly replied back, obviously showing that he wasn't going to interfere. One assassin turned to his leader of his guild and mirrored the same question.

"Aren't you going to protect him, _seigneur et maître_?"

The blond-haired female Assassin admitted, "She won't kill him. And strangely enough, I find a sadistic pleasure in watching her beat the holy shit out of that swamp rat considering he's been makin' sweet on the X-Girl. So, no."

_Crap, Remy is so screwed…_

That was the only thought that managed to flash through the Cajun's head as Rogue stomped towards him, cracking her knuckles and her face displaying such a scowl of hellish wrath that she looked positively hideous, her eyes glowing hotly as her normally pale face was darkened with thoughts of imaginative ways of how she could hurt Remy without killing him.

After all, she was hardly in the mood to be merciful.

"_Chere_, please…let Remy explain - " began Gambit, holding up his hands for submission as he weakly got to his knees, still too dizzy to balance on his own two feet.

Pow!

Remy's pleas fell on deaf ears as Rogue deftly sent him flying by lifting him up by the collar of his uniform before punching him solidly in the stomach twice, knocking the wind out of him, before she screamed and hurled him like a shot put ball against a nearby tree. Remy hoped that what he heard cracking was the tree branches breaking and not his ribs (although it didn't feel like it).

"Ow…" whimpered Remy before he shakily managed to prop himself shakily and in an unstable manner, using a handhold on the tree branch, but he was sent back down again when Rogue kicked him hard in the stomach after rushing over to his side in an instant. Remy doubled over; _now_ his ribs were probably broken. Especially when Rogue continued kicking him over and over in the stomach repeatedly, exactly like Belladonna had done before. Except **a lot** more painful.

_Whump!_

"Ya' stupid - !" Rogue hissed as her anger refused to subside, flaring all around her and rising her body temperature considerably as she kicked him in the abdominals again.

_Whump!_

"Cheatin' - !"

_Whump!_

"Lyin' - !"

_Whump!_

"JERK!!!" Rogue yelled in rage as she was so angry so couldn't think of a devastating insult and instead on settling for a simple judo throw as she expertly threw Remy again, this time flying and crashing into a patch of hard earth, the impact of landing face-first causing a simple fracture in Remy's collarbone. Remy couldn't help but let out a painful whimper; when Rogue threw him, she dislocated his shoulder bone.

And she was still in the mood for more.

"_Chere_…Rogue…Remy sorry - "

"You - !!" raged Rogue snarled as she then gripped Remy by the front of his trench-coat and dragged his face close to hers with one hand while she slapped him back and forth repeatedly across the face with her other, her glove so fast it was practically a blur.

"Ow…" Remy managed to utter, his red cheeks now already beginning to swell, making him look similar to the puffed-up face of the Pillsbury Dough-Boy before Rogue decked him again.

"Rogue…Remy sorry…Remy didn't want you to know and get hurt…" Gambit managed to rasped, blood pouring down his mouth and dribbling over his chin.

"No more lies!!!" Rogue screamed as she punted Remy like a football, actually sending him flying before he crashed on the ground, back-first. Meanwhile, Inuyasha, Sango, Wolverine, Beach Head, and Miroku were furiously arguing with the Assassins and the Thieves, up to the point of being on the verge of attacking each openly.

"Give back that crystal shard, you louts!! That was stolen from us!!" Inuyasha growled.

"And I recognize that brand from my talks with Batman! That's **_Etrigan's_** branding iron!! You punks got some nerve stealin' it from him!" Logan snarled.

"Take one more step, and we shoot all of you, _connardes_!!" one assassin threatened, holding up his rifle and pointing it at the group.

"Just you try it!" growled Inuyasha, bringing out his battered katana blade, a really pathetic and rusted stick, appearance-wise, but then to everyone's shock, the Tetsusaiga transformed in front of their very eyes into a gigantic blade of white bone, shining in a pearl-white luminescence and curved like an animal fang.

"Stop this! Stop this all of you!! Fighting won't make things any better!! **Stop this at once!!**" Ororo yelled over the din as she, Spirit, Bree, Jean, and Shipwreck did their best to get in between and prevent the incoming bloodshed. Daria, Quinn, and Brittany then blinked when their pink scanners started beeping, all three of them, and it took only a couple of clicks to discover why.

"You guys - !!" Quinn started to shout, but Low Light snapped heatedly.

"Trinity, not now!! This is not a good time for more jabber!!! We're busy!" the Joe sniper barked.

"No! There's - !!" Brittany was about to shout, but then several familiar shafts of black lightning then shot out from the air and rained down upon the crowd. Though several such as the X-Men using the Telsa barriers from the glovatrixes to protect themselves and the people close by, Sango blocked one with her bone Hiraikotsu, Dragonfly managed to fly upwards and block one with her Icewing Keyblade, and Shadowcat phased herself, Wolfsbane, and Willow from the path of one, the rest unfortunately found their marks in the clustered groups of Assassins and Thieves. With a united shriek, a good portion of the unlucky men and women who were struck by the black lightning died, twitching as they fell to the ground before their bodies vanished to reveal each a glowing crystal in the shape of a heart, pink and thrumming with energy before they started to levitate in the air.

"No!!" Boddy yelled helplessly.

"Damn it!! Hellfire Heartless!" Bezerker gasped as three towering, black-skinned Heartless came roaring, crashing through the underbrush and trees, grabbing and shooting at everything they could. Thankfully, everyone acted reasonably well.

"Wind scar!!" yelled Inuyasha, slicing at the very air in front of him at the general direction of the Heartless, and immediately, a terrific cyclone of wind rushed out and struck one Heartless in the chest, sending it flying off its feet. Blob and Dragonfly took care of incapacitating the other two while their teammates summoned their Disney partners.

"Gravira…Orbs of Force…Crusher!"

"Sonic Blade!"

"You know, just for the record, we **_tried_** to tell you," Daria couldn't help be snidely comment at Low Light with a sardonic and deadpanned expression.

"**_Ah, shaddap!!_**" Low Light snapped back, annoyed, as he took out his sniper gun and fluidly shot a bullet into the left eye of one Heartless, effectively causing it to squeal in pain. Rogue immediately forgot her anger with Gambit as she joined the rest of the other X-Men in fighting the Heartless. Jean yelled to Belladonna as she telekinetically lifted a tree trunk to pelt one Heartless in the face.

"Excuse me, but you…uh…Mrs. LeBeau?!" Jean asked before wincing (wrong name choice, there), "Any mutants on your teams or in either guild?"

"Just me," Belladonna said brusquely.

"Then don't use your mutant powers on the Heartless! They make them stronger!! Use anything else except mutant powers, or if you need to, use it indirectly!!" Jean said urgently before she flew off. Belladonna didn't know what to make of the X-Men taking their time to defend her and her guild.

Gambit was trying to weakly ignore the pain in the severe contusions and his dislocated shoulder when he then spotted an un-hooded Luxord floating high above, watching the ruckus amid the chaotic ruckus of screaming and fighting and gunfire. And from the looks of it, everyone else was too busy to notice. Luxord then spotted Remy from down below, and the Organization member remembered the little tiff he had with Gambit and Rogue over in the Justice League's Watchtower. Looking down and spotting Rogue fighting alongside Nightcrawler against one Heartless, Luxord then looked at Remy and gave a very haughty and eerie smile, cunning and cat-like, as if he had a very evil idea.

Remy's blood ran cold as he pieced together and darted forward right at the same moment as Luxord descended towards rogue from above, right behind the girl's back. Belladonna was outraged.

"Remy, stop!! You love me, not her!! **I'm** your fiancée!!" Belladonna yelled as she summoned her magic into Remy's ring, but to her surprise, despite the pain, Remy just grit his teeth and continued running towards Rogue, intent on beating her and stopping Luxord.

Belladonna was momentarily taken aback. _Mon dieu_, how could that even be possible?! That ring was carefully crafted and forged of her own design and hands and magical ability. Remy should be in excruciating pain, unable to move by her magical command. The only way he could possibly fight such torment is that…

The blond haired assassin felt a sudden stab of pain and hurt again, right in her heart and in one of the few places of vulnerability. Luxord then summoned the fleshy Hellfire spore into his gloved hands before throwing it at Rogue, and feeling as if wings were on his feet, Remy swore off all common sense and shielded Rogue with his body.

Rogue suddenly felt something tackle her from behind, and twisting around, thinking it was an enemy, she only saw it was Gambit. She furiously screamed as she shoved him off.

"Don-t touch me, you…liar…" trailed off Rogue as she then noticed that Remy's eyes were glowing yellow and he was shaking visibly, convulsing as the shadows around his body began to pool and reshape his figure.

"He…was going…infect…you…" rasped Remy before he transformed before Rogue's very eyes. Rogue just stared horrified as Nightcrawler glared at Luxord who was off to the side, chuckling as he idly tugged on one sleeve.

"A river rat or a swamp rat. I daresay that either one could be a suitable puppet for this cause," the white-haired, goateed soldier said nonchalantly.

"Aren't you supposed to announce your grand entrance **_before_** you attack with the Heartless, butthead?" Bezerker growled as he shot a bolt of electricity at Luxord while Iceman and Wolfsbane charged with fists and teeth ready.

"Oh please," muttered Luxord, barely intimidated, as he teleported away before reappearing high in the sky, "I much more prefer sneak attacks, my young X-Man. I am hardly as insensible and naïve as you young children."

"Uuuurrrraaaaaahhhhh!!" screeched the newly transformed Gambit, his Heartless brandishing its four staves with its four arms.

"_Mon dieu!!_" gasped Boddy as he, the other Thieves, and the Assassins looked on with amazed horror at the newly transformed Remy. He was still humanoid, and his face and body structure were easily recognizable as the old, sweet-talking, arrogant thief with that seductive grin. Only this version appeared more sadistic and hostile, lethal even. The Heartless' hair was now billowing part its shoulders and was as white as snow while the skin and trench-coat black tone made a startling contrast. The eyes were narrowed and glowing yellow like a demonic being, and what contributed to this dark appearance was the fact that the Heartless version of Gambit had four arms, each wielding a staff and strangely enough, the head of each black stick bore the symbol of a suit of a playing card. In fact, the four staves were emblazoned with the symbol of the black spade, the red heart, the black club, and the red diamond. Though Gambit's Heartless was still somewhat the same in physique, the most obvious difference was that a gigantic playing card was superimposed on the Heartless' back and on it was the chilling image of the black-and-red symbol of the Heartless along with one word in bold letters.

DEATH.

"Hmmm…quite an interesting Heartless," Luxord said with pleasant surprise.

"Oh boy!" Ray gulped, "So much for using our mutant powers on it!!"

"This should stop him!!" yelled Iceman as he and Cannonball prepped their glovatrixes and fired several smoke bombs at the ground in front of the new experiment. As planned, the thick clouds of smoke forced the monster that was once the Cajun X-Man to falter and stop short, madly clawing the air around it. Wolverine turned to Colossus.

"Russkie!! Fastball Special, now!!" and Colossus nodded before Wolverine jumped into his hands, and transforming into metal mode, Piotr flung Wolverine directly at the card Heartless and Logan slashed at it with his claws. Unfortunately, the three deep incisions made in the new Hellfire experiment healed before the monster began to glow and actually became bigger, strengthened from the physical contact from Wolverine's adamantium and increasing in size. Logan cursed.

"Well, at least now we know Wolverine can't use his claws on some Heartless," Brittany commented as she added another notch in her list of "**_Powers to NOT use on HH_**".

"It appears that I win this hand. My little royal flush, go kill all of them," Luxord commanded, and with a roar, the card Heartless sprinted with amazing speed towards them, wildly swinging his staves like powerful clubs, smashing anything in its path.

"Scatter!" yelled Spirit as he aimed with his crossbow and shot a shaft into the Heartless' face while Kilala, the demon cat, managed to pounce on top of the foe and started clawing and biting madly as they tussled.

"Wanna bet on that?" smirked Willow at Luxord as she then summoned a wall of moss to instantly appear right in front of herself and her friends, instantly cutting the Heartless off as a thick and difficult barricade, so high that the plant fence even loomed a bit over the heads of the dark experiments. And Willow was in the middle of the Bayou, a marshy swampland teeming with all sorts of fertile plants and flora, an endless supply of ammunition.

"There was a reason I was asked to come here, jerk! Swamps have plenty of plant life!" Willow couldn't help but smarmily brag as she manipulated a conifer tree close to Luxord to instantly bend and move like rubber before swatting at the Organization member with its prickly and knobbed branches. Luxord swore angrily as a couple of branches managed to painfully thwack him with bone-breaking strength, battering him like a piñata.

"That was for the Eloi you murdered, you creep!" Willow snapped as she then summoned several mossy tendrils to rise from the murky and foul-smelling waters all around her, like tentacles, before they surged upwards and grabbed at Luxord. Undaunted, Luxord summoned two cards to slice at the mossy tendrils before flinging the cards at Willow who dodged and strafed to the side madly, thankful for her training from the Joes.

Meanwhile, to make matters worse, it lapsed on Belladonna that it was the stroke of midnight, and immediately, the strange markings on the tree trunk began to glow once again before they formed a portal of light to a paranormal, demonic dimension. With a flash, a lone and powerfully muscled figure ascended from the ring of magical, unholy essence before the portal closed, ready to accept the offerings of the tithe as promised by his former servant. To Belladonna's shock (along with the many others around), the being was huge, at least ten feet tall, bald, and bare-chested, and with skin as white as marble, sickly and unnatural. But the only clothing he wore was a tattered purple cape and a black undergarment. But what was most disturbing was the man's face; it was gaunt and thin, actually like a human skull.

The figure opened his yellow, narrowed eyes and looked upon the chaos before instantly becoming angry.

"That fool!" he hissed, maliciously looking at Belladonna, Jean-Luc, and the other intruders, "This is hardly what I call an acceptable tithe for my favor!!"

"Wait! We come in peace!! We mean no harm!!" Nightcrawler yelled, trying to appease the strange man. The white-skinned humanoid responded back by summoning a ball of red lightning in his hands before flinging it at Nightcrawler who teleported out of the way just in time for it to strike a generic Hellfire Heartless instead. The Hellfire Heartless died instantly, consumed with flame.

"Yeow! He's powerful!" Iceman yelped before he shot a beam of artic energy at the strange magic-user in order to cover him with ice, but with a wave of his hand, the white-skinned man deflected it harmlessly before summoning another ball of red fire to kill the teenager. There was a sudden whistling noise…

"AAAAAA!!!" screamed the man as he stopped his magic and looked at his hand, a wooden arrow, glowing in blue paranormal energy, had fully gouged and pieced right through his hand, staking it and invoking a messy and gory wound, dripping in black blood. The sorcerer angrily pulled Kagome's Sacred Jewel Arrow out of his hand as Iceman took advantage of the distraction and managed to shoot out two streams of ice of trap the wizard.

Then Kagome recognized the being before her, the one that Belladonna and Jean-Luc had been attempting to give the treasures to, and it made her shiver.

"Skullmaster!!" Kagome gasped.

The rest of the Misfits and the X-Men were puzzled, and Jean couldn't help but ask, "The _what_ master?! Uh…Kagome, I don't think it's appropriate to call him an insulting moniker - "

"No, you don't understand! This guy's bad news!! He's an evil immortal sorcerer who's bent on world conquest!! I learned about him when the Ghostbusters were training us in paranormal class!" Kagome snapped as she notched another arrow into her bow.

"Great, just what we need. More enemies to proceed," groaned Roadblock as he decided to help out, and the Joe aimed the mouth of his machine gun before letting loose a volley of bullets at the immortal white-skinned sorcerer. They had no effect, unfortunately.

"Fools!!" Skullmaster hissed before he spotted the three artifacts on the altar in front of him, and his eyes widened, gleaming with the same anticipation that one would expect from a kid let loose in a candy store. He dove at the crystal shard, the branding iron, and the pouch of sand…

"Oh no you don't!!" yelled Scarlet Witch, "Fira Crimson Whirlwind!!"

"You cannot kill me, you wretch!! How dare you Thieves and Assassins betray me during this ceremony of the tithe?!!" snarled Skullmaster as he used his purple cape to shield himself from the brunt of Scarlet Witch's fire attack, the Elementa flames licking painfully at his skin, before he sent out another powerful blast of magic at the heroes, causing them to scatter.

"Hiraikotsu!!!" grunted Sango, throwing her mammoth, bone boomerang, and it flew like a razor-sharp discus, her aim straight and true. Skullmaster saw it coming and attempted to dodge it, the weapon narrowly missing him and unable to split him in half, but Skullmaster then failed to see Cannonball rocketing towards him…

"Stop me if ya' heard this one, greenhorn!"

WHAM!

Skullmaster roared in fury as he was rudely hammered from the side and sent flying into a grove of trees, breaking and cracking them on impact.

"Shoulda stopped me," chuckled Sam from above.

Meanwhile, Belladonna was futilely shooting the remaining two Hellfire Heartless with her gun as they were about to kill her for the annoyance of her bullets ricocheting off their hides…

"Watch out!!" yelled Rogue and before she even knew what she was doing, she took off like a rocket and flew towards Belladonna, narrowly threading the needle between the two monsters. With a dove and a powerful ascending climb, Rogue managed to snatch Belladonna firmly by latching on underneath the Assassin's arms and carried her away to safety. At first, once broken out of her surprise, Belladonna was afraid Rogue would hurt her and was prepared to shoot the teen, planning to aim her gun into the eye, when she realized that Rogue was actually saving her.

Belladonna just blinked dumbly as Rogue carefully set her down on the grass next to the marshy grass and alders shrubs while Trinity did their best to fight one Hellfire experiment along with Blob.

"All for one - !!" yelled Daria, holding up her pink Keyblade.

"…and one for all!!" finished Quinn and Brittany, joining their weapons with their sister's.

"TRINITY LIMIT!!" they yelled, invoking a fantastic and devastating attack of pink time energy to flash and explode, causing the Heartless to back off, heavily burned and injured on its frontal side of its body, but still very much alive.

The head and leader of the Assassins Guild blurted out, "You…saved me?"

As much as Rogue would have dearly loved to hate Belladonna right now, Rogue just snapped hurriedly as she flew towards Remy with fists ready, removing her gloves.

"You're not my enemy!!" Rogue called back. Belladonna found herself being more and more confused with this strange girl who by all accounts she had good reason to dislike. Rogue barreled towards the monster that was once her boyfriend, fists clenched and Blind Master's words echoing in her head so long ago.

_However, since these Heartless have a mutation that is similar to Rogue's, this may mean that her power may provide a way to cancel out a Hellfire Heartless' ability should one ever get in contact with her. It does make sense that like mutations would cancel like. However, this is just a hypothesis, so in no way does this mean we want you to go out and try it. Just because you may not be able to give the Heartless any additional strength doesn't mean your heart is resistant to their attacks._

"Damn it, you better be right, Blind Master!!" Rogue hissed as she then flew towards the card Heartless' side and before the monster could react, she solidly decked it with a single sweep punch, her exposed fists joined together for maximum weight. There was a solid crack as the creature of death jerked its head to the side painfully before it awkwardly set its broken neck back into alignment, growling and healing instantaneously before it charged at Rogue with its four staffs. But the truth dawned on Rogue.

Unlike Wolverine's Fastball Special, Remy's Heartless didn't glow and get bigger.

So if the Hellfire Heartless didn't gain any energy from touching Rogue's skin, then that meant…

"Figures! Only something like _this_ can to happen to me!!" Rogue groaned as she then ascended upwards before she dive-bombed with both fists flying out, narrowly evading the Heartless' swings before she latched on to the creature's face and grabbed with both hands, kicking and kneeing repeatedly with her strength, drawing up several splotches of black blood. The monster squealed before it tried to swat Rogue off, but thankfully, she managed to avoid it and fly off to safety.

"OK, can't drain that rat dry…gotta hit him with something bigger…" Rogue panted, looking around wildly.

The card Heartless then continued on its rampage upon the various men and women of the Guilds, with both factions trying to hurt the former Gambit by shooting at it with their guns or by hurling throwing knives. But that was futile as the monster hurled barrages of energy card symbols at the army as well as stabbed several of its opponents with its staves. Each and every soldier, assassin or thief alike, died screaming, their bodies disintegrating before releasing their heart crystals.

WHAM!

Luxord glanced at the scene as he teleported away from Colossus, Wolfsbane, Willow, Cyclops, and Sango, sending a Hellfire experiment to take care of the five pests, only to see that Rogue had effortlessly and brutally slammed a gigantic, straight trunk of a long birch tree she ripped out of the ground right on top of the card Heartless. The monster, pinned underneath, could only roar from being taken by surprise as Rogue grunted and lifted the tree trunk off Remy's Heartless before slamming it on top of its head again.

WHAM!

"Stupid - !"

WHAM!

"Lying - !"

WHAM!

"Good for nothing - !"

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

"Swamp rat!!!"

"**_Rogue, stop!!_** You don't want to kill Gambit!!" Jean called out in warning as she dodged and narrowly evaded one Heartless' attempt to grab her, only to have it shoot past and to allow Blind Master to effortlessly chop it off with his katana. Scott gave his girlfriend a deadpanned look.

"You might as well ask Rogue to start wearing pink, dear," he drawled sarcastically before shooting an optic blast at Luxord.

"Scott, not now."

The Heartless then had enough as it used all four of its staffs to rip the trunk of the tree into small fragments and splinters of wood, leaving Rogue weaponless before it tried to attack her again.

"Aquara Water Dragon!"

"Thundaga…Blitzclap Pressure, yo!"

"Woodra Leafblight Revolution!"

Rogue didn't know whether to be grateful or annoyed as she crashed to the ground from the backlash of magical energy as the three-pronged attack of water, wood, and thunder drove it backwards, leaving Wavedancer, Toad, Xi, Genie, Bambi, and Dumbo to go charging forward, magic and Keyblades armed.

"Banzai!" cheered Genie as he began pelting the card abomination with multiple fireworks and bursts of magic.

Rogue had enough of this. She was so tired, and fighting for what? The heart of someone who lied to her and was in love with another woman? She just wanted this to end…

"Rogue, quit moping! You look pathetic!" Scarlet Witch snapped, annoyed that Rogue was giving up, as she, Mushu, and Pluto looked on while their teammates fought hard against the Hellfire monster which then summoned a cloud of powerful glowing symbols, each kinetically charged and glowing pink and in the shape of a spade, heart, clove, or diamond, to rain down on Wavedancer, Xi, and Toad.

"Yeow!! They're _kinetic_ explosions! Like Gambit's cards!" yelped Xi as he dove for cover.

"Here to laugh?! Must be funny for you!!" Rogue spat with acid, refusing to turn around to face Scarlet Witch and Pluto. There was no way in hell she'd give that witch the satisfaction of seeing her broken and on the verge of despair. Scarlet Witch contemplated it a bit before she shrugged.

"Normally, yeah…but I think now's not the time. I'm not exactly an emotionless idiot like my brother. Plus, like I said before: it kinda sucks being in love with someone and being scared to do anything about it," Wanda said, reflecting back on their talk earlier. Rogue refused to answer, staring with her back and spine bristled, fuming and humiliated beyond all comprehension. Rogue just wanted this to end, just wanted everyone to go away and leave her alone, just wanted that this whole stupid thing with finding Remy and Belladonna never happened in the first place.

Wanda then turned to Pluto who just smiled. And whether Wanda did her next action out of pity or because she truly felt sorry for once for her half-sister, she couldn't say. But Wanda was perceptive enough to know what the hound wanted, and she nodded once.

"Eh, what the hell…can't say there'll be a better time than now," Scarlet Witch muttered with a roll of her eyes, giving in though perhaps a bit disinclined as well. But then again, what good is family if you can't at least be there every once in a while? And as much as Wanda disliked and clashed with Rogue, she certainly could admit deep down that she didn't want her to lose someone who made her happy. And as much as they all denied it, when it came down to it, they were family.

Emphasis on "as much as they all denied it".

"Rogue?"

"**_Go away!!_**"

"It's Craig Starr. From the Superstars band."

Rogue couldn't help but have the biggest "what-the-hell?" expression as she turned to Scarlet Witch with a glaring mixture of annoyance and confusion. The Goth managed to croak out hoarsely, "Huh?"

"From the talk earlier today. The person I have a crush on is Craig Starr. Now we're even."

The female Misfit then turned to the dog next to her, realizing that it would probably be better if she left to join the fight. She could be of more help out there than next to Rogue. Plus, Rogue was safer with Pluto. Heck if anything, Pluto was probably the best thing one can have next to during a Heartless attack.

"Watch after her, Pluto," Scarlet Witch said with some weariness, but she gave Pluto a small resigned smile that spoke volumes. With that, the black and red haired Goth left along with Mushu, cautiously moving in an evasive manner with her Vengeful Blaze Keyblade so that she wasn't charging head first but rather moving discreetly along the sidelines in order to hit the Heartless with her Keyblade by surprise.

"Back!! Get back, asswipe!!" roared Beach Head as he fired with his bazooka at one Hellfire Heartless, causing an explosion as the Hellfire experiment neatly dodged the incoming rocket, only to have it blast back a nearby tree.

Pluto watched Wanda leave with some concern, but he focused silently on Rogue. Unlike Rogue, the Disney canine knew that Scarlet Witch could take care of herself, and all that would change for this one vital battle.

But only if Rogue was willing. Pluto knew that decisions such as these can't be forced. He gave a soft groan as if to ask Rogue "_Don't you want to fight?_"

Rogue instantly became on the defensive as she snapped, "I don't care!! Why should I?!! It's none of my concern!"

Pluto didn't say anything in response (not that he physically could, mind you), and it was surprising that Rogue hardly paid attention as the river, or flood in this case, of hurt and anger refused to subside inside her dam as she carried on, her voice now become raw.

"Why should I care about that Cajun, rat-faced liar?! Stupid, rotten, slimy, two-faced…can't believe he didn't tell me he was engaged, can't believe he kept things from me, can't believe I actually…semi-trusted him."

"Now Colossus!!" yelled Jean as she telekinetically lifted her teammate up into the air with her telekinesis and flung him towards Luxord, the Russian strongman zooming towards the gambler with fists outstretched, and the warrior barely had enough time to shield the attack and block Piotr's fist with a giant card. The attack took him completely off guard. And unfortunately for the Organization member, he still was knocked back considerably from the force of Colossus' metal fist.

Pluto didn't miss that near-lapse. He wasn't fooled; Rogue was obviously lying about her feelings. Still, he just squatted and remained attentive to the Southern teenager as she fought hard to keep her mouth in a straight line, did her best to ignore the pricking sensation in her eyes.

"I'm not hurt," she muttered hotly, "so I don't need you pity, flea-farm!! Just go away and leave me alone! Why should you feel so sorry about me?! This is a good thing!! It's better I learned what a slime-ball that Cajun dung-pile is now than later!! Besides, I'm used to it. Irene, Mystique, Magneto, Risty…I'm always being lied to! Why should **this** be any different? It's not like anything else could happen. Don't give me your dumb pity. It's just life, that's all."

"**_Merde!!_**" yelled Boddy in fright as he narrowly evaded a shaft of black lightning, and had not Sango, riding on Kilala, grabbed him out of the way, the Thief wouldn't have been able to evade the lightning attack for long. Kagome then fired several arrows at the Heartless as cover while Sango threw her bone boomerang with a grunt.

Rogue's vision was blurring as she felt the heat rise from her face and shoulders, her body just itching for something to kill, something she could just wrap her hands around and pummel the living crap out of. Unfortunately, the only being around was the dog, and she wasn't _that_ uncontrollable in her anger.

And talking wasn't doing a damn thing to take away her hurt.

"I couldn't care less about that sewer rat. He can die and lose his heart, and I wouldn't mind one bit…" hissed Rogue, her face darkened and her head lowered as she tightly gripped handfuls of muddy earth in her fingers from the ground.

"Take this!" yelled Shippo as he hurled a small fireball of blue flames along with Avalanche's magic.

"Gaia Earthquake Force Rush!!" roared the geokinetic, summoning an explosion to blast the Heartless into a small grove of trees, crashing and wiping them out upon impact.

"All together, _hommes_! Shoot it now!!" Jean-Luc yelled to his fellow Thieves as they all aimed their rifles and automatic weapons and fired a barrage of bullets into the Heartless' head and upper torso, but unfortunately, the thing could even take bazooka missiles without much damage.

Pluto just watched Rogue patiently, tail thumping.

It then broke.

Rogue's voice then turned into the closest thing to a high-pitched whimper for help she could ever make, and she just thanked God that no one else could witness her uncharacteristic display of vulnerability. But then again, the way Pluto just was so reserved and amiable, it was difficult to not trust him. She just hoped the dog wouldn't laugh.

It was difficult enough to be willing to break out of her defensive shell.

"Pluto…please…" Rogue choked, sniffing, her mouth trembling.

The Disney character just smiled, nonjudgmental and clearly showing that he would never laugh at Rogue's humbling her defenses (judging her past, who could blame her?) as his pupils began to shine in a brilliant and beautiful silver shimmer. Rogue bit her lip and closed her eyes, suppressing the urge to babble her thanks like an idiot as the silver sign of the Aeroga kingdom began to form on her forehead underneath her bangs.

Rogue stubbornly kept her quivering mouth shut as Pluto's eyes stopped glowing, and he tenderly ambled forward before rubbing his snout against Rogue's cheek. And it took Rogue a second before she realized that unlike all the other things in her life, Pluto did not succumb to her mutation.

_Pluto could touch her_.

_She couldn't absorb him._

Whether it was magical or not, it was still a welcome and miraculous revelation. And his nuzzling against Rogue was more than enough to snap her out of it as she shakily smiled and hugged Pluto, not sure what to say. The golden-furred hound whined before barking in encouragement as she stood up fiercely.

"Damn you, Remy LeBeau…" Rogue said with a mixture of love and hate, and when she looked back on it, it was difficult for her to admit as to whether or not she used Pluto's gift to help Remy or to just plain kill him.

"AEROGA…!" yelled Rogue, her arms twitching with anxiety as the winds began to swirl and intensify around her. Rogue felt her anger heat up her face and the air around her as she brought her hands within several inches of each other, as if she were holding an invisible ball. Instantly, the entire swamplands began to tremble and quiver, the leaves rustling and branches cracking madly as the skies and clouds above began to swirl and form a whirlpool of wind above, spiraling downwards upon the Southern goth.

"Goddess…" gasped Storm. Not even she could summon a tornado _that_ quickly…

The card Heartless of Death roared before it flung a barrage of spades, hearts, cloves, and diamonds, a hailstorm of deadly projectiles whizzing and tearing through the air like bullets, ready to rip and kill Rogue to pieces. Thankfully…

"Pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa!!" yowled Mushu as Scarlet Witch and the Disney dragon (perched atop Wanda's head) rushed forward, with the dwarf dragon actually spewing a torrent of fire pellets, each one the size of a marble. And with incredible accuracy, each pellet struck and destroyed each a majority of the incoming suits in a flash of combustion. This lessened the onslaught enough for Rogue to easily dash side to side with her flight ability.

"C'mon, girl!! Show 'em your stuff! We gotcha covered!" Mushu cheered as Rogue then pushed her hands towards the Heartless in front of her.

"…SILVER BELLE TORNADO!!!" finished Rogue with a hoarse yell. Instantly, the skies and clouds above funnels downwards into a turbulent spiral of fierce wind. Upon Rogue's command, the tornado began to glow with flashes and streams of silver-colored energy before it thundered down with a roar and trapped the Heartless in a blink of an eye. The Heartless howled and writher madly as it tried to break loose, but to its horror, it not only trapped it, it was crushing and suffocating it, forcefully sucking out all the air from its lungs right before jerking it like a rag doll. And in several seconds, the soldiers and heroes could hear several sounds of bones snapping as the Heartless was violently crushed and battered with spine-snapping strength.

Luxord was furious as he snarled at Rogue and flung several gigantic cards at the X-Girl, but to his shock, a secondary outlet of the tornado then streamed towards him and his weapons. With a harsh crash, the cards were effortlessly tossed aside and discarded like boards of rotting wood, and with a yelp of surprise, the white-haired man teleported out of the way, distracted as Wavedancer took the opportunity to try her staff on the weakened Gambit immediately.

"What are you doing, you stupid _fille_?!!" roared Jean-Luc as he grabbed Althea's wrist and forcefully lowered the girl's arm from using the staff's regenerative ability on the card Heartless while it was still shakily trying to recover from Rogue's attack. Wavedancer was hardly in the mood for any additional trouble (and the "stupid" comment struck a nerve), so she just adroitly grabbed Jean-Luc's wrist with her other hand and, before the thief knew it, was flipped over in a blink of an eye and thrown hard onto his back. Roadblock angrily held out a hand and got in front of the other members of the guild of Thieves before they could attempt to attack Wavedancer.

"Let her do her thing! It's the only way to bring Gambit back to normal!!" the machine gunner commanded sternly.

"And if we don't do this, he'll just recover and continue to kill all of us and all of you!! Now let Wavedancer cure him!!" yelled Storm angrily from above as she hurled a blast of lightning at Luxord who was now intent on duking it out with full-force. With a snarl, Luxord was about to transform all of the mutants, Thieves, and Assassins below into cards and dice, but Ororo's shaft of lightning caused him to dodge off swiftly to the side, the unexpected assault causing the bearded man to go on the defensive for a second.

And that second was all that Rogue needed as she rushed forward from Luxord's blind spot, as trained by Logan and the Professor so many times in the Danger Room, and latched on to his face from behind with her bare, exposed hands. And wither her half-strangling him from behind, it was going to be incredibly difficult for the man to break from the girl's chokehold and superhuman strength.

She just hoped she could absorb some important information out of the bum if not gain some of his powers.

"Let's see if my full hand beats your flush, ya' card-shark!!" Rogue snarled as she hung on for dear life, literally digging her nails in Luxord's skin, "Your powers are mine now!! And so are your memories!!"

Luxord was incredibly taken aback, but to Rogue's surprise, he actually stopped struggling and stood still, actually allowing Rogue prolonged contact, and Rogue then suddenly realized why as Luxord started laughing in a high-pitched, suave, and maniacal round of mirth. His shoulders was actually shaking with amusement as it dawned on the mutant that she could feel anything surging from the Organization soldier into her being. He was empty, a lifeless golem, void.

Rogue couldn't absorb Luxord. And considering that at the Watchtower when Danny Phantom failed to possess him with his ghost powers, it should have been of no surprise.

"Oh crap…" cursed Rogue in a deadpanned voice mixed with unpleasant horror as Luxord teleported away from her grip only to reappear with ten gigantic, razor-sharp Organization time-cards, five in each gloved hand.

"I win this round, X-Girl. And the stakes were your head!!" he sneered as he threw his five-card hands at Rogue, who automatically decided to forgo trying to shield herself (her Tesla barrier from her glovatrix would never be powerful enough against those things) and rushed forward with her fists. Hey, she was exactly the type to die fighting…

"Just you try it, you metrosexual freak!!" the Southern Goth yelled, but then to her shock, a familiar blue feathered form sprang out right in front of her, invoking an invisible and reflective barrier (not of Reflega magic) of shimmering force right in front of him and Rogue.

"Get down, you idiot!!" Falco roared as he effectively managed to deflect most of the cards with his shield, saving Rogue from being eviscerated. Luxord snarled angrily as most of the cards that could have killed the mutant Goth struck Falco reflective barrier instead, and the metal weapons went flying back directly at him.

"Augh!" yelled Luxord, not expecting this type of warfare, as his own weapons cut him solidly, shredding his cloak but miraculously leaving him somewhat very much alive. This gave Althea a chance to act as she pointed her scepter at Gambit again.

"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!" yelled Wavedancer, pointing her scepter at the Card Heartless, and the creature howled, unable to escape as the ten sigils of the Elementa Kingdom and the pillar of light engulfed it fully…

Kaboom!

"_Mon dieu!!_" gasped Belladonna as the light fully consumed the dark creature before out fell Gambit, limp and unconscious as he landed hand back onto the marshy grass along with a glowing pink orb and a gray, fleshy pod-like oval that immediately turned black and shriveled, popping open and disintegrating before everyone's very eyes.

"He's back!!" yelled Dragonfly in relief.

"Yeow!! But we still have two Hellfire Heartless leftover to fight!!" Shipwreck yelled, dodging one monster's attempt to kill him by clawing at him, rolling and skidding to a stop before cutting loose with his dual Eagle pistols. Blob stepped in wonderfully, glowing in a purple luminescence as he swung wildly.

"Ars Arcanum!" Fred yelled, and the heavily injured Heartless was hacked to death before it died, screaming under the blasts of the Heavyweight Keyblade before it released a pink heart crystal into the night sky while dying.

"Scratch one!" Blob crowed happily.

"Yeah, and leave about one more along with this wizard Skullmaster who's trying to kill all of us!!" Cover Girl shouted loudly as she used her rifle to block and parry as a makeshift sword against Skullmaster's steel blade which actually saved her from being decapitated. And the other X-Men along with Low Light were helping her too…

"Get away from Cover Girl, ya' greenhorn!!" Sam roared as he rocketed into the sorcerer from behind, catching him off guard, though he was still powerful and hardy enough to recover from the crippling attack as if it was a mere nuisance before trying to stab the X-Man with his sword.

Miroku decided that the Hellfire monster was the more immediate and urgent threat as he saw that more and more of the respective Thieves and Assassins were dying, unable to fight against or flee the black shafts of lighting, the Bayou littered with glowing hearts that were fading from existence.

"Everyone, get back!! Run, or you'll be killed as well!!" Miroku yelled as he undid the rosary beads around his wrist, and as all his allies scampered, the Japanese monk removed the cloth wrapped around his hand and aimed his right palm at the last black abomination.

"**Wind tunnel!!**" the priest yelled, and to everyone's shock and amazement, the priest's hand suddenly exposed a black hole actually in the center of his palm, and like a whirlpool, the vortex of nothingness began to suck in everything, pulling it with extreme and powerful forces as various plants, rocks, and the occasional dropped weapon got pulled in, disappearing into his hand.

And with them, the last Hellfire Heartless as it roared madly, trying to dash away, but the gravitational pull and forces of wind were getting stronger and stronger, reeling in the monster bit by bit. Within moments, before the audience's very eyes, the creature was sucked into oblivion, tapering feet first into the strange and supernatural black hole and disappearing forever. Miroku winced as the monster swirled into the maelstrom and perished before he covered his hand rapidly and sank to his knees in exhaustion. Apparently, using the Wind Tunnel on the Heartless was not an easy feat; it was much more powerful than many of Naraku's minions.

Meanwhile, Octavia was holding Gambit's heart and probing it during the chaotic pandemonium as the heroes, Thieves, and Assassins were trying to avoid being killed from Luxord, his drones, and Skullmaster. The octopus humanoid felt nothing, and she inwardly fell to pieces. Another dead end.

"Falco, it wasn't a Talisman!"

"Damn!" swore the avian, still hovering in the air, while Wolfsbane (now transformed into animal-form) and Boom-Boom blitzed at Octavia, intent on getting their teammates' heart back.

"And you're gonna give that heart back if you know what's good for you, Sushi-Girl!!" snarled Tabitha, throwing a couple of glowing energy bombs, and causing Octavia to jump for safety to avoid the explosions and burning flashes of plasma that struck the soil. But this was exactly Rahne was hoping for as she took advantage of the Tigershark being in mid-flight, and before Octavia knew it, she was tackled roughly by the heavy brown wolf and slammed hard onto the ground, with the canine on top and growling savagely.

"Get off of her!!" snarled Falco as from above, he took out his laser pistol and started firing red blasts of radiation upon the two X-Girls, skillfully aiming with enough precision to try to singe and graze Tabitha and Rahne without hurting Octavia. Like clockwork, Wolfsbane instinctively leapt off of Octavia while Boom-Boom managed to dodge roll to safety.

But Falco was so immersed into trying to drive the two X-Men away and attempting to shoot from the skies, he failed to notice a particular wooden object zipping in the air right behind him…

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" yowled Falco, his body jerking a bit as he leapt an additional foot or two from his aerial position while hugging his rear. With a snarl, he furiously grabbed the long rod and pulled the shaft out of his flesh, drawing some blood, to reveal that what was embedded in his rear end, right smack dab in his tail feathers, was a Sacred Jewel Arrow. Kagome grinned, unashamed from below, her bow empty.

"You'll have some problems sitting down for a day or two, Mr. Falco," the sixteen year-old schoolgirl said sweetly.

"You little, sneaky - !!" growled Falco, but he realized that with all the Heartless gone, now was not the time to try to seek vengeance (although the avian would have dearly loved to punch the girl hard in the face for shooting that arrow into his butt). Falco forced himself hard to ignore the Ghostbuster as he dashed off, flying and avoiding the occasional gunfire from Shipwreck and Roadblock below.

"Octavia, move!! There's no point!!" he squawked loudly, and with that, Octavia tossed the heart back at Rogue, who actually didn't respond. The pink crystal hit her bosom solidly, but she just remained numb, her face still pained, as she just stared at the pink crystal of Remy's being on the ground, fluctuating in its glowing over and over. Rogue just stared at it lifelessly.

"Oh no, you don't!!" yelled Beach Head as he tried to fire another magical net missile at the two while Jean tried to restrain them with her telekinesis, snarling their legs, but Falco was quicker as he wrapped an arm around his companion's waist and powered up, the silver magic of Aeroga enveloping himself and Octavia at the same time.

"Aeroga Shadow Phantasm!" yelled Falco as he summoned his magical attack while at the same time, invoking a barrier with his other hand to deflect an accompanying optic blast sent by Scott, reflecting it back at the X-Men's field leader and his surrounding comrades.

"Watch out!!" yelled Cannonball as they all dove out of the path of the red energy beam, and with a burst of speed, Falco sped off with Octavia in tow, breaking free of Jean's telekinesis forcefully, the backlash of which was so intense that Jean sank to her knees, now sporting a massive headache. And with a silver blur, both the Cornerian pilot and the Tigershark sped off and away.

"Ow, this is really starting to get annoying," groaned Jean as Colossus helped her and Beach Head from their sprawled position on the floor. Skullmaster meanwhile was about to make a dive for the mystical treasures, one of them being a pink crystal shard in particular, when a small, brown, furry form rushed out and snatched the crystal shard out of reach from his clawed hands first.

"You little impudent wretch!!" Skullmaster roared at the form of Shippo, protectively holding the shard of the Shikon Jewel in his hands. Shippo childishly stuck out his tongue and razzed the white-skinned living skeleton.

"It's ours now, Skull-Head!" leered Shippo, and Skullmaster was livid as he was about to blast Shippo with his magic, but then a dagger attached to an iron chain flew out of nowhere and bound his arms tightly to his sides, looping around and fastening in a tight, painful loop, the metal searing into his skin.

The white-skinned evil entity then looked to see Sango, Kilala, Kagome, and Inuyasha along with Toad's Genie off a bit to their right at the sidelines. It was Sango's iron kurai and chain that effectively bound Skullmaster's arms to his sides together and restrained him. And iron was one of the many elements that could act as a neutralizing force against magic (as Lord Oberon's Third Race could attest).

"What?!" roared Skullmaster as he struggled, "Impossible!!"

"We have a few powerful magic-users on our side. They enchant a lot of our objects, so it's not **that** impossible. You're not the _only_ powerful magic user on this planet, Skullmaster," Sango could help but smugly point out.

"And you're not gonna like us attacking you either if you try to hurt the X-Men or Misfits, Mr. Ugly-Head, so hands up!!" yelled Shippo like a hyperactive and oblivious child, as if he was holding up a dart gun to a mob boss as he readied a blue foxfire fireball in his hand for throwing. At first, Skullmaster looked hardly intimidated until he noticed that Kagome and Inuyahsa already had their respective arrow and Tetsusaiga sword aimed and ready at Skullmaster's body. And Kilala was ready to eviscerate and rip him to pieces from behind, her teeth and fangs ready.

"By order of the Ghostbsuters and the Powers That Be, stand down, Skullmaster. We will set you free once this is all settled and you leave the Guilds and the mutants in peace," Sango growled.

"And trust me, you don't want to invoke the 'give any sleazebag who attacked any Keyblade wielder a severe butt whooping' clause in my semi-phenomenal cosmic powers contract," grinned Genie in a condescending manner as he wigged an index finger back and forth suggestively, causing dangerous sparks to fly out. And Skullmaster realized with seething fury that neutralized like this, he was at their mercy. Still, as much as he hated it, they _were_ supposed to be noble heroes who ethically kept their word…

Meanwhile, Shadowcat managed to snatch the glowing heart back from the grass before Rogue could try something drastic like smash the crystal with her foot. Rogue didn't move, didn't say anything as she just stared with numb hurt at the spot where Remy's heart used to be. Kitty carefully took the heart back to the inert form of Gambit who surprisingly had Belladonna at his side. The thieves and assassins who managed to escape from dying were glaring poisonously at each other, but due to the severity of the Heartless attacks by Luxord, they were either too spooked or too fatigued to jump at each others' throats now, especially with the strange and powerful heroes around.

"_Quoi?_" blinked Jean-Luc at the strange crystal as Kitty placed it on Gambit's chest, "What is that?"

"It's Gambit's like heart. It was lodged out when he got turned into a Heartless, but he's cured now…" Shadowcat explained before a green keyhole of light appeared as the pink crystal of Gambit's being and center rightfully went back to where it belonged. Xi quietly raised his Rainforest Scale Keyblade at the unconscious X-Man and pointed it at the green keyhole. Instantly, there was an audible click, and the keyhole disappeared, bit by bit, fading away.

"And now he's immune. He can't ever get his heart taken away by the Heartless ever again," the lizard mutant said as Bambi playfully rubbed his head against his partner's thigh. Belladonna then noticed Rogue staring at her and Remy with something akin to muted, pained horror, her mouth slightly open and her eyes full of misery. Her hands were twitching and her face was paler than normal.

"Is she going to be all right?" Cannonball asked with concern, noticing this. Scarlet Witch and Mushu looked at the X-Girl before Wanda answered hesitantly, looking sincerely sad.

"I think she's hurt. This was a big shock to her, and considering she doesn't trust people easily, this is probably the next biggest betrayal to her since I think she really loved Gambit. This is just like a slap in the face."

Belladonna even felt guiltier. Perhaps she and Rogue weren't so different after all, especially since it was now apparent that Rogue harbored no real ill towards her and that she didn't know of Remy's past.

Meanwhile, Kagome decided to play the role of the peacemaker and negotiator as she addressed Skullmaster in a firm tone, though she was quivering a bit underneath. This could easily turn very, very badly…

"Since you never completed the ritual you needed with either of the Guilds, and it's safe to say that they haven't received any gifts from you and you haven't gotten the Shikon Shard or any of the other treasures in return, this tithe can be declared void. Since neither side gained anything, it's possible to fairly neutralize this tithe and have both parties leave in peace and fairly. You haven't killed anyone yet, and we could hold you in attempted homicide, but if we let you go, you have to leave the Guilds of the Assassins and the Thieves without any form of retribution. This interruption was not of their fault, and they had no plans to deceive you. The Heartless attack anyone they can by whims of the Thirteenth Order, and we did not injure you in any way. If you agree to leave in peace, we will let you go and not take you in for prosecution by the Ghostbusters firm."

Here, Kagome's heart was beating with some nervousness. She was _really_ reaching with this one. Despite what Egon and Giles had lectured to the younger recruits about the laws and its mechanisms pertaining to supernatural and paranormal order, there was no guarantee that Skullmaster would comply with them, especially since he was a possible rank of a Demon Lord, an Ancient One. And right now, Kagome and her friends had no jurisdiction to tell the magical warlord what to do since technically, making a fair trade for a tithe wasn't illegal, even if the Inuyasha team was part of the Ghostbusters firm. And the though he attempted to, Skullmaster didn't kill anyone yet (thankfully).

"Why does she get to make the decision for us?" grumbled Ray at Kagome, "That nutso's evil!"

Multiple gave Bezerker a hard, incredulous glance as he asked rhetorically, "You wanna be the one to level with an immortal, evil sorcerer and think that you could do a better job dealing with him than one of the Ghostbusters?"

"Touché," Ray admitted.

Skullmaster leered at her along with the X-Men, Misfits, and Joes, his smile absolutely demonic, "You shall have to free me at some point, little girl. Regardless of my decision…"

"And if you attack, we'll be ready to give you a smackdown, bub. Care to press your luck against two teams of mutants, the Joes, and the Keybladers, especially after we just took out those Heartless?" Wolverine growled, showing his claws. The other Misfits slowly and carefully followed the X-Man's lead as they brandished their Keyblades in a plethora of colorful lights. Skullmaster's eyes hardened, but he didn't respond.

"And let me remind you, buddy, we've killed demons just as powerful as you, so you better shut your mouth. But then again, I'm always in the mood to kick someone's ass…" grinned Inuyasha in a fierce manner akin to a snarling dog as he hefted his gigantic sword. Kagome then placed a hand in front of her friend as Miroku, Cyclops, Wavedancer, and Roadblock added in their take on the reasoning.

"And if you attack us, it will only give legal reason for the Ghostbusters firm to take you in and prosecute you by paranormal law. And we are authorized to lessen the damage by any ethical means necessary," the Japanese priest stated, frowning.

"Yeah, I'm pretty much guessing that not even someone like you would be willing to argue against the Powers That Be, especially since they're the ones backing the Ghostbusters firm," Cyclops could help but point out, hoping that the title would carry some power. It did as Jean could sense a little fear in the aura of the immortal magic-user when he considered this.

"And Quentin Blud's on our side as well, so attacking us will result in him giving you even more hell," Roadblock said.

"Yeah, so if the threat of getting your ass whooped by us isn't going to stop you, especially since the X-Men, Joes, and Misfits _can_ kill you without legal repercussions, I'm pretty much willing to bet that you tangled with our little dhampir friend before in the past too," Althea said smugly. She actually nailed that one when Skullmaster seemed to be even more wary. He then nodded, signaling his consent and drawing a pent-up sigh of relief from Kagome as Sango expertly twirled the kunai and iron chain off the sorcerer with a deft flick of her wrist. Skullmaster rubbed his arms before he growled poisonously.

"You win for now. But that crystal shard was to be given to me as a gift."

"And it was _stolen_ originally from me in the first place, so that legally makes me the rightful owner. However, you're more than free to argue for claim of ownership to the Powers That Be and Quentin if you want it badly enough," Kagome shot back in a hard voice. That did it as Skullmaster scowled and glared at everyone on the field before he swished his purple cape all around him. With that, he teleported and disappeared.

"Hey, that creep from the Organization's gone too," Iceman remarked, looking around upon the empty field, devoid of any Heartless and exposed heart crystals from the humans that the siege had killed.

"No…" Jean-Luc said with some sorrow at his fallen men and women.

"What is that?" Fred blinked as he and the other teenage mutants looked at the pink sliver of crystal in Kagome's thumb and forefinger before she placed it in a small glass jar that hung on a chain around her neck, depositing it with the others she and her friends had collected. There, they could see other pink slivers of diamond just like the one the Ghostbusters relinquished from the sorcerer.

"Shards from the Shikon Jewel," Kagome said worriedly, "We've been collecting them as our lifelong mission before we joined up with the Ghostbusters, and they're trinkets that can multiply a demon's strength ten-fold if they obtain even _one_ shard. I'm still amazed that it could survive here in present day when they predate around the time of feudal Japan. That's why we accompanied with you because we also detected the shard's presence back at our headquarters, so this is something only we can handle. If Skullmaster or even one of the Heartless got it first…"

"Yeesh, point made," winced Shipwreck.

"That's ours, you chink!!" growled Boddy murderously, "We stole it, so it's the Thieves' rightful property!"

Kilala then got in front of the fair-haired Cajun before he could try to foolishly reclaim the prize by force, and Boddy nearly wet his pants before he was just inches away from the fire-fox demon, grown to massive proportions and ready to rip and eviscerate. Inuyasha was less gracious as he snapped back at the thief, wielding his sword in front for everyone in the Assassins and the Thieves to see.

"We saved your life, you deadbeat twit, so consider taking back the crystal shard as payment!"

"And because you got attacked by the Heartless, I'm willin' to bet that there was probably a reason why Organization Thirteen must have been gunning for you river rats specifically. Care to explain what you were doing with this Skullmaster?" growled Wolverine at Jean-Luc and Belladonna.

"And why should we tell you?" Jean-Luc demanded, on verge of ordering his Thieves to attack. Belladonna seemed a bit more prudent and pragmatic as she gave all her surviving men under her payroll a glare to not attack and to hold back. Plus, Rogue saved her life, and as ruthless as she could be, she had a good memory as well.

From what they could see, they had all been severely decimated. Only a surviving fraction of the Thieves and Assassins from both guilds survived the Heartless attack. She was grateful none of the children attended the ceremony and were hopefully back at their respective headquarters, safe and sound.  
"Because if the Heartless didn't succeed in wiping all of you out, then they can easily come back. Like it or not, we're the only things standing between the Organization Thirteen and you, so unless you wanna die a painful and slow death along with your other unlucky chumps who got their hearts stolen, you better spill as to what the hell you both were doing so that we can help you. Otherwise, we leave you high and dry, simple as that. We've got enough worries without needing to baby-sit you criminals," Beach Head ordered gruffly, invoking more than his share of angry looks, but several such as Jean-Luc and Belladonna were pondering the truth behind those words.

Ororo frowned at Wayne; he could have said that with a lot more gentleness. She said in a disapproving tone, "Must you **_always_** infuriate others?"

"I say it like it is, and keep in mind that for some people, you need to kick 'em in the ass!! So butt out, Storm!!" snapped Beach Head. Thankfully, no hostility arose from this as Belladonna took it upon herself to explain.

"Long story short, this ceremony was a chance to protect everyone in the Guild of Assassins and the Guild of Thieves from a powerful enemy we gained from our recent decisions. We asked your X-Man, Remy LeBeau to come because of the tithe ceremony and because even though he was banished from the South for killing my brother, I still loved him enough and Jean-Luc still felt that he was still a valuable asset to the Guild of Thieves - "

"He's my son. I'm only doing this because I still love him," growled Jean-Luc, to which many of the Assassins and even a few of the Thieves scoffed out loud. They obviously saw the lie in that one, and the leader of the Assassins Guild continued as if nothing had happened

"Anyway, we wanted Remy to come because we decided that he needed to be included in the protection so that he would be spared from any future attacks. And…I wanted him back because I still loved him, and I never forgave him for leaving me without even saying a word. We were told by Zarathos that - "

"Zarathos?" blinked Cyclops, and Belladonna explained for further clarification.

"Zarathos is a demon who collects souls and who resides in an acquaintance of ours, _homme_. In the past, us Assassins and Thieves had a bit of a history with a demonic being known as the Ghost Rider, and when we were able to save him from being exorcised by an organization known as the B.P.R.D, he was charitable enough to tell us a way to get ourselves out of our plight with…one of our business associates by answering to his former master of souls, a powerful immortal named Skullmaster who was strong enough to protect us from our problem's influences if we were able to steal for him several magical artifacts. If we were able to bargain a good portion of mystical yet valuable items that Skullmaster himself was unable to locate, the sorcerer would keep his promise due to several magical favors he owed the demon. Not only protection, but our abilities and skills of agility, speed, intelligence, and my mutant powers along with my magic-casting skills would all be enhanced by his black magic. He may be evil and double-dealing, but he wouldn't betray us in this case because breaking Zarathos' protection would invoke his wrath and Skullmaster's fearful enough to obey his promise so that he could protect us. And as much as we hated it, Zarathos wouldn't side for one of the Guilds over the other since he was grateful to both of us, so he said that both of the Guilds would need to peacefully tithe in the ceremony if we needed to be set free. Despite the fact that we hated each other, we were desperate. And with our skills and connections, it was easy to detect and find the objects we needed for the tithe in exchange for the trade."

From the pause in Belladonna's speech, everyone perceptive enough could tell that the teenager was not being completely honest. And several such as Logan, Althea, and Roadblock didn't buy the story completely; she was hiding something.

"And one of which was a Shikon Shard from the jewel from _our_ timeline that managed to persevere into present day!! Do you have any idea what something of that could do to Skullmaster if he managed to get his hands on it?! You would have doomed a lot more people for doing something so stupid!!" snapped Sango angrily.

"We were desperate!!" growled Boddy, "It was either that or surrender children to that damned law firm, and Zarathos explained that Skullmaster would be willing to spare us if we bargained with him and let him know that we were under protection of the Ghost Rider since he was willing to vouch for us to save our lives and our Guilds!! So don't you dare turn your nose up at us, and go back to your own country, you filthy, yellow, Jap whor-!"

This sentence was automatically cut off as Logan's adamantium claws flashed out and swiftly appeared only a centimeter or two away from the thief's jugular of his neck, causing the blond-haired man to stop short from losing his head. Literally.

"Finish that insult, bub. Just give me a reason," growled Logan, feral and taking offense on Sango's behalf. The demon-slayer looked a bit peeved.

"I can defend myself, Wolverine," Sango retorted, a bit put off, "And insults are nothing to me, so let it pass."

Boom-Boom however noticed one thing in Boddy's outburst, and she asked directly, "Wait, children? What's all this about kids?"

"And '_law firm_'?? What law firm?" Wolfsbane asked, blinking but having a rather horrible gut feeling. No, it couldn't possibly mean…

Belladonna and Jean-Luc both shot Boddy a look to shut up. Miroku then knelt in front of Belladonna, taking her hand in a very lewd and seductive manner, much to the female's surprise, confusion, and wary offense.

"Please, my lady, do not be cautious about telling us what we need to know. We only wish to help. And while we're on the subject of helping, would you do me the honor - ?"

WHACK!!

"Excuse him. He's an annoying letch. Please continue," Sango said brusquely as Miroku tumbled backwards, unconscious, from Sango literally slamming the blunt edge of her boomerang on top of the monk's head. Multiple blinked as Miroku's dazed and goofy expression along with his drooling mouth.

"I think you killed him," Jamie said with some fear. Sango scoffed.

"As if I could be so lucky. And I'm not giving_ him_ the easy way out."

"Remind me to stay on your good side," murmured Bobby as Boddy then shot out a rather rude accusation to Belladonna and her Assassins.

"If anything, the whole reason we got attacked by these Heartless was probably because of those stinking, good for nothing Assassins!! I wouldn't be surprised if they sold us out just to cut down on the Thieves' Guild for the tithe!!"

"_Mon dieu_, will you keep your damned mouth shut?!!" barked one Assassin in angry retort, "We got hit too!! You Thieves must have blabbed it out like the dense fools you and Jean-Luc always made yourselves out to be!!"

"They really hate each other, don't they?" blinked Shippo at Wolfsbane as he sat on the Scottish girl's shoulder.

"You have to wonder why they were even willing to tithe together in the first place…" Rahne murmured.

"Don't blame us, bastard!!" Jean-Luc roared, "We broke off contact with them ever since meeting with that rat-lawyer, and I personally made sure that all the treasures we stole for the tithe could not be linked to our Guild in any way!! There was no way Wendell or any of his men could have found out!!"

"Wait a minute!" barked Inuyasha as he gave Belladonna and her Guild of Assassins along with Jean-Luc and his Guild of Thieves a steely glare, "**_Wendell the lawyer?!_** By any chance, this wouldn't happen to be the same cowardly, sniveling Wendell who's a dark-haired, skinny twerp who works for the Wolfram and Hart law firm branch in New York, would it?!"

"So what if it is?" Belladonna said coldly, and that was enough for everyone else.

"Wolfram and Hart?!" exclaimed Storm, aghast.

"You've got to be kidding me!!" Low Light exclaimed, "You teamed up with Wolfram and Hart?!! That is just…I don't even know where to begin on how stupid _that_ was!!"

"What's the big deal?!" snapped one thief, "So we did a lot of stealin', espionage, and heinous acts on the side for this company. Big whoop! It's not like it's anything new that other companies don't do before, _hommes_! And they paid us well enough to make it worth our while for a little bit, so why should you heroes be on our cases about this?!! It's none of your business!!"

"**_Because Wolfram and Hart is a demonic law firm!!!_**" chorused all the Misfits, X-Men, and Joes as one, outraged, angry outburst. The assassins and thieves blinked, including Jean-Luc and Boddy, but Belladonna's eyes widened as if she was starting to see things in a new light, the pieces of the puzzle falling into place. Storm looked at Belladonna disdainfully.

"You can't possibly mean to tell us that you and the other Guilds had no idea? That Wolfram and Hart is a firm dedicated to destroying mankind by a bunch of powerful demons from another dimension?" the weather-witch asked.

"We normally don't question our patrons," Belladonna said heatedly, her face flushed with anger, "It drives away business, and they were the most profitable and lucrative of our clientele, even more so than many of the politicians and government agencies that have our contact information!! And though I did sense something a bit off, I couldn't prove anything! All my research and investigations on the Wolfram and Hart firm showed nothing of the sort!! Mob ties, members of Congress and the United Nations in their pockets, terrorist organizations, yes!! Demonic beings, no!! I wasn't stupid, _femme_! I checked them fully!! They were one-hundred percent legitimate!"

"And it still wouldn't be enough," Blind Master said slowly, "Remember what the Ghostbusters said? The general public isn't aware of the true nature of Wolfram and Hart because they hide their secrets really well by any means necessary, magical, paranormal, or legal."

Shipwreck murmured, "That's right. Not even most of the founders of the Justice League or Fury from S.H.I.E.L.D knew about the Senior Partners until General Hawk along with Giles and the Watchers' Council spilled the beans."

"Kids?" blinked Willow as she pondered out loud, "They wanted your _children_? Uh…that doesn't make any sense. What possible use could a demonic law firm want with…?"

But the Eloi's voice died in her throat as Belladonna and the Assassins and the Thieves gave a pained look, and Willow then understood. Rahne voiced the suspicion out loud, hands to her chest and so thoroughly disgusted.

"Holy! **_Human sacrifices?!!_** That's barbaric!" Wolfsbane gasped, suddenly turning a bit green around her face. Yes, as a wolf, she hunted animals and small prey, but something in terms of human lives were despicable.

"And Wolfram and Hart would have a few associates who have a huge role in their hierarchy that have a distinct hunger for the flesh of children. If not that, then definitely for the free blood supply," Spirit said, his face stern.

"I think I'm gonna like hurl," winced Shadowcat.

"So **that's** why you were willing to try to break things off with Wolfram and Hart. They were asking too much out of you, and this one was breaking the camel's back," Bezerker said, piecing it together.

"I actually find such turnabout behavior questionable," Storm muttered.

"She has a point," conceded Blob angrily, "You're **_Assassins_**!! You murder people for profit and were Wolfram and Hart's lackeys! What did you think would happen when you worked with them red-collars long enough?!! And the fact that you were gonna do a coup on 'em was only asking for trouble! And you Thieves aren't much better!! You think those cowpies in Wolfram and Hart would just say, 'OK, we'll let you leave and good luck in the future'?! They'd know what you'd be thinking before you even did it!"

"I'm kind of surprised you both actually weren't _willing_ to give up your kids to be sacrificed for a chance to get ahead of each other," muttered Iceman, only to immediately regret uttering that when Belladonna's knife appeared just inches from the X-Man's jugular.

"_Sacré_!! You better watch you mouth around us, _tache_!!" spat Belladonna, so angry her teeth were on edge, "Say whatever you want about the Assassins, but don't you ever insult our family bonds!! We may kill for profit, but we're protective of our own families and kin!! We love each other enough in times like these, and don't you dare say otherwise! And there is absolutely no way in the whole Bayou that we'd give up our own children for those sick Wolfram and Hart dogs!! And we don't need to explain any of our decisions to you or the Joes! And especially you…you…"

"Ghostbusters, ma'am," Shippo supplied helpfully.

"_Merci._ Just who do you think you are to judge us for what and how we live?! We didn't want to give up our kids, and we were desperate!! Of course we were going to try to make a break with it, regardless of the risk!"

"And you thought that joining yourself with this Skullmaster and this Zarathos demon dude was any better?! They could have also been creeps from Wolfram and Hart or the Thirteenth Order or the First, yo!!" Toad said with some condescending disbelief.

"Actually, they're not. Egon, Peter, Ray, and Winston of the main Ghostbusters told us that a lot of bad demons aren't necessarily with Wolfram and Hart. But that doesn't mean that they're any less scary and mean," quivered Shippo as he clarified for the X-Men and Misfits.

"That don't make me feel much better, yo," Toad grimaced.

"So why couldn't you take him in then?! Or better yet, kill him on sight since the world would probably be better off without the bum!!" demanded Beach Head angrily.

"Who're you to tell us what to do, Loud-Mouth?!" Inuyasha snapped back, his teeth grit.

"Don't take that tone with me, punk!! I'm the Joe around here, so be a good dog and follow orders like you're supposed too, maggot!!" Beach Head's "dog" comment obviously rubbed the half-breed demon the wrong way as Inuyasha's eyes turned murderous.

"That's it!! You're - !" roared Inuyasha as he was about to rip Wayne's face off, but Kagome was quicker.

"Inuyasha, sit!" commanded Kagome, and to everyone's surprise, the white-haired demon was immediately jerked forward by an invisible force around his neck before he pitched forward and landed face-first in the mud, forced into a kneeling position as if a giant invisible hand was pulling him by the front of his robes.

"Anyway," Kagome carried on, ignoring gracefully the muffled foul oaths and curses and threats of dismemberment, "remember what Jenny Calendar and Quentin told you, Mr. Beach Head? Ghosts and paranormal entities have rights, and killing Skullmaster would have meant severe repercussions on the Ghostbuster firm. It's sort of like why the Joes aren't allowed to kill anyone from Cobra on sight even though it would be for the better or why the X-Men and Misfits aren't allowed to kill Magneto and the Hellions."

"We **choose** to not kill Magneto, not because there's a rule we have to abide by," corrected Cyclops, irritated.

"I don't see a difference," sneered back Inuyasha as he managed to wipe the mud from his jaw. Scott decided to be the bigger man and ignore that jab.

"So no one can kill Skullmaster? Even if he goes around killing or manipulating innocent people and all that? Even if he was willing to cut a deal to protect the Thieves and the Assassins, he doesn't sound _that_ much better than the Senior Partners at Wolfram and Hart," blinked Sam.

"Not exactly. If he tries to harm the general public, whether they are human or a fellow demon, then Wolfram and Hart agree that he and any other paranormal can be taken in for a fair trial, and we have the right to apprehend him since we police the supernatural. But since his fate is tied by destiny and how he's murdered two civilizations before in the past, if Mighty Max fills his role in killing Skullmaster, then Wolfram and Hart won't be able to do anything about it since the laws of prophecy and destiny are absolute. Not even a supernatural court in all of existence can fight the rule of a prophecy should it come to pass," Sango explained.

"_Mighty Max??_" Multiple blinked, thinking it was a bad pun, and Kagome wearily waved off the question with her hand, dismissing it.

"Long story, don't have time to explain right now," Kagome said.

"Now you better explain to us what the hell is going on here?! What exactly does Wolfram and Hart have to deal with all those Heartless and you freaks coming in here and invading our territory?! You know what we do with trespassers?!" demanded one Assassin angrily, as if he was willing to kill the closest hero with his bare hands.

"You can try, dipstick! That don't mean you're gonna get very far!" growled Mushu, hopping up and down on Wanda's head and raising his fists in front like a boxer as he was also joined alongside Simba, Bambi, Dumbo, Genie, and Tinkerbell. And though facing a line of Disney characters was hardly intimidating, none of the Thieves or Assassins wanted to piss off a genie or a baby dragon or a carnivorous lion.

Cover Girl then said slowly with intense sternness, "Because we think that Wolfram and Hart sided with the Heartless and the Hellfire Club. The reason you must have been attacked was not only because of your ties to Gambit of the X-Men, but because Wolfram and Hart must have requested the Thirteenth Order to cut you down before the two of you could turn on the firm and side with Skullmaster."

Needless to say, this clicked into place for the Southern criminal syndicates, and upon hearing this confirmation from a hero (who had no reason to lie to them in the first place and who helped save their lives), they became incredibly angered.

"Those double-crossing, wretched _connardes_!! They will pay for defiling our homes and our Guilds with this atrocity!!" Jean-Luc swore.

"Take a number, because the Guild of Assassins shall have the privilege of first blow!!" snapped one Assassin.

"No, the Guild of Thieves has more of a priority to hit them first!!" shouted Boddy.

"There is no way a stinkin' Assassin dog will have the first blow!!" growled a Thief as he and the rest of his comrades took out their knives and telescopic staffs.

"Fine!! Then we'll get the first blow over your corpses, you thievin' swamp rats!!" snarled another Assassin as he and his team took out their guns and high-powered assault rifles, high-tech weaponry that could have rivaled any in the United States military. Thankfully, a powerful and invisible telekinetic force automatically wrenched all the blades, metal bo staffs, and guns out of their fingers as well as from their hidden pockets, leaving them all defenseless.

"**That's enough!!**" snapped Jean, taking control of all their weapons and lifting them in the air, preventing the survivors of both of the Southern elite groups from committing homicide, "I may not stop you from hating each other, but I won't stand by and let you kill each other after you all were nearly killed by Organization Thirteen!! The Earth is in danger, and we have enough enemies as it is!! This won't help anyone, so I suggest you snap out of this petty rivalry and think about what to do to against the Heartless threat from the Hellfire Club!!"

"And why is it any of **_your_** business?!" snapped Boddy at the red-haired X-Girl.

"Because we've been fighting the Heartless since they started appearing on Earth. They've been targeting us and all our friends from the Justice League and the Teen Titans, and we're doing everything we can to stop them from killing other innocents like you and from destroying this whole planet!! So believe us when we say this _is_ our business!! And like or not, you're now involved because you chose to do _thugs-for-hire_ with Wolfram and Hart!!" barked Low Light, getting into Boddy's face.

"Of course, if you want to tell us to piss off and take your chances facing the Heartless on your own, you bubs are more than welcome to try. We're not obligated to help you if you don't want it," growled Logan gruffly and causing Jean-Luc and Belladonna to stop and ponder those words. Wolverine had a point; there was no way they could survive against the Hellfire experiments by themselves…

"And **we** fight as a rival to Wolfram and Hart as well as lessen the damage they do with their ghosts and demonic servants. We're new representatives from the Ghostbusters firm. Our job is to protect the general populace from Wolfram and Hart's manipulations and string pulling when they crossed the boundaries of law as well as any malignant supernatural entities that prey on innocents. The Heartless, included. We even have the Slayers and the Charmed Ones on our side along with a lot of other powerful paranormals such as us," Kagome explained sternly.

Belladonna, Jean-Luc, and the rest of the surviving Assassins and Thieves all collectively blinked. Although, to be fair, though they have known about Wolfram and Hart, they didn't know too much about the Ghostbusters Incorporated since their activities were generally dismissed as trite, bumbling, and generally insane humans and paranormal-lovers.

"Slayers?!" blurted out one of the Assassins in shock before he recalled the news broadcast from San Francisco half a year ago, "_Mon dieu!!_ You mean the vampire slayers?!!"

"And the Charmed Ones _femmes_, eh? Could mean an interestin' venue for us…" Jean-Luc mused, his eyes now lighting up at the possible benefits of having a few witches and their powers at the Thieves' availability (and adding yet another reason to comply with the heroes for now). Inuyasha noticed the look, and he growled, showing his canines.

"Don't bother. We're only here to stop the Heartless from destroying the Earth at the Gathering of Twilight. The last thing we do are be someone's lackeys or foot soldiers, especially for a bunch of loser criminals living in a swamp. The minute we settle this whole dumb Gathering stupidity, we're taking the fastest trip back home!"

"So why did you even agree with joining the Ghostbusters in the first place then?" Cover Girl asked.

"Because Kagome wouldn't last five minutes in the Gathering and would depend on me to save her from getting in over her head, like usual - " started Inuyasha before a red-faced Kagome angrily barked a command and the rosary beads around the white-haired Ghostbuster's neck began to glow again.

"**_Sit!!!_**"

Wham! To everyone's surprise, the demon dog was violently jerked by his necklace and pitched forward on his hands and knees, the beads now forcing the demon half-breed into a prostrate position, his face literally in the mud. Just like the last time the Japanese girl ordered the same thing.

"Kagome!!" roared Inuyasha with murder in his eyes, protesting as he apparently tried to squirm and wiggle out of the magic. The rest of the X-Men, Misfits, and Joes looked on with some surprise and amusement upon seeing this again, and a couple even got a few chuckles out of the situation.

"How do you do that, Kagome?" giggled Boom-Boom.

"Long story short: Inuyasha is wearing a magical rosary necklace that allows me to command him to stop and be still whenever he gets out of control. If I tell him to stop and sit, he has to follow it, whether he likes it or not. But again, he's my…friend so I only use it whenever I need to stop him from getting into trouble or losing his temper."

"And whenever he's being a jerk or pisses you off?" prodded the X-Girl teasingly. Kagome then allowed herself a small, mischievous smile.

"Maybe a bit…" the Japanese schoolgirl admitted.

"Any chance you have any _extra_ rosary necklaces?" Blind Master asked with an interested, smug expression.

"I can think of a few people who could use them," Althea commented as she and her allies all stared collectively at Shipwreck, Trinity, and Quicksilver, who all caught the looks of interested speculation on their friends' faces.

"Don't even think about it!!" yelled Pietro, angrily throwing a tantrum and pointing at his friends and family with ire.

At the same time, as Bree, Dragonfly, Whitelighter, and Shadowcat were looking after the unconscious Remy's body before they felt a rather spine-tingling presence behind them, and they all turned around to see a livid and red-faced Rogue, her uniform torn at several patches from her fight with the Heartless and Luxord. Yet from the way she was scowling and the way her eyes were glinting dangerously under the little moonlight shining down, it was clear that she was angry beyond all human comprehension.

"Move," she commanded in a deep, husky, and precariously feral voice.

Shadowcat tried to lessen her friend's wrath as she nervously stammered while getting up to her feet, "Uh…Rogue, now like, calm down and like take a deep breath. Like, take _several_ deep breaths. Gambit's like unconscious, and it's not going to like do anything if you kill him while he just got like infected and all that junk, so like - "

The brown-haired Goth was obviously not very much in the mood for being stalled as she irately and dangerously grabbed Kitty by the collar of her uniform, lifting the X-Girl off her feet as she rumbled her command again, her left eyelid throbbing ever so slightly.

"**Move. Now.**"

"Like, okay," gulped Kitty meekly as she phased herself out of her friend's grip before scurrying off to the sidelines, and Bree sagely dragged Dragonfly and Whitelighter out of Rogue's warpath gently by the arms.

"We can't just leave him there!" protested Lina. Fred gave his teammate a wary and skeptical look, obviously not feeling very guilty for leaving Gambit high and dry.

"Do you really want ta' get between Rogue when she's itching ta' kill someone? And keep in mind, she's super-strong enough to clobber me if she wanted to," Fred pointed out rhetorically. This one statement was heard by the other Thieves, and all of them, even Jean-Luc, decided that their lives were worth more than trying to risk getting a beating from a powerful mutant teenager. After what they've seen with her job of dispatching the Heartless and how she was apparently bulletproof, they didn't wish to be on the receiving end. And there was no way anyone in the Assassins Guild (save for Belladonna) that had any love for the Cajun mutant. And Belladonna herself could admit that Remy more than had it coming.

She just wished she didn't treat Rogue so harshly at first sight. Especially since Rogue saved her life. Plus, the deaths of so many of her clan made her love and desire to punish Remy for abandoning her did seem unimportant right now…

"Good point," admitted a wincing Colossus, "But still…shouldn't be do something?"

"We are. We're filming this," Quinn commented with a cackle as she and her triplet sisters already started using their pink camcorders on the scene as Rogue marched over and gripped the front of Remy's robes before lifting him up in the air with one arm, his body's feet dangling.

"Trinity, I know this sounds uncharacteristic, but I'll be first in line to buy a copy," Scott managed to say through his smile. Jean frowned and elbowed her boyfriend in disapproval, obviously not the least bit pleased about it, but then she noticed that Logan was smiling as well as he idly lit a cigar.

"And the best thing to do in a lover's quarrel is to stay out of it, Peter," Low Light murmured as Rogue cocked back her other arm, making a fist, "_Trust me on this._ I have the scars to show from each and every time Lady Jaye and Flint fought and when I drew the short straw to be the peacemaker."

"I can't watch. Oh no, wait, yes I can!" Nightcrawler said with the evil of satisfaction, apparently feeling he was going to enjoy this as the rest of the audience watch, enraptured and obviously not daring to intervene, with half of the crowd wishing that Rogue would just forgive and love Remy again and the other half hoping that Rogue would render him into nothing more than a pile of red mush. Rogue's arm started twitching as the seconds ticked by, her makeup streaming as she continued to glare at the unconscious Gambit dangling from her hands.

She wouldn't kill him. Just hurt him badly.

She had a right.

Everyone would understand why. They wouldn't necessarily agree, but they would understand.

Would it be so wrong?

Rogue then inwardly swore, unable to stop crying, as she then forced her numb fingers to let the Cajun X-Man go before Remy's prone form landed back onto the soft mud with a crash. Rogue then honestly could admit to herself that she didn't feel anything anymore; she just felt empty, frozen.

"You're not even worth it," Rogue spat, trying not to allow her voice to strangle, as she did an about face and walked away, leaving the Cajun thief alone and abandoned in the marshy dirt.

"Huh? I don't get it. Why didn't she pound him?" Bezerker blinked as he looked at the scene while Bree and the others rushed to Gambit's side, thankfully that they didn't need to treat the young man for severe, life-threatening injuries. Rahne then softly explained to her teammate.

"I think…it means she doesn't care anymore. The opposite of love isn't hate. It's indifference," the red-haired teenager answered wisely. This hit home as the rest of the X-Men just looked at Rogue with pity, and aggravatingly enough, the silence was broken by Quicksilver who just couldn't help with open his big mouth.

"Ah, look on the bright side, Roguey!" Quicksilver couldn't help but comment as she stalked part the mutants, Joes, and Ghostbusters, "Better you drop the loser Cajun before he drops you once he realizes he can't ever touch you, and that's going to put a damper on the marriage and his love life - !"

Quicksilver's commentary was then brutally and abruptly cut short as Rogue delivered her fist into her half-brother's stomach hard, almost with enough force to cause his stomach to collapse and suffer internal bleeding. And strangely enough, Rogue's punch was so swift that Pietro couldn't dodge it in time (either that or he was being too cocky to dodge it before the last minute). The albino speedster hacked and coughed and rasped for air weakly, his face turning red and his eyes bugged out, as he feel to his knees, holding his stomach. Hopefully, after a few hours, it wouldn't feel as if an elephant stepped on it.

"You were _really_ asking for that one, Pietro," Xi said with hardly any sympathy.

"Rogue…" began Ororo, obviously hoping to stop Rogue from walking away, but Wolverine placed a hand on the weather-witch's shoulder.

"She's hurting, 'Ro. Let her deal with it her way," the grizzled X-Man ordered softly. He knew that sometimes solitude and quiet time were the best thing to do to keep one's mind together after something painful like this. And truth be told, though he wouldn't have minded if Remy had been horrifically beaten, he was proud of the student for doing the right thing.

Yet, before Rogue was about to walk to the edge of the firm land and at the tip of the surrounding moors and swamp-lakes, she was instantly stopped by the last person she wanted to hear from.

"Rogue…" a voice tentatively said behind her before she was about to take off. Rogue, doing her best not to turn around and let Belladonna see her eyes shining as she choked hoarsely and without much tact, caustic.

"What?!"

"I…I wanted to say thank you. And - "

"Look, whatever namby-pamby, optimistic crap you're trying to pull as a way to make up for giving me grief, don't bother! I didn't save you because I wanted your thanks!!"

Belladonna looked a bit angry at the harsh way Rogue was treating her, but then she veiled her glare, ashamed. This was exactly how she felt when Remy left her after the wedding at the altar and when Julien was killed. She should at least sympathize with the X-Girl on that level. And since it was apparent that Rogue had no idea on her past with Remy, Rogue had every right to feel hurt. Betrayal was a very painful thing to deal with.

"Rogue, whatever history you had with Remy or whatever history I had with Remy, I don't want it to be _our_ history. It _shouldn't_ be our history," Belladonna said softly, putting the offer on the table.

Rogue remained silent and tense a bit, but she still didn't turn around, her back straight. Then to Belladonna's surprise, her shoulders sagged a bit, defeated and as if she didn't have the strength to hate anymore. She then spoke with a touch of compassion.

"We'll get your friends and family's hearts back."

"_Quoi?_" The surprise at that promise, that one shred of hope, made the blond-haired girl lapse to her native French language.

"If there's a way, we'll get the hearts of the Assassins and the Thieves back if we win the Gathering of Twilight. We'll get 'em," Rogue said listlessly, her voice heavy. There was no point to add the phrase "or die trying"; Rogue wasn't the type to offer optimism. At this point, she was already dying inside…

"Really?!"

"Yeah, really. Go ask the adults cause I'm not in the mood ta' explain it," Rogue muttered darkly.

"_Merci_," Belladonna whispered, "And…we'll help you fight against the Heartless. Anyone who dares strikes against the Guild of Assassins will live to regret it. And for now, we'll work with the Guild of Thieves peacefully if it means we'll get our kin back. But _merci, ami_."

Rogue just grunted.

Nightcrawler looked worried as he tried to reach out to his sister, asking, "Rogue, are you - ?"

"Just leave me alone," Rogue snapped half-heartedly and miserably as she took off in the skies, choosing to fly back from New Orleans to the Institute in Bayville and rather willing to risk going up in the skies alone as to spending time with the X-Men and Gambit. Kurt looked worried until he felt Jean's reassuring hand on his shoulder, and the blue-furred X-Man looked at the red-haired telekinetic to see her shake her head sadly.

"She can take care of herself, Nightcrawler," Jean said as she watched her close friend and teammate fly high and fast in the sky, though pained for Rogue, "We'll keep her under observation to make sure she doesn't get attacked or anything while coming home, but for now, I think we need to respect her wish to have some time alone. She's hurting…"

Kurt still looked unwilling to just leave her alone, and Jean softly pressed, like a summer breeze on green grass.

"Kurt, you can't force her to share her feelings. When she wants us, she'll let us know. And we'll be there. I don't like it any more than you, but you know as well as I do that this is what Rogue is. Honesty…means a lot to her."

Nightcrawler finally understood as he let out a pent-up breath in his lungs before he shot the unconscious form of Gambit a hateful look, and Jean nearly tried to stop the German teenager before she became relieved that when he kicked out, he only aimed and struck at the ground precariously close to Remy's head.

"You're going to need to walk barefoot through Hell to make this up to her, _luegner_," Kurt swore angrily before stomping off. It was clear he was very incensed; Kurt was normally very gentle and loving and pacifistic, so this bout of temper was rather uncharacteristic for him.

"I think I actually feel sorry for Gambit," murmured Wanda with a serious face as Jean telekinetically lifted the unconscious Cajun X-Man onto a portable and collapsible stretcher that Bree managed to assemble from her knapsack. Cyclops snorted, a bit too smug.

"Are you kidding? After all the snide remarks he made to me about how I was going to constantly be in the doghouse while Jean was angry that I wasn't proposing to her, it's nice to see the arrogant charmer get some in return. And I'm certainly going to enjoy watching him crawl on his hands and knees for a change."

"A bit of schadenfreude, huh?"

"Please, don't insult me. I'm not a Misfit. I prefer to call it karma."

---

"I have returned, my Superior," Luxord said in his suave and charming tone of voice as he stepped through the portal of darkness and reappeared in the room with the Fountain of the Oracle where his fellow members were gathered in Castle Oblivion. Upon stopping in front of his leader, Luxord swiftly bowed before reporting.

"Over a hundred hearts from both the Guild of Assassins and the Guild of Thieves have been gained from the Heartless attack. However, all the experiments have been destroyed, including the Hellfire spore used to infect Mr. LeBeau."

The chief director nodded his acceptance of the situation; though not like the boon Marluxia had gained from Nova Roma, a hundred hearts or so was nothing to sneeze at.

"No matter. General Black and the Senior Partners of Wolfram and Hart will be pleased enough as it is, especially once Leland and Pierce of the Hellfire Club add in their 'assistance' to Waller's plans with the Ghostbusters and the Justice League. Doing this not only freed the firm from the duty of this annoyance and puts them even more within our debt, but it additionally gives us more hearts for the harvest," the number one member replied before he turned to select another member of his group, his choice certainly being surprising…

"Demyx," the Superior ordered sternly. The rest of the order raised their eyebrows in slight surprise. Demyx again? Either the Superior loved putting the loudmouthed and klutzy soldier through his bumbling paces or…

Well, there really was no other option now that they pondered it.

"Huh?" blinked the Organization's resident musician, only to shiver and shrink a bit under his lord's angry and wrathful glare of annoyance, his eyes glowing red, underneath the black hood of his robe.

"After your visit to Hamilton, go to the established target in Africa and initiate the next phase for the harvest. Again, the area we have located is isolated enough where not that many beings powerful enough to fight the Heartless are readily available and where it shall take time before the Misfits and the X-Men are even alerted of the presence of darkness," the Superior ordered coldly.

"Do I have to…?" began Demyx with his whine, obviously not in the mood, but the sight of the Superior's glowing red weapon now drawn out and glowing, inches away from the spot of bone and cartilage right between Demyx's eyes cut the Melodious Nocturne's plea short. Gulping, Demyx awkwardly smiled as he teleported away to Hamilton's lab.

**Author's Notes: The character, Skullmaster, isn't mine; he's a character from the "Mighty Max" cartoon and is property of Rob Hudnut, Mark Zaslove, and Bluebird Toys (and yes, this is another crossover hint for the Misfitverse!). Well, hopefully, I'll be able to get back to a weekly update, but until then, next Saturday (Lord willing!), the Heartless invade Africa while Hank does his best to finally tell Ororo how he feels, despite the not so welcome appearances of Matt Burke and Shipwreck. But rejection is probably the last thing our poor, blue scientist would ever expect. And things get even direr as Demyx manages to decimate many colonies in Kenya and infect Storm in the process. Can Beast manage to save the day, bitterness withstanding? Find out next time in Beast's trial by fire in the chapter, "Hank the Honorable" and until then, wishes of peace and joy for all my readers this holiday season!**


	34. Hank the Honorable

**Author's Notes: I apologize for the lateness of this chapter, but I am glad to say that I've finally managed to get on top of it! And on that note, Hellboy is not mine, but is the property of Dark Horse Comics and Mike Mignola. That said, I hope you forgive me for taking a month with this and enjoy the chapter of our loveable Hank McCoy in…**

**CHAPTER 34: Hank the Honorable**

"Oh dear," was all Hank could murmur as he sipped his tea. He was with Ororo in the den, having a private tea with his fellow instructor and co-worker in one of the gazebos outside in the south gardens, the two of them having a private moment with green tea and oatmeal cookies. It was the next day after the incident in New Orleans with Luxord and the Heartless, and though they had survived and Remy was cured, things were still bleak. Rogue came back in the wee hours of sunrise, exhausted from flying straight from Louisiana to New York, but no less miserable from finding out that Remy was engaged to be married to Belladonna, an Assassin. She went straight to her room and locked her door, refusing to come out for breakfast and lunch. After Kurt teleported in to try to offer her some words of comfort and how there was now a new hole in her door (that was remarkably in the shape of Kurt's body, limbs and tail akimbo considering he was hurled through it), the Professor decided that it would be best to leave Rogue alone and have her grieve in solitude.

And of course, thanks to Multiple's perchance to gossip and spread around the word, the fact of Gambit being betrothed to a girl who was also the Guild of Assassins and how Rogue learned he was previously engaged in his past spread like wildfire. Now, even members of the Justice League, the Teen Titans, the Slayers, and the Ghostbusters knew about Remy and his "unfaithfulness" to Rogue (although to be fair, Shippo had as much of a big mouth as Jamie).

As a result, now about half of the Mansion hated Remy's guts and wanted him castrated while the other half ran the gamut of opinions from sympathy to satisfaction of watching Gambit dig his grave. And it was probably best to not elaborate how Raven from the Teen Titans stormed up to the Institute's doorstep with threats of breaking and rendering Gambit's mind and mental capability into something of a toad. Or how Kurt tried to attack Remy in the infirmary; Beast made the mistake of not foreseeing what would happen if the two were in adjacent medical beds together.

Once Kurt had been isolated in a separate medical ward, Remy had recovered and regained consciousness, only to find to his disappointment that Rogue didn't come by to see him. And from the looks of it, it was doubtful she would ever trust Remy fully again like before. And of course, Hank decided that after leaving Bree and Jake in temporary charge of the infirmary as to ensure that Kurt would attempt to kill Remy and that Remy wouldn't attempt to sneak off to see Rogue and maintain doctor's orders for bed rest, he could use a break.

And the best way to do it would be outside the Institute, especially since the Misfits and the Joes were over inside the school on a training round with a good battalion of Slayers led by Kennedy for a rigorous Danger Room session, and thus, it was perfectly set up so that Hank could get the full story about the recent events in the Bayou. As well as have that one private and intimate moment with Ororo he so desired for so long. And this time, he made sure Shipwreck wouldn't come by not-so-subtly telling the sailor that he thought he saw Polly in the Professor's private liquor cabinet that had somehow been left unlocked and to please stop the parrot from getting out of hand (it couldn't have been a more perfect set-up).

"Yes, and though things are well now, who knows what will happen once the next Heartless attack? Regardless of all our efforts, our vigilance, and all our allies, the Misfits still fail in preventing innocents from dying and being killed in order for the Organization Thirteen to gather hearts for whatever insane and devious purpose that we know nothing of. I know that they are trying their best, but this entire war and invasion is weighing down on the Misfits, and I can't help but worry. They are children, and they do need help, more than they are willing to admit. Perhaps…we should at least consider using the Yellow Materia if things do not improve. That way, the Misfits do not solely bear this burden alone. And Pluto does not seem to be readily appearing to split the magic and the Keyblades any time soon."

"As much as I can see the ethical dilemmas of that notion, I can say that I do agree with you that the benefits far outweigh the costs should it be a necessary act. But do be careful about mentioning that around here, Ororo. We cannot risk others or the wrong set of ears eavesdropping on a mere casual conversation," Beast replied, munching on a cookie. There was an uncomfortable silence between the two for several minutes and suddenly, Beast felt very anxious as his heart beat a bit quicker in its cyclic rhythm.

Could he say it now? He waited so long for this…

"I just wish that if the world was truly to end, then Evan could at least explain and talk with his parents before the Gathering. No matter how much I tried to reason and debate with him, it's like arguing with a brick wall," Storm said with some sadness as she poured herself some more tea.

No, it didn't seem appropriate right at this moment, and Hank inwardly wished that the bad timing didn't happen, his emotions now churning inside and begging to be let out through the trembling wall of restraint.

"You still haven't told Mr. and Mrs. Daniels about how Evan ran away to join the Morlocks, right, Ororo?" sighed Hank. She had been trying to stall and divert this for so long now…

"Hank, please don't start with me now. I got enough of that from Charles each time I came to talk with him after verbally sparring with Spyke," Ororo said with a weary edge to her voice.

"My apologies. I don't mean to agitate you. But as a…friend, I'm just concerned. Why not tell Vi and her husband the truth by now? Evan is back at the Mansion and though they may be angry with you for hiding the fact at first, surely they would understand that Evan asked you to not look for him because he wished to protect the Morlocks and that he needed time and solitude to cope? They cannot be angry now that all is well at this point."

"I thought so too, but Evan does not see it that way," Ororo said, fingering the rim of her teacup, her white hair limply brushing against her cheeks, downcast, "He's so stubborn sometimes. When he told me he wasn't happy here at the Institute and that he didn't mind living in the sewers, I felt…I felt…"

"You felt that it was practically an insult to you and the work you spent trying to instill the values of what it meant to be an X-Man into him. You feel betrayed and hurt that he doesn't agree with you, but it also frustrates you that you cannot condemn him for simply wishing for something else and that he doesn't see matters eye to eye."  
Ororo smiled; Hank never failed to eloquently and intellectually blunt and on the mark.

The white-haired weather-witch nodded before she continued, "I just wish he wouldn't be so self-conscious about his appearance and how his mutation further progressed to that point of him being insecure with how he would appear to his parents. And I can't lie that Vi and Carl would never reject him because it _is_ a possibility, and I care about Evan better than to assume like that. And Evan just simply has enough issues with being assertive in a correct manner without fearing of making mistakes or being criticized for it without needing to have his own family abandon him too. After spending time with the Morlocks, people who have lived through that testimony, it…pains me that Evan would rather push his parents away than risk it. If I told Vi and Carl the truth behind Evan's back, it would be a breach of trust, one that would even further alienate him from me and his family. But if the Gathering does happen sooner than we expect, then we could all die and then it would be rather…tragic, that Evan and the world die before he makes peace and tells the truth to his parents."

"I'm sure he has his reasons," Hank said gently, remembering fondly that it was Evan who helped him snapped out of his animalistic and feral reverie when he instantly became blue and furry. To say he could understand somewhat of Evan's plight with his mutation would be an understatement.

Ororo idly tapped her fingers on the table with one hand while resting her elbow with the other, propping her chin. She was so glum. It made Hank's compassion for her ache even more, and though his rationality and common sense were screaming at his body to control himself, he still acted out anyway.

Hank slowly reached out and took Ororo's hand, his blue fur warm from absorbing the sunlight. Her hand felt like ice by comparison. Storm was taken aback, a feeling of unease in her stomach, but she then thought Beast was simply trying to be a friend in concern.

"Ororo, whatever happens, it is not your fault. You did everything you could, and understand that Evan is not your main responsibility as before. He is old enough to make his own choices, and thus, you can respect that and the fact that he is in control of the choices he makes. If he does not want to contact his parents, then the best thing is to stay out and respect that choice, to not meddle in something that is more of his right to decide rather than yours."

There was a small pause as Ororo looked down at the table, conflicted with that. She never did have the best poker face.

"You can't accept it, can you, Ororo?" Beast smiled.

"I don't want to."

"And yet you can't do anything about it because it's Evan's choice and it's his life. Ororo, if anything, be grateful that he is at least safe and that he has a purpose that could make anyone proud, even though it's not to be an X-Man and a mutant champion for peace. But protecting the Morlocks because they cannot defend themselves is something that shows that he has some of the values you and Charles taught him. Granted, he had strange and extreme ways of doing what he felt was right and dealing with his mutation such as attacking the 'Power 8' corporation and running to the sewers, but it's what he wants."

"And what about Vi and Carl? They need to know too, especially since they, like the rest of the world, know about the Heartless and the incoming Gathering of Twilight."

"Evan's not a child any more, Ororo. I agree that they have a right to know, but it should be Evan who needs to tell them. Granted, you do have a small part in this by not coming out completely with the truth immediately once before, but you shouldn't have to cover for Spyke. Let him decide."

Ororo had a small inkling of tolerance and acquiescence making its way into her countenance, her expression being a bit more relaxed and at peace. Beast swore his heart beat a little faster as the surging emotions toiled and cried out just a bit more strongly.

"It's so difficult, to just stand by and let him go off. It's just like watching him for the first time when he left the X-Men to join with Callisto in the sewers."

"To quote rather gawkily: 'join the club'. You are merely going through what all parents go through when their children leave the nest. You're only human, Storm, so let it be. As much as I don't deny that you love him and are one of the warmest and caring mother figures in this planet, he isn't someone you can keep around forever should he wish to go back to the sewers. And neither can his parents. Perhaps, again, he has his reasons for not wanting to tell his parents. Respect that."

Ororo looked up finally at her blue-furred coworker and fellow adult. She could hardly say she changed her mind, but if anything, Hank had a point and her worries did feel a bit lighter.

"You're a good friend, Hank. Thank you, even though I'm still apprehensive."

Beast squeezed her hand a bit, enjoying the touch, though it was actually encouraging his feelings to crack through his resolve and leak through the wall around him lesser judgment.

"I'm always here for you, Ororo, should you need me. And I…I…"

He faltered. Ororo then suddenly felt that uncomfortable instinct of unease and trepidation arousing back in her gut again, and she hurriedly covered Hank's unfinished sentence, thinking that perhaps she could divert the situation.

"I appreciate the sentiment, Hank, and thank you for your friendly words for I know you are a wonderful person and good, but - "

"I love you."

Storm's eyes widened in shock as she just sat there, stunned, her hand limp in Hank's furry one, and Hank continued on, saying everything in a rush and his heart in his throat that he felt he was going to vomit. But thankfully, his nerve didn't fail as he spoke.

"Storm, please, I love you, and I have for quite a while. I know that you know, and I truly mean what I say. I…the reason I didn't tell you before or earlier was because I was partly fearful of you and that I was still struggling with my awkwardness over wanting to make my affection for you known, considering that you're elegant, refined, intelligent, and beautiful and I'm furry and – well, _less_ beautiful on the outside. Even Logan got on my case for not making my move on you, but I do have feelings for you. And no, it's not something asinine and deluded as that I fell in love with you the moment I saw you, but time here at the Institute and teaching alongside you led to stronger developments of feelings."

Ororo just blinked. Most men would use the word "love" only to either get a lady into bed with them or because they were incredibly stupid or emotionless and threw the word around like confetti; Beast was neither of these categories. Hank just concentrated on staring at the woman's hand in his, unable to look into her face, before he continued with his damning confession.

"Hear me out. Please. It's hard enough. You're not the only one who wants to have things said before the world ends, if it does, during the Gathering or if it's too late to do anything but have regrets. But I want you to know that I can't keep quiet about this anymore, especially since I feel that you never once spurned me or gave me indication otherwise. And I respect you and care about you enough to know that I would do anything to make you happy, and you already made my life much better ever since I came to the Institute."

Ororo opened her mouth to speak, but Beast carried on, this time able to find the courage to look into the X-Woman's blue eyes and speak from his heart.

"Ororo, I love you. I truly mean that. You make me happy. Surely you knew too, didn't you? All those times I've talked and discussed matters and scientific subjects, the moments we had in your greenhouse, times when we've had tea together, just me and you like right now. I won't be presumptuous to say that you feel exactly the same, but I know you care about me as well. And I would love to try and develop those feelings with you together. I…oh stars and garters, I'm as awkward and nervous as a teenager. But, I can't say anything else except that I repeat that I love you and that I would love to start something. Perhaps…over dinner and a move sometime?"

Hank finished in a small voice, like a child who is scared to ask his parents for an expensive toy, his heart still thudding against his ribcage and his breath heavy. His lungs felt like they were on fire, so he was panting lightly as he waited for Ororo's expression. The African woman's face was blank, surprised, but then her eyes softened as the corners of her mouth ever so slightly twitched upwards. And the way she gently squeezed back Beast's paw was a good sign. Storm looked into Hank's hopeful eyes of delight as she treaded carefully, working the words past the frozen feeling in her throat.

Damn, this was going to be hard.

"Hank, that's…very sweet of you," Ororo said at last.

Hank grinned, his spirits lifting to the heavens, his eyes showing excitement and bliss.

"And you're a very nice guy…"

_Crash._

It was funny how hitting bottom still couldn't remove the smile from Beast's face; his mouth lost all feeling and went numb, frozen into place. His heart, on the other hand, fell from his chest to his feet and figuratively shattered to pieces on the floor. Paralyzed, the blue-furred mutant could only sit there as the white-haired weather-witch continued as delicately and affirming as she could.

She continued, "…but you deserve the truth. The truth is that I have always known that you had feelings for me, but there was a reason I didn't say anything. It was – well…to not encourage you to pursue the possibility because I don't feel the same way. Hank, I love you as a friend and an ally and yes, as a fellow mutant who I can always depend on to talk and cry to in need, and I will always do the same in return. But, I don't love you that way."

Sometimes life isn't just being knocked down. It's being kicked while you were down, piss-faced drunk and having every bone in your body broken. What made it even more painful was that Ororo was shooting down his chance before it could even take off. Now he actually _wished_ Shipwreck interrupted this moment. Beast miraculously kept the smile on his face, his muscles turning to ice like the blood in his veins as Ororo finished with a look of regret and sorrow on her face.

"Hank, I'm sorry."

Hank did his best to not fall to pieces or break down and cry right there; he still had his pride to think about. And not surprisingly, in desperation, he tried to reason and induce Ororo into seeing and empathizing with his point of view. Though he was being a bit of a jerk and insensitive, one really couldn't blame him considering he was being rejected devastatingly.

"Ororo, I…please, don't be hasty to dismiss it. I wouldn't tell you this if I didn't think that perhaps you had even an inkling of feelings for me as well. And I'm not asking anything instantaneously, but rather, try it out with a simple date, a dinner and movie! My treat, of course, but Ororo, please, I am merely asking for a chance! Just think about it and let us try to see if it can happen! I just want a chance to treat you as you deserve! You even gave _Shipwreck_, of all people, a chance once, so why not?!"

"Beast…I **have** thought about it," Ororo admitted it at last. Ever since she realized that Hank had feelings towards her (which had been for quite a while), she had wrestled, pictured, and contemplated the possibility extensively. After all, being a superhero and an infamous mutant in the eyes of the public hardly gave her a broad choice of potential people to date and perhaps even be intimately close with. She had tried to envision what it would be like to be close to him, physically and emotionally, tried to be honest with herself on whether she could learn to love Hank more than a close friend, pictured if she and Hank could share a life together that was more than mere teammates and co-workers.

She couldn't see it.

"And I don't think it will happen, no matter how hard I thought about it. Beast, I'm sorry, but I can't ever feel the same way with you. And I doubt I ever will. I don't think I can ever return the same feelings you do because I don't want to see you in that manner."

The desolation was complete.

There was an awful silence as Hank McCoy just sat there, his eyes glazed and visibly trembling. And Ororo was pained to see that behind the glasses, Hank's eyes were shining under the light. He clumsily jerked his hands off Ororo's, losing his graceful movements, almost as if being burned by something red-hot and searing. He was apparently taking it very, very hard.

Ororo felt a stab of remorse as her expression grew aggrieved. She didn't want to hurt him, and yet what else could she have done?

"You can't accept it, can you, Hank?" Storm asked quietly, echoing Beast's own words. Hank felt so humiliated…

"No, no, no, I can, I can!" Beast said hurriedly, doing his best to smile and trying to not look like a hypocrite, "It's your decision, and I perfectly respect that! I won't begrudge you or anything simply for telling me the truth! I…I…I understand. It just wasn't meant to be, that's all."

And he literally made himself an idiot right in front of her. Oh God, she knew now, and it still didn't do anything except tarnish the friendship and relationship they had. Hank knew he could never look at Ororo the same way again without feeling shame and hurt…

"I…uh….have to go to my lab. I daresay my molarity experiments with the acidic proteins and alien slime molds that Green Lantern acquired for me must be ready by now. I need to go check on them," Hank mumbled awkwardly, his face turning hot underneath his fur as his body clumsily and gawkily, trying to mask the crestfallen look on his face. Storm wasn't fooled as she stood up, trying to placate her friend.

"Hank, please," Ororo said gently, looking at Hank with sympathy and pity (Beast felt his insides curdle even more), "I didn't mean to hurt you, but I respect you better than to lie about something like this."

"I'm not hurt, Ororo," Hank said in a clipped tone, unable to meet the woman's eyes as he slowly ambled on, a bit shaky and unstable in his steps, as if he barely had any strength to maintain walking in a straight line with his back erect. It was clear Hank was lying.

"Hank, please, don't act this way. I still see you as my friend. Hank, please, come back! This shouldn't change things between us. Beast, please, _don't act like this!_" Ororo pleaded with a touch of anger, a bit offended that Beast was putting on such a childish tantrum over this. Can't he see that she was placed in a difficult situation and that she didn't want this?

It was then that Hank lost it, the torment raw and bleeding, as his tolerance and fortitude snapped and he literally bellowed back loudly enough for the entire grounds of the Institute to overhear him.

"**_WHAT THE HELL DID YOU EXPECT TO HAPPEN??!!!_**"

There was a ringing silence once again, the leaves quivering from the wake of the deafening volume as Hank looked startled at first that he couldn't control his fury at being rejected before showing a mixture of shame and resentment. Ororo was taken aback, stunned at the harshness of Hank's retort and upset. This gave Hank the perfect opportunity to walk away, leaving Storm alone with a cold set of tea and cookies. But neither of them noticed that four small figures were watching all of this from the bushes, feeling sorry for both Hank and Ororo.

A golden-furred canine made a sad noise before he ducked back into the bushes along with his companions…

Hank's face was dark and lowered like a bull's, lost in melancholy feelings and running a gamut of extreme emotions, barely noticing where he was going as he came through the front door of the mansion and into the hallway leading to the elevators to take him straight to his lab. To say he was depressed was an understatement.

And unfortunately, things seemed it was going to get a bit worse as the Joe Shipwreck ambled from one of the hallways and nearly stumbled into Hank from one of the conjoining entrances on the right. Weary and bitter, Hank continued to moodily walk away, not even showing any indication that he was taken by surprise or bothered from being bumped into.

"Oof!" uttered the bearded man as he clumsily blundered into the X-Man, nearly losing his balance before he shakily apologized, "Oh, sorry Hank. Didn't see ya – oh yeah! I couldn't find Polly in chuck's office and liquor cabinet. You sure he was there? I looked up and down that joint and there's no hide or feather of that conniving, mangy - !"

Shipwreck then burped and Hank's sharp nose, despite his gloom, caught of whiff of the Professor's malt whiskey. Apparently, Hector took it upon himself to help himself to a sample or two without permission, and the slight tinge in the sailor's cheeks as he covered his mouth was further proof. Still, Beast found it difficult to care. Magneto and the Acolytes could have invaded the grounds, and he would hardly find the drive to even invoke his flight or fight instinct.

He was _that_ depressed. And the look of resigned and clouded grief on Hank's face even tipped off the usually oblivious Shipwreck.

"Hey, what's wrong? You down in the dumps or something?" the Joe soldier asked. Beast twitched, but thankfully, he didn't respond back as he continued to make his way towards the nearest elevator. Although it was difficult with his left temple suddenly throbbing for some reason…

Shipwreck, ever so unaware, just carried on, cocking his head to the side and wondering if he could snap Hank out of his funk.

"Hey, uh…think you would be willing to have a drink or two at Josey's Bar? My treat, ya' big lug, so don't worry about the bill or nothing. Hey, you look like you could use a drink since it's can't hurt - "

"Shipwreck, can you leave me alone? **_Please?_**" The sailor stopped abruptly at the coldness of Hank's tone of voice as Beast pounded on the button console to the elevators. Damn it, why did it take so long to get the damn elevator to the current floor?! And why wasn't Shipwreck going far away?! And underneath the cordial words, one could hear the edgy animalistic tinge underneath like a honed blade. The furry mutant could actually feel the beast bubbling and clawing within him, and Shipwreck unfortunately had the ability to infuriate him like no other person alive (as Xavier and many of the Joes were willing to attest).

"Uh…sure, didn't mean to upset ya', Beast," Shipwreck said slowly before he was suddenly reminded of something and he asked, "Hey, is Stormy here? I was just wondering if now would be a good time to try to keep her company and maybe ask her out for a date again. I mean, she's gotta give in sometime since she's never really - "

That did it. And the fact that Hank was only moments ago shot down by Ororo while she unfairly never grew to be that cruel to an annoying soldier from the army who pestered her, infuriated her, and invaded her privacy and peace of mind at every turn was enough to cause Beast to snap. Hector didn't know how to describe what happened next considering he was still blithely carrying on his sentence, but the only thing he could fully recollect was that he suddenly felt a massive thump into his abdomen and was sent flying by several feet as he crashed on the carpeted floor on his back. It was amazing that Beast was able to close the distance between the two of them before delivering the solid uppercut into Shipwreck's stomach in less than a second.

"Ow…" groaned Shipwreck, feeling his gut go numb, before he spat with affront and shock as he gingerly held his midsection, "Beast, what the hell was that for?!! What in blue blazes – urk!"

Shipwreck was unable to complete his protest with the fact that Hank now grabbed the Joe by the front of his blue Navy shirt and hoisted him in the air, Hector's feet dangling before Beast slammed and pinned the soldier against the wall. Now Shipwreck had a headache and a soon-to-be sore back to go along with the bruising in his stomach. But Hank wasn't done yet as he simply cracked and took out his anger on the Delgado adult.

"I hate you…so much," Beast hissed. God, as much as he hated to admit it, it felt so good to hit Shipwreck.

"Beast, what the hell is your problem?!!" sputtered Shipwreck as he was getting dangerously close to kicking his attacker hard into the face just gain some leverage.

"You won, that's my problem!!" shouted Hank bitterly. Shipwreck blinked, holding Hank's wrists in a frozen position as he stopped squirming from being pinned against the wall and stared at Beast like he was a madman. That made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

"Uh…come again?" asked a very puzzled and lost Shipwreck.

"You won, or at the very least, you're on a better chance with me than Ororo now. And I hate that, the fact that I never did anything to deserve being put in that position. And neither did you," Beast said ruefully, his voice softening but still cheated and wrathful nonetheless, one side of his mouth wet with saliva. He still didn't release his hold on Shipwreck, and the Joe was still utterly confused about what was happening.

"Huh?" Shipwreck asked again, his head swimming from the fact that he still didn't get it.

But then a familiar girl's voice strongly spoke from behind Hank's back.

"Beast, let Daddy go," Quinn commanded with some warning as she stood there with her hands on her hips, her eyes narrowed and blazing with molten steel. Beast and Shipwreck both turned to see the Delgado Triplets along with the Disney hound, Pluto, all looking at the two adults with varying emotions. Daria, Quinn, and Brittany all had a collective look that said something along the lines of "hurt our Dad, and you'll be a favorite target for evil pranking until the day you die", all three of the female adolescents miffed and irate. Pluto however was a bit more considerate and benevolent as he looked at Hank with sorrow and disappointment, his black tail thumping softly on the floor. Unlike Trinity, Pluto could sense that hurt Hank had right now, and it was saddening.

Hank felt humiliated. And it was the dismayed look from Pluto that made him feel the most embarrassed; he didn't want a pity party right of this moment. But he still didn't release his hold on their father, so Daria tried another tactic.

"You know, technically, we could use our Elementa magic on you without any risk of permanent bodily harm," she hinted. Pluto's eyes widened before he glared at Daria who didn't even notice it. Now he certainly know that the King would hardly approve of **that** action. That threat did it as Beast reluctantly and grudgingly relinquished his hold on the sailor and backed off. Shipwreck looked both grateful and cross. While irritably looking at Trinity, Beast again flashed back to Ororo's suggestion of the Yellow Materia; after all, if Trinity was that definite in using their new gifts from Pluto in such a negligent manner…

"How pleasant and diplomatic of you to put your new powers to use in such a responsible manner like dignified adults," Hank couldn't help but acidly retort. It wasn't that he hated Trinity on a principle, but that he was still hurt and was lashing out recklessly at any convenient target.

"To which we respond with: 'pot, kettle, black'," shot back Brittany. Pluto however gave a snort.

"Can someone please tell what the hell is going on here?!" Shipwreck snapped, rubbing his neck impatiently, "Before I lose my mind or my temper?!!"

"Storm dumped Hank after he told her that he loved her," Daria, Quinn, and Brittany all replied in unison brusquely, and Shipwreck then understood while Hank's shame went past the bottom of the proverbial barrel and right into the next barrel underneath. Shipwreck then summed up his feelings after ten seconds of blank thoughts and tongue-tied uncertainty.

"Oh…uh, wow."

"Thank you so very much," grumbled Hank sardonically at the three girls, "Why not tell Jamie and make my mortification complete via MNN?"

"Mr. McCoy, you know we respect you and all, as a scientist and on a lesser extent, as an X-Man, but wow, you're being really overdramatic about this," Daria pointed out with some exasperation.

"Yeah, I mean, this is the stuff you expect to find on a MySpace or a LiveJournal entry from a moody teenager, not from a grown-up, so stop being so moody and quit blaming Daddy. It's not his fault and it's not the end of the world," Brittany added.

Quinn was surprisingly sympathetic in tone as she said, "You've been put down, and it's painful. You have a right to be hurt, no question about that. Rejection always hurts. But you can't blame Daddy for that Storm doesn't want to bone you." (at this, Shipwreck winced considering he_ really_ didn't need to hear the word "bone" come out of his daughter's mouth) "And there's worse ways to get shot down too. You got off easy."

"I suggest you children stay out of matters that you in no way know nothing about!" growled Hank in a feral manner, showing his canines, but Daria, Quinn, and Brittany then shot Hank a look of ice collectively, their backs erect.

"Oh really?" drawled Brittany, her voice frigid.

"Two words, Mr. McCoy: **our mother**…" hissed Quinn with gritted teeth.

The blue-furred mutant adult blinked, actually caught off guard. He then recollected that Mara Delgado left Shipwreck and her children via an ugly divorce, not because they were abusive, but because she wanted a better life in Atlantis. And it was clear from her abandonment of Althea, the Triplets, Claudius, and Shipwreck, she didn't truly miss them or fear about how they were broken from the separation.

"Conveniently forgot, huh?" Daria asked with affront before she cast her eyes downward and added with some wistfulness, "At least Storm didn't really want to hurt you and that she still wants to stay friends."

"She cares enough about your feelings to be as gentle as possible. Be grateful for that," Quinn pointed out.

"Yeah, a lot of times when someone hurts you, they don't really care about how much pain they leave behind as long as they get what they want," Brittany said, exhaling loudly though her nose. God only knew how those memories were still painful…

There was a brief and tense (if not uncomfortable) silence between Beast and Trinity before Hank then contritely but mulishly spoke out to both the Triplets and to their father.

"I'm sorry."

Pluto looked a bit proud to see that. However, then Shipwreck made things worse as he tried to cheer up Hank by opening his mouth thoughtlessly.

"Hey, Hank, apology accepted. And hey, it's not the end of the world or anything, like Brittany said. I mean, Stormy's said no to me a lot of times, and I've never given up, so you're not the only one. You probably still got a chance with her…"

"Uh…Daddy? Storm told Beast that she only wants to _be friends_," clarified Quinn with a grimace, hoping Hector would take a hint and be quiet. Hank looked at the Triplets, alarmed; if they had been eavesdropping, then could they possibly know about the Yellow Materia? Shipwreck meanwhile then visibly flinched at the line Storm told Beast, knowing its hidden meaning.

"Ouch. That's gotta hurt…"

"How long have you been listening to Ororo and I in the gardens?" Beast asked softly, trying to keep his voice controlled, and his heart dropped in relief as Daria, Quinn, and Brittany all expressed guilt and sheepish amusement, but not anger or outrage.

"Uh…well, we wanted to play with Pluto, but we kinda started in on hearing you and Storm talking and how Storm didn't want to tell Evan's parents about him joining the Morlocks behind his back because it would be like betraying his trust and stuff," confessed Daria. Beast felt a wave of reprieve wash over him; so they didn't know about the Materia. That was a close one.

"You were supposed to be with Al and the others to train in the Danger Room with the X-Men and Slayers," scolded Hank.

"We were bored!" all three of the Delgado Triplets shot back, whining.

Shipwreck was still continuing, "Hey, seriously, Hank. So what if she only wants to be friends?! Hell, she still likes you and respects ya'! Besides, there's probably hundreds of women out there who'd love to go out with you, especially since there are a lot of gals with the strange furry thing going for them, like Whitelighter did for Razor! Well, OK, they're gay, but it works both ways! And hey, this shouldn't change anything between you and Stormy! You'll still be ol' pals, and she likes you enough! At least she doesn't zap you like she does with me! And if anything, I'll be glad to keep Stormy company for you since I'm still an open contender! Or at least I _think_ I am since I don't recall even her saying that she didn't want to be friends with me - "

Hank visibly twitched.

"Bad move, Daddy…" winced Brittany as Hank, now livid and past the point of all rationale, lunged and grabbed Hector by the throat, his mouth actually frothing at one corner and her eyes narrowed and hard like steel.

"Eeep," gulped Shipwreck, rasping from the stranglehold around his neck, realizing he may have trampled on Beast's feelings inadvertently one time too many, "Uh…sorry?"

"You're dead, Shipwreck…!!" bellowed Hank as he cocked back his other arm, making a very wince-worthy and gigantic fist, ready to deliver it into the sailor's face. And clearly, unlike previous times where Beast wasn't so raw in emotion or that there was one of the other X-Adults to hold Beast back, this time Hank was murderous.

But before Shipwreck could decide to kick Beast hard just in order to wriggle free or that Trinity and Pluto could even move to prevent Hank from doing something he would regret, thankfully, someone else arbitrated.

"Uh…am I interrupting something?" a familiar voice came out from the flat-screen communications monitor right behind the two, and Shipwreck prayed his thanks to his favorite deity for the good timing as Hank turned to see that a concerned Jake on the plasma-screen, speaking live on the Institute's network using the video signal from the infirmary bay. Hank was left frozen for an instant before he grumbled as he reluctantly set Shipwreck down, unwilling to look bad.

Though internally, he still wanted to punch Shipwreck's lights out.

"Jake this is not a good time right now," Hank said irately, still burning. Jake eyes went grim.

"Fur and paw, Hank, this isn't a social call. The Ghostbusters detected Heartless in Africa. **Right now.** I just finished alerting General Hawk and Xavier, and the Professor asked me to delegate the message to the whole Mansion from Xander while he breaks the news to Storm. Xander just contacted me, and I just spliced his call on the school's transmission signal."

"What?!" Shipwreck blurted out in shock. Trinity snapped to attention as well as Pluto whose ears went straight up with alarm.

"Where are they located?" Quinn asked, and to the six's collective surprise, a sub-screen image appeared at the upper-right corner, superimposed as a dual signal with the main screen containing Jake's face, and they could all see Xander, the eye-patch-toting Scooby looking quite gravely right at them.

"In the plains of the highlands country of Kenya, close to Rift Valley and the city of…Lodwer? Loadwar?" Xander reported before lapsing on the name of the African city. Hank then supplied it helpfully, correcting the young adult.

"It's pronounced Lodwar, Xander. **_Lod-war_**."

"Thanks, Beast. Yeah, Lodwar, and this entire region's being attacked, and from what we could tell, they're moving around in all directions and scattering towards various places all around. But there seems to be a main concentration of attacks in the Rift Valley close to several tribes that aren't really big population wise or tech-wise," Xander stated worriedly.

There was an enormous and powerful rumble of thunder that rang out and resounded with a powerful clap that actually sent faint vibrations throughout the Institute. In fact, it was more like a sonic boom rather than a peal of nature as the entire plethora of sunlight streaming from the windows disappeared from the black, overcast cloudy sky and the flashes of thunder. Everyone except the befuddled Xander winced.

"I think the Professor just told Storm," sighed Daria.

"I don't think she's happy," Quinn added, deadpanned.

"Why? I thought the Professor X told me one time that she lived in Cairo as a kid in Egypt," Xander pointed out.

"But Charles found her when she was acting as a protector and benefactor for an African tribe who worshipped her as a weather-goddess. And that tribe is located in the highlands close to the Rift Valley, so chances are, the Heartless are attacking the community she had protected and loved and cared for since as a young woman," Hank supplicated quietly, raising a few eyebrows as the nearby allies gave him a very odd look. He certainly seemed to know a frightening amount of facts about Storm's life (close to stalking, actually).

"Ah, gotcha," Xander caught on, nodding.

"I already alerted Scott and Marvin and Althea in the Danger Room during their training sessions. Wavedancer told me that the teams will be ready in ten minutes, and the Professor just informed me telepathically that Storm's coming too, no question," Razor said over the intercom.

"What about anyone else who could help us fight them? The League or the Titans? There's gotta be somebody…" Shipwreck asked.

"Negative on that," Jake shook his head, "Mr. Terrific just told me that a lot of the League are still trying to fortify the Watchtower to prevent future Heartless attacks and can't leave it vulnerable and unguarded again like last time. And a bunch of others from the League and the Titans and Titans East are on missions in other countries. And Hawk's already sending the Misfit handlers along with Beach Head to join in. But it still might not be enough."

"Actually, funny you should mention that," Xander finally grinned on the communications screen, "This glorified brick-layer happens to know someone already in Africa who'll be more than happy to kick some Heartless ass…"

---

"About time you showed up, Harris," grumbled Hellboy as Xander appeared with the X-Men, Misfits, and Joes with the Mass Device, teleporting in thin air and shimmering into view right at the designated meeting spot in the African plains. Except for a few trees and a plethora of animals, there were no other people around. The X-Men that decided to come were Storm, Beast, Razor, Cyclops, Jean, Shadowcat, Colossus, Spyke, Sunspot, Magma, Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Jubilee, and Multiple. There was a flash of brown light from Lance's Steel Quartz Keyblade before Simba the Lion King emerged in a haze of brown light, shaking his mane and his ember eyes sparkling with delight as he took in the sun and smells of the prairie lands.

"Simba? What's up?" Avalanche asked, tilting his head to the side.

The lion telepathically said to Lance with an expression of pure joy, _It's…beautiful. It's…I'm not sure to describe it, but my heart feels like it is at home here._

Avalanche chuckled; he assumed that from the Disney movie, the Pride Lands would have a strong resemblance to Africa. Hellboy looked at the Disney lion (and Pluto was alongside Jubilee and Trinity) with one raised eyebrow.

"That's a new one, seeing a Disney character come to life," Hellboy remarked.

The other X-Men and Misfits and Joes blinked at the lost irony of the being's words, taking in the fact that standing before them was a gigantic hulking demon with yellow eyes, red horns shaved down to stubs, and with the muscled physique of a bodybuilder and a right arm and hand made entirely of brown, indestructible rock. And on top of that, he had gigantic hands and feet and a lizard-like tail of red, which was wagging a bit back and forth, and he was wearing a brown trench-coat and a black speedo along with carrying a holster for the giant pistol strapped to his side, his trusty weapon he referred to as the Samaritan.

"Uh…you're not much of a normal person either," Roberto blinked at the strange red person before them.

"We really meet the weirdest people ever since the Heartless started appearing, don't we?" Wolfsbane agreed.

Xander, however, cheerfully went up to Hellboy and gregariously introduced him to the group.

"Aw, don't be scared of Big Red! He's a softy at heart, and he's a good demon! He fights baddies, and he's on our side!! X-Men, Misfits, Joes, meet the king of all asskickers, Hellboy! Hellboy, these guys are the people I've been telling you about! These are the mutants from the X-Men and the Misfits! And those guys are soldiers from G.I. Joe!"

"Nice to meet you, Hellboy. Glad to have an ally to help us destroy," Roadblock said sincerely with a smile as he offered his hand. The red demon raised an eyebrow again before smirking and shaking the machine gunner's hand.

"Hm…you're Roadblock, the one Joe who rhymes a lot, right?" the demon chuckled.

"Xander's been telling stories about us, hasn't he?" Wavedancer asked rhetorically, unnerved and glad for additional allies as she and Cyclops shook hands with the demon, smiling. Though scary, having the red demon around was sort of comforting in a way. Hellboy nodded before he grabbed Xander roughly, wrapping his stone arm around the young man and giving him a hard noogie with his left, faux growling.

"Yeah, but what did I warn you, Harris? Call me 'Big Red' one more time, and I'll shred your comic collection and make you watch. **Including** your mint issue of Captain Archer, number one."

"Ow, you really know how to hurt a guy," Xander winced playfully, trying to fish out of the demon's grip. Meanwhile, Trinity were scanning the highlands with their scanners while Ororo worriedly asked Hellboy the status of the situation.

"Where are they? How bad is it?!" Storm asked, nearly frantic. Hellboy looked grim as he gave his report.

"A lot of victims, most of them Maasai natives whose villages were plundered because they barely have enough defenses to stop the Hellfire monsters sent by those Thirteenth Order goons. Quite a few in Lodwar too, although thankfully I was able to work with the local police to drive them enough away. Damn near used up all my bullets too. There's about four of them wandering around the highlands from what I could see. I tried protecting as many of the nomads as I could and I left them with the local police in the capital of Nakuru, but…I'm sorry, Storm. Over ten bomas have already been wiped out entirely. There's nothing left, and all their hearts have been taken away. The amount of people who got killed is probably somewhere in the hundreds. I'm sorry…"

"No…" Storm wailed softly to herself, holding her elbows and feeling her eyes sting. Razor and Jean both placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort the weather-manipulating comrade while Beast just glared at her and thought that it was actually gratifying and horribly satisfying to watch her heart break like how she'd broken his.

_Glad you know how it feels_, thought Beast darkly in his mind. Pluto, as if he could read Beast's mind, turned and glared at the blue-furred mutant. Hank coldly ignored him; he didn't want to be here and really, he had no idea why the hell the Professor asked him to come instead of Wolverine.

"Trinity, any idea of where they're heading?" Spirit asked.

"We're working on it right now, Spirit," Daria said worriedly as she analyzed the land with her pink scanner, trying to pick up on the Heartless essence in the vicinity, "But the Heartless were so spread out when they first came here, it's hard to pinpoint where they're headed. They pretty much left the whole highlands covered with their footprints! Give us another minute or two!"

"We don't **have** another minute, Trinity!! For goddess' sake, **_work faster_**!! My people are in danger!!" snapped Ororo furiously at the Delgado Triplets, causing many to blink, and Cyclops' voice broke in strongly, surprising a good portion of the Misfits.

"Storm, yelling won't get us anywhere, so calm down and let Trinity concentrate. We can't rush this, and yes, the more we hesitate, the greater the danger, but we need to plan what to do, especially since Michael Lee at the Ghostbusters couldn't pinpoint exactly what the situation is or whether or not anyone else has been infected," Scott rationed calmly.

"Other than the fact that we can only help stop whoever is the lackey of the day from the Organization and do crowd control while the Misfits try to stop the Heartless and end up doing a less than average job while doing it," Amara muttered as she shot a death glare at Pietro who flippantly spoke out loud.

"I'm sorry, does anyone else hear this really annoying, buzzing sound? It's the sound of someone with no real opinion that anyone cares about opening and closing her big mouth!"

"Amara, not now! And Pietro, apologize and concentrate on stopping the Heartless!!" Cover Girl shouted at both of the two teenagers as the female Joe grabbed Amara's wrist before the Nova Roman could deliver a punch to Quicksilver's face.

Brittany then spoke up, "But we can say one thing: the Heartless really have desecrated a major portion of the valley. Not only are a good portion of the farms and the plantations around the area completely ruined or on fire, but many of the animals and the grazing areas for the herds and the animals have been destroyed too. Even if we **do** stop the Heartless, we can't bring back all the dead cattle or reform all the destroyed crops and buildings instantly! The people are going to be in for a rough time even if we stop the Hellfire Heartless!"

"That's right! I forgot! I remember a lot of the people here need farming and crops to survive! No crops, no grass, no cattle, they'll starve…" Xander stated sadly. Roadblock thought for several seconds after hearing this before he turned to Hellboy.

"Did you see any weirdo in a black hood and cloak running around? With so many Heartless here, a soldier from the Organization is probably close to town. And if we know if it's a creep we've tangled with before, then we might be able to guess how to fight whatever powers and magic he or she has in store," the African American Joe versed. Hellboy refrained himself from rolling his yellow eyes; Xander warned that hearing Roadblock speak needed some getting used to…

"Actually, yeah, I ran into one of those black-cloaked punks," the red demon said, rumbling with annoyance, "The little shithead's too much for just me to handle alone, and add the fact that the Heartless were busy killing everyone, I couldn't stop him and his army. Plus, since Harris suddenly called and told me to reconvene here at one of our hangouts in Africa, I felt it would be better to get out while I still could since that dumb guitar player was trying to stop me at all costs. After what the Ghostbusters told me about the Heartless, I wasn't suicidal enough to risk my heart getting taken without some help from these Keyblade wielders."

"Like…_a guitar_??" blinked Shadowcat.

"Yeah, that's how he was able to force me to retreat. The little, smarmy bastard was able to summon and control these weird, queer little drones of water, hundreds of 'em, when he was playing that blue guitar of his. Really annoyed the hell out of me since beings made of water aren't easy things to kill like monsters or anything that's flesh and blood since golems made of water can't be killed or stopped with bullets or a sword."

"Plays music??" blinked Multiple.

"**Water clones**?!!" gasped Jean as she and the other heroes automatically guessed that it was Demyx who was behind the current siege with the Heartless in Africa. And if Hellboy's testimony was accurate, then an additional army of water golems along with four Hellfire experiments wasn't going to be simple.

"Well, at least on the upside, we got plenty of backup. You guys ready to cover us while we deal with the Heartless?" Wavedancer said with encouragement at the X-Men, "We could use the assist, otherwise the Organization crony can just keep us busy with his water magic, and we'll never be able to get at the Hellfire soldiers! Especially since me and Lina'll be useless here."

"Huh? Why?" blinked Cannonball.

"Because it's water magic, so that means me and Wavedancer are out from our Elementa attacks, remember?" Dragonfly reminded them, "We wouldn't be able to stop that water-wielding sitar guy from the Organization because water or ice doesn't stop water, but it adds on to it. We learned that when we fought him to protect the Amazons."

"Which means the X-Men will be able to do more good since a good number of us like Sunspot, Jubilee, Cyclops, or Magma have powers that deal with _heat_, the perfect thing to take out anything liquid," Spyke said, catching on.

"And we'll help out with that Organization asshole too with you X-Men this time. You could use our help more than the Misfits," Beach Head said, hefting his rocket launcher. Colossus gave a miffed look at the army ranger.

"Thanks a lot," Piotr muttered, but Cyclops and Xander shook their heads, seeing the logic.

"It makes sense. Since that Organization warrior can just create hundreds and hundreds of clones with his instrument like he did on Paradise Isle and in New Jersey during the Superstars concert, then he's the greater threat, especially since from what I can remember, he can summon powerful water attacks. And unlike the clones, these Hellfire Heartless can't be duplicated."

"And at least the Organization douchebag and the water clones aren't mutant-power friendly, so twelve Misfits and twelve Keyblades should be able to take out four Hellfire Heartless easily while the rest of us could be more helpful in trying to lessen the water clones and turn up the heat. Concentrate the bigger group on the guy who can create the bigger trouble and all that junk," Xander agreed, looking at it from a pragmatic standpoint.

"Uh…actually, should have corrected you earlier. I already got one of the bastards, so now there's only_ three_," Hellboy smiled sheepishly, but still a bit prideful nonetheless as he showed his broadsword which was stained with black blood, clearly used for a rather gruesome slaying.

"Whoa! You took out one by yourself **_already_**?!!" Jubilee asked.

"He's good, yo!" gulped Toad, "And he don't got a Keyblade!"

"That's the Hellboy I know! Always has to be the first in line to kill a few baddies!" Xander couldn't help but tease and rib mercilessly. Meanwhile, Storm was on pins and needles in anxiety as Trinity then had their scanners pick up something definite.

"We got a reading!" Quinn yelled, "All three of the surviving Heartless are heading towards the areas and villages close to Lake Turkana, around the mouth of the river, Kerio!! And there's a big colony of natives there too!"

"No…" Ororo gasped, white as a sheet. Of all the places they _had_ to destroy…

"Huh? Storm, what's wrong?" Low Light asked, but Spyke answered for the Joe sniper bleakly.

"That's Auntie O's town where she used to live as a weather-goddess. It was the same land where the Hungan and that Nirambo guy come from when Auntie O got kidnapped and nearly got her powers stolen," Spyke answered with dread.

"I like remember that! That was when we had to fight all those weird African guys at the docks and who like completely disappeared in this air and junk when we like got Storm back!" Shadowcat gasped.

"Well, let's get goin', yo!! Give me strength!! Genie, help us out! Take us to where the Heartless are, yo!" yelled Toad eagerly, holding up his orange and green Amphibionian, and with a flurry of sparks and multicolored smoke, the blue djinn popped out before winking slyly at the group and wiggling his fingers as his face magically transformed into a greyhound's while dressing himself in a dark-blue train conductor's uniform.

"All aboard…the Genie Grayhound Express!! Choo-choo!" crowed the Disney spellcaster, hooting like a locomotive train whistle, blowing out white puffs of steam.

"**Will you just hurry up?!!**" snapped Storm, now coming absolutely close to frying the life out of Genie. She was not in the mood for any humor whatsoever.

"Testy, aren't you?" Genie sniffed sourly before he simply snapped his fingers and teleported all of the Joes, X-Men, Misfits, Xander, and Hellboy into complete chaos, right in the center of a near demolished and rampaged town with hundreds of screaming women and children fleeing. Indeed, unlike Storm's memories of it being a peaceful rural community of wooden sturdy shacks, beautiful scenery, and plenty of crops and fresh springs, it was now reduced to broken, splintered ruins consumed with flames, tramples down vegetables, torn up earth, and a dead cow or two. And all along the village grounds, amongst the terrorized natives who were doing their best to flee from the remaining three Heartless who were grabbing and electrocuting any human it could see and reach, was Demyx and fifty or so duplicates of clear liquid smashing and holding captives hostage so that they would be easy targets for the black monsters.

"Jean, pick me up with your telekinesis and throw me at that asshole! I just need one clear shot!" Low Light hissed as low as he could to the red-haired X-Girl while transforming his body into pure adamantium. And without even a moment's hesitation, Jean narrowed her eyes and effectively hurled Low Light in the air, streaking him towards Demyx as straight as an arrow, trusting Cooper's judgment completely. And it would have worked too if Demyx was actually as incompetent as many assumed to be. As if alerted by a sixth sense, the black-clad young male turned and surprisingly gripped the end of his sitar like a baseball bat and swung at the last second. Undaunted and feeling confident with having the atomic structure of adamantium, Low Light just cocked back his fist and punched out with his metal arm as hard as he could at Demyx's incoming swing. If he can't get the mullet-headed dipstick, then breaking his guitar would be just as well since it controlled the liquid soldiers under his control.

WHAM!!

Low Light screamed in pain, his wrist and hand at an odd angle (even in metal form) as he was sent flying backwards from colliding into the heavy end of the musical instrument before crashing on the ground on his back, leaving a deep trench as he skidded to a stop.

"Cooper!" yelled Courtney before she and the other X-Men charged, with Cover Girl firing several rounds from laser rifle at Demyx who dodged them easily.

"So much for the element of surprise," Sunspot muttered before he flung his arms outward, absorbing the sun's power radiating from the sky and going into his energy mode, his body outlines with black sunspots and orange solar radiation.

"At least we'll get him on the defensive!!" Cyclops roared, using his optic blasts to mow down a group of water replicas, expertly aiming it so that the red beams destroyed and evaporated the liquid soldiers without harming any of the civilians, "Guard each others backs! Don't let them divide us!!"

"Misfits, yo Joe!!" yelled Avalanche, smoothly mounting on Simba's furry back in one fluid motion as Simba let loose a booming roar, sending quite a few clones to scurry back from the powerful energy of the sonic waves tearing at them.

"Oh no, you don't!! I'm not that stupid to leave them helpless!! Heartless, waste this boring town!! Meanwhile…**_dance, water, dance!!!_**" Demyx yelled with a flourish as he strummed the strings of his sitar, and instantly, more and more beings of water emerged from the ground, forming everywhere and surrounding the heroes. And in addition to a massive wall of water guarding the backs of the three generic Hellfire Heartless, a massive barrage of gigantic globules of water, each the size of a beach ball and weighing pound-wise in the hundreds, flew towards at them, intent on slamming and bludgeoning the Misfits particularly in a very painful manner.

Wanda thankfully acted faster.

"Fira Crimson Whirlwind!" she yelled, twirling and bit, and a cyclone of red flames surged forward, immediately evaporating all the water before it could crush them and effectively heating all the water drones in a fury of Fira magic, causing all of them to shriek before they all died. This left a noticeable gap in the barricade of water that was blocking them from the Hellfire Heartless. Demyx, undaunted, began to form more by playing a few notes, already intent on subduing the mutants and their allies and seeing that the more clones provided a better resistance.

"Crud!! He's forming more of 'em!" Blob groaned.

"Forget that!! **Move, move, move!!** While we still got an opening!!" yelled Avalanche as he barreled past the quickly closing gap, riding on his Disney summon with the lion roaring. As one, the Misfits ran, Keyblades swinging and ready to stop the three Heartless from grabbing the other citizens. Nirambo, the village elder who sided with Storm and warned her about the Hungan's incoming ambush in the past, was busy trying to selflessly guide many of his fellow people away and have them scurry for cover and for a safe distance out in the wide plains.

"Run, everyone!! Let Ororo and her friends fight!! Run to safety and do not look back!!" the village elder cried out, only to instantly be tackled and pinned by two water clones, the two of them instantly wrapping Nirmabo's torso and waist with highly pressurized water that formed into tentacles, keeping the man still. The water was so violently forceful that Nirambo couldn't even squirm free from the frothing arms of fluid.

"Heartless, get the old geezer and the rest of the villagers!" chortled Demyx as he strummed his sitar again, creating more and more waves of soldiers to overwhelm and delay the heroes, now starting to have the inspiration to quickly cause multiple geysers of powerful bursts of water to erupt from below, sending many of the Joes and X-Men flying.

"Yeow!! We're gonna get wrecked!! Bullets have absolutely zero effect!!" roared Roadblock in worry as he fired from his machine gun, only to have the bullets completely pass through the copies.

"Not to worry!! Flamethrowers do!" Spirit yelled as he and Bree both emerged on both sides of Marvin and let loose a gigantic inferno of fire laced with butane, causing the combatants to shriek inhumanly as they perished in the firestorm and evaporated. And judging from the gigantic metal canisters strapped to their backs, both Bree and Spirit apparently had enough fuel for their flamethrowers for a good while. Demyx scowled in frustration as he summoned more water clones while the Heartless continued their carnage and bloodbath, the skies still peppered with numerous hearts flying upwards as the natives below died screaming before having their bodies disintegrate, with some of the X-Men and Joes doing their best to get the civilians out of harm's way. Suddenly, Demyx found himself under siege from the target of harsh winds, powerful enough to rival a tornado, and thunder flashed and tore across the sky. Storm was absolutely apoplectic as she attacked the Organization soldier, trying to fry him and tear him apart.

"**_You. Leave. These. People. Alone!!!_**" finished Ororo with a scream, throwing everything she could at Demyx who was a lot more effective and adept as he blocked the shafts of lightning with his weapon and didn't seem to be too much in pain from the winds ripping at his cloak and body (though it was uncomfortable) before Storm yelled as best as she could to the nearest X-Man next to her, which unfortunately, was Beast.

"Beast, save Nirambo, hurry!"

"I'm busy right now!!!" snapped Hank heatedly as he grabbed two children out of the path of one Heartless' claws, although he was still bitter from Ororo brushing him off and shooting him down earlier, and despite his rationale and his brain wisely telling him to leave his emotions out of the battle, Beast suddenly found himself not caring the slightest over Storm's plight and wishing he had never even come in the first place. In fact, he could angrily say that he hated Ororo right then and there. He would have gladly loved to tell her where to stick her plea.

And unfortunately, in his anger, Beast appeared to not even notice that he was drifting further and further away from Ororo, leaving her more and more isolated, which was exactly what Scott earlier had warned the teams to **not** do…

Meanwhile, the Misfits were having problems of their own. This particular bunch of Hellfire Heartless was extremely difficult, almost as if having not only a dramatic increase in agility and raw force, but they actually seemed to anticipate and be wary of the attacks from the Keyblades and the Elementa magic, as if they weren't mindless at all for once (or at the very least had good instincts).

"Blizzaga Arctic Requiem!!" shouted Dragonfly, but she was flabbergasted when each and every one of her ice streams completely missed the Heartless by a wide berth as they hurriedly dashed and moved in a wild pattern, making them difficult to even hit.

"They're getting smarter!! It's nearly impossible to hit these guys!" cried out Quinn as she and her sisters blitzed one Heartless together with their pink Keyblades.

"Give me strength!! Bambi, recharge our magic!!" yelled Xi, acrobatically summoning his Keyblade, and with a simple flick and flash of light and rose petals, Bambi came bounding out of nowhere, dropping mana orbs instantly he touched the ground.

"Tinkerbell, you too!! Give me strength!!" Whitelighter yelled, and with a flash of yellow pixie dust, Tinkerbell flew all around the field before making a beeline towards the injured Low Light and touched his broken hand, mending the fracture and healing it in a matter of seconds.

"Thanks, Tink…" the Joe sniper managed to breath out with relief before transforming his body into an actual being of flame and fire, similar to Amara's magma mode, before he began shooting small streams of concentrated heat at the Heartless, the attacks being quite effective as Cover Girl managed to blast a few into nothing but droplets by throwing a few grenades at one particular group.

"They're fast!! They can even dodge Genie's spells and our magic!!" yelped Avalanche as Simba narrowly avoided a clawed arm which allowed Lance to hack it cleanly off with one swift stroke from his Keyblade.

"We'll exhaust ourselves at this rate!" Wavedancer realized as she adroitly leapt high in the air and avoided a Heartless' swipe, contemplating on using her scepter since, thankfully, no one was infected yet.

"Not to worry!" scoffed Pietro as he ran by, effectively hacking one Heartless' leg off and causing it to stumble, "As long as our cutesy Bambi's out, we've got nothing to worry about!"

Unfortunately, at that moment, the deer fawn and the fairy were immediately trapped as water instantly appeared and engulfed them without a moment's warning, trapping them in unbreakable globes of fluid. The two Disney summons were now trapped, and more importantly, couldn't even breathe. Tinkerbell was already limp in her orb, unconscious, while Bambi was struggling and writhing madly to escape.

"You were saying?" Scarlet Witch growled in a deadly whisper, and the albino Misfit gulped.

"Ok, we may have a _little_ problem now…" he admitted, wincing.

"Uh…kids?" Genie said with growing apprehension and dawning horror as he tried zapping the balls of water, hoping to free his comrades, only to find that his spells weren't having much of an effect and certainly didn't even cause them to burst, "We have a problem!! This guy's pretty powerful if not even my powers can cause this to break apart! **I can't get them out!!**"

"**_No!!!_**" wailed Xi and Whitelighter in horror.

"All for one…!"

"…and one for all!"

"Trinity Limit!" cried out Daria, Quinn, and Brittany as they brought their Trichrona Keyblades together, only to discover that their combined Keyblade attack had little effect. The water prisons still held fast, merely rippling slightly from the flash of pink-colored energy.

"OK, new game plan! We need to think of something fast, or we'll all screwed!!" gulped Daria.

"We can't do any good if we use up all our magic though! What else is…?!" Brittany yelped before she trailed off, and as one, upon the same instant of realization, she and her sisters turned to Pluto who was standing right next to them. And since all the other Misfits and Joes were too busy fighting and saving the villagers, the Triplets were the only ones who were contemplating the idea…

Regrettably, the Misfits' combined effort was still not enough as the three Heartless then let loose a gigantic, collective blast of black lightning that completely engulfed a good portion of the highlands before them. And though thankfully, the Misfits were able to stop the attacks with their Keyblades and with Genie's magic along with the attacks missing the X-Men, Joes, Xander and Hellboy completely, the villagers were not so lucky.

"Ororo!!" cried out Nirambo is pain before he was struck down and his body disintegrated, vanishing into ethereal dust and ashes before everyone's eyes.

"Damn!" Xander cursed as he and Hellboy saw this while trying to offer as much cover as they could, with Xander

"**You monster!**" screeched Storm at Demyx as Nirambo's heart flew upwards towards the sky and vanished along with the others that were lost, floating to the unknown destinations of the Organization's stronghold. She then tried to summon a gigantic flash of lightning with her hands in order to fry her enemy where he was standing, but he easily dodged it.

"Beast, help me take him down!!" Storm cried out, but then she was bothered and bewildered when no one answered her. She looked around, only to see that no one was with her, that she was practically facing Demyx by herself, and that Hank was busy trying to fight his way past three water foot-soldiers by himself with a series of punches and acrobatic kicks, only to not have them be very effective.

"Hank!!" Storm yelled over her X-communicator while taking to the sky, "Stop!! Don't go off by yourself! We have to stop the Organization miscreant, and I can't fight him by myself!!"

"**_Will. You. Leave. Me. Alone. And. SHUT. UP??!!!_**" roared Hank, each word arctic and hostile as he actually started becoming more violent and unhinged in his punches, his teeth grit.

"Beast, stop or else you'll be killed!!" Storm yelled as she narrowly dodged a burst of water sent by Demyx followed by another shaft of black lightning from a Hellfire monster trying to shoot her down.

"As if you cared!!" returned back the furry mutant harshly. Storm didn't know whether to be shocked, angry, ashamed, or all three of the above. But then Hank was so angry and full of frustration that he wasn't paying close attention to his surroundings as another Hellfire monster that managed to evade the Misfits' attempt to kill it aimed and stretched out its arm towards Hank McCoy.

"Watch out!!" yelled Ororo as she swooped down and, with her upper body muscles and arms screaming from the effort, caught Beast by gripping him underneath the arms and carrying him as best as she could away from the clones trying to beat him to death. Unfortunately…

"Aaaahhh!!" Storm screamed in pain as she was so busy trying to rescue Hank, she couldn't defend herself as Demyx jumped up and tackled her from behind before with a quick movement, he pushed the fleshy gray Heartless pod that Dr. Hamilton designed for him into Ororo's body, right between her shoulder blades. So wracked with agony, Storm lost her will and strength as she and Hank crashed to the ground (thankfully, they weren't too high up) before she curdled into a fetal position and screamed long and hard as the spore began to eat away at her, inside out.

"No…" Beast gasped, beside himself with terror and dismayed, his eyes wide, as he temporarily forgot his grudge and rushed to Storm's side. Yes, he was still angry and yes he was bitter and hated how Ororo brushed him off, but he didn't want this to happen!

"Hank…get away…" Storm wept with pain as her eyes began to turn yellow as Demyx cackled while summoning more clones and an additional Hellfire experiment to boot. Now Hank was surrounded by water clones while the black-skinned monster was charging towards the X-Man, ready to kill him and steal his heart.

"Lumiga…Mark of the Sun!" Whitelighter yelled, flinging out a single emblem of gold. And to Demyx's amazement, all the clones paused as a good portion of the water figures had several flashes of yellow dart past each and every one of them before a single symbol of a shining sun emerged of each of them, heating the water instantly and causing all the clones to fall apart, forming nothing but puddles on the ground.

Toad whistled at the destruction as he praised while he, Xander, and Spyke rushed to Beast's side, "Dang, yo! Looks like light is another element that can damage water!"

"And we've got this one covered!! Beast, get the hell out of there!" Hellboy yelled as he flew in the air, thankfully carried by his rock-arm by a powered Sunspot, strong enough to carry the heavy, muscle-bound demon and Hellboy's ability to be fireproof and withstand insane amounts of heat made him able to endure being carried by Roberto in his radiation mode. And in Hellboy's free hand was a sword, perfect and more capable of killing than his Samaritan gun. The Heartless roared before it fired several bursts of black lightning, but Roberto was well trained by Logan's sessions in the Danger Room, and carrying a heavy demon did little to hinder that. With controlled bouts of speed and leaning hard to the left and right, Roberto managed to keep his head cool as he flew in a disoriented and unmethodical pattern, making it difficult for the Heartless to hit him and Hellboy. Up and down, left and right, but flying in a restricted and swift pace so that Hellboy wouldn't be jostled.

"Doing good, Sunspot!" yelled Hellboy encouragingly as they dodged another black shaft of lightning, "Take me to the head!! It's the weak point! Fly close to the head!!"

"On it!!" Sunspot responded as they both flew towards the inhuman creature. The Heartless appeared to prepare itself to dodge until Xander, without warning, fired a huge missile from his glovatrix directly at the Heartless' face, and the monster didn't even anticipate a third party joining in the fight until the projectile discharged into its face.

_Kersplatt!_ The Heartless instantly forgot dodging or attempting to claw and swat Hellboy and Roberto with its arms as its face, nose, and eyes were completely covered with glue thanks to the payload of the rocket the Scooby fired in order to distract and stall the Heartless into being an easy target. Hellboy's eyes narrowed as he hefted his broadsword and swung.

Slash!

"And the glorified brick layer picks up the spare!" cheered Xander as the Heartless' head toppled off its shoulders and fell heavily to the ground as with one ferocious swoop, Hellboy decapitated the ogre.

"Harris, what the blazes are you doing?! Get out of there!!" Hellboy snapped.

"I'm not leaving her!!" yelled Spyke before more and more water clones began to form all around them, and Genie immediately swooped down and grabbed all four of them before flying off, worried for his Keyblade wielder's safety while Roberto picked up Hellboy by his rock-arm again and flew off.

"Pull back, you guys!!" yelled Scarlet Witch in warning as she could see that more and more clones were starting to encircle them, as far as the eye could see, "There's too many!!"

"And we've mostly used up all our magic!!" gulped Toad.

"Dance, water, dance!!" yelled Demyx, laughing as more and more clones appeared by the thousands, the brown highlands of dirt and grass now flooded completely with water duplicates intent on pummeling and pounding their opponents into mush.

"You need to get a better catch-phrase, loser!!" snarled Magma as she invoked a small but powerful eruption of lava to crack and spout out from the ground below, wrecking a few surviving shacks and tearing up the earth in the process, as she manipulated the molten rock exposed at the surface to surge and wash against Demyx's magic. Though a good portion of the drones perished from the touch of the lava, there were still too many.

"At least I got a new Heartless out of it, X-Girl!" Demyx said offhandedly as he indicated with his head at the transformed Ororo.

"No!! **_Auntie O!!!_**" screamed Spyke, horrified at the final transformation.

"Oh my stars and garters…" Beast said, quivering under his fur. Storm's Heartless was strangely beautiful and majestic in a way. The Heartless experiment looked like a human woman wearing a white hooded cape and cloak over a long, exquisite white satin gown, flowing in currents of wind. And the woman's face was hidden under the shadows of the hood, the only thing apparent was the pair of yellow glowing eyes. In the being's hands was a bronze quarter-staff, at the tip of it was the black-and-red crossed out thorny heart and a golden lightning bolt. And also instantly as Storm's Heartless appeared, a massive collection of black clouds, black as ink, rumbled and formed above, causing nearly a total eclipse of sunlight for the battlefield.

And they were unlike any storm clouds any of the mutants or the Joes had ever witnessed before. It actually made one's bones shiver from the cold air they generated.

"Evan, stop!!" yelled Amara as she grabbed at Spyke's arm before he could fire a volley of fire bone-stakes, "She's a Hellfire Heartless now!! We can't take her out with mutant powers, remember?! You need _magic_ to weaken a Hellfire Heartless!! Or something that isn't a mutant ability!!"

"And that's our cue!! Everyone, FIRE!!" Xander yelled as he, Jake, Roberto, Kitty, Colossus, Sam, and an army of Jamie clones all took aim with their glovatrixes and fired a volley of missiles and projectiles at Storm. But to everyone's shock, the feminine Heartless ascended to the sky in a blink of an eye, almost as if one with the wind and air itself, flying smoothly and avoiding each and every projectile and missile fired at it gracefully, its movements wraithlike. Once in the sky, with the two surviving Heartless firing black lighting at the collected heroes, the white-clad wind-rider Heartless twirled its staff before the black clouds above instantly released a torrent of lightning, red, blue, and purple, a plethora of colors with lethal intensities as they struck the ground and headed towards the heroes.

"Shoot!! Scatter!!" yelled Beach Head as he grabbed Bree and fled out of the path of the energy raining down from the sky. But it was apparent that this was no ordinary lightning. Each time a shaft struck precariously close to the ground, it caused an explosion of fire. In fact, each burst caused a wave of flames to travel in a circular pattern, each scorched crater developed from the lightning. And the explosions created a powerful backlash as Wolfsbane found herself dangerously close to one.

"Kitten, watch it!!" roared Razor as he flew past her, using a grappling wire to snare himself towards Colossus who grabbed the lifeline and pulled, giving the kat enough momentum to zoom past and grab Rahne out of the way of the firestorm.

"Thanks, Jake!" gasped Rahne, holding on to the kat tightly around the waist as they managed to reconvene with the others, all reunited as a group while being surrounded by an endless supply of water clones. Razor grinned impishly.

"Quit chasing me and chewing on my tail at every chance you get, and we'll call it even, kitten," the ex-SWAT Kat chuckled as he set Wolfsbane down.

"I promise I'll _try_. But stop calling me 'kitten'. That's actually insulting to me," Rahne smirked as she primed her green and red glovatrix of her own, one that Jake recently created for her despite needing his tail to be bandaged and medicated from the bite marks she gave him in dog form (a testament to Jake's grace).

"Would you rather I call you 'pup'?" Jake asked wryly as he readied his glovatrix.

"If you can, please."

"**_FIRE!!!_**" they both roared as each of them delivered two Semtex missiles into the face of the incoming Hellfire experiment, and the monster roared as the projectiles came too fast for it to dodge during its sprint. With a messy explosion, the Heartless actually had a gaping hole cleanly gouged through its face, leaving nothing more that a geyser of matter, stringy flesh and black blood. This enabled Dragonfly and Blob to act as one, brandishing their Keyblades as they charged.

"Sonic Blade!"

"Ars Arcanum!"

The Heartless, despite having one foot and one arm lopped off, snarled with bloodthirsty ire as it tried to swat Lina and Fred. Thankfully, Dumbo swooped down and carried them out of the path right before the Heartless could claw them, leaving it to strike empty ground.

"These things won't go down easily!! And now Storm's a Heartless too! We're really in trouble now!!" Fred groaned as Dumbo set him down.

And it was going to get worse as the Heartless that was once Ororo descended back to the ground before raising its staff to the black clouds overhead again, an audible, buzzing click being heard as the lightning-symbol on the rod began to glow in a demonic red before flickering once. Instantly, the magical clouds above began to rumble and release torrents of water. But it wasn't harmless rain drops in the least bit…

"Watch it, you guys!!" cried out Avalanche as he summoned an outcropping of earth to appear via his mutant terra-forming to cover himself, Spirit, Mushu, and Scarlet Witch, "This stuff's painful!! It just made holes in my uniform!!"

"**Ah, holy shit!!! It hurts like hell!!!**" hollered Hellboy in pain, instantly forgetting the fighting as he dropped his sword and Samaritan and curled into a fetal position in extreme pain, desperately trying to rub off the bile running down his skin as it left popping blisters and welts on his tough hide. Beast then guessed why.

"It's acid rain!! Storm's Heartless' can make _acid rain_!!" Hank gasped.

"Oh great, as if the lightning wasn't bad enough!!" groaned Colossus.

"And it gets worse!" Blind Master yelled, hearing the screams and wails of agony with his sensitive hearing as hearts in the distance and horizon from neighboring cities and native villages began appearing in the sky.

"By the Great Spirit!" Spirit cursed, "The acid rain!! It's not just us that it's hitting!! It's getting everywhere! And killing as many people as it can in the other towns! Storm's Heartless must be causing it to rain throughout all of Rift Valley!!"

"I didn't mean to…it's not my fault…" Beast murmured to himself in shock, too dejected and dispirited to even fight as he squatted on his knees.

"Aeroga Guardian Hurricane!" yelled Pietro, flinging out a hand, and thankfully, the cyclone of silver air that emerged acted as a protective bubble and shielded everyone. But regrettably, there were still thousands of clones all around them as well as Demyx and the two generic Heartless going about.

"Uh…Al…" gulped Shipwreck as he uselessly fired from his dual Desert Eagles, unfortunately having very little effect as the bullets zoomed right through the liquid adversaries.

Wavedancer's face was white as she yelled before she tilted her head to the side to avoid one clone's punch, "Sorry, but I can't control this much water!! He's made too many clones!!"

"And the individual from the Organization's still got Bambi and Tinkerbell!! We can't heal or recharge!! _Hiya!_" yelled Xi worriedly as he skillfully decapitated the head of one water doppelganger as he acrobatically leapt over it with his Rainforest Scale. Shuddering, the opponent died, falling apart into nothing but a puddle.

"And there's too many!! Not even **I** can create enough to at least even the odds!! For each one I make, this guy creates ten or twenty!!" Multiple cried as another clone of his got mercilessly battered back and forth by a rather vicious water-drone which was using an arm shaped like a sledgehammer to pound the mutant doppelganger.

Jubilee was shrieking with rage along with Amara as the two of them, back to back, were tossing as many fireballs and surges of multicolored plasma energy, but it was still too numerous and they were very close to getting completely overrun and swamped. Desperate, Jubilee tried a tactic that actually served her well in the Danger Room in numerous occasions as she built up all the plasma energy in both hands as she could, her head buzzing from the effort. With a snarl, she flung it at the ground in front of a large group of clones, and there was a tremendous series of _paf_-noises and popping before the fireworks-like energy consumed and cleared out a good portion of the water drones with the explosion of multicolored energy.

"It's still not enough!" Colossus groaned as he vainly tried to punch out a water-being's head.

"And like my glovatrix is nearly empty!!" moaned Shadowcat in worry as she realized she was on her last cache of missiles.

"Hee hee hee!" cackled Demyx, wasting and concentrating all his strength on replenishing his clones, "This is great!! I got 'em now!! I wonder why I never tried creating this many clones before! It's certainly great enough!! There's nothing that could go wrong!!"

"Get…off…my…back!!!" roared Sunspot as he kept blasting clones over and over with bursts of powerful sun radiation, the black and yellow streams of heat zipping and streaming across the lands and heating and searing many clones in half. But it was pretty much useless as Roberto was using up all his energy, bit by bit, regardless of how much sunlight he was absorbing.

"We'll have to retreat, then!!" Cyclops decided, "We can concentrate on escaping first and then regrouping with more allies later!! Toad, get Genie to take us out of here!! Now!!!"

"Little busy here, Cyclops!!" snapped Genie as he tried to block as much of the lightning as he could by magically transforming into a lightning rod and absorbing the thundering energy showering down on the wind-shield Quicksilver invoked, weakening it bit by bit. And it wasn't going to last forever…

"Uh…problem, we can't!!" Daria yelled over her communicators as she looked at her beeping scanner, "There's another force-field on the field! That guy must have created one while we were fighting!! We can't get out as long as it's on here!!"

"Crap! We're gonna die!! We are so screwed!!" wailed Pietro.

"Pietro, you're really not helping…" growled Jean as she telekinetically picked up as many drones as she could before flinging them away, smashing them against the dirt.

"And we're running low on magic!! We need time to recharge! Thundaga Blitzclap Pressure!!" Toad yelled as he used his precious one-time spell to blast back one Heartless before it could try to blitz the wind-spell around them. Sadly, it took the attack full-on before recovering and trying again.

Things were looking bleak.

Beast was still crushed as he kept muttering to himself in pity. Until he suddenly snapped to attention when he found himself face to face with an annoyed Pluto, staring into his eyes with great irritation.

Pluto glared at Beast, growling angrily. All of a sudden, though he had idea why or how, the stern and reprimanding look from the golden hound reminded Hank what he said earlier in the day to Ororo not too long ago…

_I'm always here for you, Ororo, should you need me_.

"I…I…"

Beast paused before he admitted privately.

"I was just so angry…I didn't mean it…I didn't want this…"

Pluto glare softened as he made a sympathetic noise, cocking his head to the side. Despite the foolishness of Beast's grudge and bitterness, it certainly was wrong to condemn Beast simply because he felt hurt and wounded inwardly.

Trinity then softly spoke up from behind, startling Hank, as they actually stopped fighting, addressing the golden-furred hound.

"Pluto, I think…" Daria paused before she chose her words carefully, making sure that she and her sisters didn't incriminate themselves on their decision to temporarily surrender their magic.

"He just needs a chance to make amends. He's not a bad person. He's just hurt," the girl finished quietly. Pluto carefully scrutinized the three Delgado Triplets before turning to Beast who then pleaded.

"I just want Ororo back. I just want Ororo alive again! Please!!" Hank beseeched in a distressed and despairing tone. Pluto blinked before his eyes went soft. Beast didn't know it, but he was beginning to understand that Ororo's life meant much, much more than his unrequited love for her.

With that, Pluto's eyes began to glow and Trinity gasped in awe as Hank, his eyes so wide they were like saucers, felt the sudden, exhilarating feel of something warm and uplifting flow into him, rejuvenating his body as Daria, Quinn, and Brittany felt the essence leave theirs, resulting in a strange hollowness. And on Beast's forehead was the pink symbol of time.

"Pink?" Brittany asked.

"Stopra magic…" Daria realized out loud.

"Cool!" marveled Quinn.

"Oh my stars and garters…" Hank said in a hushed tone of voice, "Pluto? You…did you - ?"

Pluto nodded, barking positively once. Beast felt his face burn, mortified and feeling guilty.

"I didn't deserve it…" Hank said, touched and sorry.

Pluto raised one eyebrow sardonically in a dry manner as he cocked his head and looked at Beast, as if to say, "That's the point, stupid." Beast then felt a small hand touch his shoulder, and the adult looked to see Daria, Quinn, and Brittany behind him, all three of them concerned but grim and uncharacteristically serious.

"Now's not the time, Mr. McCoy. Either help Storm now or else we're all done for. We can't hold it up much longer!" Quinn urged desperately.

Then Beast pondered a bit.

"Really, now, Pluto. _Pink??_ You gave me pink-colored magic? Wouldn't blue be a bit more suitable?" he asked in a wry tone. Pluto angrily snorted at him with a touch of exasperation.

"Hey, it takes a **real** man to wear pink, Beast," giggled Quinn. Beast nodded wearily at the quip before he got to his feet, his stomach in knots and his skin crawling with dread, but he forced himself to be strong for Ororo and everyone's sake.

_Hank, please, don't act this way. I still see you as my friend_, Ororo's words from earlier in the garden echoed in his mind.

"STOPRA…!" roared Hank, holding out a hand, palm upwards, and instantly, he felt the most magnificent tingling of exhilarating power as his senses, for a prolonged moment, were acute to the point of actually feeling…well, unhinged in time. It was as if all reality and moment was a churning river, and yet Beast being in the middle of it, the movement slowed down into a crawl, with the furry X-Man able to sense and see every fabric of the world all around him, as if he was a single stone in the rapids of physical and universal law. To his surprise, a large symbol of an atom, complete with the nucleus and the electron orbital, began to materialize and glow in his hand, shining brighter by the second.

"COLD…!" Beast continued, now extending his arm straight and pointing it to the side. Instantly, the pictogram of the atom flashed once, nearly blinding everyone, before the winds began to pick up and cyclone into Hank's paw. And all around him, emerging and channeling into his hand, was a flurry of pink pinpricks of light, so tiny they were like glowing dust-specks of pink fire. And as Daria, Quinn, and Brittany soon realized on their scanners, what it was were billions upon billions of atoms fusing together under Beast's magic and releasing nuclear energy, each one a drop in a soon to be massively-filled bucket.

"Whoa!!" Daria gasped, seeing the energy readings of the magic going off the charts, "This magic's powerful!! All this nuclear fusion energy's building up!! It's even more powerful than our Trinity Limit move!"

"Everyone, get clear!! Beast's gonna kick some _major_ Organization ass!!" yelled Quinn in warning, and Demyx's eyes widened in shock as all the heroes scattered and ducked (as best as they could while being surrounded by the water clones) upon the girl's words, too late spotting the assemblage of atoms gathering into the sigil in the mutant's hand, the wave of time-magic building and looming, like a tidal wave.

"Oh shoot," gulped Demyx as Beast finished his spell, bringing his hands together.

"…TIME FUSION!!!" he roared, all the miniature fusions converging at once, creating a gigantic flash of pink magic, before Beast simply separated his hands and immediately at once, there was a gigantic, enormous explosion of time energy.

Beast, by all definition, had created a supernova.

"Whoa!! Cool!! Awesome!! Totally fantastic!! And all the other words in between!!" cheered Genie as he and the other heroes watched on in shock as the time spell had absolutely no effect on them while it automatically engulfed the entire village and surrounding highlands around them, spanning more than a quarter-mile radius, all encased in a hemisphere of energy.

"Hey!!" Roberto gasped, running his hands up and down his body to ensure that he wasn't being incinerated to death, "That magic spell!! Beast's magic doesn't hurt us!!"

"Yeah, but it's hurtin' that tone-deaf city-slicker and his lackeys!" laughed Cannonball with a large amount of satisfaction as the water clones and the two surviving Hellfire Heartless were completely destroyed, the power and concentration of the nuclear energy splitting them all by their very atomic makeup, disintegrating them before their very eyes and vaporizing into quarks and useless particles. And the weather-changing Heartless was flung violently to the ground before its scepter cracked, leaving a trail of white luminescence, before shattering to miniscule pieces, unable to withstand Beast's magic.

And Demyx was no better as he was taken completely by surprise and overwhelmed, the time fusion spell ravaging his body. Apparently, with all his strength concentrating on his magic and creating the clones, it left him drained enough so that his defenses and vigor was drastically depleted.

"Oh yeah…**now** I remember why I don't make a lot of clones in the first place…" coughed Demyx as he sank to his knees, drained and injured. Apparently, foresight was not a strong point in the man's abilities…

"Tinkerbell!" cried Whitelighter as he and Xi joyously had the pixie and Bambi rush back to them, miraculously recovered and free from their watery prisons. Bambi bayed happily, rubbing his head against Xi's face while Tinkerbell made a series of chiming noises before touching Justin's nose.

"Get him!!" Hellboy snarled as he, Xander, and most of the mutants and the Joes blitzed towards Demyx, ready to kill him where he stood (or at the very least, beat him within an inch of his miserable life). Demyx, sensing the danger, teleported away in a plume of black smoke.

At the same time, Wavedancer then summoned her staff from thin air into her hand, and in one, fluid motion, she pointed her white-colored weapon at the weather Heartless and cried out, "Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!"

Thanks to Beast's cold-fusion magic spell, the Heartless was still frozen into place, besieged by the massive amounts of nuclear energy generated by Hank's time-magic, silently awaiting its fate and not even uttering a single scream as the ten symbols of the Elementa Kingdoms followed by the three sigils of the Heartless, crown, and Nobody created the shaft of blinding white light…

KABOOM!

"Ororo!! She's back!!" cried Jean as the human Storm toppled out of the light and landed to the ground, the pod emerging from her body before disintegrating as her heart crystal bounced and landed on the floor gently. Beach Head cast a glare at Hank.

"No thanks to you, of course. You left her alone and didn't care about whether or not she was safe!! She got infected because of you, and in doing so, you nearly killed all of us!!" Wayne snarled.

"Beach Head, leave Hank alone," Shipwreck growled back at the Ranger. Beast was too relieved and overcome with emotion to really process that Shipwreck was defending him. Yet before they could do anything, a greenish- aquamarine blue zipped by the area next to the inert Ororo's body.

"Hey!!" cried out Jean as Octavia skid to a stop right in front of the X-Men, Storm's heart in one hand before she slammed her other hand to the ground, invoking her magic instantly.

"Aquara - !" she began, but then she gasped as she saw Quicksilver's Zephyr Keyblade go flying directly at her at insane speeds, and she narrowly avoided getting her head lopped off as she strafed to her left, skidding on the dirt. But that left her open for Quicksilver to zip up with his mutant speed and deliver a powerful haymaker to her face, sending Octavia flying as she dropped her hold of Storm's heart.

"Sorry, we've seen that one played before, Sushi-girl!" snapped Quicksilver as he zipped over and grabbed Ororo's heart from the ground faster than the eye could blink. Octavia was horrified as she wiped the blood from her mouth while Blind Master, Low Light, Colossus, and Shadowcat rushed forward at the Tigershark, ready to subdue her with a pummeling. But Falco was quicker…

"Octavia, now!!" Falco squawked from above as he summoned all the energy he could, glowing in a strange silver light as he channeled the power of his kingdom for a final, previously unknown attack, "Aeroga…!!!"

Octavia paled. This could easily kill the heroes, but she followed along, knowing that if the weather witch's heart did have a Talisman, then it was necessary for the risk. She began to glow in a deep, blue shimmer as she cried out, "Aquara…!!"

And wordlessly, both of them pushed out with both hands and instantly, there was a massive wave of both blue and silver water and winds, combined to be an unstoppable force of a rippling, roaring cyclone of strong surf and severe airstreams, capable of perhaps ripping and breaking all of them to pieces. It was hard to describe, but looking back on it, all the heroes could remember was that one moment, they were going to stop Octavia and the next, the saw a gigantic blue of blue and silver before they were rendered momentarily senseless as the wave of magic engulfed them and none of them, not even the Disney summons or Hellboy, could have fully withstood it…

**_KAWHOOOOOSSSSSSSHHHHH!!!_**

"Ow…hurts…ow…" Xander groaned as he and the others were lying strewn out on the ground, bruised and heavily disoriented, a few of the heroes with parts of their uniforms in tatters.

Quicksilver groaned as he waited for the twittering birds and the bells to stop ringing inside his skull, "I think it's safe to say that we really didn't expect that one…"

"My back…my head…my everything…" warbled Blind Master.

"It this the part where we give unconditional surrender?" Mushu moaned in pain as he limply waved a tiny white flag pulled up from nowhere (like a true cartoon character). Strangely enough, as Hellboy managed to pick himself up, he was astonished to discover that the dog, Pluto, was not affected in the slightest. Instead, he just squatted there, looking at Octavia and Falco with…pity?

The Tigershark and the Cornerian pilot took no moment of hesitation as they dashed towards the prone body of Ororo Monroe, and the octopus-humanoid scooped up the pink crystal in one hand before she probed it for several long moments. Octavia's heart fell along with her face as she couldn't sense anything different about this heart.

"It's not a Talisman, Falco," she said sadly, and Falco was more than disappointed as he sunk to one knee and remained frozen and silent for several seconds before he punched the ground in frustration. He was so angry, he could feel his bones crying with fatigue and his head swimming from the fact that he could hear the blood roaring in his ears. How could it be? Storm was obviously one of the purer X-Men in that sorry bunch! How the hell could see have a pure heart and not have a Talisman?!

"Damn! Why?!!" he swore, but then Shipwreck, Spyke, and Beast, all three of them somehow phenomenally managing to get back up on their feet, blitzed the pair of miscreants.

"Give Auntie O's heart back!!" Evan snarled, and Octavia didn't know what else to do as she remained frozen. Falco, however, had a different tactic, as he roughly grabbed the shining heart from Octavia's hands before throwing it high into the sky with all of his strength.

"You want it?!! Then go get it!!!" snarled the blue-feathered avian, hurling the object and having it sail past their heads in the opposite direction.

"No!!" all three of the heroes cried, but thankfully, Genie, now transformed into wearing a yellow lacrosse uniform and carrying a white and yellow lacrosse stick, deftly caught the heart crystal in the scooped net of the rod in his hands.

"Not to worry!! Genie's got it covered!! I haven't won two World Championships of the Phenomenal Cosmic Lacrosse League Tournaments for nothin', you know!!" the Disney spellcaster crowed, showing his prized target safely caught in the head of the rod. Relieved, the three turned back to face Falco and Octavia only to see that they had vanished, taking advantage of the distraction to flee, even though it should have been impossible considering that they only had a matter of a few seconds.

"Ugh…is it over yet?" Jubilee groaned as Amara and Rahne helped her up from the ground. Genie then flew back down and dropped the heart crystal, glowing softly with warm, rosy light, into Hank's hands before the blue-furred X-Men arrived numbly at Ororo's body which was being tended by Lina and Bree.

"Ororo…I'm so sorry," Beast said, shivering with dread and guilt as he carefully laid out Storm's heart on her torso, and instantly, to everyone's surprise, the pink crystal of essence faded into the woman's flesh before creating a blue-colored keyhole, surrounded by a faint layer of mist and sparkling like dew.

"Got it," Althea said instantly as she pointed her scepter at the keyhole. With a twinkling of blue-colored sparks, a ring of azure droplets emerged from Storm's bosom before there was a loud click and the keyhole was locked. With that, it faded and disappeared.

"She's safe now, Beast. Her heart's locked, and all she needs is rest. She's still alive…thanks to you," Bree said softly, trying to comfort the nearly guilt-wracked and inconsolable adult. Pluto whined as he rubbed his furry head against Hank's thigh in an act of compassion, but it did little to cheer him up.

Shipwreck patted Beast on the back, saying, "Ah, she'll forgive ya', Beast! Stormy's not the type to hold a grudge, and you did the right thing in the end. She won't blame you! And if anything, if she's still mad, she'll just zap you and get it over with before forgiving you!"

Beast couldn't help but reluctantly smile at the sailor's enthusiasm.

---

Far off in a clearing in a secluded part of the closest valley in the ranges surrounding Mount Kilimanjaro, Falco just sank to his knees and cradled his head in his hands, close to weeping with frustration. Panting from the battle and how they narrowly got out with their lives, Octavia knelt by the blue-feathered avian, thinking her companion was injured.

"Hold still. I'll heal you," the Tigershark murmured.

But Falco just looked up, his face full of misery and guilt.

"I'm not hurt, Octavia. I'm just tired…" the Cornerian pilot choked before he shook his head and shuddered to himself, miserable. He was so close to breaking down, and though he normally prided himself on being a bird of macho steel and a smart-ass, these past few months were starting to take a toll on him. His eyes brimmed.

"Falco," Octavia said helplessly, pained at seeing her friend so tormented.

"How much longer do we have to do this?"

Octavia didn't answer as Falco all but practically sobbed it again.

"How much longer?! How long do we have to continue trying to find the damned things?!! Every heart we've seen, every one we probed, each and every damned battle we've spied on and watched people lose their hearts had nothing!! We've been doing this for so long, and we still can't find _anything_!! Not one, not even a hint!!"

Octavia didn't say anything, and she was startled when Falco gave her a haunted and angst-ridden look of sadness.

"I still see them, in my dreams…" the blue falcon-humanoid croaked hoarsely, "I still see them, all of them! Fox, Slippy, Peppy, General Pepper, all of them dying when the Heartless attacked! I still see them, knowing that I'm the only one who survived, knowing that as long as I don't find those Talismans, they'll suffer!! I…"

Falco covered his face with his wings again, overwhelmed.

"I shouldn't be here. Saving the day was more of Fox's thing. I should be the one who should have died. I'm just so tired of this…what if we can't ever find the Talismans? By Andross, I hate this…"

Octavia just hugged Falco gently around the shoulders, nothing romantic, but as one from a friend and fellow person who knew what it was like to be the last sole survivor of your home and planet. The octopus woman looked up at the sky, the stars diminishing in numbers each and every day, the darkness growing stronger with each heart that was in the Thirteenth Order's influence.

Somewhere on this planet were the three Talismans, hidden in three strong hearts.

But where?

"If only we had a clue…" Octavia wondered out loud as Falco's breathing went ragged.

Octavia would soon have an idea of how much she would come to regret those words in the near future…

---

It was somewhat early in the morning, around three or four, when Ororo stirred out of the gray mists of her slumber and opened her eyes, strangely comfortable, before she focused and spotted the familiar white and silver-steel ceiling of the Institute's infirmary and medical bay. She herself had helped as an assistant nurse for the X-Men and the New Mutants' injuries long enough to recognize this room anywhere. Ororo winced as she managed to prop herself into a sitting position, suddenly feeling a bad migraine hit her skull as she took in her surroundings, her body still aching and sore from being infected and perhaps slightly numb. Yes, a day or two of bed rest would certainly be necessary. Ororo could see that she was in one of the infirmary beds in a separate wing away from Remy and Kurt's residence, dressed in a sterile white medical gown, and the lights have been dimmed since it was in the wee hours of the day, so there was no one else with her…

Ororo then blinked as she saw that a slumbering Hank in a folding chair, snoring softly, was at the side of the bed, close to her feet, sleeping on his folded arms and snoring quietly, obviously trying to maintain a vigil while Ororo was recovering.

He had stayed with her all night out of guilt for letting her get infected by the darkness of the Hellfire spores. Ororo was touched and she allowed herself to smile as she reached out and gently ruffled Hank's blue mane. Even though she would never romantically have feelings for Hank, she still valued him as a good friend nonetheless. Hank actually awoke from the touch, mumbling a bit.

"Stars and garters, my poor back…" Hank moaned, realizing he slept into a sitting position against the bed with his back curved, so it was only natural that it would be throbbing as he gingerly rubbed the lumbar region. But then his eyes widened, all traces of fatigue forgotten, when he saw that Ororo was smiling with amusement at him.

Hank became flustered, incredibly tongue-tied and ashamed. He still wasn't sure if Ororo wouldn't be angry for his irresponsible and immature behavior in Kenya, but Storm's words brought him to his senses with a touch of relief.

"Good morning, Hank."

"I…I…oh dear…" Hank sputtered, still trying to have some coherent thought through his fatigued and nervous mind. Storm's smile lessened a bit as she steeled herself for the bad news that she in no way recollected and knew that was in store for her when Demyx infected her with the Hellfire spore.

"Can you start at the beginning, please? What happened?" she asked, her breath pent up.

Hank looked pained, but he forced himself to calm down. Ororo needed to know the truth, and as such, Hank took it upon himself to be honest and be the one to inform her as his punishment. With a deep breath, Beast calmly narrated the events of when they went to the African villages after Hellboy managed to drive them away from the major populaces. About how Demyx had infected Storm from behind when Beast left to save Spyke and Quicksilver, ignoring the orders to stay close and protect solely members of their designated group and allowing the Organization member to take advantage of the situation. How Storm transformed into a Heartless drone and completely decimated all the African villages in the highlands, including the one she acted as guardian. At this, Storm covered her mouth with one hand and cried silently, making Hank feel even lower. Thankfully, Ororo didn't sob or make any sounds, allowing Hank to finish with how the dog, Pluto, took mercy on him when the water clones became nearly unbeatable and how he gained the ability to perform Stopra magic, using it to save everyone and weaken Storm enough for Wavedancer to turn her back to normal.

The confession left him drained and he wearily looked up to see that Ororo had a myriad of emotions on her face, none of which Hank really felt comfortable as his insides curdled. He wearily rubbed his face with his paws and covered his eyes, not sure he could brace himself for the blame.

"I'm a fool," Hank said at last, quivering a bit and his breath ragged. It was probably likely that the bridge had burned down if not was set to ruins by demolitions. But Ororo surprised Beast as she smiled sadly and leaned over so she could lay a hand on his shoulder.

"No, you aren't," the white-haired woman said, her voice nonjudgmental and compassionate, "I don't blame you, Hank. I never will. I don't blame you or the Misfits or the Joes. The blame lies with the Organization and the Hellfire Club, not you or anyone else who helped fight against the Heartless. And…"

She paused, feeling it was a bit difficult to acknowledge this as fact before she continued.

"…you had a right to angry," she said softly in understanding. Granted, she would never know fully the depths of Hank's infatuation with her, but she did at least acknowledge that he was hurt and that he redeemed himself before it was too late. Hank looked up, a twinge of hope in his face, but Ororo shook her head, causing some disappointment in the furry mutant.

"Hank, I meant what I said before. Please, respect that. I don't love you in that sense, and I doubt I ever will. I just do not feel for you that way. Please…_respect that_. I don't think I would view you as a lover or significant other, but more as a friend if not a close associate. But, I won't ask you to like it, because as I've been told many times, feelings can't be helped. And if I had been more mindful of that, then maybe I wouldn't have made you angry."

Hank looked crestfallen, but oddly enough, it wasn't as painful and bitter as before when she first shot him down. No bile, no need to suppress anything, just an empty hollowness inside. Still, emptiness was a little better than anger considering the latter was what drove Storm to her plight. Ororo just waited patiently as Hank looked at her vacantly before, to her surprise, one corner of his lip turned upwards, yielding.

"I respect that, Ororo. And I'm sorry I didn't before at first," Beast said at last, and he heavily got up on his feet and left towards the door until he had a second thought strike him as he halted at the doorway.

"Ororo…" Hank asked, turning around. Storm looked up from her bed.

"Once you're better, perhaps…another moment for tea, just you and me? As a friendly gesture and nothing more, of course," he added the last part hurriedly, his hands out in a submissive manner. Ororo smiled; it was incredibly cute to see Beast flustered like an oblivious and awkward teenager sometimes.

"I'd love to. As friends," she said softly.

Maybe the bridge wasn't as burned as Hank thought. But only if he was willing…

"And Hank?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

Hank looked shocked and taken aback before he cast his gaze to the floor.

"By all rights, you should hate me. Or at least be angry."

"We all make mistakes. I've made plenty while staying here at the Institute. Additionally, you are my friend who said he would be there for me if I needed him, and he kept his promise. How can I not forgive you? And for what it is worth, you helped Althea turn me back to human form again and protected the students with your own magic. You should see that you are a good person; after all, wasn't it made clear that Pluto doesn't give magic unless he thinks they're worthy? That should be all the proof you need, Hank."

Beast smiled in relief, feeling the burden being lifted off his shoulder, although he swore to himself that he would do anything he could to make this right again. Anything. The blue, furry mutant chuckled uneasily, "Stars and garters, what's next? You finally forgive Shipwreck for all the times he's made a mockery and a tragic farce of your social life and swear to longer electrocute him?"

"Don't expect miracles, Hank," retorted Ororo dryly, but she couldn't hide her smile at the joke. Suddenly, there was an unexpected series of crashing and yelping that suspiciously sounded like Kurt and Remy as their protests mixed with the foreign curses and several banging and crashing sounds of a rather nasty fight from another part of the medical bay. Matt Burke, the raven-haired, mustached spy from A.U.N.T.I.E came staggering out, a good portion of his suit soaked with liquid and a bedpan in his hand.

"Ugh, bloody hell! Can anyone give Mr. LeBeau and my son something to calm them down?! They just woke up, and Kurt took it upon himself to try attacking Gambit again!" the British agent moaned.

"Uh…why are you holding a bedpan?" Hank blinked.

Matt wearily pointed to a now reddening bruise on his forehead before answering, "My son has a fantastic throw, I must say, but unfortunately for me, Kurt also has lousy aim! And additionally, while fortunately for Remy, I was in the way when I tried to stop the Cajun lunatic from using his water glass as a projectile!!"

"I'll go calm them down," sighed Hank as the brawl started to sound a little more ugly as something that sounded suspiciously like a television screen getting smashed rang out, invoking a cry of rage from Kurt before the tussling involved some heavy punches. This left Burke alone with Ororo as he smiled gently at Storm.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I've been better," Ororo smiled graciously as she politely indicated to a seat, "Please, sit down since you have a headache. But…why are you here at the Institute at this early of the hour, Matt?"

"Well, to visit Kurt for one thing since I imagine that he needs to keep his mind off of thinking of ways to torture Gambit, and the only reason he stopped was because of Logan's impromptu use of the local sedatives. But secondly, to see how you were faring. Everyone in the Mansion was worried about, I daresay, and Shipwreck actually got it in his head to try having the insane idea of holding a candlelight vigil next to your bed until you recovered so that the first thing you would see would be his face."

Ororo winced at the thought (actually, she started feeling a bit queasy), and Burke smiled, chuckling under his breath. That look on her face was nothing short of priceless.

The British agent continued, "Not to worry. Althea and the other Misfits dragged him off, and General Hawk assured me that the Joes will make sure our dear Hector Delgado would stay put at Misfit Manor. After all, they know the quickest way for you to make a speedy upturn is for you to have no exposure to our Joe sailor. And they mentioned that training with the Slayers over at the Pit would be the best way to ensure that you would have some time to yourself. And I do believe they mentioned something about duct tape, Trinity, and superglue, but I didn't want to ask for details."

"Thank the goddess," she sighed in relief.

"And everyone including the Misfits wishes you to calm down and prepare yourself for your visit back to New York when you and Evan finally talk with Evan's parents and tell the truth that you've wanted so desperately to let out. I imagine you will need the solitude to brace and mentally prepare yourself for that difficult talk and the possible consequences afterwards," Burke said, nodding, but then Ororo's head shot up as she stared at Burke, confused, bewildered, and in a state of flummoxed disbelief.

"Wait…**what??**" Ororo said, her eyes now wide open. Now it was Burke's turn to be a bit puzzled.

"Beast didn't tell you?"

Ororo shook her head, and Burke then smiled a bit gracefully as he covered, "Ah, well to be fair, he was so wracked with guilt and grief over you getting infected, that he must have forgotten in the excitement that you have finally woken up. I trust you must have forgiven him from the way he seemed so relieved?"

"I did. But, I'm surprised Evan isn't here to tell me himself. And why now? He's been dragging his feet and attempting to disregard any suggestion and opportunity of going to his parents and telling them the complete truth in favor of going back to the sewers once the Gathering is over without my sister or her husband the wiser. What on Earth has changed his mind?"

"Well, for one thing, your infection with the Heartless was enough to convince him about fixing and making amends and resolutions before it was too late, and secondly…" and with that, Matt Burke paused before he took out a small vial of a yellowish, viscous liquid, corked with a rubber stopped at the top.

"I was able to call in a few favors with some associates of A.U.N.T.I.E in order for them to develop this. It's a serum that for several hours, it can suppress and render a mutation into a recessive manner temporarily. Once injected into the bloodstream, it should take about an hour or so in order for it to go into full effect, but if Even takes this, then for several hours, his mutation should be repressed enough for him to maintain a visibly human and normal appearance without the bone shell and spikes," the British agent said gently, holding the vial to the light.

Ororo was speechless, hardly daring to breathe and feeling her body go numb with surprise and exhilarating freedom of knowing that this was more than she ever dared hope, as Matt gently placed the vial in her hands. She asked hoarsely, "But…how?"

Matt crossed his legs as he got into a comfortable seating position before he sighed and explained patiently, "Well, first off, I need to ask for your forgiveness on something, Ororo, although Evan and the other X-Men readily understood when I told them earlier while you were still unconscious. After our excursions in Mumbai and after I remembered hearing from the Multiple News Network about how you were having difficulty with Evan confessing to his parents the real nature for his absence from the Institute, I took a bone spike from Evan's that was leftover from the battlefield. And…well, I am rather awkward to say this, but I took it to several scientists with the intention of asking them if perhaps…use the genetic material to help discover a way to help contain Evan's mutation so that he would not be insecure about his appearance. If Evan was so frightful that his parents would reject him once they saw how his mutation progressed, then perhaps, if there was a way it was contained and curbed enough for Evan to have a chance with his parents, I thought…it could help with you and your nephew."

Ororo looked a bit scandalized and taken aback at this declaration of guilt, but if anything, she was rather impressed. Matt Burke actually took the initiative to help her, although she suspected it was for slightly self-fulfilling reasons since she knew from her past date that he had a slight interest in her romantically (however, Shipwreck ruined the romantic moment).

"You took a sample of Evan's DNA from a discarded bone spike in the battle of Mumbai so that you could make this serum? You let scientists experiment with a sample of his genetic material so that you could cure his mutation?" Ororo asked, still bothered. Burke inwardly groaned as he explained.

"No one can **cure** a mutation, Ororo…at least, none that A.U.N.T.I.E knows of. And no, it will not cure Evan's mutation, only suppress it for a few hours after injection so that he would be able to lose his outward appearance and have it succumb to a recessive state where it wouldn't be in such a high, accelerated level. My agency's talents have their limits. In other words, suppress his outward mutation only long enough for a few hours so that he could talk to his parents at last, especially since ever since you became infected at Kenya, he's more than willing. And as for secretly doing this behind your back…I'm sorry, but that is why I am asking for your forgiveness as of now. Especially since your opinion means the most, more than the other X-Men's when I told them."

Storm looked up sharply before she managed to ask, "They know?"

"Yes, they do, and a few of them raised a bloody stink about the ethics of my action, especially Professor Xavier and Wolverine. They hate me enough as it is…" Burke muttered. Storm felt immediately sorry for the British spy. True, it was a bit wrong, but it wasn't completely corrupt and unscrupulous; Burke simply used his connections to research a bone spike that was discarded and they didn't directly experiment on Evan of the sort. And Burke really did want Evan to have closure with his parents and truly didn't have any strings attached (though she wasn't going to let her guard down).

"Matt…it's all right. I can see that you meant well, so you're forgiven. But, what do the others think?"

"Callisto threatened to decapitate me herself if I even considered doing anything like that for the other Morlocks. Xavier and Logan, I'm afraid, you're all too familiar with their reaction, but they could both concede that whether or not the serum should be used is up to you and Evan ultimately. The other X-Men were as a whole encouraging Evan to take the serum since he was so self-conscious about showing himself to his parents, and they feel as a whole that he deserves this chance. Moira and Sean wanted me to ask the scientists and geneticists at A.U.N.T.I.E if they can create another batch or share their notes with them so that they can figure out a way to help Bart and the other Muir Isle children should they come back, but I told them no due to confidentiality with my organization and that this serum can be toxic if taken too often. They were disappointed, but they relented, especially since they would never want to give anything so short-term to their children."

"Toxic??" echoed Ororo.

Burke explained carefully, "This serum sample is only honed in on the specific markers of Evan's genetic code, but they only gave me a small sample because if too much is taken in, it can be a fatal overdose. And it is similar to taking antibiotics or medicine too much at one time when one is ill, Ororo. Take it too often and it loses its effective strength and will eventually require more as Evan will develop a natural immunity to it. Take too much at once and it does more harm than good. That's why it was advised that if we do use this, now would probably be the best time."

"I see…" Ororo said, still conflicted.

Burke sighed as he clarified, "Ororo, I can't tell you X-Men everything from A.U.N.T.I.E and reveal their secrets. You have to respect my secrecy as I do for yours. I am a spy for her Majesty in England, and I need to keep my enigmas. It would be sort of like having me ask you and the X-Men to tell us everything you know that you have privately guarded yourselves. I know better than that."

Storm could concede he had a point. The X-Men had their own secrets they kept from their own allies to, for better and for worse. The Yellow Materia included.

"It's your choice, Storm. Yours and Evan's. You can use it or pour it down the drain. Either way, I only put the offer out to help."

With that, Burke left, leaving a quiet Ororo with the vial in her hands. Burke, as he heard the sound of the infirmary door close behind him, he saw that Hank McCoy was waiting outside in the hallway, his face stony.

"Are Kurt and Remy all right, Hank?" Burke asked.

"They are. The threat to call in Logan and Rogue to deal with them if they caused one more outburst was enough to keep them quiet."

"So how long exactly had you been listening in considering you were in part of the discussion I had about the serum with the other X-Men?"

Beast looked surprised, taken aback.

"You knew I was eavesdropping?"

"I'm a secret agent for A.U.N.T.I.E, Hank. There are very few tricks I don't know when working for her Majesty and in the service," Burke said with a touch of pride before he humbled himself and added with some understanding, "But I didn't say anything because of two reasons. One, you're been put through the wringer enough. And two, it's wiser to not trust me, especially since I am a Demon Lord and have been quite beastly and reprehensible in the past. It's only natural that you would want to protect Ororo from harm. After all, you are her comrade and close friend."

Beast felt a bit ashamed of his behavior, especially since it appeared that Matt didn't hold it against him for listening in on their conversation and that he apparently was gracious enough to understand Hank's unease and jealousy. Just because Xavier and Logan had their trust issues with Burke doesn't mean that they were completely right.

"Do you like her?"

"I do, but not if she fails to reciprocate those emotions. But, I am doing this because she's been through enough, and Evan does finally need to have that closure with his parents."

Beast blinked; the man was certainly forthright and honest. He didn't even try to hide that he had some attraction to Storm.

Hank gave a wry smile as he said, "I have at least the consolation that you would be far better to Ororo than someone such as Shipwreck."

"Please, don't insult me."

It was a good sign, to be able to joke and banter like that. And Hank had to admit, Burke was starting to grow on him.

"Take care of her. If you are the one that makes her happy…" and with that, Hank walked away, ambling on his hands and feet like a gorilla. However, there was a distinct lack of energy in his gait. The British intelligence agent called out solemnly.

"Beast?"

Hank wearily turned to the A.U.N.T.I.E spy, asking, "Yes?"

"You're an honorable fellow. Have some – no, a **lot** of pride in that. She's out there, somewhere. And for what it's worth, you have my respect."

Hank smiled a bit, but inside, he still felt cold. He admitted, "I still don't feel better, Mr. Burke."

"I know. But still…perhaps a spot in a pub sometime, just me and you, in the future? As friends if not good acquaintances?"

"Channeling Shipwreck again, aren't we?" Hank couldn't help but point out. But he had to admit, the prospect was starting to sound nice enough.

Burke's smirk grew even wider as he emphasized, "_Again_, I repeat: please, don't insult me."

---

The next day, Ororo was standing outside the Daniels household in the suburban neighborhood in New York. Though she was still a bit lightheaded and perhaps a bit sore, she still felt perfectly fine and adamant with taking the private trip to the Daniels' household. Evan was wearing his red-and-white letterman jacket and jeans, looking completely normal and human. He had Hank inject the serum into his bloodstream an hour before they left for the flight to New York, and though it was painful to feel his body heat and burn slightly as it kicked into effect, it actually worked, to their surprise. Spyke could actually feel his bone shell and armor around his body detracting and going numb and lifeless if the material calcified and turned white, no longer a part of his body as the serum maintained his cell structure and signals from his body to kick into a repressive state. In fact, the bone husk fell apart easily as Hank and Evan gingerly pulled on them to reveal fresh skin underneath, like peeling a scab from a wound (not really half as bad as it sounded), and once cleaned up and refreshed, Spyke looked exactly like he did before when he first came to the Institute and before he nearly became poisoned by the Power-8 soft-drink. Ororo had to admit that she missed seeing his normal state and hair (completely losing the yellow-tone and was a shade of dark brown after months of a lack of bleach while living in the sewers).

Still, despite what happened and that Evan was now looking completely human again, it was still unsettling, and Spyke was clearly nervous, especially since it was likely that it would be during their talk with Vi and Carl Daniels that the serum would wear off and that his full mutation in all its glory would be revealed. And then it would be known whether his parents would finally accept him or break down and reject their only son.

"You have no idea how much I want to just run back to the Blackbird and forget this, Auntie O," muttered Evan as he and Ororo came up to the wooden porch. Storm smiled as she rang the doorbell.

"Why else do you think I've got hold on your arm? And don't forget, Evan, you owe me this one," Ororo said without much shame and hesitation, smiling smugly, as she tightened her arm around her nephew's shoulders as there was the sound of approaching footsteps, each one a tremor that made the pit in Evan's stomach grow.

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in…" grumbled Evan as the door opened to reveal Vi Daniels who automatically became euphoric the instant she saw Ororo and Evan. Her hands were still wet with dishwashing suds and water but she gasped before she eagerly hugged her son anyway before calling back to the house.

"Carl!" she shouted happily, "Carl!! It'**s Evan!! **Evan's here!! Evan's back!"

Carl, a tall, bald and athletic man with a goatee nearly sprinted to the door from the second story of his study when Vi finished calling out loudly from the entrance, barreling down the stairs before he came to the front porch, and his face lit up with joy as he too grabbed his son in a fierce bear-hug. Evan blinked before he could admit that he missed this, that he missed his family even though he wanted to avoid telling them the truth.

"Son! Welcome home!! It's good to have you here again!! C'mon, tell your old man what sort of mishaps and adventures you've been doing at the camp in Colorado! Bet the kids took a shine to your as a an instructor!"

"Dad…" Evan said, his face uncharacteristically serious which made both of his parents stop at the tone of voice, "We have to talk…"

Both his parents looked at each other wordlessly, questioning but uneasy, before turning back to Evan and Ororo.

Within two hours, over coffee and cake, Evan told his parents everything (Ororo remained silent mostly). He told them how he was poisoned by drinking Power-8, a soft drink that actually happened to be toxic to any mutant who consumes it, and how the Morlocks took him underground and helped him recover before they destroyed and damaged as much of the plant as possible. He told his parents how his mutation progressed and accelerated too quickly for him to cope, turning him into a grotesque monster and how he decided that he would rather run away and stay with the Morlocks, who were sewer-residing mutants with deformed appearances that prevented them from passing as normal on the surface. And as a conclusion, Spyke then recounted how the Organization targeted him and the sewer clan, stealing their hearts and massacring nearly the complete tribe with only Evan and a select few remaining and how he was the group's one of the few champions and fighters to help protect them and ensure that they would stay safe.

Evan felt the burden being taken off his shoulders, but his chest tightened. Telling it wasn't easy, but waiting to see what the consequences were was probably going to be even harder.

Naturally, his parents were silent and just listened with a mixture of numb shock and horror. When it was finished, they didn't know what to do or say, and at first, Vi was angry with Ororo for lying to her about how Evan ran away and how she and Shipwreck lied and said that he was helping underprivileged mutant children in a wilderness camp in Colorado. But Evan then spoke up for his aunt, saying that he put her into that situation in the first place and that he forced her considering that he ran away rather than try to cope and deal with his problem, so if there was any blame to be had, it should be towards him. Plus, even with him back at the Institute, he pointed out it was Ororo who wanted to tell his parents right away, but he refused and she kept arguing with him but didn't tell them because she didn't want to betray his trust and that it was his decision ultimately. Still…

"I'm sorry, Vi," Ororo said a little tearfully, wiping her face, "I should have told you before, and it was wrong. I know that, and you and Carl deserve a lot better than a white lie, even if it was to protect him. He's your son, not mine. I'm sorry. I just…felt so awful when left, felt like it was my fault. I wanted to bring him back to the Institute myself, but even then, Evan still didn't want to tell you. And he had been through enough."

Vi was silent before she reached out and touched his sister's hand, saying with some compassion.

"You additionally have been through enough," she said, "Apology accepted. I don't like it, but at least I understand. I probably would have done the same thing. And…at least Evan's back now, that's what's important."

Meanwhile, Carl was still trying to come to terms, but at least it was helping that Evan fessed up and that he didn't have any anger in his voice.

"I need to sit down…" groaned Carl, rubbing his face.

"You **are** sitting down, honey," Vi pointed out.

"All right, then I need a drink along with a month or two of therapy," Carl said with little aplomb as he rubbed the back of his neck before he then asked, "But you look fine now, Evan! How bad could this possibly be?! You still look normal!"

Evan gave a rather forced and dour grin as he hinted, "You'll find out soon enough. The serum's supposed to wear off sometime now within the next hour or two."

Vi pondered a bit before she turned to her older sister.

"Ororo, this 'Gathering of Twilight' we've been hearing about in the news for the past several months and year or so…" Vi asked before she took a shuddering breath and asked, "It's bad, isn't it? You're all involved in it somehow, one way or another?"

Storm nodded grimly before she said, "Vi, Carl…the Heartless and the Organization Thirteen is perhaps the greatest threat we've ever encountered so far. It could mean the end of this planet, of…well, everything."

"**_'Everything'??_**" echoed Vi and Carl with some fear. That was certainly a daunting prospect.

There was a pause before Evan then said with some compassion, "Mom, Dad, we can't just let others fight this. It's going to be hard, and I wish to God I don't have to, but I don't want to die like everyone else. And I need to get the Morlocks' hearts back, to avenge them. If I'm going to go down, I go down fighting. This is the whole planet we're talking about here. We'll all be dead anyway if we don't stop this."

His mother took a shuddering breath as she held her elbows, rubbing them for warmth before she admitted, "I guess it would be selfish to survive if it meant that others died. Just understand, Evan, I'm…scared. This is so much, much bigger than your mutation when it first popped up. You're not told that there's a chance the world's going to immediately end every day."

"And you're not alone?" Carl asked softly, looking at Ororo, "Evan won't be alone in this fight with the X-Men?"

"Not unless you think that the Misfits, S.H.I.E.L.D, G.I. Joe, the Justice League, the Teen Titans, the Slayers, the Charmed Ones, and the Ghostbusters count as nothing, Dad," Evan said easily, smiling with assurance, and for some reason, that did sort of make Mr. and Mrs. Daniels feel a bit better (though not enough). After all the news reports of the various heroes on Earth who were, for better or for worse, incredibly powerful, it was a little comforting knowing that Evan could trust them enough to watch his back and help him fight. Although like all parents, they were still incredibly worried for their only child…

Evan then made a soft noise like an "_urk_" before he hugged his body, his eyes tightly closed and teeth grit, hissing. It wasn't painful, but rather a dull ache, like a lingering bruise. It was uncomfortable as it started to make its way through his control. Vi and Carl immediately rushed up to him along with Ororo.

"What's wrong with him?!!" Carl asked, alarmed and wanting to reach for the phone to call 9-1-1.

"I think the serum - !!" started Storm, but it was too late as with a crackling, popping noise, the bone spikes pooped out of Evan's flesh and skin before it started to form a distinct and hardening bone covering over his chest, thighs, and head, effectively ripping his clothes a bit as it formed back. And in front of the three adults' very eyes, Evan immediately transformed back to his Morlock state, complete with his spiky, bone-guard form. Evan panted a bit as his mother and father, gingerly so that they wouldn't get poked.

"Wow, that didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would," Evan remarked.

"The serum must have worn off…" finished Ororo sadly. Vi and Carl both looked at Evan with pity and sorrow, but to his surprise, his parents didn't look at him with fear, anger, or disgust. It was quiet for a few minutes before Carl asked a question.

"Can't you just take more? Of that serum?"

Spyke shook his head sadly as he said, "It'll be toxic if I do, sort of like overdosing on medicine or taking medicine when I'm not sick. Either I grow an immunity to it, it stops being as effective, or…it poisons me."

Vi had tears in her eyes before she walked up to her son.

"Is there any way you could just…stay at the Institute? You and the Morlocks can just live with Xavier," Vi asked softly, placing one hand on a bone-covered cheek. Spyke's eyes grew solemn and serious, startling his mother a bit as she was always used to the playful and carefree, flippant attitude her son always had whenever given a task or facing a responsibility.

"No, Mom, Dad…the world's gonna be rough for mutants and the Morlocks can't fight for themselves. They need help. They need me, more than the X-Men do. The Professor is all right with that, and Auntie O doesn't like it, but she respects it too. I can't turn my back on people who can't defend themselves against creeps like H.A.T.E or the Friends of Humanity. They need me to fight for them, to fight and protect them. They don't have much, but they're all right and just want to survive."

Vi and Carl looked at their son with something akin to touched surprise; Evan had grown.

"Do you know what it's like to be rejected from you family and being forced to live alone and in the sewers so you can be safe? The Morlocks barely have anything. They have to dig through dumpsters looking for food, have to huddle around fires during the winter, barely have any clothes except for a few and the rags on their backs, and medicine and fresh stuff like milk and clean water are luxuries we can't have. They barely have anything left, have people who hate them who are worse appearance-wise than I am, and didn't have the Professor to teach them anything. That's why I want – no, I need to fight for them. No one else can do it, and it's my way to help out."

Vi then flashed back to her times of childhood, when she and Ororo were starving on the streets of Cairo, when they had to steal just to survive and find scraps of food through the garbage to get sustenance. She smiled sadly.

"Then there **is** a need for you to stay with them. I won't stand in the way if this is what you want, but…I will understand and support you. Just, tell us and try to keep in contact regularly from now on. That is all I ask."

Spyke nodded.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Carl asked, smiling ruefully. Yes, this was going to be a **big** adjustment, but he'd be damned if he wasn't going to help make things easier for Evan and his Morlocks if there was a way.

"Not really…except, you could try to make sure that Power-8 doesn't start making their drinks again. Rumor has it that they're starting production regardless of what the Professor warned them about it being poisonous to mutants, and with all the Heartless worry and stuff, I…we could use some help in the legal department in trying to get them to shut down or at least stop making it."

There was a fire in Vi's eyes (the kind that can only be brought by a mother's devotion to protect her child against any threat) as she promised fiercely, "We'll do everything we can. You worry about the Heartless and we'll do everything as concerned citizens to make sure that Power-8 will regret trying to start that mess again."

Carl smiled before he intimately touched Evan's shoulder and said, "And Evan? We may not understand, but…we're proud of you, for your devotion and selflessness. You've really grown-up, and I couldn't be more pleased."

"We both are. And no matter how much you've changed, you'll always be our son. Remember that, all right, Evan? Just…remember that and be careful," Vi said with tenderness, sniffling, and Evan felt so relieved, he felt his heart would burst as he did his best to hug both his mother and father without gouging them. Ororo just smiled as she watched this, thanking Matt Burke silently. At least in this little corner of her life, things were more or less settled and repaired for the better.

Later that night, almost close to the X-Men's curfew, Ororo was thinking to herself as she wandered outside the front gardens of the grounds of the school, still playing back how wonderful everything did truly work out between Evan and his family. And though she would never know if his parents seeing Evan first in human form before his accelerated mutation, it certainly didn't hurt. And all because of…

"Ororo?" Matt Burke's voice asked from behind.

Speaking of the devil (figuratively, of course)…

"Hello, Matt," smiled Ororo as she turned to face the British agent cordially, "To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"To see how things went with the meeting of Evan's parents."

"Better than I expected. The serum worked as you said, but even though it wore off, Vi and Carl weren't scared away from Spyke. They essentially said that they loved him and that they supported Evan in his decision to return back to the Morlocks should we survive the Gathering to come."

"That's good, although I have to wonder then why we have an audience as of right now," the man chuckled as he glanced upwards at the Institute from behind Ororo's head. And when the white-haired weather-witch turned in the same direction of his eyes, she saw, with a mixture of exasperation and amusement, that in the front bay window of the second level of the mansion, crowded against the glass panes with interested, nosy faces, were the X-Men, the Morlock children, and Theresa Cassidy, and Bart Allen. All of them had knowing smiles on their faces, and surprisingly enough, even Hank McCoy and Jake Clawson were watching with some smugness. The crowd just observed Ororo and Matt expectantly, and even Torpid giggled behind her hands.

Storm rolled her eyes as Matt asked sardonically, "Do your X-Men have anything else better to do that to spy on others' personal lives?"

"Actually, this isn't as bad as it is typically, Matt. Normally, they would have all gathered around the bushes in the gardens in order to get a better view and to capture every word."

"Ah…and I thought the Misfits were the weirder mutant team."

Storm smiled before she hesitated and finally forced herself to say what needed to be said through her constricted throat. It was a different, yet surprisingly welcome feeling from when she talked with Hank during tea two days ago…

"Matt?" Ororo asked.

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

"Always a pleasure, Storm."

There was an uncomfortable silence before Burke took it upon himself to leave gracefully, giving a wordless nod as a good-bye, but then Ororo called out before he could take his third step.

"Um…not that I'm not grateful or anything, and please forgive me for being so crude and suspicious, but…why didn't you ask me out on a date in return for performing this good deed for Evan and helping him?"

Burke looked serious and solemn as he clarified softly, "That would be tactless, Ororo. Yes, I do have a little ardor towards you and I always have, but to take advantage of this would be rather boorish and uncouth of me. Evan is now with the knowledge that his parents love him despite his mutation being out of control, and you have come clean with his family. All's well that ends well, and all that."

With that, Burke slightly bowed his head at the instructor again and walked slowly away. Storm then called out after a moment's hesitation, conflicted and perhaps not altogether clear-headed, but willing nonetheless.

"Saturday night at 7:30? Dinner and a movie?"

Burke inwardly smiled. Hook, line, and sinker. A slam dunk.

"That would be lovely, and I am honored by your request. Japanese food all right?"

"Yes, that would be wonderful. I…will look forward to it. It would be nice, to try to start things again."

"I think it would be nice too. Although I must confess that I have to prepare myself in case of the likelihood that things may not work out and that you would be happier with someone else."

So imagine Burke's pleasant surprise and comforted assurance when Ororo's face softened as she slowly ambled towards the dapper adult and gently pecked him on the cheek fondly, making the agent smile. Several of the X-Girls watching above squealed loudly enough to be heard even past the glass window, and Hank, though he looked a bit jealous, smiled and nodded his consent.

"Right now, I hope that doesn't happen," Ororo said with some tender optimism before she left back towards the Institute towards the front door, and Burke had to chuckle at the sight of all the students who were spying at the second story window now disappeared in a rush to also get details and gossip over the date. Burke smiled; even though he still had primal demon feelings of warfare and bloodlust and things such as love, friendship, and kindness were trivial and really a means to an end, he could admit that he had strong feelings for Storm and, heaven forbid, the rest of the X-Men.

As Burke hummed himself a little ditty while walking to the front gates, he felt relaxed and content, his mind at peace and euphoric at the thought of perhaps being intimate with Ororo Monroe, a goddess if there ever was one (no need to mention that Wonder Woman spurned his advances). Which was why he wasn't paying attention and allowed himself to get taken by surprise as a burly and muscled arm angrily grabbed him by the front of his tuxedo and roughly yanked him out of view and behind the front hedge of bushes. Burke felt his instincts rise, but then he realized that he was staring into the livid and wrathful red face of the Joe sailor, Shipwreck. The bearded man was breathing heavily through his clenched teeth, his eyes blazing and his face flushed.

It took all of Shipwreck's strength to not snap Matt's neck in several seconds as he brought Burke close to his face and growled, "Care to explain?"

Burke smiled as he commented nonchalantly, "Hello, Hector. My, lovely night, isn't it?"

"**_You. Stole. Trinity's. Serum._**" Each word in that sentence was lethally punctuated with an animalistic snarl, and Burke had to marvel how it could have rivals some of the warn-noises of some feral demons he had known in his past.

Burke however didn't look the least bit fearful or ashamed in this accusation as he said, still offbeat, "I'm surprised you figured it out so quickly."

"Funny thing about secrets here at the X-Mansion, you little rat. Multiple News Network makes sure that it gets out by the end of the day, and the girls aren't exactly pleased with the situation after they put two and two together. And considering that you've been coming to the Pit more and more regularly because you and Wisdom are briefing A.U.N.T.I.E with the Heartless sightings, it made perfect sense that you were the one who broke into the lab and why the serum the Triplets made themselves suddenly went missing," Shipwreck rumbled, now imagining ways to make Burke suffer in ways that would make death seem the preferable option.

"And your point is? After all, you and Trinity have stolen things from others and committed acts just as heinous and grievous," Burke said, stifling the urge to yawn from this tirade.

"Let's see how much you'll enjoy going on that date with Stormy that should have been me in the first place once I knock out a few teeth before telling everyone that it was Trinity who got that serum for Spyke and expose you as a liar!" snarled Shipwreck, murderous, as he cocked back his arm to deliver a powerful fist into Burke's face. Surprisingly, Burke remained calm, almost amused at the prospect.

"No, you won't," Burke said simply, as if he knew from fact.

"And what makes you so damn sure?" growled Shipwreck.

Burke then played his trump card as he said, "Who would people be angrier at: the person who stole the serum from you or the people who stole the Legacy Virus from Dr. MacTaggert?"

Shipwreck blinked, his anger lessening as the rationale hit him before he felt like kicking himself for getting himself and the Triplets into that mess in the first place. Burke continued as he stiffly extracted himself from Shipwreck's suddenly numb fingers.

"Yes, the Legacy Virus research that Moira and Sean were so desperate to salvage in hopes of curing and helping the ailing mutant children at their Muir Isle facility, not to mention to help the surviving Bart Allen and for Dr. Betty Ross of the Avengers to help her fiancé. You damaged and ruined the chance to help out a lot of innocent people with the sample of the virus you had your daughters pilfer from the research center when the Heartless attacked with the Dreadnoks. As a result, you can't tell the X-Men, Misfits, and Joes about what I've done without incriminating yourself and your Triplet daughters. And I can safely guess that as mad as they will be at me for stealing about the serum and lying about it, saying it came from A.U.N.T.I.E, they will be doubly mad at you and your daughters for philandering the hard work of Moira just so that you could help Evan solely for the chance to get into Ororo's good graces. In fact, General Hawk and Wavedancer would indeed be furious."

That was true. Though the Joes have guessed that Shipwreck and Trinity have done a few immoral things, they never truly did anything to hurt or spite someone and they would never do it if it endangered a person. Unfortunately, due to the four's lack of foresight and common sense, they did exactly that, and it really set the bar to a new low altogether. Althea and the Misfits would truly be livid and outraged and so would many of the other allies and X-Men. In fact, Storm would completely hate and despise him and his daughters if she found out.

"In fact, I'm willing to say that no one would even believe you considering additionally you and your sisters have been caught telling a few embellishments of your own in the past. What is the old saying from Aesop's Fables…oh yes, '_a liar is never believed, even when he tells the truth_'. Really poignant moral, really."

"This isn't over, Burke!" hissed Shipwreck, fuming and quivering with fury, "You don't love Storm!! You'll just use her!"  
"Maybe, maybe not, but I can assure you Shipwreck that unlike you, she hasn't refused my advancements now, and perhaps, in time, I would have grown to love her in ways that I never did with Mystique or the other women I have been romantically involved with. After all, there is something to be said for courting her…she is a worthy prize. Perhaps we will grow happy together which is more than she could ever be with you, an alcoholic Joe sailor who's been washed out and has little to offer. After all, wasn't that the reason why you did this little disastrous scheme in the first place? To convince Storm that you're better than she thinks?" Burke said with a touch of hardness in his voice.

Shipwreck smoldered inside, feeling his organs curdle from the fury and the vexation. Another bulls-eye; after all, Shipwreck couldn't say he was much better than Burke.

"This isn't over, asswipe…" threatened Hector, helpless, but the British spy had a prepared answer for that as well.

"Go ahead, send your daughters to do your dirty work or feel free to injure me severely yourself right now," Burke said over his shoulder, "It'll give more of a reason for Storm to detest you and think you were merely acting in a fit of jealous rage, and even if you send the other Misfits to torture me, without incriminating yourself and Trinity, it'll just make me more of a sympathetic sort in Ororo's eyes. Every blow you send against me will make her and the others more inclined to think you're doing this out of spite, especially since technically, I have done nothing wrong or anything you haven't tried."

Damn that stuffy, pompous, suave charlatan for being two steps head.

"Give it up, Shipwreck," Burke said with a touch of aloof disdain over his shoulder as he walked away, "Storm is better off without you interfering in her personal life. She's too good for you. She would never be happy with you."

The Joe sailor twitched in new levels of cheated rage as he just glared at the British agent's back poisonously and thinking the darkest and foulest oaths and curses in his head for walking away with his one chance to actually do something good for Storm (albeit for not-so-virtuous reasons).

And what truly steamed Shipwreck was that he couldn't do a damn thing about it…

**Author's Notes: YAY! Readers, time to celebrate! I'm now done with the current story arc! Want to know why? Because now we get to a real juicy segment of the story! The Talismans will now appear and show themselves, and it will be the beginning of a gigantic showdown and race against time as Falco and Octavia fight against the heroes when welcome but troublesome news and hitns of the Talismans on Earth now come to light. Just how far will Falco Lombardi and Octavia go in their quest to find the three items to save worlds from the Heartless? And who has the Talismans and who shall live and die? Folks, this next story arc will be small, but vital, and it all begins in the chapter, "Don't Get In Our Way" which will HOPEFULLY be up next Saturday and until then, read and enjoy! Constructive criticism welcome!**


	35. Don’t Get In Our Way

**Author's Note: I profusely apologize for the lateness of this chapter. Since starting my new position at work, I've been putting more hours into work as well as going back to community college night classes for programming, so I apologize again for being late! I don't think I can keep up a weekly schedule at this current time frame. But I really didn't want to sacrifice the quality of this chapter and rush through it (FICTIVES, NOT ONE WORD!). But I do hope you enjoy it, and again, I will always continue writing this and yes, I intend to finish it, Lord willing…**

**Fictives: You do realize that that will give us more of a reason to make sure you don't finish this fic, right? We'd love a challenge…**

**Quiet all of you. Anyway, enjoy this chapter!**

**CHAPTER 35: Don't Get In Our Way**

"That was another fine mess you left in the hands of your most incompetent member of your order!" bellowed General Silver in fury as he and the other members of the Inner Circle gathered in the chambers with the fountain of Organization Thirteen. The Omega Juggler's voice was echoing in the chasm of nothingness as the Hellfire Club and the Thirteenth Order, sans Lord Imperial and the Superior, were already congregated in the rift of space and time and reality. However, a good number of the Organization members were positioned around the marble grotesque carvings that consisted of the Fountain of the Oracle.

The general continued, "And once again, as always, you failed to destroy any of the X-Men and your spores haven't been working as well as we had all hoped! Not only has Wavedancer and her pitiful troupe of Keybladers succeeded in destroying all your Heartless, but no matter what, like the past ten or twenty times before, your infected victim was cured of the Hellfire spore! Apparently, no matter how many hearts we've gained, we're no close to defeating and destroying those meddling mutant kids or their allies!"

"I daresay you had better watch what you say, Juggler," Zexion drawled with a hint of malicious danger as he frowned with his arms crossed over his slim frame, "You yourself have not tried to face those bands of over-violent and inadequate kids. Though appearing naïve and disoriented, they are surprisingly effective, more effective than you give them credit for, despite your close ties to G.I. Joe for the X-Men and the Misfits managed to evade and crack every hurdle and enemy we sent against them. And despite Demyx's bumbling and aversion to brutal force, he still managed to gain over five thousand hearts in his mission in Kenya."

"Yeah!" whined Demyx (in a really pitiful manner which wasn't helping his case), "It's not easy trying to get hearts when you're busy trying to keep those insane lunatics you pass off as mutant psychopathic kids of your back! They really **are** tougher than they look! I was lucky to escape with my life after that furry what's-his-name used that time blast magic!"

"That was Beast, and frankly, this is another pattern that troubles us that you in no way have yet made any attempt to resolve and rectify immediately when it first started with that Pryde whore in Chicago. You haven't even killed a single **one** of those damned kids!" General Silver growled, but then his fellow Juggler, General Black and the representative from the Senior Partners in Wolfram and Hart, broke in strongly for Demyx's sake.

"Silver, I suggest you control yourself and realize that the Organization is doing us a favor in sending the Heartless to weaken and demoralize our opponents, especially when you haven't done anything except sit on your lazy ass and work on the string pulling behind Congress in the U.S. and in Canada. Before you moan and bitch, concentrate more on playing your role in weakening the mutants' ties to any organization with the government, including our plans with Waller and Cadmus. Though not as important, they are still vital, especially since we have more enemies than we can afford to risk a frontal assault."

Luthor just frowned silently; he absolutely hated working with that Waller woman and those fools in Cadmus (regardless of Amanda being the only ignorant dunce thinking she was fully in control), and the presence of General Eiling and General Silver was rather cumbersome. He preferred to work alone. And he also had no intention of sharing the fruits of his labors with those less worthy and deserving…

"Yeah, but General Silver's gotta point: those meddling high-school mutant outcasts are learning more of that Elementa magic," Galatea pointed out, her blue eyes narrowed a bit as she idly flicked her short blond hair, "Again, if it was just one or two of those pipsqueaks, then it wouldn't be much trouble and a case of them getting lucky. But now, fourteen members of the X-Men were shown to have that stupid magic from the King. Fourteen! And a good chunk of them even stronger than the Misfits' magic! I may be powerful and all, but even I know better to shrug off fourteen magic users! They could even give any of you Inner Circle softies a run for your money!"

"I suggest you not get cocky, my dear Power Girl," growled Sebastian Shaw, inflamed at the insinuation that the influential and iron-willed Hellfire club were being thought of as weak (especially since the Inner Circle preferred indirect ways of attacking and destroying an enemy), "The Inner Circle has plans to deal with all the heroes in the end, and let me remind you that you yourself could barely hold your own against Xavier, Jean Gray, Scarlet Witch, Willow Rosenberg, and Piper Halliwell. I assure you that we aren't that foolish for there are other ways to eliminate those uncouth annoyances. Lord Imperial and the Superior will see that once we obtain the tools necessary, '_Operation: Kingdom Hearts_' will be more than successful."

Harry Leland muttered as he watched the rippling water of the fountain pouring out of the spigots, "And let us be grateful that the Keyblades only stayed with the Misfits. Lord only knows how much worse things would get had that damned hound chose to bless people of pure heart with Keyblades such as Captain America or Buffy Summers or Raven of the Titans. And the thought of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman, three of the most powerful heroes from the Justice League with Keyblades makes me shudder."

"That** is** true," Xaldin murmured from his position at the fountain, his black dreadlocks dropping past his brawny shoulders, "However, this pattern of magical gifts being given to what should be our easiest targets is not something to ignore. Even if it has not been repeated with the same individual more than once, if anything, more than ever, with the appearance of Pluto, Leomon, Falco, and Octavia, we need to obtain the powers of the Grail of Kingdom Hearts if we wish to have a safeguard and a wide advantage over those deluded bunch of inadequate embarrassments."

"And we can't continue to expect those Misfit morons and the X-Idiots to not learn from anything each time we tangled with them and sent the Heartless after their friends," Axel said, a bit bored as he twirled a chakram in one palm with a tiresome manner, "I'm surprised, really. Getting on their bad sides kinda backfired on us considering that it made them stand stronger and together and do everything they can to get back at us. Those punks are stronger and more resourceful than they look. They definitely don't fall for the same tricks twice."

Saïx intoned stoically, "And they are working hard at fortifying their bases and weaknesses as well. We cannot expect to continue this pattern of cut and run to have the desired effect much longer."

"Which wouldn't be a worry if we went full out on the X-Men and Misfits in the first place! We're being bested by snotty, whiny teenagers, adolescents even! The fact that we couldn't even kill mere babies such as Claudius and Barney Delgado shows that we would have been more successful had we confronted them full force with everything we had!" snapped Donald Pierce, obviously in agreement in General Silver.

Slade turned his good eye towards the bionic android of the Reavers and said with a bit of disdainful contempt, "And by doing so, you would have instantly brought down the full wrath of the Justice League, Titans, Slayers, Ghostbusters, and God only knows how many unnatural and freakish allies the Joes and mutants have. Hence, unlike you, Pierce, we know that there are easier and more effective ways to deal with this congregation of heroes and noble fools without risking our status and resources. Discretion is the better part of valor, and hence, the main common weakness in this group with the least likelihood of setbacks on our parts while making sure we increase our cache of power."

"And we have no need to worry about setbacks any longer, Slade. **The time has come at last**," the Superior's voice rang out throughout the entire room, bringing the entire lull and side conversation to a standstill as he and Lord Imperial strode with a slow but meaningful gait towards the fountain. The main leader of the Hellfire Club then spoke out his announcement.

"Thanks to Demyx's acquisition of over five thousand hearts from Kenya, we have now gained enough power of the hearts we've stolen from the people of this planet to not only bring the Door to the Light closer to full materialization, but the forces of light and darkness have been strengthened enough for us to fully probe the location of two of the Talismans of Twilight," the Superior stated calmly but with growing anticipation. He had waited practically eons for this! And he apparently wasn't the only one…

"Finally!" groused Selene as she irate brushed back her black hair from her face, "The First and the Demon Lords put together only know how long we've been waiting _this_ development! It was actually getting tiring to try to best the heroes and having it fall flat on its face without any meaningful casualties except for the time when Blackheart invaded the Pit."

"You mean _this_ was the reason why we needed to gather so many hearts and why we kept sending the Heartless on people?" Galatea asked, cocking her head to the side as she flanked next to Harry Leland, "I thought it was to increase and add more to the Heartless and Nobody forces we can use in the end."

"True, but it was also to benefit the Organization so that they and their fountain could be more attuned to this planet and that they could more accurately sense and break through the protective shields around the Talismans. We couldn't do it before because we didn't have enough of the darkness in human hearts to accurately pass through the protective auras. The Talismans are not like most tools of magical powers, especially considering where they have originated from," Xaldin explained.

Larxene chortled as she then explained, "It's funny. Though each and every one of those people who we've killed couldn't have been even more worthless and bigger wastes of life, their hearts are surprisingly powerful. With each _one_ we got, it brings the Door closer to us and strengthens the darkness and the Oracle. Win-win situation for us, and leaving the Keyblade wielders to stupidly walk around blindly."

However, there was one puzzling fact, and Blackheart looked at his master before asking, "**_Only two Talismans? Why not all three, my Lord?_**"

"Because the safeguards of the elusive third Talisman are much stronger and uncanny compared to the other two for some odd reason," the Superior answered as he summed his weapons, the aura around him now bathed with an unholy red glow like freshly spilled blood.

"Still, it isn't of any consequence. Even having _one_ of the Talismans in our hands would be a boon because without all three of them, the tools would be practically useless to their heroes. And no one will tell them of their true and secondary power," Lord Imperial grinned from behind his metal mask.

"**Members of the Organization. It is time…**" the number one member of the order intoned severely as he held up his weapons at the Fountain of the Oracle, feeling the powers of nothingness flow through him and flowing along with the powers of darkness. In conjunction, his two glowing sabers began to glow even brighter, bathing the Fountain of the Oracle with the essence of his power.

As one, the other twelve members of the Organization summoned their weapons to materialize into their hands and they too pointed it at the presence of the fountain. Xigbar's gun arrows began to shine in a purple shimmer while all seven of Xaldin's dragoon lances began to glow with the silvery aura of wind and air. Vexen's spiked shield of ice began to shine in a light blue shimmer, contrasting a bit against Demyx's more azure luminosity from his sitar of water. Zexion drew out his weapon, a leather-bound book (surprisingly) with its pages consisting of aged, yellow parchments and manuscripts, and Lexaeus' red, yellow, and black smoldered with the brown magic of his earth element. Saïx's Claymore sword expanded the star at the tip with a dangerous metallic sound before it too began to shine with silver moonlight while Axel extended his arms horizontally before his two chakram of fire began to glow with fire. Luxord brought forth a hand of five gigantic cards, each shining with a sickly green aura of time while Marluxia's scythe invoked a cloud of pink blossoms to swirl around the top part of the rod and the blade. Larxene then summoned all ten of her kunai knives, five in each hand, before the metal began to crackle and glow with electricity while Roxas, the thirteenth and final member, solemnly brought out his Oathkeeper and Oblivion Keyblades before crisscrossing them together and summoning a ruddiness of both white light and black darkness.

The members of the Inner Circle looked on patiently as each one of the thirteen beings in black cloaks combined and utilized their growing power before all around them, on the white marble ground, formed the symbol of the Nobody, burning brightly in white, all around them before the yellow eyes of the stone Heartless and faces in the fountain's carvings began to glow yellow. With a bright pulse and luminescence that nearly blinded everyone, the waters of the pool quaked and rippled before it began to probe the entire planet of Earth far deeper than the Oracle had been able to perform beforehand.

They had truly gained enough heart crystals…

"Any moment now," Eddington said with a satisfied smile as a ghostly image began to become visible slowly and painstakingly, forming two figures, "And once we know, we'll launch a strike quickly before any of the Joes and Hawk can get wind of…"

Eddington trailed off as his eyes crinkled in shock as the Oracle then displayed the two people whose hearts contained two of the coveted Talismans. The Oracle's voice then resounded throughout the chamber for all the members of the Thirteenth Order and the Hellfire club to behold.

"**_It is done. These are two of the three we seek. Darkness and light have spoken out of the nothingness. The rest is silence…_**" the Oracle said in a booming and thunderous voice before it stopped and went silent, the eyes of the carved statues instantly going lifeless and dull.

There was a rather stunned silence for several seconds as the members of the Inner Circle and Organization Thirteen looked in the waters in the Fountain of the Oracle and viewed the faces of the two beings who held the Talismans of Twilight, hovering above for all to behold. Luthor then finally spoke.

"This** is** a surprise. I would have never guessed those two," the bald megalomaniac stated.

"**_Could…could it be wrong?_**" Blackheart asked, although he knew better.

"No, it isn't," Lexaeus said, "Although now that I think about it…it makes sense."

"All this time…" Xigbar growled with frustration at how clueless everyone had been, "Who would have thought? Damn that King! He always was a clever little sneak!"

"Don't mention his name, Xigbar," Vexen stated coldly, his sickly complexion now even more placid and pale from the bile of frustration upon seeing how foolish they all felt from not realizing this possibility sooner, "But I do agree that this is truly disconcerting. We need a plan, a strategy. Considering that the Misfits and X-Men shall not let this slide easily, we need a way to obtain it safely without bringing upon the interference of the mutants and G.I. Joe until it is too late for them to do anything about it."

"At least now we know truly of the location of the two Talismans we need," Lord Imperial said with a satisfied tone, "And with the third priest dead, the third Talisman is practically insignificant in its danger to us. All we need to do is capture them, and their hearts and the Sovereign's Chalice are ours! And with those two in our hands, it will be perfectly natural that the Misfits, the Joes, and the X-Men shall come running to help them, which will be perfect for us to execute them all at once."

"Want me to do the honors? I've been itching for a little excitement, and I'll be glad to handle any of those Justice League rats for you…" Galatea grinned as she cracked her knuckles, but the Superior shook his head, holding out a hand to dissuade the clone of Supergirl from continuing with her ideas.

"No, for I have the perfect candidate for such an important assignment such as this. And in addition to that, you will have your chance to honor Hamilton's wish and to eliminate all the League's new recruits, especially Supergirl. And Emma Frost, Selene, and the Hellions will be a perfect addendum to this vital stage in planning," the leader of Organization Thirteen said.

"You have to be goddamned kidding me! You're leaving such an important and critical phase of our tactics of the Talismans in the hands of the Queens and the snot-nosed, pampered, spoiled brats?! Send other people far more capable! We can still just overpower by brute force and kill them instantly! **Send people who can do the job!**" Pierce protested angrily, pointing a finger at Selene and Emma.

"Well, then we _certainly_ know for a fact that it won't be you," Selene drawled, the raven-haired succubus said smarmily, though she had half a mind to ensure that Pierce would be missing a vital male organ with a simple rending spell. Emma coolly looked at Pierce with a disdainful, almost bored expression with her arms crossed over her chest and cockily insulted the White Bishop of the Inner Circle.

"Again with thinking brute force and the direct approach is the best route?" the White Queen mocked, "Maybe once you can actually try confronting one of the heroes directly yourself who isn't weaker than you and actually using your gun to shoot and attack a mutant or one of the Justice League rather than hiding in the shadows and framing them before running like a coward? Say what you will about my Hellions, but during the Armageddon of Trigon, they held their own quite well against the Misfits and X-Men and Teen Titans and accomplished what they needed to from H.I.V.E Academy. And if you don't think_ that_ was enough, we certainly helped Xigbar succeed in trapping the Misfits in the Phantom Zone when we invaded Steel City. My Hellions and I have proven our worth. Until you and your Reavers can say the same, I suggest you keep you mouth shut and be a good little boot-licker for the Inner Circle like always."

The android turned beet red and purple with rage, swelling up like a frog, but then Lord Imperial then spoke out harshly before the Inner Circle members, breaking the argument and barking an order to Pierce.

"Enough!" the leader of the Inner Circle ordered before he turned to the White Bishop, saying, "I have a job for both you and Leland, Pierce. You won't be sitting idle. Go with General Black to the intended targets once we finalize our plan to obtain the Talismans. And I assure you that yours and Leland's skills will be necessary to deal with this mission, but do not question our decisions on this matter. Frost and her Hellions are to go along with Selene and the Superior's messenger for the mission of the Talismans. That is final. **_Is that clear?_**"

Pierce was about to open his mouth and dig his grave even further, but one searing look from Lord Imperial shut him up. Lord Imperial did not get to where he was without displaying that he had formidable power, authority, and could invoke the fear of God into any of his subordinates. Not even Shaw was dumb enough to attempt a coup with Lord Imperial in power. Clammy in his face, Pierce nodded his (grudging) consent. General Eiling then turned to Luthor with a sadistic chuckle.

"And while Eddington and I set up our plans with Cobra and G.I. Joe, it would be perhaps better if we already decided to execute our plans with Waller and Cadmus in informing them of this little…_modified_ tidbit."

Luthor frowned, and though he already knew exactly why, he decided to play a bit dumb and elaborate, asking with a sneer, "And why should **_she_** know about the Talismans?"

"Waller still assumes that you're _her_ spy for Cadmus into Shaw's little circle, though she's still dumbly ignorant about the true Hellfire Club, she'll be less suspicious of your role in the Inner Circle if you bring results. Plus, with this information, she will do much of our work for us without needing to lift a single finger on our parts, like all good pawns. Anything that causes more trouble for the Justice League and the heroes will make the job of securing the Talismans and winning the Gathering easier," Eddington clarified.

"Watching your pawns act in thinking they're in complete control is more satisfying, Luthor. Trust me, when she's destroyed with the rest of them, I'm going to cherish the look of horror on that smug, stubborn cow's face when she realizes what she's done in favor of the Heartless," Eiling drawled, obviously patient, as he lit a cigar.

General Black then addressed to Pierce and Leland, saying, "And the Senior Partners are especially eager to ensure that during the chaos that is to happen from our operations, this mission is vital to both Luthor's and Wolfram and Hart's agendas, which will ultimately benefit you and your association in the end."

"Then let us go," Leland chuckled, his bearded jowls quivering with the soft laughter at how they would be cutting down their enemies.

The Superior then wisely chose a warrior from his order, nodding to the youthful yet agile Roxas, announcing, "Roxas, you are to go with the Black and White Queens and execute Lord Imperial and my plans for the Talismans. Go to the designated place of operations by Shaw and wait for further commands while Selene prepares her magic and Emma prepares her students."

Roxas did not show any trace of hesitation or emotion at all as he bowed respectfully to his leader. This selection for such a crucial development of their plans, however, did raise a few eyebrows.

"**_Him_**, my Liege?!" croaked out Larxene in disbelief. This earned her a hard glare of death from her leader for speaking so brazenly and haughtily, as if she knew more than her elder and supervisor (and such superciliousness was a punishable offense).

"I assume there is a reason for Roxas to be chosen to perform the deed?" Saïx asked with stony and emotionless respect, but it was Axel who answered it with a snort.

"Duh! Are you guys that dense or what? Wow, talk about clueless with a capital 'C'…" he muttered, and as Saïx and Larxene both shot him offended looks, Axel continued, "_Think about it!_ The Keybladers and their dumb allies have fought against all of us and know our fighting styles and stuff because we all were sent to attack with the Heartless, except for maybe Xigbar and the Superior himself. Roxas is the only one who hasn't shown his stuff yet except to Wolverine, so none of the twerps will know what to expect from him! Unlike you, Saïx, who got bested by the cripple Xavier in Russia, Roxas can hold on his own. And also, what's the best way to fight people with Keyblades? You fight with your own Keyblades, and Roxas has **two** of 'em! **Got it memorized?**"

It was a good plan, and in that aspect, it _was_ a rational choice.

The Superior of Organization then turned to his youngest soldier and warrior. This was absolutely vital, and failure was not an option. Though he did have alternatives should they fail, the Superior yearned for this development and treasure far too much and he would kill to make sure he would get it.

"Do not fail me, Roxas," the Superior warned, his eyes gleaming with malicious promise if there was to be any disappointment.

"I understand…" said Roxas without emotion, his voice so flat it was practically lifeless, as he bowed to his leader before leaving the antechamber with Emma Frost and Selene, leaving a small feeling of doom and danger in his wake.

---

"Batman, Martian Manhunter!" called out Batgirl with distress, and the two founders of the Justice League turned to see the red-haired masked vigilante in her black and yellow uniform running after them in the metal hallway. They were the only two of the original seven members of the Justice League aboard the Watchtower for that day; the other founders were off on missions either on Earth or in deep space with a good chunk of the other members and new recruits for the League. However, ever since Luxord attacked the Watchtower with the Heartless and how Donald Pierce set off the nuclear cannon from the base's security defenses, this didn't mean that they were being careless. On the contrary, none of them had ever been more guarded and watchful. All passwords and retina scans had been double-checked and configured along with backups and improvements to the computer systems thanks in part to the Men in Black's extraterrestrial connections (there would be practically nil chance of someone hacking and taking control ever again). Not to mention that Jenny Calendar had her magical recruits for the Ghostbusters and allies from the Powers That Be magically enhance the Watchtower again with even stronger barriers (though unfortunately, it would be nowhere near as strong as the Elementa magic Leomon used on the Pit and on Xavier's Institute which didn't help lessen the paranoia). Batman and Martian Manhunter were still on the base because they all decided that if two founders were to be on active duty along with a third of the Justice League and staff stationed throughout the Watchtower, it would mean less of a chance of being taken advantage of than before.

Still, the fact that Batgirl was running after them in a panic made the two perk up, alarmed.

"Batgirl, what is it?" J'onn asked, concerned. Batman, however, was less gracious.

The Dark Knight scolded with annoyance, "Why aren't you at your position with Mr. Terrific at the main consoles? And it's a waste of time to chase after us all over the Watchtower when you could have contacted us by - "

"Lex Luthor is on TV right now giving another address to the nation!" Batgirl said, a little breathless from her sprint as she caught up with her two superiors, panting and flushed in the face. Batman continued on as if he didn't hear her (or that he did but that this was hardly qualified as an emergency in his opinion).

"- through our comm links. I taught you better than to foolishly leave your station for a silly broadcast of little importance and consequence. We require less disappointing and inefficient tactics here in the Watchtower, Batgirl, and you along with Supergirl are two of the second-in-commands so you need to display yourself as a better example to the new recruits," Batman finished with his blood-curdling reprimand. Barbara did her best to fight the urge to snap back (Bruce would have her head for such temperament) as she hurriedly tried to get her warning across.

"**_He's talking and revealing about the Talismans! Everyone's watching it in the rec room!_**" she urged.

It was funny how those sentences were enough to invoke a response…and how quickly both J'onn and Batman instantly fled past the out-of-breath Batgirl, nearly knocking her down as the two men barreled by. And with a simple hand placed on his teammate's shoulder, J'onn phased Batman through the floor and towards the two stories below towards the Watchtower's recreation and television center, usually used to relaxation and entertainment (built at the insistence of Flash and to the annoyance of Batman, unsurprisingly). Batgirl was instantly outraged and irritated beyond belief.

"Hey! Way to leave me behind!" she protested, wondering how far she would be lagging had she headed for the nearest elevator before J'onn's voice telepathically spoke gently in her head with a sheepish tone of regret.

_Sorry. In the surprise, I forgot about you. Forgive me, Batgirl._

And before Barbara could yelp, a green-colored arm emerged partially from the floor before lightly clamping to her thigh, and the girl was phased through the metallic floor along with Batman and Martian Manhunter. The female Gotham Knight barely had enough to process the fact that she was rushing through the floors of solid adamantium, titanium, alien alloys, and reinforced steel, startling a couple of staff as they flew by, before descending down right from the recreation room's ceiling and landing elegantly in the middle of the crowd watching the picture of Luthor at the podium in front of the White House. This throng of spectators (involving both staff members and heroes) with varying emotions of disgust, shock, and curiosity.

"Nice of you to drop by. You didn't miss much; he just started for a minute or two," Gypsy whispered clandestinely to the three newcomers, the sash tied around her black hair fluttering from the turn of her head. A few people around impatiently shushed Cindy as Batman, Batgirl, and Martian Manhunter began to listen in to the broadcast displayed from coast to coast.

Luthor continued to speak into the microphone on the news channel hosted by Snapper Carr on MSNBC, "_As we speak, there are many government operatives who are actively searching for these proposed 'Talismans of Twilight' that our intelligence reports have concluded that are indeed weapons created against the Heartless, similar to the Keyblades and Summon characters assisting the army mutants known as the Misfits. And we do have good reason to hypothesize that this is indeed legitimate. Not only are these weapons discovered to be sought out by the infamous Organization members themselves, but the various soldiers and mutants in the X-Men, Misfits, and G.I. Joe as well are actively trying to help find the two objects that have been prophesized with the ability to destroy any Heartless. And even if this is a mere possibility, our top-brass and the members of the Defense Department feel that in light of the risk of national security and to protect the entire world population from this growing threat, this is a lead we cannot ignore simply due to disbelief._"

"I'm surprised that this low-down, two-faced, swine-swillin', cow-pie's is even comin' out with this news or that his high and uppity friends in Congress are going along with this bleedin' idea! This'll be as wild as a hornet's nest in a ballroom dance, I reckon," grumbled Vigilante, his eyes narrowing above the red bandanna masking his lower face.

"Keep in mind that we don't know entirely who's allying himself with Luthor and that the Hellfire Club wants those Talismans as badly as that Falco and Octavia characters, so it makes sense that if Luthor has a few of the Omega Jugglers on his side, as a whole, the powerful and head bigwigs in Congress have to be going along with this since to them, Luthor's looking out for saving the world. And if its to help show some sort of illusion to the public that they don't need to depend on us for protection and that they can use the Talismans to protect themselves, then it'll be the perfect thing to reveal while playing on people's fear," the League member called Sand replied, the green lenses of his goggles and black face-mask betraying no emotions on his face.

"The Talismans of Twilight…" murmured Batgirl, suddenly feeling very cold. This along with the recent forty-hours of monitor duty at the Watchtower and the lack of sleep was starting to cause her to get a headache.

"Shh! Quiet, please!" Ice whispered as she strained to hear Luthor's speech.

"_I understand the skepticism behind this supposedly wild-goose chase, but rest assured that this report and theory has already been discussed and reviewed by the Department of Defense and the President himself, and the majority feels that this could be a possible gain that could indeed save the world. After the chaotic disasters including the paranormal, extraterrestrials, and these supposed Keyblades that are in the hands of the Misfits, unbridled and unrestrained mutant teenagers, are we really willing to discard the notion that if the Heartless exist, there also exists a force that can represent their antithesis? To endanger the benefit of our safety? We have even previously discussed this with representatives of the United Nations in hopes of being able to stand together against the Heartless threat, and many representatives from other countries and organizations are, I am happy to say, wish to offer support in this mission. And as for naysayer who feels we are revealing too much information, we recognize and comprehend your apprehension. Let me assure you that what I have discussing now is to the bare minimum that has approved by my associates and the President, and as a whole, we feel that the world would be better off and to not keep secrets from them or leave them in the dark. This Heartless threat jeopardizes all of us, whether we are a United States citizen or a citizen in Britain, China, Germany, India, or any other country. I am not here to divide us, but unite and bring us together, as humans and as beings who wish to live in peace and who want our world that we've grown to cherish be spared. Rest assured, there are patriots among us who will see to it that public care and well-being is far more important than being an authority figure or the status-quo, the basis of the Humanitarian Party. We cannot lie and say that there is no hope in this war or that there is a fool's chance of survival; we are far more dignified than that to accept our death and surrender as opposed to those who self-declaredly think otherwise._"

"I hate him," grumbled Rocket Red brusquely in his thick Russian accent, glowing at the image and the slight noise of approval from the audience from Luthor milking this for all it was worth. Not surprisingly, a lot of other people throughout the Justice League would have gladly echoed that same sentiment. Batman narrowed his eyes, but he was already trying to process the subtle clues he could gain from the image, deciding to stuffy the footage in close scrutiny when this was all over. A slight aversion of the eyes, a twitching hand, a gauged reaction from the politicians standing behind Luthor, anything really that could indicate the real reason behind this or an indication about what else was going on…

"_I have said it once, and I shall say it again: **we do not need protectors**," _the presidential candidate said in a final voice,_ "Should we find the two Talismans of the magical shield and mirror, we will not have to depend on those who alliances and self-interests are questionable. We will not be forced to subject ourselves in the hands of children with barely any wisdom and who have so far had a rather dismal success rate in stopping the Heartless from massacring the innocent men, women, and children in the various populations that have been targeted from those abominations. We will not stand by and do nothing while letting others fight a war and battle that we are perfectly capable of contributing. I am not delusional in thinking that we do not need help, and I grant you that there are many empowered beings that are disgusted with these malicious attacks on the pure and blameless that must not be confused or associated with those who have abused their privileges and mandates. But we are not to be seen as helpless victims who are cowards at heart, and this world has its own heroes as well, ones that are not associated with the League, the Ghostbusters, G.I. Joe or the mutants whose parlor tricks and cartoonish antics do little from preventing death and destruction at every strike from the Thirteenth Order. If we are to help take some control over this war, it shall be our patriotic duty to protect ourselves with the two Talismans of the shield and the mirror of Twilight. And I pray that these words will invoke the true meaning of what it means to be a compatriot to our country and a humanitarian to the general race._"

There was a pause before the entire background was filled with loud, thunderous applause as the reporter, Snapper Carr, turned back from the broadcast while reporting, "Is there indeed hope for the never-ending war against the Hellfire Heartless and the Thirteenth Order while the clock counts down to the inevitable doomsday of the Gathering of Twilight? Could there perhaps be any seed of truth to the rumor of a magical shield and sword, these Talismans of Twilight, being the one answer to our prayer against this universal threat? We will have more of this coverage along with the question and answer sessions live from the White House as - "

"Wait a minute," blinked the Justice League member known as The Ray, interrupting the broadcast, as he turned to Batgirl, Batman, and Martian Manhunter, "**Two** Talismans?! I thought…didn't Jean Grey of the X-Men look into that dog's mind and find out that it was _three_ Talismans?"

"A sword, a shield, and a mirror…the Talismans of Twilight…" shivered Batgirl, her voice starting to sound a bit hoarse, but no one noticed much as Batman nodded his head at the light-energy manipulator.

Ice frowned as she stroked her chin, saying with suspicion, her mind whirring, "But that doesn't make any sense. Lex Luthor is part of the Hellfire Club, so he knows perfectly well about the other forces that can fight against the Heartless besides the Keyblades and this Sovereign and Champion, so it's not as if that he was misinformed about the Talismans. So why would he only mention about the shield and mirror, but not the sword?"

"It _does_ kind of seem off," the quantum-energy humanoid called Waverider admitted, "I mean, why only reveal part of the information to people and to those idiots in Congress if he wanted them to search for Shaw's Inner Circle for the Talismans? Hell, the only reason why he wouldn't be concerned about finding that sword along with the shield and mirror would be…"

Matthew Ryder's pupil-less eyes went wide as it then clicked along with the other Justice League members. No, it couldn't mean…

"You don't think…" started Ray.

"That's impossible! They couldn't have possibly gotten it already! Could they?" Crimson Fox gasped. Batman just gave everyone in the room an annoyed and unmoving glare.

"It took you long enough," he said in a low voice of disapproval.

"And technically, this is **Lex Luthor** we are talking about," J'onn stated, "It is dangerous to underestimate him. If there was a way to obtain one of the Talismans of Twilight, he most certainly would be ambitious and mad enough to try it. And with all the resources he gained since joining the Hellfire Club, we cannot assume that this tactic and gain would be out of his reach."

"Great, just great," groaned the Justice League member named Vibe, "Who knows what the Hellfire Club's going to do with that sort of weapon?"

"But _why_ should it be helpful to them? It sounds like if this sword is a Talisman of Twilight, then it'll be useless to them since Falco and Octavia made it sound like it can only hurt Heartless, and we've already got Keyblades and the Elementa magic from Pluto on our side, so it's not as if they could use that one sword to destroy us," Crimson Fox asked.

"Things aren't always what they appear to be," Batman replied tersely.

"A sword, a shield, and a mirror…" croaked Batgirl raucously, loudly and more forceful.

"We heard you the first time, Batgirl, so you've made your point. Quit it already," said one staff member a bit sharper than he would have liked, which automatically earned him a glare from Batman, but then everyone then noticed there was something wrong as Batgirl's voice became eerily haunting and distorted, not like her normal timber, as her eyes went wide and lifeless.

"_The trinity will appear…a battle for a Sovereign's symbol…_" she rasped, with all the people in the room suddenly growing deathly quiet as they stared at the Gotham Knight as if she was Satan-incarnate. Batman surreptitiously touched his communicator earpiece and sent a silent alarm toward Mr. Terrific back at the monitors.

"What the hell?!" gasped Firestorm, the flames on his head fluttering as he went still and just stared, his jaw dropping and thinking Batgirl was possessed, but Martian Manhunter shushed him loudly as he held a finger to his lips.

"Shh! Quiet! We need to listen!" the Martian said warningly as Batgirl, in her trance, then spoke in that same disembodied voice that she had only once performed before during the battle for the Nexus with the Slayers and the Charmed Ones in San Francisco.

"_A shield, a sword, and a mirror…the Golden Triangle…intertwined in twilight…the three priests of the King shall fight against the rising tide of darkness…the Keyblade War…sacrifice…the Keyblades of Death…a clever trap and a trap for the clever in bluegrass and blood…and the Sovereign's blessing arrives with the Power of Land, Sea, and Air…_"

Batgirl's eyes then lost their clouded look before she groaned and collapsed forward the floor, barely giving Batman and Martian Manhunter the time to catch the red-haired girl as she fainted.

"OK…what just happened?" asked one of the staffers of the Watchtower, her eyes wide.

"By the wand of Merlin and the sword of King Arthur!" exclaimed Shining Knight before turning to his close friend and trusted ally, Vigilante, "Is she perhaps a great witch? Or a mystic of some sort?"

"Not that I know of, partner," admitted the cowboy hesitantly as Batman helped his female protégé up from the floor as she slowly regained consciousness. Batgirl was holding her temple with one hand; she was so dizzy, and her mind was all foggy.

"Hee hee hee! Batsy's Bitsy is even crazier than me! Hee hee hee hee hee! Phoenixes, bats, and Talismans, oh my! I need to go get a big punch bowl and cupcakes for this party! Ooh, and now'll be a good time to try out the new china set!" cackled Creeper, looking at Batgirl with his glazed, glassy-eyed expression and his insane, toothy grin.

Barbara blinked, her eyes now focusing, before it dawned on her what was different as she found herself in J'onn arms and with the green-skinned telepath pressing one firm hand against her head as he silently and delicately examined her mind. And she was additionally disturbed that everyone was looking at her oddly.

"Comrade Batgirl, are you all right?" asked Rocket Red worriedly from the audience.

"I…I think so," she muttered, trying to get her bearings, "What…What happened? How did I end up on the floor all of a sudden?"

Gypsy blinked before she asked incredulously, "You don't remember?!"

"Remember what?"

"You were going on some rant about the Talismans and this Keyblade War or something like it," Waverider supplicated helpfully. The look of astonished puzzlement on Batgirl's face was nothing short of priceless.

"You're kidding, right? I don't even remember saying it!" Batgirl dissented.

"It's the Phoenix Force inside you, Batgirl," Martian Manhunter said gravely as he could sense the entity growing stronger in the human's mind despite the mental blocks, "I fear that it is emerging into new forms and abilities, similar to how it did so with Supergirl. It is as we suspected; as a result of the Phoenix Force growing inside your mind, you may be gaining new abilities, in which on of them could perceivably be considered as precognition."

There was a period of thoughtful and somber silence as everyone pondered those words, with Barbara being the most fearful and pensive.

"But…I thought that the Phoenix Force that went into Supergirl was also sealed inside Batgirl's mind by Professor Xavier. So shouldn't it still be hidden and locked away?" Fire asked, cocking her head at no one in particular in the crowd, hoping someone could answer. Orion answered, his blank face betraying no emotions.

"No, that was a fallacy and a misconception. Xavier of the X-Men isn't that powerful and neither is J'onn, and as such, there was no way they could possibly contain and suppress a powerful entity that could be a God, as Egyptian texts and even scrolls at New Genesis have made references of such of a Phoenix Sprit that represented the emotion and creation of energy of our universe. As such, though only a part of it had bonded with Batgirl, it's still too powerful to ever be sealed away for good for no human power on this planet or in New Genesis can seal a God's essence."

"That right," Vibe admitted, "I remembered being told by Kara that Xavier could only soften and delay it, but it was going to come regardless of the mental blocks he put on Batgirl. Meaning that if anything, this whole prophecy thing could really be legit."

"But…I don't remember saying anything! What did I say?!" Batgirl protested.

"Could it be possible that this is a false alarm? There is always the chance of human error," Red Tornado asked, his robotic voice awkwardly forming the words in a mechanical and unnatural manner.

"I do not think we should take the chance. If this happens right after Luthor makes an appearance about the Talismans, then it is certainly something to take seriously and one does not dismiss the wisdom of the mystical realms or of gods, regardless of how obscure they can be," Shining Knight advised.

"And it makes sense! Other precognition people like Hourman, Phoebe Halliwell, or Irene Adler with S.H.I.E.L.D wouldn't be able to see anything about the Heartless and the Talismans because they weren't powerful enough to do something like that, and since the Heartless and the Organization is anything but normal, they're too big to gain any sort of vision from them. But since Batgirl got empowered by the Phoenix Force, a god, then it would explain why she could see this when they couldn't!" Sand realized out loud.

"So…she's like a seer. Or an oracle," Gypsy said in an awed whisper.

"But…what exactly did I say?" Batgirl asked, being helped to her feet by J'onn.

Mr. Terrific's voice announced softly on the main intercom of the Watchtower and in everyone's communicator earpieces, stating, "Not to worry Batgirl, I recorded the whole thing using the security systems and the surveillance monitors. I just got the entire prophecy you were reciting the instant Batman paged me with his comm link."

"Still, the problem is, it could mean anything. It was not exactly descriptive, Comrade Terrific," Rocket Red commented worriedly.

"Something tells me that we're going to be in for a hell of a wild ride, aren't we?" groaned Firestorm, having an uneasy feeling settle in the pit of his stomach.

"Oooh! The Creeper loves rides! Can we go on the pony ones first?! And maybe a little ice-cream cone afterwards?!" cheered the said maniac. Everyone thankfully ignored him.

Batman was grim as he sent a message to Mr. Terrific on his communication link earpiece, commanding, "Mr. Terrific, notify General Hawk, Professor Xavier, and the mutants teams, the Misfits **and** the X-Men. We have a possible development…"

---

Meanwhile, Lex Luthor managed to finish his public appearance of answering questions for his political platform, his Humanitarian Party, and the facts about the Talismans and why they would be important to the press and media (all of which were having a field day with this recent tip). However, he took a deep breath before he entered one of the private offices and closed and locked the door. There, waiting patiently, was Amanda Waller, sitting at ease at her mahogany desk with her second-in-command and trusted soldier and patriot, Colonel Rick Flagg.

"Well done, Luthor," Waller said in a flat voice, though the praise was hardly flattering considering she wasn't smiling, "You have done like I have told you, and your position for future President will no doubt be bolstered by this while it sets the stage for Task Force X. This mass reveal to the public will serve both of our interests. You have done your part, so you are free to go now while we take care of things on our end."

"I'm surprised you wanted this. You know what a hellhole this will cause to the mass public when those fools and civilians with less-than-average intelligence try to tear each and every civilized city all over the world apart. Even the malignant scourges like Cobra, Hydra, or the various enemies of the League, Slayers, and Titans will be clamoring to search through every nook and cranny to grab those items. This will be nothing short of worldwide pandemonium."

"Is that a conscience I hear from you, Luthor?" Waller asked, one brow lifted upwards in a disbelieving manner.

"Just making sure that there's little blame to come my way when cities are literally ripped apart, brick by brick for a couple of my adversaries will be using this to take potshots at my campaign by encouraging and instigating this sort of negligence and endangerment. I need to continue to look good, as hard as the concept may be for you to grasp."

"Sarcasm and insults noted. And like clockwork, the Justice League and their allies will be too widespread to prevent the chaos of order from occurring and will be forced to deploy their resources to lessen the damage of this along with any acts committed by any of heroes' infinite rogue galleries such as Magneto and his Acolytes, the Purifiers, the Pride, the Friends of Humanity, and the Brotherhood of Evil. This is_ exactly_ the distraction we need, especially since the friends and helpers of the damned League will be doing everything they can to save face and prevent as much damage as they can, meaning minimal losses for us but a huge gain in the process."

"But Sebastian Shaw and his mutant friends have one of the Talismans! If you ask me - "

"**No one is asking you**. The Jugglers approved of this, the current President approved of this, I approve of this, and I'm going to execute this. **_That's final._** You have no real say in this matter, and unless you want to get revenge and embarrass Superman and humiliate him even further after their attack on Washington and after his gross misdeeds in Lexor City with Captain Marvel as well as continue this charade to be future President and founder of the Humanitarian Party, you _will_ keep your opinions to yourself. The Jugglers trust my actions on what is necessary to make sure the Justice League pays for their crimes by massacring all those innocents. Unlike you, we will be using this to protect our country."

It was amazing how cold and powerful the African American woman's voice grew like thick slabs of concrete frosted with ice, pounding each word lucidly and with powerful authority and control. Flagg had to marvel at how the portly woman was so very much like Batman at that very moment, right down to the glare, attitude, and demeanor.

Luthor's eyes narrowed belligerently, but to Waller's satisfaction, he begrudgingly nodded his submission. Good, she had him over a barrel. And from what any outsider listening in on this conversation could tell, she still thought that Superman and the other founders had willingly activated the nuclear cannon on the United States capital.

Waller had no idea of Donald Pierce framing the League…because the Jugglers never told her of Hawk's evidence he gained from the Men in Black at the Watchtower.

"Permission to ask a question?" Luthor drawled sardonically.

"No one's stopping you," answered back Waller in the resentful, veiled, yet strangely respectful banter.

"You do know that Sebastian Shaw is a mutant, correct?"

"Yes, I have ears and I read your report twice over. That was the whole reason for you to be my spy in his little criminal circle, Luthor. To confirm that little fact and tell me since I obviously can't get it through threats of force or military action."

"And you're not concerned about how he has this little Talisman that the Thirteenth Order is searching for why exactly? It's obviously an item of great power."

"Because it would be better if he has it in his possession. We shall keep tabs on him in preparation, but Cadmus' plans will flow much more smoothly with him being the one to hold it as a threat against his enemies such as Charles Xavier or General Hawk."

Luthor made an effort to have his face of confused surprise seem genuine as he asked, frowning, "But if we don't get that Talisman from Shaw, then he and his little associations will use it first, and most likely for self-serving purposes against those Keyblades! Why the hell do you want the X-Men and Misfits to fight to the death with them and with the Heartless over…oh."

Luthor did his best to act like it dawned on him (and really, he deserved an Oscar for this acting). Waller obviously saw him nothing more as a financer for Cadmus and hardly anything else. And little did Waller know, it was dangerous to underestimate Lex Luthor.

"Figured it would hit you sooner or later, especially since I know you could see the opportunity in this," Waller said with a touch of disdain as she turned to Colonel Flagg and issued her statement sternly, "The stage is set. They'll be too busy and preoccupied to notice you at this point. You and your group know what to do, but I want no casualties, understood? Though they are enemies of the state, I want not a single death from this suicide operation. I do not need to tell you of the consequences should you fail to adhere to this rule. But regardless of what, the men and woman on your team is of little value compared to what we need to obtain for the safety and security of this country. Make me proud."

"Affirmative, Ms. Waller," Flagg nodded with his head, standing at full attention as a sign of respect. Luthor inwardly smiled. General Eiling and General Eddington were right; it _was_ satisfying to see the pawns do your work for you…

---

Falco just watched the setting sun from his view above at the tip of the peaks of Mount Popocatépetl, surprised that he was actually enjoying the tranquil solitude for once in the country of Mexico. Corneria would consider this planet backward and primitive due to its inferior technology and wide open spaces of land, not forcing metropolitan development as far as the eye could see. But startlingly, the blue-plumed avian actually enjoyed it.

It managed to help distract him from the matters at hand, albeit temporarily. And for once…he didn't think about the nightmares. Since Popocatépetl was still a somewhat active volcano, the warmth radiating from the molten rock deep inside kept him and Octavia temperate despite the high altitudes dropping in temperatures close to freezing.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Octavia said quietly, sitting next to the Cornerian pilot and enjoying the pink and blue sky of white clouds against the fiery orange of the setting sun, "Nothing like this ever existed at Water-O. There wasn't too much land, and the rest of the Tigersharks did most of our missions under water, so it was rare whenever I needed to come up to the surface instead of staying at headquarters."

Falco struggled to find the words, but he wasn't a typical emotional being, so all he managed to utter was a trite statement.

"Yeah. It's nice." Thankfully, it was sincere. Too bad he couldn't do something like this more often. God, he loved the wind and the skies…

There was only silence as the cold air fluttered against her skin and his feathers, but for once, it was nice to not be hounded or worried or tormented by Heartless (though Falco was sort of expecting an unpleasant surprise deep down). It would have been perfect if not for the fact that the neighboring Mexico City and Puebla capitals were currently having several riots, complete with noises of guns firing, faint ruckus and screaming, and general pandemonium occurring from the typical mobs fueled by fear and panic. The falcon-humanoid could barely make out with his vision a convoluted throng of men raiding a hardware store downtown while overturning several cars in the process of their hunt. From what Octavia and Falco could witness for the past week in numerous cities in Europe, Australia, China, Japan, South America, and Canada, this was occurring everywhere ever since Luthor released the news about the two elusive Talismans to the public, offering a beacon of hope in the war against the Heartless. And like clockwork, anyone who was desperate and terrified beyond all sense and reason was madly trying to search high and low in their frantic rush to help fight against the few things that could possibly save them from the Gathering of Twilight.

As a result, the whole planet was thrown into small pockets of bedlam, turmoil, and commotion. Granted, many people looked upon Luthor's news with skepticism, wariness, caution, and a very small minority pointed out that the heroes such as the Misfits and the X-Men managed to help beat back the Heartless most of the time, thus highlighting that they _had_ weapons already to help protect them. However, considering the apprehension, hostility, and caginess of depending on mutants, aliens, and paranormals for help and how the Justice League was still being suspected of the attack on Washington D.C., this still led to many others recklessly tearing apart their homes and surroundings in mass hysteria, if not for peace of mind or the instinct of survival by any means, then certainly for the quest for a powerful artifact.

Hence why Octavia spent a good several days to encourage Falco to stop in his crazed, almost fanatical, efforts to plan on stealing the one Talisman that was in the enemy's possession. They weren't stupid; after the broadcast, like the Justice League and the Keyblade wielders, they suspected exactly what this recent disclosure was brought upon by. But Octavia felt that Falco taking a break wouldn't kill him (on the contrary…)

"I can actually feel it this time. One of the Talismans…this time will be different," Falco said softly, his eyes suddenly glassy and a bit wider than normal. Funny, now that it was an actual strong chance, it seemed less wonderful and more…daunting and nerve-wracking. So much would be riding on this, and it wasn't even definite. And Falco had already been let down so many times before to get his hopes up again. But then again, Fox and the others were counting on him, on the final battle, on finding the Sovereign and the Champion, on getting everyone's hearts back, on destroying Organization Thirteen…

"I guess…it doesn't seem so uplifting and desirable as before like we first thought," Octavia said slowly. It was amazing how Octavia could mirror Falco's mood at this critical point in time. It was hard to explain, but it anything, this world and its people changed her. She certainly wasn't the same female who barely survived her world being destroyed when the Heartless obliterated it.

"We'll get it, Octavia. I promise. You'll be with your friends and family again. I swear it. You'll be with the other Tigersharks when this is all over. Once we get the Talismans and find the Sovereign and Champion, it'll be all over. Everything will be back to normal, be the way things should have been. We won't have any regret doing this."

"Falco, please - "

"I won't fail, I won't let it happen. And if I die…"

"**Falco, that's enough!**" snapped Octavia, flustered, but now determined to make his point across, in a blink of an eye, Falco was right in front of his ally's face and gripped the octopus-woman by the shoulders roughly, causing her to gasp from the sudden pressure on her upper arms, causing her skin to turn whiter than normal.

"Octavia, listen to me! I don't care if I live or die, but I'm not forcing you to go that same path. Like I said, I'm not really sure I'd want to go back home. If we get the Talismans and I can't be with you, then abandon me and get away with the Talismans yourself. And if you have to…go back and ask Leomon and the Keybladers for help. They'll protect you since Pluto will probably try to convince them to spare you and if you have a Talisman, then they won't risk it. And that furry coward…well, he wouldn't turn his back on you when it comes down to it."

"Falco…" Octavia blinked, stunned. He was actually giving in to what she had been pestering him about for the past month or so? Falco gave a coarse and shaky smile.

"Hey, if I'm not around, at least you'll be in good hands, as much as I hate to admit it. But only if it comes down to it. I don't want to lose this, Octavia, and if it brings everyone back, then I'll gladly die before I eat dirt to those Keyblade morons. But only if it there's no other option. After all, you probably wouldn't really want to see me come crawling back to that dumb Digimon and giving him the satisfaction of asking for help. You know how stubborn I can be."

There was a small silence before the Tigershark's smile was wide and mischievously resolute, so much like Falco. The avian had to cheer up a bit; there's the fire he always knew…

"Let's do this, then," she said at last, slightly gripping Falco's wings.

---

"Anything yet, yo?" Toad asked, hopping around in anticipation and barely able to contain his excitement, causing Cyclops to grit his teeth and resist the urge to throw Toad off the rooftops (really, being asked the same question for the umpteenth time for the tenth straight day and night of stakeout duty would make anyone patience snap). He was on the cover of a nearby building close to the Shaw Industries branch that was a third of a mile away, spying with his binoculars at anything that could conceivably be considered odd or out of place. Along with the X-Men's field leader was Wavedancer, Toad, Jean, and Shipwreck and Roadblock. Ever so vigilant despite the fact that a good part of him wanted to kill himself or kill Toad (either choice was preferably the_ less_ painful option).

And they had been doing this for the past week and a half, day and night.

"No, nothing yet. Just like the last time you asked me which was seventeen minutes ago. Just like the past three times you asked me that the last hour! Just like the past fifteen times you asked me that this morning! Just like the past hundred or so times you asked me that this past half-week! And just like the past – oh I don't know how many times since I didn't bother keeping count! And if you ask me one more time, I am personally going to use my optic blasts and - !"

"Cyclops, that's enough," Wavedancer said, her tone a bit sharper than she would have liked, but she was tired too, like Scott and the other X-Men and Misfits were. After ten days of monitor and stakeout duty, she herself was beginning to grow a little frustrated and weary despite her numerous teachings of patience by Storm Shadow and Blind Master. But the Misfit leader knew that this was necessary, especially since there was no other way to keep close tabs on the Inner Circle in a way where it didn't lawfully cause them problems or allow the Hellfire Club to discreetly pull one over them. After the numerous and tiring discussions and meetings with the leaders of all the allied groups and heroes, and dissecting the prophecy of Batgirl's, word for word, General Hawk and the other directors decided that the Misfits and the Misfits handlers would be best served in watching the one place where the supposed Talisman was suspected of being held at.

And they weren't the only ones thanks to Xavier's request. Along with the Misfits and the Joes were the X-Men, consisting of the select members: Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean, Nightcrawler, Gambit, Colossus, Storm, Magma, Boom-Boom, and Multiple. And divided into several groups, all of them were spying upon the gigantic landscape of the division of the enterprise, Shaw Industries Inc., in the heart of the city Louisville in the state of Kentucky. It was a rather imposing and proficiently striking arrangement of buildings. All of the construction consisted of steel and white stone, almost shining like marble, and there was a cleverly artistic design of concrete sidewalks and miniature grassy areas of green, each encircling around the grounds and offices in alternating and clean patterns. There wasn't a single speck of trash or dirt anywhere, and there was numerous floodlights and streetlamps positioned throughout the grounds, exposing every single open space for security cameras and electronic eyes. And the whole assemblage had a lot of open space, for the entire foundation spanned a half-mile radius, making sure to leave a comfortable berth between the barbed, iron gates and the warehouses and administrative centers located in the core. And the heroes could only imagine the additional security measures, both lethal and non-lethal (but just as worrisome) that were hidden throughout the property.

Cyclops gave Wavedancer a miffed and baleful look as he glared at the exuberant and chipper Todd and asked, "How is it that Toad can remain so energetic considering it's one thirty in the morning?"

"Had a couple of chocolate-covered grasshoppers and a few butterflies while on break this afternoon. Now he'll be hyper and as jumpy and noisy as a loon," versed Roadblock smoothly as he continued to look around the other neighboring rooftops close-by, making sure that no one would be spying on _them_.

"How can you say _that_ with a straight face and not wince?" Scott wearily asked the Joe machine gunner. Roadblock sighed, understanding why this wasn't really boding well for the usually stern and strict teenager.

"In this line of work, you learn to adapt with the inevitable lunacy as a fact of life, Cyclops."

"Still, stakeout duty has some perks. Oh, what I wouldn't give for a camera right now…" Althea said with a wry giggle as she indicated with her head to the dozing and exhausted Shipwreck and Jean Grey. Both of them were seated with their backs against the wall of the doorway leading to the rooftop and sleeping lightly, with Shipwreck drooling from one corner of his bearded mouth and Jean, in her drowsiness, leaning her head against Hector's shoulder, snoring softly.

"**_Don't even try it_**," growled Cyclops wrathfully, wondering why couldn't he have just done the smart thing like Rogue and stay back at the X-Mansion in a nice and relatively-quiet bed in his room with a TV or a snack.

Meanwhile, on another surveillance point at another building at its roof level, Low Light received a contact message from Mr. Terrific at the Watchtower and Michael Lee at the Ghostbusters firm in New York through his communicator.

"Low Light, come in. Watchtower requesting transmission. Low Light, come in," Mr. Terrific's voice reported softly over the speaker.

"Low Light, provide the confirmation code and passwords please," Michael requested from his station. This was a planned safety protocol; should Low Light be unavailable or should an imposter try responding back through his communicator with a false report, there would be no way for the phony to know the real passwords that would automatically send an alert of allies upon their location in seconds flat.

The Joe sniper responded with his answer, saying, "Low Light: G.I. Joe code E-6, 0-3-7. Passwords: Yo Joe, Thundaga, Pluto, and Moreausseau."

"Passwords and voice-recognition program authorization is confirmed. Glad you didn't fall asleep, Low Light," chuckled Michael from his console.

"Any changes of your situation?" Mr. Terrific asked from his position at the League's base.

"None, just like always so far."

"Just proceeding with the hourly call-backs, Low Light. But if you want, we can send one or two Leaguers to relieve you for a little while so that you could catch up on some rest."

"Nah, we're fine. But anything from your end? Catching anything going on over there with your computer scans?"

"Nothing, except from the strange magical signature that was discovered when we first suspected of this branch of Shaw Industries. Other than that, nothing except for the human activity inside the building in which I'm assuming is due to the guards and patrols for the premises," Michael reported.

"And the Watchtower monitors can't break through the shielding on the entire company, no matter how hard we try. But from what we can see, there's nothing – oh damn!" Mr. Terrific cursed.

"Bad news?" Spirit asked from his communicator, a bit alarmed.

"Another breakout of the Royal Flush gang is occurring right now in Las Vegas, and we're stretched tight as it is! I have to send some Leaguers there now, so Mr. Terrific signing off!" the African-American male reported before he ended the call.

"Understood. Good luck," sighed Spirit before he relayed a message to Michael Lee at the Ghostbusters, saying, "You better take a break as well, Michael. You've already done the hourly check-up protocol, and there's no point in you being cooped with your computer. Go relax a bit, but return for the next interval, all right?"

"Cool. I'm out!" and with that, the technopagan hacker logged off.

"Wish **we** could have that luxury," grumbled Xi as he, Dragonfly, Colossus, Storm, Boom-Boom, and Magma were stationed on the rooftops along with the two men from G.I. Joe.

"We can't risk just leaving this place off-guard, Xi. Since this could be a possible lead for those Talismans, we have to stay here as much as we possibly can," Storm replied with a heavy exhale.

"Is it possible that the Phoenix Force thingie inside Batgirl is wrong?" Boom-Boom asked with some afterthought, making a tiny cherry-bomb in her hands and letting it discharge harmlessly and with barely a noise into the air after rolling it between her fingers, "I mean, if you think about it, Batgirl isn't a mutant, and she never had a vision before ever since we fought for the Nexus in San Francisco. And even that little warning of hers never came true as of yet. Maybe even though that firebird spirit's in her, it's being read wrong or something."

"Considering that it hasn't appeared except that one time in San Francisco, I'd be willing to say it's a possibility. But then that speech from that dickhead Luthor about the Talismans doesn't really put my mind at ease, especially since we'll all pretty much willing to bet that it's not a coincidence," Cooper replied gruffly.

Magma pondered over this until she remarked, "That's right, especially since we need to take everything into account that if we lose getting the Talismans, we might miss out on the one thing that will help us defeat the Heartless and bring everyone back. Even if there is a chance that this is wrong, we can't risk it. There's a chance that this could be real too. And everyone…"

Magma sniffed and wiped her nose with her glove, already depressed and thinking dark thoughts about Quicksilver and how he was nothing more than a cowardly, arrogant jerk. Piotr, ever so gentle-hearted and compassionate, reached out and laid a hand on Amara's shoulder in comfort and concern.

"Cheer up, Magma," Colossus said with care, smiling unsuccessfully, "You know we'll all be there with you on this. This is our battle as much as it is yours, and we know how much Cassiel and Alexandra meant to you. We won't let them down, and God only help those Organization jerks once we get our hands on them."

Amara remained glum, but her mouth twitched a bit upwards for a second or two gracefully.

Spirit then also added as a postscript to Low Light's argument as he addressed to Tabitha, "And considering that there was no evidence to believe that Batgirl has been wrong before and that the entire divination was recorded and analyzed word for word, many of our allies felt that this was the most likely place, especially Batman. And you know how conscientious and thorough he can be with _his_ investigations."

Boom-Boom snorted, but she admitted that Spirit had a point. Batman was known as an uptight and unrelenting prick who always took the effort to be right all the time for a reason. Despite Sebastian Shaw's company being international with over three hundred branches and sub-divisions all over the world in over one hundred countries, Batman along with quite a few other sharp individuals looked over the clues before they came to the same conclusion of the Talismans appearing at the outlet of Shaw Industries located in Louisville, Kentucky. This was because of the sentence "_a clever trap and a trap for the clever in bluegrass and blood_", and Kentucky was known as "The Bluegrass State" and had its name derived from obscure Native-American words than meant "the river of blood". Additionally, the statement "_the Golden Triangle_" was a reference to the economic region in Kentucky that encompassed a good portion of the state and had its three points originate from Louisville, Lexington, and the northern part of the lands.

Add the fact that there was no other subsidiary belonging to any of the Hellfire Club's members and that the Charmed Ones and Willow could sense a strange magical anomaly originating from this very location pretty much cemented the decision to keep the entire region under surveillance. If the Talismans and this Sovereign were supposed to show up, then this would require all the Keyblade wielders and the Misfit handlers as well, the logic being that if the Heartless show up (a strong possibility), then they would be immune to the death of losing their hearts. And this was exactly the same reason why only a few X-Men were elected to accompany the Misfits; they too had their hearts sealed and locked by the power of the Keyblades. A few of the other X-Men weren't pleased by this. Rahne and Theresa fought tooth and nail with Sean and Moira to come along, and so did Evan, and Kitty. Even Willow the Eloi had a heated argument with her father, Thorn, over joining with the Misfits to get the Talismans. In the end, only the X-Men with locked hearts could come. Still…

"Maybe we _should_ ask people from the Titans or the Justice League to help out. Lord knows we could use it! We've been camped out here day and night for almost two weeks! This absolutely sucks! I don't see why we need to camp out here! If the other guys are worried, then they should be here at Shaw Industries too!" Boom-Boom groused.

"Oh sure, _that's_ a good idea," Xi said with sarcasm as he waved a clawed hand out to the city down below, "Not only do all the allies and heroes in the League, Titans, Ghostbusters, and S.H.I.E.L.D have nothing better to do, but to wait out here in the cold open air around Shaw Industries like we've been doing for the nine days, but no one isn't going to notice a huge crowd of people spying on the company."

"That is true," Storm admitted, "The less people at this stake out, the less likely we will be spotted and the more efficiently we shall be able to keep an observant guard, unnoticed and without attracting attention. The smaller the group, the swifter and more coordinated the strike which is exactly what we shall need if these are the Talismans that have been made as a vital matter for so long."

"And the other guys have more to worry about to. Not only to they have to stop the other criminals that aren't associated with the Inner Circle, but the whole world's gone nuts and they're trying to do everything they can to keep the peace," Dragonfly mused sadly and with consternation. She was right to think so as well.

Ever since Lex Luthor revealed the existence of the Talismans of Twilight to the general public, the whole world was mad and fueled by the desire for protection and power against the Heartless, whether it be for the sake of saving innocent lives or for plain selfishness. As a result, mobs were breaking out in various cities and towns all over the world on almost an hourly basis, with people injuring or killing anyone or anything in their way as they looted, plundered, and destroyed anything within reach. The local police and military couldn't keep it all together considering mass hysteria was not an easy thing to brush off. Even with many of the Joes, S.H.I.E.L.D, A.U.N.T.I.E, a few of the X-Men, the Teen Titans, and the Justice League helping out, there were too much destruction widespread and riots to effectively neutralize and police every single act of vandalism and anarchy. The heroes were stretched tight, and Jenny Calendar's permission to send out many of the Ghostbusters and the new recruits to assist with their powers to calm things down, despite this not being a paranormal matter, barely achieved any significant effort. People weren't willing to listen to reason at this point.

And to make matters worse, other groups were starting to get in on the act, which certainly made things even more difficult for the heroes. Magneto was seen looting various power plants and raw materials from mines and processing workshops along with Acolytes, obviously hoping to gain new resources for Avalon. But in addition to that, several of his soldiers such as Polaris, Sabertooth, and Pyro were seen robbing and searching with wild perseverance in shops for anything close to a mirror and a shield and stealing, smashing, and burning anything in their path. Cobra and Hydra soldiers and B.A.T. androids were reported in every major city, trying to gain any information about the Talismans of Twilight and plundering with massive gunfire and warfare, and while the various freedom fighters were trying to stop this crises, Baroness and Destro along with Zartan and the Dreadnoks somehow managed to infiltrate and download precious information by hacking into the CIA and FBI's databases, hoping they could shed some light on the Talismans as Luthor claimed. Cobra Commander evidently didn't seem like he was going to stay out of this one. Dr. Doom had publicly made the declaration to allow an immediate and respected title in his court in his kingdom, Latveria, should anyone deliver one of the Talismans to him and swear fealty to him as his superior and king, and Nick Fury, Maggie Gordon of Metropolis, and Commissioner Gordon of Gotham, and Inspector Sheridan of San Francisco were all busy trying to collaborate and orchestrate their units and resources in teamwork to prevent the damage of recent breakouts with Intergang, lackeys of the Pride, and H.A.T.E. and the Friends of Humanity from their revolts in their claims for the Talismans as well. The demons and the evil paranormals, predictably, were taking full advantage to be even more ruthless in their attacks and lootings on innocent humans, increasing the anti-magical hysteria even more. Jenny Calendar and the Ghostbusters sent all their recruits to bring in the vampires, ghouls, ghosts, warlocks, and other dark creatures to pay for their crimes under law and punishment and take them in, but even then, it was stretched far past any comfortable berth. Jenny and Quentin and the main Ghostbusters council could see that even they could not handle each and every one of the outbreaks occurring throughout the entire globe. And to take a tragic note, the Mirror Master, one of the League's rogues and a nemesis of the Flash, has last week tried to create a bid for millions in the black market, claiming that he had the one mirror that was the rumored Talisman of Twilight. When Question, Huntress, Black Canary, and Green Arrow went to investigate, they found the Mirror Master dead in his headquarters and all his mirrors smashed to pieces, his entire body riddled with bullets. Apparently, the deal went sour, especially since it was a good hypothesis that the Mirror Master was trying to pull a fast one…and paid dearly for it.

The Flash had Sam Scudder be buried in a small, nondescript cemetery and footed the bill to give him a private funeral (sadly, no one else attended). As much as the Mirror Master was a criminal, the Flash and the League certainly didn't want him dead.

At first, once Batgirl's premonition was shown to all of the allied groups of heroes, there then came various degrees of disagreements and hesitation as to what exactly to do about it. Some such as Blob, Quicksilver, and Shipwreck simply suggested that they simply just storm right in and grab the three people whose hearts contained the Talismans or the Talisman in the Inner Circle's possession by force. This was shot down by the obvious reasoning that Sebastian Shaw and his Hellfire associates would place the Talismans under heavy guard. Any attempts to go head-first would obviously lead to injuries or casualties, and worse yet, legally, this would make all of the heroes look bad and give the public and their enemies even more fuel to declare them law-breaking vigilantes and power-hungry dangers to society. And the Justice League was especially hesitant considering that they were all suffering from the Watchtower's nuclear gun firing upon Washington. And Wolfram and Hart would especially love to bring charges on the Ghostbusters for theft and acting without concrete proof.

Willow of the Scoobies and Kylie of the Extreme Ghostbusters asked if perhaps the government would be willing to forsake a search warrant under the law of exigent circumstance, and since this was dealing with the Heartless and the lives of three people, this certainly would qualify. But Nick Fury and General Hawk both broke the bad news. The Jugglers forbade them from pursuing any military action against the Hellfire Club until further notice, and Hawk and Fury were unluckily chosen as messengers to the League, Titans, and paranormals that serious consequences would arise for all of them if they so much as even tried to go against this. And considering that the Jugglers were hesitant about trusting the metahumans, mutants, and supernatural beings for help in stopping the Gathering, it should have been no surprise that they saw Luthor as the lesser evil (not to mention that investigating Shaw's company in Kentucky would inadvertently reveal about the discreet Sentinel project in Camp Hayden which was nearby). It was certain that some of the Omegas who were siding with the Heartless were pushing to not take Hawk's testimony at face value, and instead felt confident that the Keyblades and the Elementa magic was enough to handle the situation without snowballing and making things more complicated for them. Especially since they weren't sure if they could control the Misfits already now that they were the only ones who had the few tools to fight Organization Thirteen. And if the heroes had the Talismans, then they truly _would_ be a potentially bigger threat than the Heartless to national security to the Jugglers' eyes.

In short, the Jugglers said no, and Hawk and Fury were wary to press them, especially with Hawk already being on bad terms and with Eddington having the last laugh. And any attempts by any of the other groups who perhaps weren't as tied to Congress and the military such as the X-Men and the Titans would still lead to repercussions. And no one wanted to make things harder especially for S.H.I.E.L.D, the League, and the Joes. And they didn't even want to know what would happen if the United Nations would follow up on their threats to use military and brute action against their side, regardless of being good or not.

Thus that was why the heroes conceded that the only thing they could do was keep a lookout for Falco and Octavia and hope that they would try stealing the Talisman or Talismans out of Shaw Industries themselves, especially since it was highly unlikely that they would sit this one out. And if Batgirl's statement was to be believed, then they would most certainly show up here. And if they showed up, then the heroes would be ready to take the Talismans back by force. A few, such as Superman, some of the Dinosaucers, Sarah of the Secret Scouts, Paige Halliwell, and Starfire and Bumblebee of the Titans, had reservations on attacking Falco and Octavia like that. Just because the two were horrid towards them while searching through heart crystals to get the Talismans in no way gave them the right to steal it back from Falco and Octavia and let them do the job (the ever-so-famous "two wrongs don't make a right" argument). After all, they simply wanted to do this so that they could bring back their dead friends, and it wasn't right to take away that hope from them. However, the majority was less than sympathetic. Since this was the end of the world and Falco and Octavia obviously never gave them reasons to trust them, then this was the best course of action, especially since they weren't going to kill them or horrifically hurt them. And the Talismans would be in much better hands than leaving them with the Hellfire Club or in the two agents of the King.

Hence why they wanted to keep an observant and heedful guard; they wouldn't be able to get another chance like this again.

"And with so many people now willing to do anything it takes to get those Talismans, even kill, we can't risk not being here when Falco and Octavia come here to go get it, and knowing how intent they both are, it will be a given," Spirit mused with some dread, bringing them all out of their thoughts.

"I'm really not sure if after everything that feathered dick and that octopus-tramp have done to us, those two having the Talisman over Luthor isn't really _that_ much better," groused Cooper.

Meanwhile, Bree and Wolverine were doing their best to keep a lookout while trying to deal with Gambit and Nightcrawler at another part of town, spying upon the white complex from afar…

"_Mon dieu_, Remy so sick of this! Why don't you let Remy sneak in there and steal the dumb Talisman?! Remy won't get caught! He's a trained thief for crying out loud!" Gambit practically shouted, but a set of three adamantium claws popping out just inches from his face and causing him to stop short.

Logan snarled, "If I hear one more word of your little whiny mouth, Cajun, and I'm going to forcibly remove your lips so that you'll be less concerned about being bored and more concerned with blood loss! And considerin' that this takes you away from Stripes and gives her a chance to cope without ya' ruining her life any more than you already have, this is all for the better! You're stayin' here and being good, and if that means slicing your legs right above your kneecaps, then I'm doing it!"

"Remy is saying that this is a dumb idea to begin with! This isn't the time to play by the rules! So we go in despite those Jugglers' warnings and get the Talismans! Remy can make sure he won't be seen by the security cameras and we make sure that we have something help make sure we get everyone's hearts back! So what if we break the rules?! Those Hellfire_ connardes_ aren't playing by them either, and what's the worst they can do to us?!"

"Gambit, we all agreed on this, and that we can't risk it, especially since Hawk has the feeling that the Organization and the Inner Circle may have a few nasty surprises and fail-safe plans in case of something like this, and they're smart enough to anticipate us trying to interfere. I know this is unfair, and I'm not a fan of the Jugglers, but for all our friends' sakes, inside and outside of our circle, we can't endanger any of them. Keep in mind, unlike you, they never had their hearts sealed so they can lose their hearts and die if the Heartless are sent against them," Bree reasoned, placing a hand on Gambit's shoulder. Unlike many of the other women, Bree actually encouraged Gambit to not give up in trying to patch things up with Rogue, for she could clearly see that Remy never truly meant to hurt her.

Sadly, not that many of the X-Men agreed with her sentiments.

"Frankly, I'd be throwing a party if he really **did **lose his heart," muttered Nightcrawler with animosity, finally breaking the silence. It was clear he hadn't forgiven Remy for hiding the fact that he was engaged with Rogue and hurting his feelings. Already tense, Gambit naturally lashed back.

"Shut the hell up, Kurt!" snapped Gambit, his eyes now glowing red-hot amid the black irises.

"Go run back to your fiancée, Belladonna, you two-timing, arrogant, blockhead!" shouted back Nightcrawler, the yelling match now starting to get a bit more ugly.

The Cajun X-Man brought out his staff as he snarled, "You want Remy to ram this up where the sun doesn't shine?! _Cherie's_ brother or not, Remy not above making sure your little butt gets blown up to Kingdom Come!"

"Bring it, you - !" snarled Nightcrawler, making a fist.

"That's enough! Now is not the time!" Bree shouted sternly, throwing a hand in between the two bickering teenagers. But before either of the two mutant teens could opt to forsake the Joe's warnings and try to murder each other regardless, Logan then spoke out in the brief moment of edgy silence.

"We got a live one," he growled as he could barely make out a single lone feminine figure with light-green skin and tentacles instead of hair. He relayed his communicator as Bree and Gambit looked through their electronic binoculars, only to see that Octavia was warily looking around her surroundings at the very edge of the grounds of Shaw Industries.

"What is it?! I can't see! Can you give me a chance!" griped Nightcrawler impatiently as he reached for Remy's binoculars, only to have his hand being rudely shoved away.

"Get your own!" hissed Gambit, and Kurt looked ready to shove Remy off the roof until Bree, sighing and deciding to act quickly, lent her instrument so that the German X-Man could see what was happening. Wolverine was talking with Cover Girl who was positioned along with Blind Master, Fred, Wanda, and Multiple at another post at a skyscraper at the north-northwest end of the complex.

"We see her, Wolverine. We'll stick to the plan. Octavia seems to be alone, but I don't see Falco anywhere…" Courtney warned.

"No matter, because I'm alerting everyone with my – AAAA!" finished Bree with a scream as she went flying quickly, being snatched off the floor and being lifted by a blue of silver, zooming by so swiftly that it caught all of them, even Logan, completely by surprise.

"_Mon dieu!_" gasped Gambit as he, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler saw the familiar form of Falco Lombardi carrying off Bree with one wing tightly wrapped around her waist and arms while flying off, faster than they could process it. Bree squirmed a bit, struggling in the bird's grip of iron.

"Wolverine, what the hell's going on?!" Blind Master asked.

"It's Falco! He's got Bree! The feathered asshole took her!" yelled Wolverine as Gambit starting flinging a few kinetically-charged cards at Falco while Nightcrawler then managed to teleport and appear right on top of Falco's back.

"Let go of her, you creep!" Kurt snarled, automatically punching and hammering away with his fists and feet, before trying to use his tail to wrap around the avian's neck, trying to strangle him. Falco was soon finding it difficult to racket and propel through the air with a death-grip around his neck. With that, the Cornerian pilot sneered as he then suddenly relinquished his hold.

"If you insist…" he drawled as he dropped Bree, and the blond medic went hurtling towards the ground at a frightening speed, screaming with wide eyes as she experienced free-fall. Kurt gasped, automatically forgetting his assault on Falco. With a puff of brimstone, Kurt teleported next to Bree, grabbing her hands.

"I got you!" shouted Kurt, but then a laser blast from Falco winged him on the shoulder, making him cry out in surprise as the blood poured out of the burn. The last sight he saw as he turned around was the image of Falco's two feet making direct contact with his stomach in a wince-worthy hammer strike as he thundered downwards, feet first, swift and brutal. Nightcrawler swore that his stomach felt like it was punctured as he blurred into senselessness from the agony. With that, Kurt went limp and dropped like a stone alongside the Joe medic.

Falco looked a bit worried and hesitant as he swooped down and snatched a horrified Bree and continued to carry her towards the Shaw Industries branch, but he was relieved when he saw Dragonfly and Trinity rush forward in the air, speedily reaching for Kurt.

"We got you!" cried Dragonfly as she managed to grab and latch on to the stunned Kurt, using her wings to slow down his ascent. Daria, Quinn, and Brittany, joining together by the hands, still managed to levitate and assist by having two of the Triplets grabbing on to Nightcrawler's ankles.

"Geez, you **really** need to lose some weight, Kurt!" griped Quinn.

"No more Gut Bomb burgers as midnight snacks for you ever again!" Brittany complained as they managed to disembark safely and with a soft landing. Bree meanwhile was trying her best to writhe and squirm out of Falco's grip.

"Creep!" she spat.

"Calm down, he's not dead!" snapped Falco as he finally arrived to his destination next to Octavia as she finished using her magic to disrupt and freeze all of the electronic eyes and security cameras of the entire premises, water-logging and short-circuiting them so that they would remain silent and be unable to warn anyone inside of their arrival. It was a complex operation, but Octavia was thankful that it all ended perfectly. With a brutal shove, Falco dropped Bree to the concrete sidewalk, causing her to scrape her palms as she crashed. Octavia gave Falco a baleful look.

"Could you have done that a little _less_ harshly?" she sighed.

"She's not dead, isn't she – whoa!" squawked Falco as he dodged as Bree automatically sprang up and tried to ram the bottom of her palm upwards towards the bird's beak, intending to break his nose clean off. Falco just deftly caught her wrist, moving his head to the side before strafing in a blink of an eye behind Bree and twisting her arm behind her back, close to snapping the bone. Bree cried out in pain as Falco forced her to her knees, whispering behind the Joe's ear.

"Cute move, but you better keep your tricks to yourself if you want to live through this…" Falco growled. Until a giant glob of acidic slime came flying out from his blind spot and splattered against the bird-humanoid's arm, instantly and dissolving his feathers. Falco squawked as Toad came rushing in with Avalanche, Simba, Xi, and Bambi, brandishing his Keyblade. Bree managed to roll away to safety as Roadblock rushed to her side.

"Are you all right?!"

"I'm fine. Just get that feathered bastard!" Bree shouted, her heart still beating. As Falco did his best to evade Bambi's head-butts and Simba's attempts to pounce and crush him, Octavia took a brief span of several seconds to scan all around the buildings as Storm, Blind Master, Roadblock, Dumbo, and Quicksilver charged towards her. She could just make out two other groups of mutants and humans nearby on adjacent towers, spying on the fight but not intervening in case of there being a trap. Thus, not all the heroes were going into the brawl blindly.

The Tigershark fretted to herself as she narrowly ducked the several steel ninja stars before jumping out of the way right before Blob's Heavyweight crashed into the concrete where she was standing ago, leaving a deep hole. Apparently, the heroes weren't stupid, but she and Falco would need all of them congregated her in this very place. She then summoned up all the power she could muster as she leapt high into the air while Falco ruthlessly grabbed Xi and threw him hard against Avalanche.

"Aquara Tigershark Tsunami!" she yelled, and to everyone's surprise, instead of the water attacking them, two powerful waterspouts rushed out right from underneath the X-Men, Misfits, and Joes who were waiting on the sidelines.

"Hey!" exclaimed Colossus.

"What in blue blazes – glub!" Shipwreck managed to shout before he was cut off violently, submerged as two powerful waterspouts of salt water erupted out of nowhere underneath their feet. In less than a second, they were all capsized and swept away by the torrents of water, encapsulating and holding them submerged in the currents. All of the heroes, regardless of being far away, were unluckily swept away. And like a snake, the two waterspouts from Octavia surged forward towards Shaw Industries before coming directly at the brawl from above.

Trinity heard the noise first and looked up, only to see the sudden downpour of water with their friends coming right above them at frightening speed. Daria gulped as she warned on her communicator, "You guys! Incoming!"

"_Mein Gott!_" Nightcrawler gasped as he teleported out of the way from Falco's pistol rounds that nearly struck his forehead.

"No!" gasped Wavedancer as she tried to use her mutant hydrokinesis to lessen the forces all around them to stop the pressure from drowning her teammates and her allies. Still, she was nowhere as powerful enough, and with a crash, many of the heroes were waterlogged and knocked off their feet as powerful floods and waves of salty liquid crashed against them. Many were sputtering, heaving, and completely soaked (and Mushu was threatening to gnaw Octavia's face off when he got the chance), but thankfully, no one was killed. Disoriented and bruised, but at least nothing serious. Blob, now livid and managing to stay on his feet due to his heavy center of gravity, managed to spring forward without any need to brace himself as he blitzed towards Falco with his Keyblade.

"You're dead, you chicken!" Fred roared, apoplectic and mad beyond any sense of reason, and due to Toad's toxic poison paralyzing his arm and slowing down his movements, Falco then saw his opportunity as too late Fred realized his mistake as he threw his first swipe.

"No, Blob! **Stop!**" yelled Cyclops.

"Reflega!" yelled Falco, holding out his undamaged wing. Instantly, a shimmering force-field surrounded Falco right before Fred struck it. There was a soft crackling noise before the magical shield shattered and white, glowing shrapnel struck many of them all around.

"AAAA!" the heroes screamed in malaise.

"Now, Octavia!" squawked Falco as a good portion of the heroes dropped to the ground in pain from the flying shrapnel caused by the Cornerian pilot's shield spell before the avian slammed his wings onto the ground, his entire body shimmering with silver light.

"_In the name of the Aeroga Kingdom…_" Falco intoned in a powerful and quaking voice, not like his usual timbre. Octavia then pressed her hands against the concrete slabs and summoned her element as well, invoking a shade of deep, azure blue to cover her body.

"_In the name of the Aquara Kingdom…_" Octavia said slowly.

"_In the name of the Elementa Trinity…_" they both intoned before Cyclops and Quicksilver, seeing that this wasn't going to mean well, rushed forward, with Quicksilver ready to throw his Zephyr Keyblade and Cyclops letting loose an optic blast directly at Falco. But unfortunately, Falco seemed well aware of that tactic as he then summoned a reflective force-field wordlessly with one wing. The instant Cyclops' optic energy struck it, it bounced back and struck Pietro full into the torso and sternum, causing him to go flying backwards with a mighty crash, colliding into Cyclops himself, sending them both into a heap. Cyclops was at least grateful he fired to stun or else Quicksilver would be dead. But it was too late for a second chance to fire another energy discharge as there was a sudden flash.

To everyone's surprise, another sphere of magical aura surrounded all of them, leaving them inside while Falco and Octavia were safely separated on the outside. But this time, it was a shield consisting of two layers of air and water, mixing in beautiful tones of deep blue and silver and swirling all around them. But it was transparent and appeared fragile; the barrier wasn't even an inch thick. Still, Falco looked absolutely and smugly triumphant as he sank to one knee, exhausted while Octavia

"Gotcha. Apparently, Keyblade wielders may have strength of heart, but that doesn't mean they have brains to go along with it," the blue-feathered avian rasped as Octavia's hands began to glow with the essence of white and light green light, invoking the Curaga Kingdom to heal Falco's wound and to get the slime-mold from Toad off him.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?! Didn't you know he wanted you to attack him?!" Cyclops practically screamed at Fred for blundering so stupidly into Falco's trap. Blob looked ashamed and embarrassed, but he defiantly snapped back.

"I didn't mean to! I just got mad when he took Bree!"

"And now we're trapped in here because of it!" Cyclops shouted back, red in the face. Kurt just scoffed at Falco, thinking he wasn't very strong in his foresight. With a poof of smoke, Nightcrawler teleported away…only to reappear in the same place inside the force-field of water and wind.

"Huh?! What gives?!" Boom-Boom gasped. Astonished and horrified, Nightcrawler tried to teleport two more times, only to find that it was ineffective. He couldn't teleport out. And Justin tried orbing as well, only to find that he couldn't get out either.

"I can't orb out!" he cried. Now desperate, Blind Master tried to slash at the barrier with his katana of steel, and he winced at the painful vibrations from his blade colliding with the magical barrier. It was like trying to slice through adamantium, but his sword couldn't even make a scratch. Colossus then transformed into his metal mode while then ramming his fist through the barrier. His hand managed to protrude out of the wind and water for a brief second or two before the pressure and force became too much (even with his strength level), and Piotr was brutally flung backwards from the sheer magical backlash, landing heavily on his back and feeling like ten-thousand volts of electricity has just surged through him.

"Ow…" Colossus groaned as Magma and Low Light helped him up. Wavedancer then decided to try another tactic.

"Everyone, Keyblades!" she commanded, and with a swift movement, all of the Misfits pointed their Keyblades out to the barrier, closing their eyes and silently trying to invoke whatever they could muster through their weapons to unlock the barrier and waste away the water and wind trapping them. Several seconds passed, and then a minute. But nothing happened.

They couldn't feel anything. Whatever they did before to unlock the barrier, it wasn't working this time.

"Hey, what gives?!" Avalanche blinked in surprise before turning to samba and asking, "Are we doing this wrong?! We were able to unlock barriers before last time!"

Simba looked just as lost and puzzled as his partner as he worriedly said in Lance's mind, _I don't understand. It should have worked!_

"Starting to get it, don't you?" Falco muttered with disdain, "Keyblades are powerful, but they can't do everything for you. And don't bother trying to contact anyone either. This magical barrier is stronger than anything we've tried on you before, and not even your telepathic summons or signals from your communicators will get through."

"He's right! I can't sense the Professor! No matter what, I can't probe anything past our perimeter!" Jean said out loud in dismay.

"And it is powerful! The energy readings are through the roof! Heck, this could even be more powerful that any of the Organization's barriers that they've done on us!" Daria moaned as she analyzed the entire prison, only to find that it was truly unbreakable. It was encompassing everywhere, above and below them, even running through the ground. Falco and Octavia really thought this one out…

"So in other words…we're stuck in here! **_Damn it!_**" groaned Beach Head.

"And that leaves us to get the Talismans and make sure you don't interfere," Octavia finished in a final tone as she completed using her magic to cure Falco.

"By sacrificing three people?! You don't get it, do you?! You have no right to decide who should live or die, even if it means protecting the world and getting your family and friends back! They wouldn't want you to do this!" Xi spat.

"And you don't understand that after seeing what the Organization is capable off, it's a small price to pay," Octavia said with conviction as Falco fired an energy blast with his laser pistol, shattering the reinforced doors of metal and bullet-proof glass with the intense burst of red radiation.

Before they entered into the dark entrance, Falco gave all the prisoners a steely glare.

"Just remember that we could have killed you if we wanted to," the falcon growled, "So don't get in our way again. That goes the same for your other short-sighted friends."

And with having the last word, Falco and Octavia dashed off into the building, as swift and silent as the wind, disappearing into the shadows in mere fractions of a second.

Everyone was feeling rather helpless, angry, worried, or a combination of all three. Logan tried slicing some more at the barrier, but like Colossus' punch, it barely made a dent into the rippling water and winds, actually causing painful vibrations to travel down his skeleton. No such luck; the magical barrier, though appearing flimsy, was firm. Toad then summoned out Genie with an orange discharge of sparks, light, and blue and pink hued smoke.

"Genie, can you get us out of here, yo?! Whitelighter and Fuzzy can't, but maybe you can!" Todd begged, desperate to try anything. The blue Disney spellcaster then a furious and quick speed-back movement with both hands balled into fists, revolving his glowing wrists over and over with a cyclic rhythm.

"Alakazooks and alakazaam!" Genie whimsically crowed, "Time to bust out of this magical jam!"

With an outward motion of his hands, Genie flung out his hands and fired a barrage of magical bolts and sparkling streams of cosmic energy into the globe. Alas, nothing happened; the magic just fizzled out and faded away without even causing the air and water to even tremble a bit.

"Again, I've said it before and I'll say it again: **_some genie!_**" drawled Quicksilver with malicious derision and impatient scorn. Toad looked murderously outraged, but Genie glared at the albino mutant teenager before he cracked his knuckles.

"Funny thing about phenomenal, cosmic powers, Quickie. I can think of a few new interesting ways to use them on a particular loud-mouth that don't mean killing. Wanna see how far I can press this rule without breaking it?"

"Crap," Pietro remarked, deadpanned, before he dashed off and hid behind Wanda, using his teammate as a shield. Althea stopped Genie with one arm and shook her head; there were more pressing matters to worry about.

"Great, just great, so now what do we do?!" wailed Dragonfly, distraught, as Blob helped her up with a steady hand while Whitelighter and Tinkerbell had just about finished healing everyone and helping them fully recover from Falco and Octavia's magic and assaults.

"Not a problem!" snorted Scarlet Witch, incredulous, "This is water, right? I'll just evaporate it with **my** magic! Everyone, duck and cover!"

With that, Wanda brought her hands close together before invoking her magical spell from the Fira Kingdom, summoning a ball of flame.

"Fira…Crimson Whirlwind!" she yelled, and with a gigantic flash, a wave of fire shot and engulfed all the insides of the sphere of wind and air. But something went wrong. Instead of the water dissolving upon contact from the heat, the fire sustained and wasn't even making contact with the liquid. If anything, the winds were blowing back on the fire and making the inside of the prison even hotter by the second.

The Misfits, X-Men, Joes, and Disney summons were unfortunately feeling the results.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Hot, hot, hot, hot, **hot**!" a bunch of them chorused in various pitches and out of sync as they beat back the flames, screaming and yelling in pain. Simba let loose the loudest roar of agony as the tip of his tail caught on fire from Scarlet Witch's spell. Dragonfly acted sensibly as she summed her violin, hoping that it would work.

"Blizzaga Arctic Requiem!" Lina cried out, playing her music while trying to not wince from her shoulders blistering from the fire licking all around her. To her relief, this was suitable as the streams of ice and cold magic from her violin engulfed all the flames from Scarlet Witch, and sensing the urgency, fully extinguished the Fira magic and nullified it, causing it to fade and lessen dramatically until it was gone.

"Tinkerbell…" rasped a singed Blind Master, and the pixie snootily flew around, bathing everyone with her healing magic.

"What the hell were you trying to do?! **_Barbeque us?!_**" yelled a rather bad-tempered Pietro.

"Sorry, I didn't know it was going to do that! I thought it would work!" Scarlet Witch snapped back at her brother.

"I guess Falco and Octavia are stronger than they really let on," Jean groaned, "If they can fight against your magic, then they must be really powerful with their Elementa spells, a lot more than any of us could ever since we got them! And that's another reason why they must have been willing to trap all of us in this barrier! We can't contact anyone or use your magic to nullify it!"

"_Fantastique_, so now the Keyblades and the Elementa magic doesn't work to get us out of here. Remy gotta say that you losers are really batting a thousand if you can't even handle those two annoyances!" the Cajun X-Man griped sarcastically with frustration.

"Oh shut up! Like **you** could do better!" snapped back Avalanche.

"Oh, how much I would love to find out…" grumbled Cyclops under his breath, thinking of the Yellow Materia and wondering if he could ever get the Professor to finally cave in and let them try it out, despite Tessa's objections.

"Wait, what about Mainframe and Mr. Terrific at the Watchtower?!" Cover Girl realized, "Our communicators won't work from in here, but won't they get alarmed when they won't be able to reach us? That's the whole reason we've been doing check-ups at intervals!"

Cooper cursed under his breath as he replied, "No, because they do it every hour on the account that it was getting too tiresome to do it for the past ten days at anything less than sixty minutes, and they're all busy taking care with things at other points of the world! And they won't suspect of us not reporting in as anything meaning we're in trouble because we did it several minutes ago with Michael and Mr. Terrific!"

"So no one knows we're trapped, Falco and Octavia are free to do whatever they can and take away the Talismans of Twilight, and there's no way to contact anyone or break out! We're stuck!" groaned Althea, starting to see that they had just inadvertently stumbled into the worst case scenario.

"And who knows how long it'll take us to get out!" groaned Daria.

"Great, can this get any worse?! OK God, really, I've giving you the opportunity here! **Take your best shot!**" raged a rather sour and pouting Quicksilver, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Why is it am I am not surprised to see you kids and Joes here like this?" grumbled a familiar and deep voice, startling the group out of their desperation as they all collectively turned to the speaker, looking up into the furry face, yellow mane, and deep-blue eyes.

It was Leomon, standing there with his arms hanging at his sides and with one skeptical frown and a raised eyebrow.

It shouldn't have been a surprise, really, considering that Leomon's missions was related to Falco and Octavia's mission to obtain the Talismans as well.

"It never fails," Cyclops muttered rolling his eyes as he and the rest of the X-Men and Misfits (with Wanda being the angriest) glared daggers at Pietro who gave a rather lugubrious sigh, already regretting opening his big mouth.

"I know, I know…I never learn," the albino Misfit said, already stating it for consensus to save them the trouble before any of his teammates or the X-Men could open their mouths. Several of the Joes and Misfits however, then became concerned about the fact that Leomon was actually in a position to do more damage to them than Falco or Octavia, and with them trapped inside the strange prison, it was a little bit of a bad predicament. Still, they decided to just face it bravely, head-on.

"What do you want?" Scarlet Witch growled.

Beach Head was a little more blunt as he added in the suggestion, saying, "Here to laugh or are you gonna try to kill us now, you back-stabbing furball? Since we're helpless now, I know for a fact you can't resist this opportunity."

Leomon's eyes narrowed as he then slowly and deliberately unsheathed his sword from the scabbard lashed behind his back, bringing out the bronze, hilt-less blade. All of them, even Simba himself, went tense, their muscle starting to feel heavy like lead with anxiety, anger, and fear as they primed themselves to defend with Keyblades and mutant powers if necessary. Leomon then slashed the barrier with a quick arc of his arm, the movement a mere blur, and instantly, the water and air bubble quivered from the blow.

With a soft noise, the orb shuddered and the magic holding the stark and abrasive water and air elements faded, causing the shell all around the X-Men, Misfits, and Joes to fall apart and dissipate into the atmosphere or splatter lightly upon the ground. Leaving all of them confused as they were now no longer trapped and could freely move around and contact their allies via their communicators immediately (which a few did right away).

Leomon freed them. And for the moment, everyone was too startled to figure out how Leomon could be so powerful if he didn't have a Keyblade…

"Leomon?" blinked Colossus, "You…let us go? Why?"

"First of all, to make amends," the lion said quietly, not quite looking very proud of himself, as his face fell a bit, his eyes cast downwards. This statement made quite a few people livid.

"This doesn't change anything, Leomon. We haven't forgotten how you just stood by and let the Heartless attack the Pit and cost several good soldiers their lives. Nor does it change the fact that you've been hiding secrets from us and haven't come clean with information which would have helped us and lessened the damage from all these damned Heartless in the first place!" Low Light snapped.

"I know it doesn't, Joe," rumbled Leomon before he added, "But like I said, it's only one of my reasons. The second is because if the Talismans are going to appear, then…I need help to keep them safe from the Organization."

"We're not going to help you kill three people just to get them, Leomon!" snapped Cover Girl.

"I said nothing of the sort, and I'm not asking that, Cover Girl. But, I have a terrible feeling this will involve the Talismans, otherwise your Lex Luthor wouldn't have made that announcement on a world-wide broadcast. And Falco and Octavia and I wouldn't have been able to sense this abnormal magic signature from Shaw Industries in such a small time afterwards. Add the fact that Shaw is a member of the people who are seemingly working with the Thirteenth Order, and it just made sense that something was wrong."

"So…what you did for us, this isn't a trick?" Avalanche asked, his face registering disbelief and surprise, but not the slightest of hostility. Though he hadn't forgotten Leomon being secretly Falco and Octavia's helper in their agendas, he still had a bit of compassion for the warrior considering that without him, Lance and Spirit would both be dead. Leomon held Avalanche to a higher regard, but still, he inwardly winced. As much as he deserved that, it still was a bit grievous; but then again, he never did give them much of a reason to trust him completely.

"No, it's not. No strings attached here, Avalanche, but…I can't fight for the Talismans alone."

Xi then recalled what Leomon said before so long ago after the bloodbath and the massacre when Blackheart invaded G.I. Joe headquarters, and he asked with some wariness, "Whatever happened to the '_I have higher loyalties_' and '_I cannot break them_' excuses?"

The lion frowned to himself. No matter what, he was certainly going to fall, no, make that _plummet_, out of the King's grace at this rate. Still, he managed to elude the question with a weary, "We'll see what happens."

That **_wasn't_** the most comforting and definitive answer. Wavedancer gave Leomon a steely glare.

"Do you trust us?" she asked with a sharp retort.

"Depends. If I do, are you going to try to shoot me in the back again once the fight's over?" the lion humanoid asked shortly, having a grim memory of how painful the net was and how it literally burned into his fur and flesh when the Joes tried to capture him during that attack at Xavier's Institute. Apparently, he still had a little grudge over that…

"Depends. Are you going to try to betray us again if we help you get the Talismans?" Althea asked with her own returning question, her voice frigid. Leomon looked a bit remorseful, but he then looked directly into Wavedancer's eyes, not averting his gaze in the slightest. As much as he would like to say that he never betrayed the Keyblade wielders, he knew better.

"No, I won't. I give you my word that I will come with you after this battle, Talismans obtained or not, kid. I won't betray you," Leomon said in a serious tone, his bass voice rumbling. Althea raised an eyebrow; even with her ninja training, she could see all the indications that the lion was genuine and resolute. He was telling the truth…or else a really, _really_ good liar.

She nodded her consent.

Not surprisingly, quite a few Joes and mutants were against this idea immediately.

"You can't be serious, Wavedancer!" Fred snapped.

"We need help, and he's offering. And no one else knows exactly what we're dealing with as much as he does," the Misfit leader sighed, pointing out.

"He'll kill people to get those Talismans, yo!" Toad angrily said.

"And if you don't get to them first, the Organization and Hellfire Club will kill the bearers of the Talismans first. And they won't have any remorse doing it," the lion returned sadly, being matter of fact.

"And you'll probably do it yourself and turn on us at the last minute! Not exactly the better option!" growled Brittany.

"It won't happen. I just gave you my word."

"Your word really doesn't hold much water, especially since because you worked with Falco and Octavia, it caused many of our friends and Joes to get slaughtered!" snapped Roadblock, still adamant that they shouldn't trust the Digimon since he was one of the reasons why Quick Kick, Wet Suit, Lifeline, Lady Jaye, Taurus, Ace, and Snake Eyes were all dead and had their hearts taken away.

"Marvin, stop, please, this isn't making things any better, and we'd be getting nowhere," Bree said, placing a hand on the livid man's shoulders. Shocked and frustrated, Roadblock whirled angrily on the female Joe.

"Why the hell are you taking Leomon's side?!" Roadblock barked, eyes narrowed, "It's because of him that Lifeline died!"

Bree's back went as straight as a steel rod, her gaze now furrowed into a death glare that would have done Batman proud, her blue eyes frigid. And considering that the blond nurse was usually kind, gentle, and pacifistic, seeing Bree like that was a rather daunting contrast, one that took Roadblock slightly aback as Bree addressed him with cold knife-points.

"No, it was Organization Thirteen, Blackheart, and the Heartless that killed Edwin, **not** Leomon. And if there's a chance to get his heart back and stick it to the Inner Circle, then I'll do it. I haven't forgotten anything, but so help me Marvin, that was low. And if you **ever** use Lifeline for the sake of an argument again, I **will** hurt you, Roadblock."

Roadblock just ruefully remained silent; though he shouldn't have said that, he still couldn't shake the biased feeling that Leomon wasn't helping them out of the goodness of his heart.

"I don't trust him. Keep in mind that he's been hiding stuff from us, and it should show that if the bub's not willing to talk, then he's got something sneaky up his furry ass," Wolverine growled, but then surprisingly, Jean spoke up calmly, acting as a peacekeeper.

"I agree with Avalanche," the red-haired telekinetic said slowly with rationale, "And besides, what choice to we have? Whatever is in Shaw Industries, we can't fight any traps from the Hellfire Club or the Organization by ourselves. We need help."

"We've got help," snorted Scarlet Witch, glaring at Leomon, "We don't need the likes of you around! We'll just alert the others who were reserved to help us out!"

"I'm already contacting Mainframe at the Pit to relay the signal to the Ghostbusters' headquarters in New York along with calling Mr. Terrific and Martian Manhunter at the Watchtower," Spirit said, interrupting his message to General Hawk and the aforementioned Joe computer-specialist.

"Tell them to bring the main Slayers recruited by the Ghostbusters and the Charmed Ones. We'll need all the fire power they can offer. Quentin will probably come too then with a few of the other Ghostbusters who came to help us out," Wolverine growled in a feral manner as he finished relaying an SOS message to Black Widow and Captain America at S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters via the mansion's satellite.

"**_Mein Gott!_** That's right! The Ghostbusters practically have their own army! We've got Danny Phantom, the Monster Fighters and the Phantom Investigators, Felicia, Xander and Willow, the Shamans, the Spirit Detectives, and Kagome and Inuyasha and their group! There's no way the Organization will beat us now!" Kurt exclaimed, already feel confident. After all, there would possibly be no way the Organization could win head on against all of them combined.

"I'm already contacting Robin at Jump City," Boom-Boom said automatically with her communicator that the Titans had bequeathed to the X-Men and Misfits as honorary members after that battle so long ago with Trigon.

"And **I** just called Bumblebee. They'll be coming here as soon as they can. They just finished with a mission in Copenhagen and Brussels, so it was good timing," Magma added, clicking her Titan communicator shut. Blind Master then looked down at Whitelighter who was tugging his sleeve slightly to gain his guardian's attention.

"I just contacted Dad and the other Dinosaucers. They're coming here right now and ready to execute the back-up plan with the Secret Scouts. It'll take some time, but they're coming."

"Good, you'll need all the help you can get in this fight. But I fear it may still not be enough," Leomon said gravely, and he didn't look the least bit happy. It was as if no matter what, he still wasn't going to look forward to this. And for various reasons…

Wolverine looked suspicious as he clearly read the pain and hesitation on the lion's face as he growled, "Try anything funny, and I'll kill you myself, flea-farm. If anything, we don't need you around. The fact that you're here just proves you're after the Talismans just like that feathered asshole and that octopus witch and that you won't hesitate to kill us if your King ever ordered it."

Leomon practically grumbled his response.

"Would you rather the Organization and your Hellfire Club gets the Talismans before our enemies do? This is not one of your typical Heartless battles. This could be a major fight that defines whether or not we gain a massive power that fights against the Heartless or whether or not the Organization Thirteen gets a source that they can manipulate to doom everyone. I doubt you're as much of a prick as your Cyclops to not see why I need to be here and why I think you need all your allies for this fight. We may be very well going against all the members of the Organization on this one."

Dragonfly then realized that it had been about fifteen to twenty minutes since Falco and Octavia had entered into the company after they had sealed them into the magical prison, and such, the Talismans may have already be lost to them. Thus, they couldn't waste any time.

And a few already had the same thought as well (and Cover Girl had to grab Quicksilver by the ear painfully before her charge could go running headfirst after them like a complete idiot without thinking)

"Leomon, we can't wait to call for others to back us up! Falco and Octavia aren't the only ones after the Talismans! We have to get to them first or else three people will die! The Talismans are in danger because the Hellfire Club already has one of them!" Multiple heatedly protested.

Leomon then shook his head as he confessed gravely, "No. There is more at stake than just the Talismans and the lives of the people who hold them, Multiple…"

**Author's Note: Who has the Talismans? You may be shocked to find out (or not, considering quite a few know where I got the ideas pertaining to the Talismans for this one). Expect the next chapter in three weeks or so, but it's going to be one of harsh revelations and brutal violence as Falco and Octavia run into Roxas and his Hellfire allies, but things may come to a low point as Falco and Octavia fight for their lives against the Hellions, Selene, and the Organization's Keyblade wielder! Tune in for the next chapter titled "Talisman of Water, Talisman of Wind" and until then, read and enjoy! Constructive criticism welcome!**


	36. Talisman of Water, Talisman of Wind

**Author's Notes: first off, I wanted to apologize for the lateness of this chapter. Not only did I have school, I had a midterm this past Wednesday (I got an "A" though, so I'm happy), but I'm at least finally glad to see that I'm finally done with this! I just hope the wait was worth it! Second, I dedicate this chapter to the comic character, Steve Rogers (a.k.a. Captain America) who was tragically killed in the beginning of March (Cap, we honor you, fictional character or not, for what you stand for and no, not all of us believe that America is about MySpace and NASCAR. Rest in peace, Cap). I wish to thank each and every one of my reviewers and readers for being so patient and understanding about real life getting in the way. It means a lot to me to have that support. That said, enjoy this chapter as the Talismans of Twilight are now finally revealed in…**

**CHAPTER 36: Talisman of Water, Talisman of Wind**

"Fugate, what's the status?" Colonel Flagg asked through his communicator discreetly through his communicator, hidden in the shadows of the gigantic sewage pipes running underneath New York. The reinforced steel and metal was cold and slick with grime, water, and God knows how much gunk and crap that got sent down here. The other soldiers alongside the colonel were grateful that their polymer body suits of black and black, computerized visors covering every inch of their faces and eyes were also waterproof.

Clock King's voice replied, punctual and stoic as ever on the encrypted and magical transmission, "Affirmative. The electrical power has been abolished to the firm, causing the effective blackout. Security systems have ceased for three point seven seconds until back-up power is prompted to redirect their back-up power, which should be…now."

"And the bombs underneath the sewer system in the basement?"

"Going off on schedule in ten point twenty-six seconds, right as Calendar and her team are over at the lower southwestern side of the center to help organize the computer systems maintain their network. And from the roster and surveillance all around the world, Waller informs me that their reserves at the headquarters are severely depleted enough to be of little resistance, especially since the majority are in Kentucky. And…now."

Flagg was pleased when he felt the vibration of the explosions ring softly throughout the piping network, knowing that it ruptured the pipe to one of the city's main sewage lines which fortunately happened to run underneath the south eastern-end of the Ghostbusters' headquarters. Whatever Ghostbusters that were remaining on duty would come rushing towards the emergency to prevent the entire wing from flooding. And if they were considered too weak to fight against the other paranormal threats occurring during the world riots and chaos, then they would hardly be a match against them.

"Given that a normal human can run in brief speeds of up to twenty miles per hour, especially in periods of panic, fear, and emergency, and that it is approximately a median of a quarter mile from a triangulation of the sewage line from the north, west, and northwestern ends of the company, from all four levels, any helpers should arrive within three-quarters of a minute, a given considering the superhuman abilities of several of the paranormals. But including the factors of the Ghostbusters being disorganized enough from the sudden setback and the first five to ten seconds of initial confusion, we shall allow a grace period of two minutes for them to head towards the sewage main explosion and the inevitable fire."

"Finally, some action," muttered Deadshot, as he checked his pistols.

"I beg to differ," Captain Boomerang gulped. It was clear that he was starting to have second thoughts about doing five years of this to gain amnesty and a presidential pardon for his past crimes. He wasn't so sure about the assertion that the Ghostbusters wouldn't hunt him down once this was all done and over with, and the thought of pissing off a Slayer or a witch or heaven forbid, a bloodthirsty demon, was enough to make him potentially wet his pants.

Of course, not that there wasn't an additional backup for Task Force X to ensure their safety as well…

"Fugate, activate the override," Flagg commanded as the two minutes finished ticking by on his synchronized watch.

"The security systems have been overloaded and are now under our command," the Clock King said as he clicked away at the computer console at Cadmus' headquarters.

"Perform system lockdown," Flagg responded.

"Lockdown engaged and taken effect in one point eight seconds. All doorways and entrances have been locked and are unresponsive to the…"

The members of Task force X noticed that the Clock King trailed off for several seconds into silence before they could hear the sounds of alarms blaring above them, loud enough to be audible even from their position underground.

"What the hell? Was this supposed to be part of the operation?" Deadshot asked.

"Not that I know of," admitted Captain Boomerang.

"Fugate, what the hell is going on up there?!"

"There is another crisis, one at the nuclear reactor core at the northeastern end of the lower levels of the company. There is a malfunction with the Ghostbusters' nuclear reactor, their main power generator, and it _wasn't_ caused by the blackout we created, not that it was possible to do so in the first place. Now the Ghostbusters are dealing with not only the system override and the sewage main, but to prevent their nuclear power supply from causing a power failure large enough to take out the entire company at once in the possible explosion."

Flagg blinked from behind his visor before he hissed with budding rage at Plastique, nearly snarling with accusation, "Are you trying to sabotage us, Plastique?!"

The female member of Task Force X held up her hands in a gesture that was both surrendering and angry, outraged even, as she waspishly snapped back, "Hey, as much as I'd love to take credit for trying to blow up those demons to Kingdom Come, it wasn't me. Remember, none of us are willing to screw this up since you injected us with those explosive nanites, and we didn't even get a chance to get into this building."

"Plastique is correct, Colonel. There is absolutely no way she nor anyone else in the team would know about the security system of their nuclear power source, since it one of the few portions of the headquarters that cannot be provided by Wendell. And I additionally doubt that either she or the other members used an ad-libbed and hackneyed contingency plan of leaking oneirogenic gas all over the headquarters and thus endanger our mission. Those trapped in various rooms and chambers have enough fail-safe mechanisms to be free from the gaseous effects, but they will not be able to get to the reactor core. Those that are not locked in the rooms may succumb to the gas and thus may still not be able to get down to the nuclear power source."

"Oneirogenic - ?! What the hell?! You mean **_sleeping gas_**?!" Flagg barked.

"So…then that means all the freaks who are wandering about that aren't locked down are asleep and won't be able to shut down and fix their nuclear reactor? Maybe we should get the hell out while we still can, mates," Captain Boomerang suggested, only to be angrily reprimanded by the colonel.

"You stay where you are, soldier!"

"And if anything, it **is** fortunate. According to the blueprints, what we need is in the northwestern end of the heart of company at the lowest underground level, meaning that it should be far enough for you to be isolated from the other Ghostbusters and long enough for you to get what Waller wants before they catch on. And there is a sixty-nine percent probability that those aboard can stop the core from exploding, but this increases the chances that they shall be too incapacitated to deal with us and stop your from your primary mission."

"Wow, talk about Lady Luck. This'll be even easier than I thought," Plastique remarked, taken aback but smiling at the apparent good fortune. Temple's voice instantly cut her down harshly.

"Do not be cocky. This distraction may be fruitful, but it in an unexpected and potentially uncontrollable variable in this mission that could jeopardize us. We do not know who or what was the primary cause of this, which may mean that there may be a concurrent attack against them, given the number of adversaries they have in their history. Additionally, sleeping gas has no effect on some paranormals such as vampires and phantoms, which means that we do not have absolutely zero resistance. If the Ghostbusters do not contain their nuclear reactor from exploding, it would most likely take out the entire block within thirty five point eighty seven seconds. Granted, it is on a much, much smaller scale as compared to Chernobyl, but it is worrisome enough considering that this is New York. Imminent death will come within a quarter of a second from the extreme heat, and acute radiation poisoning will result from exposure to ionization after four Sieverts. And we have additionally wasted about four minutes and thirty five point seven seconds out of the buffer of additional space we had set aside as of now. The plan must be executed within the span of two minutes if we are to succeed."

"Focus on the mission," Flagg commanded with cold steel, his voice so feral and brutal that one had to wonder if Rick Flagg had anything that resembled a soul inside his body, "Our primary target will not be compromised. If the Ghostbusters fail to take care of this emergency, Waller can use it as further justification to legislate all means to persecute paranormals."

"We better. Lord knows how much I'm not willing to be at the wrong end off some demon or a bloodthirsty vampire. And if they get blown up and as long as we're far away, well…_c'est la vie_," grumbled Deadshot, cocking his guns, all of the bullets consisting of silver with a hollow center of holy water, held in place with a thin covering of silica gel.

"I agree; the sooner we're away from these paranormal freaks, the better," Captain Boomerang muttered, shivering at the thought of being in the building where demons, monsters, witches, Slayers, and vampires ran rampant. He may have been a low-life, but even he had _his_ standards.

"Fine…let's get to work. Oxygen filters equipped, everyone. And remember Waller's orders: **not a single casualty**, or else you'll all be back serving your deaths and prison sentences before you can even attempt to run and flee out of the country," Flagg commanded with unbending steel as he and Task Force X began the execution of the siege into the Ghostbusters' headquarters. Meanwhile, as the group set out underneath the sewers, two additional figures from the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club were watching the spectacle outside the Ghostbusters Incorporated at a safe distance, the pandemonium and faint but audible sounds of Defcon sirens blaring full-force inside the building being music to their ears.

"Enjoying this?" Harry Leland chuckled. After all, any strike against their enemies was entertaining to say the least. And the release of the sleeping gas in the building's ventilation vents along with the nanites that Donald Pierce had his Reavers design specifically (and magically enhanced by Vexen of Organization Thirteen) to overload the Ghostbusters' security systems and electrical reactors to cause a rather daunting and alarming energy overload in the energy core would further ensure that Amanda Waller would get what she wanted.

After all, a pawn every now and then needed a little assistance on any chessboard.

"Somewhat…" grumbled Pierce, although it was plainly obvious that he would rather be with Selene and Frost right now, making sure that they didn't screw up. And Lord knows how much he wanted that boost of competence and good image in Lord Imperial's eyes so that he could put an end to the butt-kissing and being the second-tier errand boy.

To tell the truth, he was more than hoping for the Queens' collective failure…

---

Dashing as swiftly as a fierce gust of wind, Falco and Octavia tore through the many corridors of Shaw Industries, their feet not making a sound as they sprinted. And they could sense it. Some inborn feeling in their hearts, in their souls, tugging them towards the lower regions of the mammoth and professional edifice.

The two took great care to halt at each corner and either attacked and pummeled a random guard into unconsciousness or took a detour to avoid the numerous others crawling throughout the premises. They weren't ordinary human sentries. All were dressed in special white-polymer body uniforms and bullet-proof vests, a by-product of Shaw's industrial achievements in weapons and his defense contracts with numerous agencies for the United States Department of Defense. And they were all additionally armed with tasers, electric shock batons, sound grenades, and gigantic, white PHASR flash rifles, all meant to incapacitate and subdue any intruder effectively and cleanly so that they could be taken in for questioning. Of course, Shaw also had all of the men and women under his payroll armed with semi-automatic handguns with armor-piercing bullets, each with a tiny microchip for tracking in order to hunt down their wounded target in order for a quick finish (just in case taking one alive was no longer feasible or no longer preferred).

And given that there were electronic eyes, security cameras, and that the guard's visors were armed with heat-seeking, thermographic equipment, it would have been nigh difficult for anyone to bypass the legions of security that were assigned to watch over the corporation at tightly spaced intervals in pairs or in groups of three.

Not that there haven't been security setbacks before. Shaw wasn't exactly pleased when Deadpool managed to make off with his research team's only proto-type of the "Façade Virus" after killing twelve of his guards from his firm in Japan several years ago (and he had to marvel the assassin's ability to kill one woman by merely jamming her security identification card-pass up her nostrils, rupturing the frontal portion of her brain). And that was nowhere as furious as he was when Gorilla Grodd somehow managed to make off with a good number of his financial assets and sensitive, confidential database archives from the database servers in Germany (thankfully, nothing the implicated the existence of the Hellfire Club, but it was bad enough). And many people would rather forget or disavow the time Shaw personally killed the head chief of the "Spencer Mansion Project" when the one, lone experiment that cost him much money and years of kissing up to the Umbrella Corporation went up in flames (literally) after the vigilante Punisher somehow mysteriously managed to kill the Tyrant with the help of Jill Valentine and her team from S.T.A.R.S, despite assurance from the late project manager that no living being could ever make it past the city and security defenses of the Arklay Research Facility and discover its secrets.

Needless to say, Umbrella broke off things with Shaw Industries instantaneously after that (and no one in the Hellfire Club was stupid enough to attack them outright for their audacity so they were forced to suffer the financial and resourceful loss).

And unfortunately for Sebastian Shaw, this was going to happen again as Falco and Octavia both managed to attack three guards guarding the door to the first sub-level basement running underneath the building, punching, kicking (and in Falco's case, using a Reflega spell when one guard tried to shoot him). The two men and one woman lackeys went down swiftly and easily before they could even attempt to radio in an alert. And none of the security cameras were fully functional on the account that Octavia had effectively frozen all the images using her water spells before she and Falco trapped the Misfits, X-Men, and Joes outside the company.

"By the seven seas…" murmured Octavia, wiping her brow, "So many security guards! I'm surprised that there are so many active on duty! We have not yet run into a single corridor without narrowly avoiding the guards before they could alert and detect our presences. We need to get the Talisman and leave quickly, otherwise we'll be caught."

"Actually, if anything, this is a _good_ sign," Falco muttered as he relinquished one guard of his electronic identification card tag before he hefted the senseless man over his shoulder adroitly and went over to the heavily barricaded door, "If there was a lack of security, then I'd be suspicious and wondering if this wasn't a set-up. But because this place is crawling with guards, enough to make the term 'paranoid' seem like an understatement, then it definitely proves something's up."

"Can you work the security codes?" the female agent asked softly as Falco slid in the identification card on the control panel before placing the unconscious man's ungloved hand on the hand-scanner, detecting the fingerprint and the warmth of an alive human being.

"Well, it's definitely not up to the level of technology we had on Corneria…" grumbled Falco as he dropped the unconscious sentry off his shoulder unceremoniously.

The console clicked and beeped, blinking a green light from its LED screen before the doors began to slide open, heavily groaning as the metal doors, constructed from a mixture of reinforced steel and actual adamantium and titanium alloys.

"But I can manage…" Falco said snarkily enough as he and Octavia dashed towards the first underground level, where they could sense the ebb of power being even stronger. Oh, they were so close…

But had they stopped to look at the three security lookouts that they had managed to defeat, they would have noticed that they would have began to crumble and change, reverting from skin and flesh to actual dirt and clumps of earth and dust. They disintegrated, unnoticed by anyone, and as one, so did the other guards in the building, leaving nothing behind but clumps of mud and filth.

For they weren't actually humans, but golems, magically created into lifelike dolls and decoys, thanks to a certain Black Queen…

Within the span of thirty seconds, Falco and Octavia finally managed to break their way into the primary basement, a chamber that was certainly enormous and about the size of a small park, wide and open, but riddled with various weapons, vehicles, engines, and aircraft parts meant for future and horrific developments of warfare and weaponry. It was clean and organized, but there wasn't much open space save for the very center of the room, guarded with a highly sensitive security system of invisible, ion lasers latticing all around a marble stand, rectangular, wide, and tall, displaying a black object in a glass case.

And there, they saw it, now finally able to get a close up view of the weapon inside the diamond panel. It was a giant broadsword made of black obsidian, completely as dark as the blackest night sky at the witching hours. Double-edged and razor sharp with a curved, pointed tip, the detail of the blade was carved of black crystal, impressively honed to have a width span of four or five inches and a fuller in the center, and so keenly polished that Falco and Octavia could see their reflections on the surface. The weapon had a slightly curved, simple crossguard and semi-circle rainguard, turned upwards, and a thick handle and a pointed pommelstone of black rock, carved like an exquisite diamond.

And even within a short distance, Octavia and Falco could all feel something…powerful, as if an oppressive force was trying to lightly shove the two warriors aside, pushing them like the similar ends between two polarized magnets.

"Could it be…?" asked Octavia with awe and anticipated hope. After so long of endless strife, death, and warfare. Falco couldn't answer; he too was too enthusiastic and building with encouragement that this was one of the Talismans of Twilight. And they couldn't deny that they could sense a powerful force of magic, a distinct feeling of energy.

Falco reached out slowly, his wing shaking…

And then he sensed something approaching them fast from above.

Falco let loose a foul oath as he and Octavia sprang backwards away from the incoming energy attack, the white energy ball striking the very spot where they were only seconds go. The two skidded to a stop, looking at the smoking crater for a split second before looking at the two figures descending down from the ceiling, their fall slowed down to a graceful pace as they gently touched the floor.

It was Selene and a hooded Organization member. Though Falco had no idea about who the hell Selene was (he never ran into her), he was certainly more than wary of the warrior sent by the Thirteenth Order.

"I'm sorry, but the sword is property of the Inner Circle, little bird. Of course, you're more than willing to forfeit your life for it," Selene said with a smug smirk as she summoned a cloud of dark energy from her hands. Falco and Octavia looked like they weren't going to back down easily, especially since this all but confirmed that this really was a Talisman to begin with. And Falco was personally in the mood to kill.

But then Falco's eyes widened a bit as the Organization then effortlessly summoned out his weapons in a flash of gleaming white, appearing in each of his gloved hands in graceful battle positions were the white and silver Oathkeeper and the black Oblivion Keyblades. The avian and the octopus-female humanoid were taken aback. Then that meant…

"Roxas?" croaked Falco. He was going to fight against them after all?

Selene gave Roxas a quizzical look, one eyebrow raised as she clearly saw that Falco and Octavia were more disturbed with the notion of Roxas fighting them than normal, asking with cold interest, "I take it there's a story behind this?"

"It's nothing," Roxas responded back shortly.

Falco's eyes narrowed; so _that's_ the way it was going to be. Octavia, however, was still shocked and pained.

"Roxas…don't do this…please…" the Tigershark begged. Wordlessly, Roxas just began to twirl both of the Keyblades in his hands rapidly before he sprang up high in the air and actually hovered above them, the two agents in his sight. With a flourish, the cloaked soldier crossed the two Keyblades in an "X" fashion over his head, causing them both of glow dangerously before they flashed. Instantaneously, a rainfall of white streams of magical force, stronger than anything Octavia or Falco had ever experienced, thundered down in the room all around them, invoking pillars of energy to erupt all around them, invoking a cage and trapping them in an impenetrable circle. All the nearby components and precious weapon-prototypes and aircrafts nearby were automatically ruined and rendered into pieces of smoldering and flaming wreckage.

"No…" Octavia gasped. But Roxas wasn't finished as the radiance from his Oathkeeper and Oblivion started to glow even brighter, and to their collective dread and astonishment, a circle of glowing Organization symbols emerged and materialized on the ground underneath the floating Organization member. The circle of insignias began to spin, faster and faster, before Roxas then brandished his two Keyblades apart and they began to spin in his palms, rotating in mere blurs that the blades of a helicopter.

"Crap," Falco could only utter, taken completely by surprise, as enormous spheres of wispy yet intensely hot, glowing force began to descend down upon the Cornerian pilot and the Tigershark, a cascade of searing attacks ready to incinerate and blitz them where they stood. Falco then summoned a hexagon-shaped force-field right in front of himself, taking the hits at full-force. Thankfully, the small screen held firm as Falco managed to reflect off much of the incoming projectiles back at Roxas. But it then became clear that no mattered how much he tried deflecting the energy attacks, none of them hit Roxas or even came close to a narrow margin. And Falco couldn't be brought to a standstill forever.

Thankfully, Octavia intervened as she raised her hands over her head.

"Aquara Tigershark Tsunami!"

Roxas automatically stopped his assault and dodged the incoming torrent of water, snaking across the room with the same force of Niagara Falls, all concentrated into one lone whirlwind of clear liquid, threatening to crush him. Roxas then went on the defensive as he then actually began hacking away at the water right before it could get within close proximity, his Keyblades faster than the human eye could process. And to Octavia's surprise, he was effectively lacerating and slicing away, hewing the water so that it wouldn't even crush him. In fact, it was effectively being splattered and diverted away from him so that not even a single drop touched his black cloak.

He was good. So Falco decided to get his shot now while he could.

He dashed out, his body outlined with silver as he cried, "Aeroga Shadow Phantasm!"

Octavia then joined in as she summoned another spell of powerful waves, the water suddenly encapsulating along the winds bathing Falco, giving him the rather daunting and powerful appearance of a silver bird bathed in blue and silver flames, rocketing towards Roxas and very nearly breaking the sound barrier with its speed. Exactly the same attack that they had used before on Larxene when she attacked the Eloi in Maine.

Unfortunately, Falco would soon learn that this was exactly what Roxas was waiting for.

With that, Roxas disappeared before he became a white blur and sped towards Falco, surprising the avian a bit.

"What the hell - ?!" was all Falco could squawk out before he felt the oppressive force from both of the Organization member's Keyblades being flourished right at the millisecond before Falco unity attack of water and wind collided with the Oathkeeper and Oblivion.

Regrettably, the dual Keyblades won. Falco swore it felt as if a ten-ton wrecking ball slammed with full, brutal force directly into him, face first.

WHAM!

Falco screamed as he was sent flying backwards, far into the opposite end of the room before he crashed into the remains of a test assault-Jeep running on hydrogen-cells for the military, landing hard and the force of the backlash from Roxas' counterattack nearly breaking every bone in his body. But he was seriously injured nonetheless.

Octavia was by his side instantly, invoking her Curaga magic to begin to bathe her friend, healing him and hopefully bringing him back to full strength. Alas, that would take some time and that was a luxury they didn't have. Octavia was only given several seconds before she narrowly avoided a shaft of black magic that would have crippled her had she not madly strafed to the right, the black magic missing her by inches. Selene was impressed as her left hand was still radiating with power from the discharge. Even Thor should have had trouble dodging that shot (as much as he could attest when she faced the Norse God centuries ago); the King apparently trained the survivors well…

Octavia didn't even bother to indulge in a verbal comeback as she was about to summon another water attack to overwhelm and drown Selene, but because she was so distracted from Selene attacking her that she didn't see Roxas from above doing a somersault-movement in the air, his Keyblades causing rings of white energy to appear and glow all around him as he descended down.

The octopus-humanoid didn't have a chance and she was struck down repeatedly before she sank to the floor, unconscious as Roxas cruelly hewed her midsections, drawing the heads of his weapons across her back and chest.

"No…stop…" the avian rasped weakly, managing to recover a substantial amount of strength from Octavia's Curaga magic as it briefly bathed him with its regenerative properties. Roxas simply hefted up the unconscious female warrior over his shoulder, not caring if her blood was starting to drip and soak into the fabric of his cloak.

"Oh, and Falco?" Selene said rather flippantly as she smashed the glass case shielding the black, enormous sword from the display, causing the alarms and the security from all around to blare, tripping the sirens to blare throughout the entire building. She finally grabbed hold of the sword with one hand and hefted it, despite the fact that it appeared to weigh like a solid bar of iron.

"We still have the Talisman. You lose."

Falco actually saw red as Roxas summoned a portal underneath their feet, and they sank into the floor, vanishing deep below into the ground. Despite being sore, Falco was absolutely apoplectic and already berating himself for being so cocky, but now he was filled with an animalistic and uncontrollable urge to fight, to kill, to protect his friend.

Falco forced himself not to panic, steeling himself to think for his sake and Octavia's. Down, they were going down. So that meant that the lower six levels underneath was a safe bet that that was where Selene and Roxas were headed.

"Damn it!" Falco cursed before he fled, as swiftly as the wind, making no noise as he forgot all caution and foresight as he swiftly flew, half dashing on his feet, anger and rage coursing through his body as he followed the paths that would take him deeper below the Earth's surface. There was only one thought in his mind besides beating the living snot out of the two opponents.

_I've already lost Fox and my family. I'll be damned if I lose one more friend too!_

---

Ten minutes later, despite the sirens ringing piercingly through the stillness of the night…

"Now where did they go?! They could be anywhere or long gone at this point," groaned Scarlet Witch as she and the other Misfits, X-Men, and Joes emerged and stormed into the front offices of the Shaw Industries, despite the alarms blaring at full force. Along them with Leomon was a vast assemblage of heroes who thankfully were able to arrive post-haste and as speedily as they could towards the state of Kentucky. Not only did this include the original founders of the Justice League as well as Supergirl and Batgirl, but Captain America and Black Widow of S.H.I.E.L.D, Wildstar and Jinx, Pete Wisdom of A.U.N.T.I.E, the Teen Titans and the Titans East, and a large and efficient group of Ghostbusters sent by Jenny Calendar which not only included Quentin Blud, the Charmed Ones, and the Scoobies and Slayers that fought at the battle in San Francisco with Blackheart and Zankou (bar Andrew, Xander, and Giles), but many of the paranormals that accompanied the X-Men and Misfits during their missions to deal with the various Heartless invasions all over the world. Barring Hellboy, Shippo, Spider Man, Daemona and Kira of the Phantom Investigators (they were more passive in their powers than offensive), the group actually included the new, younger Ghostbusters of Eduardo, Kylie, Garrett, and Roland (armed with proton guns and pistols) as well as Inuyasha's band, the Monster Fighters, Jericho and Casey, the Spirit Detectives, Danny Phantom and Agent Jay from the Men in Black, Felicia of the Darkstalkers, and Yoh and the Shamans (minus Anna).

Allo, the other Dinosaucers, and the Secret Scouts weren't with them. And for a very good reason…

And yet even with all of these, Leomon critically mused to himself that against all thirteen members of the Organization, it still may not be enough. Meanwhile, in response to Wanda's question, the Triplets were furiously typing away with their pink scanners.

"We're not sure…" Brittany said as she clicked on her console, madly typing away at the keys, and getting abnormal levels of energy and magic throughout the entire complex and placing them ion the schematics and blueprints of the Shaw Industries office branch she and her other sisters hacked and stole earlier in the week. She was right to be worried; the entire area was surrounded with numerous energy barriers, traps, and shields, not to mention that for such a prestigious company, it had numerous corridors, levels, and offices as well as several underground basements and hangars for their aircrafts (understandable since Shaw Industries was had defense contracts with the United States military).

It would take them a long time to split up and search for each and every room, chamber, and foyer and level on the entire property. Too long in fact. And some people were thinking of the same thing.

"Maybe we should split up and search separately. With my speed, I should be able to search everywhere in a minute or two," Quicksilver piped up, volunteering instantly.

"Actually, with my speed, I should be able to find where there are in a matter of **seconds**," the Flash chimed in automatically with a very, very arrogant grin, almost leering in Pietro's face, and Quicksilver was so tempted to punch him. But before either of the speedsters dashed off, Leomon's voice then rang out in a warning.

"**Don't** dash off. The Organization probably has numerous snares spread throughout the entire company complex in case you and the other heroes managed to get in here. Since they're only interested in Falco and Octavia and the Keyblades, then anyone else who was unlucky enough to not know what the hell they were doing, they'll set off the magical traps and…well, try not to think about it."

"Amidamaru? What's wrong?" Yoh the Shaman asked, his eyes showing concern as his samurai ghost materialized into visibility, only to show that the specter was visibly shaking with discomfort.

"Your lion friend speaks the truth. There is powerful magic residing here. It could be fatal if we tamper with it or go wander off without thinking a contingency plan," the shaman's spirit guide warned in affirmation.

"It's Materia. I can sense it…and it can be harmful to you if it's in the Hellfire Club's hands," Leomon said gravely.

"**_MATERIA?!_**" chorused a good portion of the heroes in shock, the X-Men especially and they seemed particularly wary. Multiple couldn't help but ask a question, despite his teammates giving him a collective look.

"Is it that bad?"

"It can be good or bad, kid, depending on how it's used. In our hands, it'll be a good asset. But in the enemy's hands or in the ones of idiots who don't know how to use it, you won't have much of a chance without being careful," the lion swordsman replied.

"Damn. Now I wish you guys _didn't_ destroy the ones Sage stole from the Hellfire Club. We could have used it here," whispered Wavedancer to Jean. The red-haired telekinetic's throat went dry suddenly as she wisely decided to not answer…

"In other words, if they're intent of making sure that Falco and Octavia get that sword from the Hellfire Club, then we better follow their path since that's the safest and most likely route that doesn't have anything unpleasant in store that will enable us to get to wherever the Hellfire Club's got that Talisman of Twilight. Once we reach that part, we'll be able to get the Talisman from Falco and Octavia after we beat the living crap of out them and rescue the civilians whose hearts hold the other two Talismans of Twilight," Hawkgirl said.

"Ah, a gal after my own heart," Garret the Ghostbuster said with a little ardor as he twirled his bo staff while sitting in his wheelchair.

"But this doesn't make any sense though," Colossus wondered out loud, "If the sword is already in the hands of the Hellfire Club, and if they have the civilians who have the Talismans, why make it public? Why give enough of an incentive for Falco and Octavia and the rest of us to try to take it away from them? There's no reason to inform us of something like this."

"Don't think we haven't though of that, but for now, we don't have any choice. We have to go after Falco and Octavia, wherever they are, and stop them before it's too late and either the people who have the Talismans die or if the Hellfire Club manages to get to them first. We're not fools, but we can't just stand by and do nothing," Superman pointed out.

"Actually, didn't you guys just notice something odd about this whole company?" Wildstar asked, his eyes narrowed in thought, "I mean, for an industrial complex owned by Sebastian Shaw, doesn't anyone find it weird that we haven't spotted a security guard around this whole place? Not at the front desk, not outside on the grounds, and I don't see one anywhere when we came in. And the Hellfire Club isn't stupid to leave something of theirs unguarded. But the whole security system all over the place is going bonkers, and yet I haven't seen a cop pull in yet!"

He had a point.

"Dude, you're right," Beast Boy remarked, blinking as it hit him, "I was expecting a huge bunch of guys armed to teeth to immediately come out and attack us."

"And I don't sense anyone around us with my telepathy. We're alone, which is kind of weird considering that the security systems going haywire like this should have brought _some_ sort of attention," Jean confirmed.

"That is indeed odd. Perhaps these guards are merely playing a game of seek-and-hide?" the Titan Starfire asked blithely, and no one decided to correct the orange-skinned Tamaranean.

"Actually, that's the thing. If there _were_ guards around here, I'd at least pick up a scent of something human, but…I don't. All I smell is, surprisingly enough, dirt," blinked Felicia of the Darkstalkers.

"_Dirt?_" echoed Natalie of the Monster Fighters Incorporated.

"Perhaps you are mistaken," Spirit suggested, although he had a feeling he should have known better.

Low Light then said, "I dunno. Something tells me Falco and Octavia aren't going to go through their plan as smoothly as they said. We'd better find them, now and fast."

"Any ideas on what they're going to do?" drawled Magma with contempt at Leomon (and not surprisingly, many of the heroes were giving him suspicious looks since they couldn't say for certainly that he wasn't doing this because it benefited him).

"No…I just…have a suspicion, that's all," Leomon growled at the Nova Roman princess, just as hostile.

"Boy, that's the lamest excuse I've ever heard, yo. And coming from _me_, that's saying something!" grumbled Toad. He obviously wasn't very charitable towards the Digimon. Dragonfly was pensive before she suggested another alternative.

"Maybe we **should** split up regardless of the traps. At least we'd cover a lot more ground, and I'm sure if we're extra careful, and with the Keyblades and the paranormals from the Ghostbusters helping detect whatever tricks the Inner Circle has here, we won't be in any danger."

Toad was instantly approving as he said exuberantly, pointing at his Disney summon, "Yeah, yo! And Genie here's just as powerful as any of those creeps! We should be able to handle ourselves fine!"

"Aw, shucks, Toad, you're flattering me!" Genie preened.

"No, Leomon's right. This easily smells of a set-up. We'll need everyone we can throw at this if the Hellfire Club is so confident, and if this is a trap, then splitting up would make it easier for them to do the ol' divide-and-conquer trick," Green Lantern said brusquely, trying to put himself in the Organization's shoes and wondering what would be the best way to anticipate and counter their next move.

"And that's not _all_ we smell. We got Lombardi's scent. He went through **that** corridor," Wolverine said, pointing at the fifth entrance-way at the east-northeast section of the main chamber. Apparently, his bloodhound senses were quite handy especially now. Low Light turned to the Triplets expectantly.

"Trinity, where does that lead to?"

"There's only one way: it goes _downwards_! That pathway leads straight into the underground passageways and sub-levels underneath! He's going to the basements! And…yikes, there's seven levels, all of them totaling up to half a mile deep in the Earth's crust! Falco could be on any one of them!" Daria exclaimed, bringing for the imaging on her screen. Jean groaned, realizing that running there would be on time. Nightcrawler saw the predicament too.

"I can't teleport there! Not if I don't know where it is or if I've never been there!" Kurt groaned.

"And I can't teleport us into the wrong room either, not unless we wanted to give away our positions to the Hellfire Club and alert Shaw and the others that we're here or set off any of those magical traps Yoh's spirit warned us about!" Supergirl groaned, realizing that if they smashed their way through the floors, it could very well lead to the same thing.

"Superman, think you can do a little X-Ray vision?" Low Light suggested, but the Kryptonian leader shook his head.

"Actually, surprisingly enough, all the walls and floors are lined with lead. I can't see through them," Superman said in slight surprise, although he should have expected it considering that the Inner Circle was resourceful and dangerously clever.

"And adamantium and titanium as well, so don't bother thinking we can easily blast through that stuff as well. Our scanners say that each floor is covered with a layer of those metals, reinforced with steel and each three inches thick," Brittany groaned, getting the schematics on her screen. She had to give credit; the Inner Circle really knew when to cover every base of their defenses.

"Not a problem. Martian Manhunter and me'll just phase all of us through the floors in no time! That way, nothing can hurt all of us! Everyone, join hands! The two of us together should be enough to do this!" the ghost-boy named Danny Phantom ordered, and quickly, everyone linked towards each other as the Martian and the ghost-boy took the lead (with Raven and Piper Halliwell taking the reluctant Leomon's paws) before they attempted to phase the whole group through the ground.

Emphasis on "attempted to" for as hard as Danny and J'onn tried, they were unable to shift their party's molecular density to move past the floor.

"I do not understand," J'onn said with surprise.

"What's going on?! Why aren't we phasing through?! It should have worked!" the Slayer Chao-Ahn asked in confusion, but Leomon exhaled wearily through his nose in disappointment as he answered.

"The Materia. It won't let us pass. Don't underestimate the limitless potential it has or that it can do."

"How do _you_ know so much about it?" asked Black Widow suspiciously, giving the furry behemoth a glare. Leomon looked a bit defensive as he growled, baring one side of his teeth.

"I just do," he rumbled. Again, **not** the most comforting of answers, but there was no time to argue now as Wonder Woman then pointed to the hallway.

"Then there's no choice. We better get running and hopefully, we'll be able to catch up to them."

"Uh…is that even a good idea?" Jericho asked wryly, the Phantom Investigator looking like he'd rather stay behind. Quentin the dhampir obviously wasn't allowing that as he grabbed the boy with a simple movement by the collar of the boy's shirt as everyone dashed off (with Wolverine, Green Lantern, and Roadblock making sure that Leomon went in front of them).

"You got a better idea? No? Then shut up and run," Quentin retorted shortly .

---

"Fire Bird!" roared Falco as he rocketed through the metal doors to the final and last floor, not caring if he was going to alert the security teams in the company to his whereabouts (he would have gladly fought and killed them all just to get Octavia back). As he made his way through the metal and twisted sheets of metal, he then took in his surroundings, hoping that this level wasn't empty and abandoned like all the other five ones he madly searched over.

The blue-feathered falcon finally arrived to the seventh and final floor of the company, and it was indeed a bit surprising when the warrior took in the view, not a room one would expect for a company owned by Sebastian Shaw. To put it shortly, it was a grand foyer, the distance from the roof to the floor being more than twenty feet and about the size of a football field, certainly spacious enough to allow a helicopter or a small aircraft to be stored with a big enough berth all around. The walls were polished reinforced metal, with support rafter embedded to the surfaces at well-spaced intervals, and up high above the ceiling, so brightly shining that Falco could barely look at them, were powerful floodlights, bathing the room with pure white. And the white marble floor (a small surprise) only intensified the blinding glare.

But then the avian's beady yellow eyes narrowed as he saw that entire assembly room wasn't completely bare, thank Corneria. There was an unconscious form of Octavia, injured and bleeding badly from the lacerations on her body, as she was raised in a crucified position, her arms extended outwards and her legs locked together. The cruel sadists actually crucified Octavia against a giant black physical representation of the Organization symbol, with her hands partially phased into the surface of the three spikes of the star-portion of the emblem and her legs fastened to the lower base of the character.

And right next to her, standing side by side with the sword in her hand and the Keyblades in his hands were Selene and Roxas, now showing his face and his hood to his cloak drawn back, showing his blond hair and cold blue eyes and youthful face.

OK, screw their history. Whatever mercy he owed to Roxas was dead…and so would Roxas and Selene be once he got a chance to pummel them full out.

"Let her go," Falco snarled, his feathers on his plumage actually sticking out in anger, like cold pricks of ice.

"Come take her then. Or…is the Talisman more important to you that her?" Roxas asked with the intention to goad and infuriate the avian. It worked as Falco could feel nothing else but his fury and livid emotions, the strength of it surpassing every single moment of anger he ever had in his past (even surprisingly when he discovered Leomon siding with the Misfits over them). Rational thought and common sense were pushed aside, despite that Falco should have known better, but he was so incensed and upset that nothing could hold him back. Giving off a shrill cry like any hawk, only enraged beyond all calm thought and possible range of all human emotions, Falco flew straight towards Roxas and Selene, invoking his magic.

But then he was absolutely shocked when he couldn't even utter a single word. His throat felt hot and frozen at the same time, as if his voice completely left him. And to add on to the precariousness of the situation, his gifts and spell-casting from the Aeroga Elementa kingdom completely stopped working. No winds came out to envelop and strength his body with enough force to rip them apart or hack his way through.

He was completely powerless.

And the shock of this was exactly why the black-colored hex-bolt appeared from nowhere and struck from Falco's blind-spot, searing the blue falcon with intense bad-luck energy cast from one Jennifer Stavros who calmly emerged from the invisible concealment cast by Tarot's "Invisibility" card.

"Hey, what do you know, Empath? You were right. Telepathically shielded doesn't mean that he's resistant to emotional manipulations! Looks like I owe you another five-hundred!" giggled the blond teenager as the Cornerian pilot crashed to the floor, the hex running through his body and literally causing every nerve in his flesh to scream as if doused with gasoline and lit on fire.

So Selene and Roxas weren't alone, eh? Well, then he'd just have to take out the weakest opponent first then, and with a snarl, forcing himself to extract himself from his fetal position on the floor, Falco leapt high in the air, wings outstretched and his feet ready to deliver a strike kick at the mutant girl below.

But then Tarot emerged from behind, hidden next to Selene and taking full advantage of Falco's distraction.

"Harpoon card!" yelled Tarot, the red-haired girl instantly summoning a long and certainly wince-worthy looking giant harpoon made of cold iron and a painfully, curved pointed head, materializing out of thin air when she drew her card. In a blink of an eye, as if guided by an invisible hand, the harpoon pointed directly at the avian before it flew, tearing through the air.

Instincts and reflexes screaming, Falco then summoned a square, invisible force-field with both of his wings to block the incoming projectile and hopefully have it deflect directly back at the Hellions. So imagine his surprise when nothing happened when he tried to summon his magic and the harpoon fully embedded and bore through the area where his shoulder bone met his arm socket.

It was extremely excruciating and swift. Falco silently yelped in surprise as he crashed from his position in midair, landing hard on his side and causing the metal pole sticking through his left shoulder to ache and throb even more so. Nerves burning and horrified at the smell of fresh blood, Falco weakly picked himself up with his right arm. What the hell happened? Why didn't his magical spells and protective barriers show up before?

"A little handy effect called Silence…" Selene purred, "Vexen is such a genius with Materia, isn't he? It's a shame that such materials do not exist here on this planet for I could have easily used them in the past against my former opponents with Green Materia. And some that are quite wonderful such as Despell, Confu, Beserk, and my personal favorite, Debarrier."

Damn it. So much for Reflega then.

And then it hit him that will Green Materia in Selene's control, he couldn't use his magic.

_Oh…shit._

So now the option to use his magic as a defensive chance pretty much went out of the window.

Falco tried to hiss weakly, panting and feeling like her ran ten miles nonstop at full speed, his head buzzing with fatigue. But like before, he remained mute. And he was so tired; he could barely keep his eyes open. Selene, however, appeared to be reading his mind as she cocked her head and smiled even further, absolutely looking more and more like a demonic succubus.

"Feeling a little under the weather, Falco? You should, considering that the Bio and Slow spells from the Materia are additionally poisoning you as well. At best, you've only got half of your strength and agility, not to mention your defensives and physical vigor plummeted to practically zero as long as you're in this room. Of course, not that it shall affect my person or the other Hellions thanks to my protective magic. And the only reason I'm telling you this now is because you won't even leave this foyer alive, so it's not going to make much of a difference anyway."

Falco gave her a look that clearly said he was going to take her with him. And the sword. But then he realized the Hellions were moving slowly and stealthily, their combat and training from Emma's sessions clearly showing as they formed a crescent line-formation from behind, clearly not stupid enough to encircle him and risk attacking each other. They were all there: Tarot, Monet, Roulette, Empath, Beef, Bevatron, and Jetstream. And there in the middle, right between Beef and Jetstream, was Emma Frost, smiling with vindictive pleasure as she crossed her arms over her chest.

_What the hell?_

"What? You were actually thinking that you could take us all on since we've gotten beaten before by the X-Men and Misfits? Sorry, not with that no-magic rule the Materia's causing here and your Sushi-Girl not here to watch your back," Jetstream chuckled.

"And that's the funny thing about mutant powers, you feather-duster. They aren't generated by magic, which means that though you can't use your powers, **_we can use ours_**," Monet chimed in with poisoned sweetness. Falco's blood ran cold as he momentarily forgot the harpoon sticking out of his shoulder.

He was in **so** much trouble.

"Hellions…Beta attack formation. Full strike," the White Queen said with a fulfilled chuckle, giving the coded commands to her prized students from the Massachusetts Academy. Oh, this was going to be good, and the look of devastated insight as Falco grasped the dire and dreadful mistake he had just blundered into.

He had no idea what to do now.

Tarot struck again, opting to go ahead before her other teammates as she drew a card from the pack in her hands right before Falco went for his laser pistol, saying lazily in a bored manner, "Shield card."

Falco cursed as his few and only powerful blasts of red, laser energy merely deflected off harmlessly from the energy shield that Marie has psycho-kinetically created, protecting the Hellions from the discharges of energy that Falco shot at them. Not that he was able to get far, and another black-disc sent by Roulette managed to knock the pistol out of his hands, shattering it and causing it to break into pieces. Now his pistol, the one he kept ever since he became a member of Starfox and one of the last ties he had to Corneria was completely demolished.

"And of course, good luck trying to use your other powers and fighting skills. That bad-luck hex I hit you with the first time is enough to cause anything of yours to malfunction in our favor," the blonde Roulette giggled maliciously. Falco gritted his teeth, still unwilling to just stand still and accept his death easily.

But then before he could move, his body suddenly jerked to a standstill, ignoring the commands from his brain to move, to dash out of the way, to do anything but stand still. But then the telekinetic lift off the ground by Monet clued him in as to why he was rendered immobile. And he then suddenly remembered that Monet was just as powerful as Jean Grey herself. And he didn't forget when she threw him threw the glass skylight of Bayville Mall when Cyclops got infected with the Heartless.

And with a flick of her hand, Monet simply reminded Falco the precarious danger of underestimating a telekinetic as she threw him hard against a nearby metal wall.

WHAM!

Falco was introduced to the wall face-first, and he swore he felt two of his teeth crack along with his beak. Monet then flung him against the wall again, this time even harder.

WHAM!

The right side of his jaw was now numb along with his right shoulder. Falco was lucky that he didn't slam headfirst considering the force would have likely broken his neck and killed him instantly. Unfortunately, death would have been the _less_ painful option. And the Hellion wasn't the type to be merciful as she forcefully drew him back and rammed him against the wall a third time.

WHAM!

Falco honestly couldn't say that one bothered him much. Despite the flashes of light before his very eyes and the buzzing on his head where the back of his skull cracked against the wall. He barely even felt it.

WHAM!

Falco landed on his right side hard, and now his right thigh was numb from the fact that his leg slammed into the wall with as much impact as if someone took a heavy club to his body.

"Monet, please, let us have a turn now. No need for you to have all the fun, and I wish to go before he expires and I'm robbed of a chance to shine," the young man named Fabian said in a slightly impatient manner, adjusting the sleeves of his purple and silver uniform.

"Of course. I was starting to get bored anyway. It's not as fun when you can't hear them scream," Monet sighed as she power slammed Falco hard on the ground, not even flinching when she was sure she heard the unmistakable sound of bone breaking. The avian's leg snapped from the impact. But there was more coming as the electrokinetic ambled towards the dazed and hurt warrior.

"I head that falcon tastes like chicken," grinned Bevatron as he grabbed the limp form of Falco by the shoulders, the teenager's fingers crackling with electricity, "Well, there's only one way to find out after our little barbeque…"

Falco was then subjected to the worst kind of electrocution a living and sentient being could ever go through, feeling the Hellion surge hundreds of volts of power into him, not enough to kill him (barely) but certainly enough to make every nerve cell and fiber in his muscles and nervous system scream and burn with jarring, new levels that went beyond any physical pain. He was sure his brain must have been damaged a bit from the way his eyesight kept blurring and his head was buzzing. At first he thought he was imagining things when he swore he could smell something sweet in the air. Until it slowly dawned on his that he was smelling his flesh being burnt as smoke started to scorch off his red jacket and his feathers crinkled and shriveled, turning black.

"Yuck, you've really got to work on your cooking skills," Haroun grimaced, waving a hand in front of his face to dispel the odor of burnt feathers. Falco swore that his tongue has the faint taste of bile as his skin and blood couldn't hold on to this torture much longer, and with as much strength as he could, the avian did a fabulous sweep kick. This caught Bevatron by surprise, but he was hardly worried as he neatly caught himself by doing a handstand and back-flipping gymnastically to safety. Apparently, Emma trained her Hellions quite well for the past several months since the Steel City mission.

But then Manuel decided to add in to the fun with a little emotional pulling as he used his mutant powers.

"You're scared, aren't you? You have no idea if you'll even win? You hate it that you could actually lose, don't you?"

Falco could barely control himself as he forced himself not to grimace at his fear; he could barely hold it in and there was no way he was going to give that smarky twerp the satisfaction of breaking down.

"You hate yourself, don't you?" Empath grinned as he sadistically managed to strike right to Falco's heart in one of the few chinks in his armor, one of the secretive exposed wounds to his soul, "You still feel guilty about how you're the only survivor, don't you?"

"Stop it…" hissed Falco to himself, but since he was still mute from the Silence effects of the Support Materia, he couldn't utter even a ghost of a whisper. He was forced to endure the memories, his grief and inner anguish from survivor's guilt now glaringly increased. It was like going through the worst memory of your life, reliving it, and then feeling so distraught at being forced to remember that every bit of hope in your body was extinguished and you felt as if you wanted to give up and die.

And yet Falco was still attentive enough to see Empath taking the butt of a small pistol from his pocket, and feeling that there was suddenly a chance he could still win, Falco sprang on his good leg and delivered a fierce haymaker, taking the Hellion completely by surprise. The slender teenager dropped his firearm, and Falco instantly snatched it, and before he took aim, military training at the fleet academy rising instinctively, before he took aim and fired at the Hellions.

_Click! Click! Click! Click!_

Falco blinked; the gun…was empty. Nothing came out of it.

"Surprise…" drawled Empath smugly as Tarot took out another card from her deck and held it out, face-first to the stunned Falco.

"Fire card," she intoned sweetly. Quickly, out of the card came a red-hot firestorm of flames and heat, swirling all around as it zoomed out.

Falco dropped the gun as the fireball struck him in the stomach, engulfing his body and actually making his wounds even worse by actually singing them and causing them to turn black from the heat. Falco weakly panted, coughing and now suffering even worse burns than before as he erratically and unsteadily rose to his feet. But then he was confused when Empath was now holding the retrieved gun in his hands, pointing it at Falco.

Falco was puzzled before he decided to give it up as a stupid move to scare him and he rushed forward, intent on breaking Empath's neck.

_Bang, bang!_

Falco twitched and fell to his knees, feeling the two bullet wounds that were now bleeding through his jacket, both of them striking full in the chest. Though nowhere near his heart, they were bad enough.

"Oh, dear…" Manuel said with much insincerity and aloofness as his voice could allow, "Silly me, I made a mistake. This gun isn't empty. The last two holdings have _real_ bullets. I just did that as a precaution in case you ever managed to steal my weapon away from me. And this was to pay for the punch to my face, you cocky asshole."

_Damn_, thought Falco to himself as he rasped in pain from the bullet wounds puncturing his lungs and slowly but surely increasing the pressure inside the organs, making it harder and harder to breathe as they were collapsing by the precious second.

But Falco then forgot the pains from his blisters, lungs, and burns as there was a new pain clamped around his neck, and the avian gurgled and choked, his neck threatening to break off as he was lifted off his feet.

"Hey, look what the cat dragged in!" the Hellion Beef chortled as he hefted the falcon humanoid by his neck with one hand, squeezing slowly and excruciatingly with his super-strength and threatening to completely crush his windpipe. Hacking, Falco writhed and squirmed, his face starting to flush dangerously from the lack of air before he got desperate and did his best to kick the teen in the torso, arm, and abdominals. Unfortunately, not only was the avian weakened from the effects of the Green Materia, but Buford was build and as solid as a metal wall. And though a bit annoying, it was like as if the brawny teenager was being hit by a kindergartener.

Falco then tried a tactic he saw Rona the Slayer use in Steel City when she faced the Hellion, and with as much of a reach as he could, he kicked out and made contact with Beef's crotch…only to have this foot and toes instantly ache in pain as if he kicked a metal wall.

What the hell?

"Nice try, Falco, but I'm wearin' a cup this time! One made of adamantium!" Beef couldn't help but cockily brag as he then reached out with his other hand and grabbed Falco's left wing. Falco screamed without a sound, nearly crying like a shrill hawk, as with a deft movement of his wrist, Beef broke Falco's appendage. Falco didn't have to look down to see that the bone was now sticking out of the flesh and feathers, didn't have to open his eyes to feeling the blood pool down his arm despite the excruciating agony of his arm growing numb and cold.

Bevatron couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in exasperation at Beef's foolishness as he quipped, "Are you trying to _advertise_ the fact, Beef? It's like giving the X-Losers and the Misfit Morons an opening."

"Shaddup."

And to increase the level of his maliciousness, Beef then made a fist with his right hand and rammed it into the soft part of Falco's stomach, causing the bird humanoid to feel the bile gather in his esophagus. He did his best not to vomit; he had his pride on the line, and it was keeping him from weeping in pain from being punched in the gut by a superhuman teenager. Thankfully, the pain in his arm was momentarily forgotten as the brawny Hellion then flung him far against the wall. Hoping for some luck, Falco did his best to brace his landing feet first in order to break his fall and safely bounce off the hard surface, despite Roulette's bad-luck hex still cursing his body. But then Jetstream came thundering from above, catching the blue-feathered humanoid full from behind in the back, rocketing with forces close to the triple digits.

The extraterrestrial was lucky to barely to have survived as he crashed to the blood, leaving a red smear as she skidded to a stop on the marble floor, his skin burning painfully from the friction. Shakily, Falco tried to rise again, but the Moroccan mutant zoomed low to the ground and struck the bird again with the same intensity as a car, fists outstretched and catching Falco in the back again.

And again in the stomach as Jetstream actually picked off the alien and carried him up high in the air, causing all the wind to be knocked out of Falco painfully before Haroun sadistically dropped him from the very top of the room, nearly touching the ceiling. And with Falco's fractured wing by Beast, there was no way he could slow down. Not that Jetstream helped matters by delivering a final blow with his propulsion, causing Falco to actually accelerate and plummet to the metal floor.

WHAM!

Falco's back was now broken, his spinal cord snapped from the fall. And it hurt so very badly. Though he could still feel pain, the pilot could no longer move his legs.

Falco was now left severely beaten and close to losing consciousness completely; there wasn't a single part of his body, internal or external, that was crying with anguish. Already, lying on his back, his breathing was labored and his body was losing its warmth bit by bit, despite the burns he was toting, because the clean, spotless marble floor was starting to stain red with his pooling blood from his wounds.

But despite how painful his wounds were, it was nowhere close to the real pain from one thought coming to his head.

He failed.

And as a result, Fox and the people from Corneria, Octavia, the King…everyone was going to pay the price.

He was grateful that Leomon wasn't here to witness his humiliation. Hell, had he switched places with the lion, he'd be laughing (considering he still hated how Leomon betrayed them). But there was little time to dwell on that as Beef then roughly grabbed Falco by the scruff of the neck again and held him still from behind, kneeling on the floor and pinning the avian's shoulder's and arms tightly to prevent him from escaping as Emma Frost ambled over in a demurely fashion, her high heels clicking across the floor. She was now holding the sword Talisman she got from Selene.

"We have done well, have we not, Headmistress?" Haroun asked, satisfied as he watched as a spectator along with the other Hellion students, already content at having a chance to be valiant in battle, "We finally got the ones the Organization have been after."

The avian, despite being woozy from the pain and agony tearing at every nerve and muscle fiber in his body, couldn't help but perk his head up at that sentence. What the hell was the Hellion talking about? But then Falco's blood then froze as the White Queen gave her response as she brought the sword inches away from the soft spot between Falco's eyes.

"Yes, Jetstream, you and the other Hellions have done marvelously well, and for that, you shall all be well rewarded for finally capturing the two beings who hold the Talismans of Twilight."

---

"Geez, how many frickin' floors are underneath this dumb company?! Couldn't we have used the elevator?!" Adam of the Monster Fighters Incorporated complained as he and the others rushed down the stairs, sprinting or flying. It was finally past the sixth floor, and already he had a painful ache in his side.

"Do you have _any_ idea of how dumb that just sounded?" Piper Halliwell couldn't help but remark condescendingly. The eldest of the Charmed sisters had a point.

Adam couldn't help but quip at Danny Phantom who was flying next to him, "Must be nice to fly and all…"

"Do you **hear** me complaining?" the teen said with more smugness than allowed as they headed towards the doors in the far distance at the end of the pristine and bare corridor of white that would lead them to the seventh and final underground chamber underneath the industrial complex. It was indeed gigantic and mammoth, built with reinforced steel, lead, and adamantium and it actually seemed more appropriate as an entrance way to an aircraft hangar for a military base.

"And here we go! Eat my dust, Jerk-Off!" the Flash teased as he started to run with his super-speed.

"In your dreams! I'm the **better **speedster!" Quicksilver growled as he dashed off a millisecond later after the red-clad Justice League member.

"I got first dibs on giving some payback to those two assholes!" the Slayer Faith yelled as she charged alongside with Supergirl, who was always a "punch first, ask questions later" person (much to her cousin's discomfort). But before anyone could warn them to stop, the instant Flash and Quicksilver touched the metal doors, there was a giant flash of light and with a furious and intense energy discharge, the four heroes were sent flying backwards, yelling in surprise…before they literally came to a crashing heap on top of a good portion of the Misfits, X-Men, Beach Head, Trey the Shaman, Miroku, and the several of the Titans East.

"Whoever's sitting on my head, can you. Please. Get. **Off. Of. _ME!_**" yelled the muffled voice of Beach Head, whose face was being squished against the carpet considering that Nightcrawler and Gambit were sprawled on top him in dog-pile fashion.

"Ow…" groaned Quicksilver before he noticed that he was actually lying right on top of Flash himself in a suggestive position, their faces only inches away from each other (which soon melted away instantly into shock and revelation).

"**ACK!** Get-the-hell-away-from-me-you-sicko!" they both shouted.

"Oh, I wouldn't give for a camera," grinned Hawkgirl as the two speedsters yelped and scurried away from each other in disgust and loathing. Shame, she could have used the blackmail material…

"What happened? Another force-field from Organization Thirteen?" Wolverine gruffly asked.

Cyborg the Titan activated his scanner on his left arm before he got the schematics on the strange energy that seemed to indeed be encompassing the entire seventh underground level of Shaw Industries with a potent and familiar magical signature. The robotic warrior stated, "Yep, and a really strong one too. Y'all might want to know that this is way stronger than any shield we've encountered before when fighting against the Heartless. And oddly enough, it's the same magical signature that we've been sensing coming from the company before during our stakeouts. It's the origin of where all that funky energy is coming from."

"And if Falco and Octavia are here since this is where their scents lead them, then this is where the Hellfire Club's keeping the Talismans," Felicia replied.

"Of course they would use a barrier to keep nosy unwanted visitors out. This is one of the few things that seem to be coveted by the Organization members as a winning tactic against us in the war. Why else wouldn't the Hellfire Club want to keep us from interfering?" John Stewart drawled sarcastically at Supergirl who was doing her best to gain her bearings (touching the seal was enough to even make _her_ stunned).

"GL, I love you and I know you're a Founder and all, but give me an '_I-told-you-so_' and I'm going to give you a fat lip," Kara retorted sharply from her sprawled position on the ground, despite it being incredibly audacious and rude to say such a thing to a founder of the Justice League, already irritated at being so foolish and being caught off-guard, but then she felt her irritation break apart into fury when she felt an uncomfortable sensation on her rear. In a blink of an eye, she reached behind and grabbed the hand that was fondling her butt to find that it was the Japanese priest, Miroku.

Kara's eyes began to glow red and her mouth bared a twitching snarl. Miroku gulped with fear, realizing that his previous act might not have been so wise to try on a superhuman extraterrestrial.

"Uh…heh-heh…sorry, I couldn't resist?" the Ghostbuster tried to chuckle weakly. Supergirl, with one eye twitching, turned to Sango, Kagome, and Superman with a vindictive look on her face.

"May I?" she asked sweetly with gritted teeth.

"Everyone else does," sighed Kagome, giving in and resigned (she wasn't dumb enough to tell a Kryptonian "no").

"I'd encourage it, actually," Sango muttered, giving Miroku an unsympathetic and dark glare.

Superman's was the most surprising as he said with a little more smugness than allowed, "Just don't kill him, Kara."

Miroku barely had enough time to react as Supergirl nodded before making a fist and sucker-punched the Japanese priest in the stomach. Hard. And enough to make Miroku to think that he was puking his guts out. And the knee to his groin didn't much in his matters either…

"Memo to self: warn Xander to not ask Supergirl on a date anytime soon," the Slayer Vi whispered to her friend, Rona, clandestinely, as Miroku slid to the floor, cradling his nether-regions. The aforementioned African-American vampire slayer could have sworn that she saw Superman smirk right then and there…

"So now what do we do? Smash our way through it? Maybe if we all blast it at once, we might be able to wear down that energy barrier long enough to break it," Edurado the Ghostbuster suggested, and his wife gave him a deadpanned glare.

"Honestly, you need to learn that not everything can be solved with blasting the heck out of something and hoping for the best," Kylie griped.

"And if it's like the past energy force-fields the Organization's tried before, then my magic won't be able to smash through it," Genie said worriedly.

"And we can't phase or teleport into there either since D-Man and J'onn weren't able to do it before. So what about the Keyblades? Wavedancer, didn't you and the other Misfits use those things to unlock the barriers before when the Heartless attacked at the Pit and the Slayer academy? Well, try it now! Can't you do it?" Agent Jay suggested, hefting his proton beam.

The other Misfits looked slightly hesitant as Avalanche pointed out, "But it didn't work before when we were trapped in that bubble when Falco and Octavia ambushed us, so it might not even work now!"

"Maybe you're just doing it wrong. Maybe you need to try harder. And we don't have any time for hesitation or stalling. Just try something at least!" pressed Batgirl with encouragement, desperate to give it another chance. Cyclops looked like he was about to open his mouth, but Jean, catching on, fiercely elbowed her boyfriend in the side to keep him quiet. Althea knew that they could at least give it another shot and that time was of the essence.

"Don't argue! Just do what Agent Jay says! Misfits, take out your Keyblades and concentrate on envisioning on unlocking that barrier! Just follow my lead and hope that the second time's the charm!"

"Uh…dude, shouldn't it go '**_third_** time's the charm'?" queried a puzzled Beast Boy thoughtlessly.

"Shut up, Beast Boy," chorused a good number of the heroes around the Teen Titan as Wavedancer and her teammates summoned forth their respective scepter and Keyblades in a flurry of multicolored lights. With their eyes closed and their weapons out in front, each of the eleven Keyblades and the white scepter of power, they concentrated hard in silence as the seconds slowly ticked by.

"Hope this works," muttered Shipwreck.

"But what if it doesn't? What if it failed to help us like when we got sealed in that barrier caused by Falco and Octavia? Then what do we do?" Storm asked.

"I guess we'll have to just blast our way through then. We'd have no choice," Cyclops mused, his brain formulating several back-up plans of other less discreet ways of getting to Falco and Octavia first. Mushu the dragon had to smile at that while nestled around the collar of Wanda's uniform.

"I knew there was something I had to like about you, Cykey-boy!" Mushu couldn't help but banter with a toothy grin.

It was then that the Slayer, Caridad, noticed that one of them was missing and no longer in the group.

"You guys?" piped up Caridad, alarmed, "**_Where's Leomon?_**"

Every one of the heroes all turned and perked their heads and eyes up, glancing all around wildly. But the Filipino Slayer spoke the truth; the tawny-furred Digimon lion was nowhere to be seen (and that was difficult since he was easily the tallest of any of the heroes). He had somehow surreptitiously left them before they could notice.

"He's gone!" groaned Cyclops, suddenly feeling very, **very** stupid.

Hiei the Spirit Detective frowned as he said stoically, "And he's far from our position. I cannot sense him with my third eye."

"Or my telepathy either. Not that any of the telepaths we know of could have done it to begin with. If we couldn't do it for Falco and Octavia, we won't be able to do it on Leomon either," Jean said with much unease.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted him! He's left us to do his dirty work!" Beach Head raged, turning red behind his green ski mask. The Teen Titan Raven whirled on the Joe ranger angrily.

"He wouldn't do that," Raven protested in a calm and stoic voice, though she was starting to get a little bubble of frustration. Some, understandably, fully agreed with Beach Head.

"Raven, stop trying to defend him!" the Titan Aqualad snapped with hostility, "If he let all those Joes get attacked when the Heartless invaded the Pit, then it's pretty obvious that he's not doing this because he wants to help us! It's to help himself! Don't you remember?! He's not doing this to help us, but to help the Sovereign and Champion! That's his true mission, and if we don't benefit him, then it's no wonder that'll dump us faster than an undertow current!"

"He's not evil, Aqualad! He must have a reason for leaving!" the Scooby Willow piped up hotly in Raven's defense (and the white-robed Titan shot the witch a grateful look). The Slayer Kennedy then bit her tongue to keep herself from retorting back resentfully as she spoke in carefully controlled voice.

"Willow, honey, just because he saved us a couple of times doesn't mean we owe him anything. Yeah, he's not evil, but he's not on our side, remember? Just because he's against the Heartless and we share the same enemy doesn't mean we should trust him fully."

"Oh, so saving our bacon during the fight at San Francisco and helping defeat Trigon doesn't qualify as being on our side, then what _does_, Kennedy?!" snapped the Slayer Shannon disdainfully.

Kid Gloves irritably remarked, "Willow, Shannon, look at the facts: he lets the Misfits and X-Men go just so that they can call of us here because he told us that he needed help to protect the Talismans, but if he's so intent on protecting them, then why bail on us now when we're so close? That logically doesn't make sense. You don't ask for a united front for insurance only to abandon it later without achieving anything! He's gotta be planning something if he's willing to drop us like this!"

"Oh shut up, Kay! I'll believe it when you have proof!" snapped Piper.

"Don't you tell him to shut up! And unlike you, the rest of us aren't willing to be in the Leomon fan-club!" Rapunzel snapped back, defending her teammate.

"Will you all stop?! Honestly, now is not the time!" Phoebe Halliwell angrily spoke out as she brought her hand out right in front of the squabbling. Just before they could either ignore the Wiccan or tell her to butt out, there was a tremendous flash of light and to everyone's amazement, a giant keyhole emerged in the barrier, glowing and outlined in white, shining brighter by the second. All the Misfits winced and grimaced a bit in discomfort as their bodies began glowing in their respective colors of their Elementa Kingdoms before there was a terrific blaze of blinding luminescence. With a faint noise, the force-field of powerful magic shimmered and disintegrated. When it subsided and with a collective groan, Althea and the Misfits fell to their knees, seriously weakened and feeling dizzy, too weak to even stand much less walk or run.

That was not an easy barrier to unlock; it was ten times more difficult for them to unlock and dispel than the barriers the Organization used on them before.

"You kids all right?" Cover Girl asked worriedly as she knelt next to the kids along with several of the other Joes.

"It was too much…I'm not sure we could even do that again…" panted Dragonfly, short of breath and feeling like she wanted to vomit, on her hands and knees and trying to brace herself.

"They must have used too much of their internal strength from their Keyblades," Storm murmured worriedly, "Maybe we should let them rest a bit, especially if - "

"No, we're fine. Especially now that Bambi and Tinkerbell are out…" wheezed Wavedancer heavily as she was assisted to a standing position by Dumbo, using the elephant as a lean-to.

"On the upside, the barrier's gone! We can all get in and stop Falco and Octavia! And…uh-oh…" trailed off Cyborg. The Titan Robin narrowed his eyes behind his mask.

"What do you mean, '_uh-oh_'?" the Titan leader asked.

"Scanners are showing he and Octavia aren't alone…"

---

The two beings that had the Talismans?

She couldn't have meant…

Falco blinked, startled and flabbergasted, his mouth slightly agape. Emma had to admit that it was amusing to see the usually cocky bird humanoid looking lost and confused.

She had to be lying.

But there was no indication of it from the other people. The Hellions, each and every one of them, were smiling with eager and conceited smiles, as if they were self-satisfied. Selene herself was cocking her head in amusement, as if she just won a grand prize after playing a game, only she was more interested in seeing which one of the many number of ways she envisioned one could do to a flesh and blood body Emma would take in causing Falco's execution. Roxas was standing next to the imprisoned and limp for of Octavia, frowning but no trace of anger or malice, no recognition of the avian and the octopus-woman now at his mercy. Just pure, pessimistic, dangerous, indifference.

They weren't joking. They were deadly serious.

Despite being mute, Falco managed to work his words through his facial expression as he scoffed bravely with disdain and self-loathing. The White Queen was even more of a blonde naïf than he thought. She was completely wrong. There's no way in all of Corneria and Andross that he would even _have_ a pure heart strong enough to hold a Talisman. Emma however could read his expression of denial. To wipe the smirk off Falco's face, she cruelly placed one high-heeled foot on his broken leg and stepped hard.

Falco arched his body slightly as he couldn't help but let loose a noiseless and hushed holler from Emma applying pressure on the broken bone, making it worse, and the way Beef was holding him down wasn't bringing much comfort either. Falco grit his teeth, trying to endure the new pain as the White Queen of the Inner Circle loomed over her prisoner.

Emma's smile became absolutely spine-chilling as she said with aplomb, "Don't believe me? Think I'm wrong? Think we've mistaken in thinking that your heart has one of the Talismans that you and your female companion have been coveting for so long? Perhaps…but you **are** a Priest of Twilight."

The avian's eyes, despite the pain coursing through his body and from his wounds, absolutely went shock-still and widened slightly as his breath quaked in his throat. How did she and the Organization know? Emma had the pleasure of seeing that shaft hit home as she brought the tip of her sword to Falco's flesh center of his throat.

The woman sneered, "You and Octavia may have been excellent at hiding that fact from the general public before the last Gathering, but Roxas and the other members of Organization weren't so easy to fool. Nothing of yours could have escaped their attention with the Oracle. Still, it **was** an impressively clever ploy."

"Yes, I have to admit, your dumb King was smarter than anyone of the Organization thought. And it should have made sense since the Organization learned that only a Priest of Twilight can use a Talisman of Twilight, and with all the pathetic tricks he taught you, you would have been able to defend yourself if you needed to," Monet preened, running her fingers through her hair in a bored manner.

Roulette then remarked, "Yeah, who would have guessed it? What's the best place to hide a Talisman of Twilight? You hide it in the heart of the only person who can use it, and no one else suspected that it was in your chicken heart because you were searching for the Talismans in other people. You even threw off the people in the Inner Circle on **that** one."

"And with the third priest killed from the siege, you and Octavia are the only ones left. This trap couldn't have been more perfect," Selene chuckled.

Falco paled; they practically gave the enemy a wonderful chance to grab the Talismans and eliminate the only beings that could help summon forth the Sovereign's power in the first place, all in one fell swoop. Without them, the Organization would surely triumph…and Falco's cockiness and stubborn hostility proved too costly.

He had made a horrendous mistake.

Emma enjoyed the look of pure defeat on the avian's face as she leaned over closer, fully intent on milking this for all it was worth.

"Perhaps it is better that your esteemed King isn't here to see this. He'd probably be even more ashamed of you and Octavia for making such a huge tactical blunder and perhaps even regret taking you in after all that worthless kindness and healing he offered you, not that you weren't already a lost cause. Perhaps it was better that you did this as opposed to getting kicked out in a similar manner of how you and Fox McCloud parted ways, hm?"

Falco's eye twitched at the mention of his dead friend.

Falco then did the most impertinent and audaciously insulting move he could ever make in his situation, not caring anymore about his safety as long as it would piss that witch off.

He hacked softly and with as much exertion as he could muster, he spat right into Emma Frost's face. All of the Hellions were taken aback and slightly fearful (a few such as Monet and Empath gasped sharply). Selene herself raised an eyebrow in admiration; she couldn't deny that Falco had brass ones.

And Falco couldn't help but smirk through his cracked break at the sight of the shell-shocked and stupefied White Queen of the Inner Circle looking like she was having a stroke as the blob of blood mixed with saliva and mucus slid off her right eye and dribbled down her cheek. The one look of a mixture of offense, outrage, and humiliation at the hit to her pride was nothing short of priceless. Manuel took out a handkerchief and eagerly handed it to his headmistress.

"Thank you, Empath…" said Emma in a tightly, restrained voice, simmering and growing angrier with each syllable at her captive, "Oh, and for the record, no one likes a brown-noser. We do not need you to be the next Donald Pierce, Empath."

Empath turned crimson with humiliation and resentment, considering it was just a little too close to the truth while his teammates snickered with disdainful glee. The White Queen felt her left temple throb. Considering he was mentally shielded, she couldn't use her telepathy, but a swift death would be _too_ good for him.

Emma then wordlessly transformed into her diamond form, each and every bit of her body and clothing now shining white and sparkling under the lights overhead. And before Falco could even flinch, she solidly slapped Falco hard and swiftly across the cheek, cracking his head to the side. Falco bit back an oath as he felt his face go immediately numb and he was sure that blood was already starting to come out of the bruised skin. Emma had to admit that felt good, but she needed something…nastier.

The White Queen then had a very pleasing thought as she then idly ran two smooth and cold slim fingers slowly across the red fabric of Falco's jacket, teasing the fingernails on the warrior's chest. Falco was at first puzzled, despite one chunk of his face starting to throb and swell from the bruising.

"I think I may want to take my time to slowly savor this," the telepathic blonde droned in a sultry manner as, to everyone's slight astonishment, she straddled Falco and continued to run her fingers ever so slightly across his jacket before unzipping it, exposing his black long-sleeved shirt underneath. Falco felt the sudden urge to vomit. Was she seducing him? Because the sensation of her skin touching his body was enough to make him want to retch and sicken him to the pit of his stomach.

But that revulsion and nausea was instantly forgotten as Emma then began to dig her fingers into Falco's fleshy part of his abdomen, actually ripping through his clothing and burrowing into the skin, feathers and tissue. Falco cringed before he bucked in pain as he tried to squirm away, but Beef tightened his hold on his hostage.

"Aw, what's the matter, chicken-boy?" sneered the fair-haired Buford, "Don't like it when things get a little rough? Don't leave yet! The fun's just beginning."

And it was absolutely torturous and unbearable. Falco couldn't keep a straight face when there were now three deep gouge marks on his stomach, already bleeding and feeling as if someone took a power drill and sadistically bore the wells, one after the other, into his gut. Falco was now shuddering in slight spasms as Emma held up her diamond hand, stained with red blood from the bird humanoid.

"Diamond's one of the hardest minerals on the planet, my dear, Falco. Shall we see what happens if I try an entire hand instead of the fingers?" the telepath suggested with sick amusement.

Before Falco could think of the double-entendre or spit in Emma Frost's face again, Emma extended all the fingers in her right hands, each as straight as nails, before she swiftly plunged her entire diamond appendage directly into the avian's stomach, sinking into the flesh up to her wrist. Falco couldn't take it any more as he screamed (still mute) arching up his back, feeling the tears of suffering burn out of his eyes. He nearly passed out as the lining to his stomach ripped to shreds like wet paper, leaking the acid into his bloodstream.

Falco felt the bile and blood trickle out of one corner of his mouth as he felt the White Queen dig around his internal organs, causing massive trauma and failure that would slowly but surely make his death more and more imminent. Already, Emma was showing no signs of stopping. After she finished rupturing his stomach, she then managed to grab hold of the bird's lower intestinal tract and maliciously pulled on his intestines, intent on disemboweling him, one organ at a time, blood and gore now starting to litter the ground as Falco felt the tug being excruciating, so intensely painful that one could not possibly fully understand what it felt like to be disassembled and have your innards ripped out one by one as your body felt more numb by the second from blood loss.

"Don't worry, Falco. I fully intend to kill you before you decide to pass away and rob me of that privilege," the White Queen said coyly.

Falco would have gladly spit in Emma's face again if he wasn't so overcome with paralyzing torment and suffering (and if Beef wasn't clamping his beak shut with one hand, threatening to break it).

But then as Falco felt he couldn't humanly take much more of this…

"**_STOP IT!_**" rang out a voice, nearly shrieking.

There was a sudden lull in the violence as they all turned, even Falco and Emma Frost herself, one hand still gripped around a bloody wad of flesh. There, looking absolutely horrified, was a somewhat nauseated and horrified Octavia, looking at Falco with worry. She managed to regain consciousness only to see to her aghast that Emma was slowly ripping Falco apart, piece by piece.

Falco still couldn't say what was worse: the fact that Octavia was seeing him in such a humiliating position or the fact that she was actually more worried about him than herself. He didn't want her to pity him, damn it!

Still, the female Tigershark was completely grateful as she said with relief, "Falco…"

"Hmph, I'm impressed. Her heart is strong. She managed to overpower the Sleep magic cast on her by the Materia," Roxas said stoically.

"Shall we deal with her, Miss Frost?" Jetstream asked, suggesting that he and the other Hellions help take care of this, but then Emma held up her hand as she excruciatingly and utterly extracted it from Falco's body, like a banner of red.

She then knew what was the best way to break Falco before killing him for the Talisman in his heart.

"Hellions, stand down. Roxas, be a gentleman and lower down Octavia to the ground, if you please."

Roxas gave a stony look at the White Queen before he raised a gloved hand at the Organization symbol where the Tigershark was crucified and fastened and softly used his ability and magic to lower her imprisonment to the marble floor.

Emma then nodded to the Black Queen of the Inner Circle as she tossed the obsidian sword at the External.

"Selene, would you care to do the honors?"

Falco's heart actually skipped a beat as his eyes widened in awareness.

"Always a pleasure, Emma, and thank you. You know how I always enjoy a good kill every now and then…" Selene said simply as he deftly caught the spinning, black blade and effectively grasped it by its handle with a lot more dexterity and battle-ability than the sorceress let on. And before Octavia could blink, the raven-haired witch swiftly plunged the sword into Octavia's chest, right into her heart.

Octavia let out a soft gasp, her eyes wide.

Falco let out a silent roar as he helplessly was forced to watch Octavia's body jerk and spasm a bit from having the sharp weapon gore into her body, and to his revulsion and woe, his friend gave several seconds of death spasms, quivering slightly as the blood stopped flowing in her veins, her chest feeling as if someone pumped molten iron into her lungs.

Despite not being able to breathe, Octavia gave Falco a long unreadable look before her face softened a bit. As Selene sadistically turned the sword, burrowing it deeper into the female captive, the Tigershark gave a final small jerk.

Octavia died as she went limp, her eyes closed and head slumped forward without a sound, the tentacles from her head now limply swaying like corpses hanging on a noose. The sword was still embedded in her body, dripping blood into the white ground.

The woman's body vanished as it began to glow in an azure shimmer, the green-colored flesh and skin fading and disintegrating bit by bit before it disappeared into thin air and wisps of light, ascending her soul to the heavens. The blade Selene used to kill the Tigershark was now free, and with no body to hold on to, it clattered to the floor, stained with fluid and bits of flesh and gore. But it hardly disgusted the Black Queen as the mutant woman simply picked it up again as a pink heart crystal suddenly emerged, free from its physical owner, and began to slowly float upwards.

Falco blinked; the sword had the power to do this? To take away a person's heart?

But then he remembered the stories of the dark Keyblade blessed by Riku that he used to open the keyhole in Hollow Bastion and the tales of Sora using it to…

There was no point denying it; it had to have been one of the Talismans of Twilight. And the Hellfire Club already had it in their hands.

With that, there was a soft flash of light before Octavia's heart began to illuminate in a soft sheen of dark blue and to Falco's horror…it began to slowly transform.

_What? She couldn't have been one of…_

With a soft burst of salty-tasting mist and fog, the heart slowly faded into a large hand-held mirror, made of cloudy crystal and carved with strange designs of roses and thorns around the slim handle. The glass was oval-shaped and all around the surface were carved, wavy depictions of surf and water, artistic and refined. But what was the most noticeable about the glowing mirror was the set of two designs, one at the back of the mirror and one within the looking glass itself. In the back of the oval mirror depicted a red rose in full bloom and superimposed on the rose was a white outline of a heart with a white keyhole inside. And in the front of the mirror was a yellow crown of gold, exactly similar to the symbol that Althea invoked as part of the trinity to heal all the victims infected with the Hellfire Heartless spores.

_Oh no…_

"The Enchanted Mirror…" Roxas announced with barely any excitement, as if accepting the find as serenely as one would find a penny. Nice, but not even worth a second thought.

As Octavia's body fully disintegrated, the cold vise of ice around Falco's tightened around his chest and gut so painfully that Falco was amazed he didn't pass out from the ghastly and staggering revelation. They found it. One of the Talismans of Twilight. One of the few powers that could save everyone and end the war once and for all.

And Falco was completely and utterly devastated as Octavia perishing before his very eyes instantly brought back the recurring nightmare of his past. He swore he could hear Fox screaming again as the Heartless crushed him to death, the cries for help from Slippy as he radioed in his frantic call for help before he died in the explosion at the military base.

Falco could hear his mind screaming one lone mantra over and over again amid the memories of Octavia's voice echoing in his head, increasing his guilt and remorse ten-fold with each word…

_"Once the wielder of the Keyblade comes along with the Heartless, three people will die! Falco, I know what it means to achieve our goal and fight at the Gathering, but this means us killing innocents!"_

_You weren't supposed to die…_

_"And you honestly think that Leomon will be willing to go through with it? I don't like forcing him to choose in this, especially since this has been hard on him too…and it's obvious he has some concern for the heroes he has run into this world during the past escapades. In fact, it would be reasonable to say that his heart has inadvertently connected to the X-Men and Misfits and their allies."_

_You weren't supposed to die…_

_"You know…it's actually scary to see you being so…open and considerate like this."_

**_You weren't supposed to die!_**

_"Let's do this, then."_

It was supposed to be him, his death, his end that was supposed to help save Fox and the others. But now, everyone close to him either left him or perished, leaving him more alone than before. And Octavia, his only friend he had left, one of the few who he couldn't push away, the only one who kept him somewhat in line…

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Tarot couldn't help but remark, having her eyes widen at the sparkling mirror shining above them.

"Not really. Now hurry up and get the other Talisman from that bird," Roxas ordered none too gently, hardly caring about aesthetics as long as he completed his mission as he strode over towards the mirror.

Monet muttered under her breath at the Organization member, "I'd like to give _him_ the bird."

Roxas had to admit that he would have preferred it had he been angry at the Hellion's smart remark because it would have been better than being nothing but stoic and only having the faintest trace of some sort of emotion as Selene tossed the sword towards Emma who caught it deftly with one diamond arm.

"_Your Majesty…_" thought Falco silently to himself, whimpering, as he looked upwards to the heavens, "_What did I do to deserve…_"

Falco stopped; he knew better than to ask that one.

"_Octavia didn't deserve that…I was the one who was willing…_"

Was this his punishment?

"And now…you're next, you miserable, avian bastard!" the White Queen crowed as she raised the sword, ready to plunge it into Falco's torso to share Octavia's fate. Falco didn't care anymore. If this was the end…

But then a miracle happened.

"Gotcha!" yelled Roland as four proton beams shot through the air, one knocking the sword directly out of Emma's hand (and since she was in diamond form, it didn't hurt her) and one beam actually snared Roxas, encircling him with rings of radioactive energy, preventing him fully reaching out and grabbing the mirror Talisman. Selene was left stunned and helpless (her inability to use magic due to the Green Materia was a serious handicap) while the other Hellions were about to attack automatically, but then the four proton beams were enough to create an energy array for Quentin to strike next.

Without a word, swiftly, Quentin activated his modified ghost-trap, holding the circular, yellow, metallic disk out in front of him with both hands, and with a click, the panels to the trap opened like a blossoming flower. And thanks to the four Ghostbusters proton beams, it was able to specifically target within the elliptical bounds of the energy array. Instantly, a fierce and powerful vortex began to thunder and to suck all the enemies in the room towards it, creating an intense funnel of gravitational pull. Falco at first thought he was dying until he saw the White Queen and Beef beginning to lose their footing and balance.

"**_AAAA!_**" they all roared, desperately trying to fight the pull, with Monet attempting to hold herself and her teammates with her telekinesis and Jetstream attempting to rocket out of the path of the ghost trap. But each and every one of them, even Roxas and Selene, couldn't escape the strain and lure of the dimensional black hole, and with a roar, they all were jerked into the rift, their bodies contorting as they siphoned into the small mechanical trap and with a giant hiss, the trap clicked shut and the vortex stopped, leaving the room with nothing but the sword, the mirror, and a weakened and completely injured yet bewildered Falco, still lying frozen on his back on the floor in a drying pool of blood.

He was safe.

"Tinkerbell, heal him please…" begged Whitelighter in the background, and though unable to prop himself up and turn around to look because of the extent of his injuries, Falco then saw the glowing, twinkling fairy, chiming like little bells, flutter into his line of vision before she touched his beak with one hand, the Disney fairy healing his wounds in seconds, healing his broken back and mending his internal organs whole again, erasing the gaping, gory hole in his stomach.

Woozy and his head still reeling but feeling a bit better and stronger, Falco weakly looked up to see his saviors, which turned out to be the X-Men, the Misfits, and the G.I. Joe handlers along with their various allies. Falco wasn't sure what to feel, but shame, relief, and sadness were some of the main ones. And the Misfits (with their Disney summons and their Keyblades) and the X-Men were standing alongside next to the four Ghostbusters along with Quentin who was holding a slightly modified ghost trap, this time meant to trap being other than those of paranormal and ectoplasmic origins (Egon worked on it with his research team ever since the Heartless and Organization first appeared in San Francisco).

"It's done," exhaled Kylie with relief.

"Good thing it worked. Willow and Egon weren't sure that this prototype wouldn't overload, especially with the power levels of these jerks," Garrett exhaled with a pent-up breath, thankful it went easier than expected.

"Where did you send them?" Storm asked the red-haired teenager.

"In a pocket dimensional rift where they will be hopefully placed in suspended animation inside the trap, like we do for most other ghosts. Don't worry, they won't get hurt and all that junk, though it'll be no less than they deserve. But it won't last. Egon said that it'll only hold within several minutes or so, Storm," Eduardo answered back.

"Good, then that should be enough for us to grab what we came to get and get out before the Organization gets wind of this," Jinx the ex-H.I.V.E student (and current West Coast Misfit) murmured.

"Impressive. Not even the Justice League has such advanced technology to imprison and detain paranormal threats," Martian Manhunter said, awed.

Falco's sides weren't aching as much and the wounds were now almost virtually erased, the blood, lesions, and burns marks completely faded away from Tinkerbell's pixie dust. He didn't know what to feel about this.

"You know, a simple 'thank you' would suffice for this 'red-headed whore' as you so bluntly put it in the past," Jean Grey said coldly with sternness, like a teacher lecturing her pupil and one hand on her hip.

"Genie held ya' in place, so that's why you didn't get sucked into the vortex, Falco. Although frankly, I wouldn't mind it so much if you did," Wolverine said without much tact. Genie, who was hovering to the left of the Canadian mutant, gave a sly, knowing and proud grin.

"And don't flatter yourself. We're doing this because it's the right thing to do, **not** because it's for you," Cyclops added grimly.

Falco then managed to dryly croak out of his sandpapery tongue and throat, his first words being, "How did you…you're not affected by the Materia?"

Many of them members of the group indicated with their heads or their thumbs to two of the Disney Summons already out, Tinkerbell and Bambi. Upon closer look, Bambi was flashing repeatedly over and over with the aura of Woodra magic, like a beacon of green stars while Tinkerbell was constantly bathing everyone in the group with her pixie dust. In fact, each and every hero was glowing, just like Falco.

Xi explained, "Well, thankfully, Materia doesn't cancel out our Disney summons or our Keyblades. And strangely enough, Tinkerbell's healing and Bambi's mana powers are enough to make sure that we don't succumb to any negative effects like you just did. Leomon…Leomon warned us before we came here."

Leomon. Damn it, he got the last laugh over this after all, and Falco wanted to just roll up into a fetal position and die as he actually appeared ashamed.

"What's the matter, Falco?" growled Spirit with distaste, "Surprised that you needed our help, exactly like General Hawk told you before?"

Falco Lombardi couldn't have hit the bottom any further as his insides curdled with ice as he then recalled his words with General Hawk as they finished probing Cover Girl's heart when she became infected with the spores.

_"When you two will be in need of help, don't come crying back to us."_

_"Don't make me laugh, Joe. That'll **never** happen."_

Karma never failed in this universe.

Falco was starting to wish that he did die as he cradled in his with both hands. Seeing his one and only friend die before his very eyes was devastating. And right now, the belief that to sacrifice a few to save everyone was especially nauseating…

"Oh, by Andross, why? Why? Why?" Falco moaned softly, the irony not lost on him. The King shouldn't have trusted him with this…

"You know…I know this would be bad taste, but like I even care in this case. **_We told you so_**, Falco. So how do you like the taste of dirt? Or would eating crow not be considered cannibalism in this case?" Quicksilver couldn't help but remark.

"Quicksilver! Be considerate for once!" growled Superman.

"Actually, I have to side with him on this one. I'm **definitely** enjoying this," Cyclops put in none too gently.

At the same time, Batman turned one eye to Quentin Blud, the dhampir field leader of the Ghostbusters, and asked with caution, "Did that dimensional rift get rid of them?"

"I doubt it. They can come back. And add that Organization guy with the Keyblades and the Hellions and the fact that everyone's after the Talismans, I don't think we can hold them off much longer, even with this trap dimensional technology Spengler and his team worked on," the dhampir answered bluntly, looking long at the component that contained them. Batman frowned; that **wasn't** the best answer he was hoping for.

"Why couldn't you guys just use your magic to get rid of them? You guys are just as powerful as Selene, and Giles said in his classes, an old associate in Chinatown told him that magic must defeat magic," Danny Phantom asked, puzzled and turning to the Scooby, Willow, and the Charmed Ones.

"We couldn't for some reason. Our magic doesn't work here, or it's being nullified somehow. I couldn't even orb into this place," Paige said helplessly.

"It's the Green Materia," croaked a despondent Falco from behind his feathers covering his face, "You can't use any magic in this room as long as it's activated."

A few of the heroes looked at Falco with something akin to incredulous disbelief before Inuyasha summoned out his father's fang with a flash of light, Jinx managed to create a pink ball of hex chaos magic in one hand, Kuwabara summoned his Spirit sword along with Yoh's spirit, Amidamaru, emerged into visibility, and Supergirl brought forth her wings of fire from the Phoenix Force. Apparently, unlike Willow and the Charmed Ones, some of them still had their powers.

Rio the Shaman looked at Falco before he said wryly with some thought, "I guess…since not all magic's not the same, then not all magic can be broken by that Materia vibe, my feathered friend."

At the same time, everyone else was staring at the black sword that was lying on the ground, the crystal surface gleaming under the light of the levitating mirror, surrounded by a sphere of translucent, beautiful radiance, like a bubble. A sword and a mirror…and yet many were hesitant to touch it, especially since they didn't know what to expect.

"Batgirl, it's just like you said!" Supergirl exclaimed.

"But if Luthor had the sword…then who…died to give us the mirror, yo?" blinked Toad, asking morbidly. Roadblock instantly felt angry as the machine-gunner glared at the Cornerian pilot, obviously not caring much about his current emotional state.

"Who did you kill, Falco? Talk now, or else we force you to spill," the Joe soldier growled.

"I didn't kill anyone…" croaked Falco, his eyes now stinging as he looked at the marble floor, but he wouldn't let them see him cry (he had his pride, the only thing he had left, to think about), "Emma Frost, Selene, and the Hellions ambushed me and Octavia."

"They were waiting for you?!" gasped the Titan Mas.

"So it _was_ a trap sent by the Hellfire Club! Luthor let out that information on purpose!" his brother Menos exclaimed, piecing it together.

"But…where's Octavia then? Why isn't she here…?" began Bree, but then she felt the Watcher Wood place his hand on her shoulder, shaking his head gravely. And from the looks of a few others such as Batman, Quentin, Hawkgirl, Kylie, and Blind Master, they figured it out too.

"She's dead, isn't she?" Kylie asked quietly with sympathy, and instantly, there was silence from everyone in the crowd as they looked at Falco. Falco suppressed the urge to vomit and break down as she shakily inhaled and quivered.

"That's why they made that announcement about holding the sword Talisman. It's so that they could lure me and Octavia so they could take the Talismans from our hearts once they killed us," he explained in a grating, strangled choke.

There was a moment of silence.

It then clicked in everyone's minds.

"**Wait a goddamned minute!**" roared Beach Head, now completely furious (and who could blame him, considering all the trouble and hell Octavia and Falco had put them through while fighting against the Heartless), "You mean after all the crap you put us through…!"

"All the times you injured and fought against us in order to get to a person's heart…" Black Widow continued for the ranger in shock, the Uzi submachine-guns limp in her hands.

"All the people you let die because you got so high and mighty in looking for some dumb Sovereign and Champion and not caring about involving yourselves…!" Wildstar said with growing rage and anger at the memories of Muir Isle coming to his mind.

"And all this time, **it was you**?! You and Octavia had the Talismans **all along**?! In **_YOUR_** hearts?!" Casey the Phantom Investigator yelped, his eyes wide behind his glasses. Falco's silence was more than enough for a confirmation.

"I don't believe this! Then why the hell did you go through all that with us and the Heartless?! Why didn't you just use them yourselves then?!" Trey the Shaman Ghostbuster gasped.

J'onn then could correctly guess, from the look of astonishment, grief, disbelief, and loathing from Falco's face (even though he couldn't read his mind), why Falco did not previously use the Talismans if he and Octavia had them in the first place. And from a few of the dawning looks of realization from several such as Robin, Hawkgirl, Wolverine, and Wavedancer, they too could realize why.

"They didn't know…" Martian Manhunter said. Inuyasha just snapped impatiently.

"What do you mean 'they didn't know'?!" barked the dog demon half-breed, misunderstanding the statement, "Of course they knew about the Talismans! They've been sitting on the sidelines and letting innocent people die and been fighting us at - !"

"They **didn't** know **they had them** in their hearts. Octavia and Falco thought that the Talismans of Twilight resided in three other people, but they **never** suspected that they themselves had two of them in their own bodies," J'onn said strongly and with grave seriousness, interrupting Inuyasha's tirade.

"Whoa…talk about irony," Boom-Boom quipped, "I never would have guessed that it was these two all along!"

"None of us did, Boom-Boom," Wavedancer said, "And something tells me that was probably why whoever did that to them, possibly this King Leomon goes on about, chose to hide those Talismans in them in the first place."

"Duh, it's the oldest trick in the book, like how no one suspected Kanto being in charge of H.A.T.E. was really from Apokolips!" Jamie piped up in a slightly cheeky manner, "The last place you suspect to look for something is when it's in plain sight!"

"Well, it wasn't a total loss…we got a Talisman and got rid of the octo-witch all in one!" Daria said with happiness.

"Girls!" reprimanded Shipwreck sternly.

"Oh, come on Daddy! Like a lot of us aren't sorry this is happening to Falco! He's not our friend!" retorted Quinn.

"That's no excuse to take pleasure at someone's misfortune, Trinity!" Superman scolded.

"And the _connarde_ Falco's gotta live with this for the rest of his life. Remy have to admit that payback's sweet on this one," agreed the Cajun X-Man.

"Wait a minute…" said Cover Girl slowly, recalling Batgirl's infamous premonition, "If the Talismans of the sword and the mirror are here, then that means…"

"…then that means that the last Talisman that's leftover in Falco's heart is the shield," Supergirl said, blinking in realization, finishing Courtney's trailed off sentence.

Falco's head remained darkened by the shadows of remorse and angered, cheated misery as he just stared blankly at the Talismans in front of him while everyone else was either too stunned at the revelation, their minds reeling, or some were doing their best to rationalize what was the next best course of action.

"So…what is it that we should do now of this moment?" Starfire asked, her green eyes troubled. She could honestly say that she truly felt sorry for Falco right now, especially since he had to witness Octavia dying before his very eyes.

"Take the Talismans before the Organization and the Hellfire Club have a chance to get them. Allo and the other Dinosaucers can't keep us hidden much longer…" Amanda Firestarter said worriedly, cutting directly to the issue.

Batman just gave a disapproving frown; he _never_ allowed murder as an option. Some weren't all right by that suggestion and were in full agreement with the Dark Knight of Gotham.

"No, we will not even consider that, Ms. Firestarter," Captain America said sternly.

"Remy says all's fair in love and war, and on that note, Gambit thinks there's going to be a long line of people who want to pluck that dead duck. That _homme_ is just getting' what he deserves," Gambit pointed out.

"Gee, an eager murderer **and** a lying, two-timing thief. No wonder Rogue dumped you…" drawled Nightcrawler nastily, and Gambit had to be physically restrained by Kid Gloves and Colossus before he could tackle the furry German teenager and bash his head in right there and then. Nightcrawler then turned to Wolverine and Roadblock, troubled and ignoring how close Remy's twitching fingers came to throttling his neck.

"And I'm not just saying this because it's against to what Gambit says. We can't kill Falco, even if he has done rotten things to all of us. We're supposed to be better than that," Kurt said.

"Nightcrawler's gotta point," Shipwreck said with some sadness as he glanced at the silent Falco, his head bowed down, "I mean, c'mon, he just lost his best friend and realized he caused a whole lot of trouble for nothing and has ta' live with seeing Octavia getting' killed in front of him. He practically lost everything. It's gotta be hard on him."

"Good, because the bastard deserves it," Beach Head said without much hesitation or sympathy.

"Maybe…maybe we can take him in and have him under our protection. I mean, we already have two of the Talismans, and we really don't need one more, right? Two should be powerful enough and that way, no one else will die," Roland the Ghostbuster suggested hesitantly, making a grim face. He, like several others, absolutely hated the idea of sacrifice.

But Jean Grey had enough as she yelled with dire urgency.

"As much as I'd like to make sure that the Organization Thirteen or the Hellfire Club doesn't get the Talismans or kills anyone, I don't think **now** is the best time to be standing around and arguing while the Ghostbusters says that there's a chance Selene and the Hellions could come back! We need to get out of here while we still can!"

Jean had a point as everyone turned to the despondent and broken Cornerian pilot, still looking at the floor with a defeated expression and mourning as he stared at where Octavia's body disappeared and where the mirror was now floating serenely above. Or was.

"Got it!" Quicksilver said automatically as he zipped forward and grabbed the floating mirror. Some were actually shocked and fearful.

"Quicksilver, you hyperactive, nutty, buzz!" Roadblock shouted, angry but more worried, "We don't know what that mirror does! Touching it might cause a total magical malfunction, so drop it before anything bad happens to your body functions!"

"Uh…" blinked Quicksilver before he gave his body a look over, seeing as how touching the Talisman had absolutely no negative effect, "Nothing's wrong with me."

"Not one word, any of you!" Low Light barked before several (most noticeably Flash, Supergirl, Scarlet Witch, Gambit, Toad, and Blob) could all open their mouths in response.

"Oh come on! He set himself up for that one! We deserve a chance to knock it out of the park from the Jerk-Off!" Flash whined. Quicksilver glared at the Justice League speedster but he gracefully didn't say anything as Falco then hollowly spoke from the sidelines.

"You won't be able to use that anyway. Only a Priest of Twilight can use the Talismans, and…I'm the only one left. Octavia and the third priest are already…dead…"

That last word was enough to make Falco vomit as he looked at the group of heroes. Some automatically saw the convoluted predicament of this fact rather quickly.

"A Priest of Twilight?" Wood repeated, trying to commit it to memory.

"In other words, you're the only one who can use the tools to bring forth whatever this Sovereign and Champion are," Bumblebee gasped in shock, a hand to her mouth.

"But since the last Talisman is in **your** heart…" Captain America realized out loud.

"The only way we can truly win the war with the Heartless is that you die, but if we do that, then _no one_ can use the Talismans. We'd be pretty much screwing ourselves over," finished the Titan Speedy, his eyes wide behind his mask as nervously fingered the grip of his bow.

Multiple still looked uncomfortable as he protested, "But even if Falco does have the last Talisman, we can't just kill him! It's wrong!"

"Oh, come on! He was going to do the same thing if the Talismans were in someone else's heart, and look at all the trouble and crap he did to everyone ever since they showed up! He and that octopus-woman _let_ people die! I agree with Gambit! He's just getting whatever's coming to him!" the Slayer Dana argued.

"Dana, we don't murder. It is against our code. We do not kill nor let anyone die, whether they be an enemy or an ally," Wonder Woman remarked sternly.

"Correction: it's against the _Justice League's_ code, **not** everyone's," highlighted Blind Master flatly.

"And it does not make this right, Gabriel! Falco is someone in need, and the fact that the Talisman is in his heart means that we should protect him rather than kill him!" Storm hotly chastised.

It was then that Batman had absolutely enough as he said gruffly though a pause in the arguing.

"We're talking in circles. Let's go. We'll take Falco with us and escape before the Organization gets wind of this setback."

"But what about - " began the Slayer Shannon, only to be roughly cut down verbally by Yusuke the Spirit Detective.

"No, he's right. We can't worry about Leomon or Octavia now. Let's just take the bird-boy and get out of here while we still can. He's safer with us, we won't kill him for now, and this way, the Talismans are out of those Thirteenth Order's goons' hands," the paranormal detective said roughly, not giving Shannon a chance to continue her question.

"Let's go then. Falco, come with us. We can keep you safe over at the X-Mansion. I'm sure the Professor wouldn't mind if you truly were in need of help and since the Institute is shielded, you won't be attacked there," Cyclops offered.

"Hold it, Cyclops. Since this involves the Heartless and because Falco and Octavia have caused grievance against the Joes a hell of a lot more, he's going to be held at the Pit where he can be under solitary confinement and where he will also be kept under close watch. I'm pulling military rank over this one. _He's going to the Pit_," Wavedancer said strongly with a growl.

"Yeah, so we can beat the holy snot out of him first," grumbled Toad.

"Are you selling tickets? Because I want to be first in that line," Wolverine growled.

"Not before me, you're not! I still have to pay that jerk back for shooting me in the leg!" protested the Flash.

"We called dibs_ first_," responded back Blind Master, Low Light, and Cover Girl sharply.

"This isn't the time for a debate," Batman said, his voice close to barking and irritated that it appeared that Scott and Althea were both going to go into sniping argument over this, "**Let's go.**"

"No," Falco said at last, his voice echoing slightly in the empty chasm of the chamber. Everyone's gaze whirled on the blue falcon in shock as he then overcame his previous grief and replaced it with a hardened, stubborn resolve of defiance.

"I'm not going with you," he repeated, each word on edge.

Colossus (bless him) tried to reason with the bird as he said with compassion, "Comrade Falco, be reasonable. The Organization Thirteen will come after you, and if it means protecting the world and helping get everyone's hearts back, then why not? Please, come with us! We can help you fight against the Heartless! There's nothing else to lose! And we…we have the Keyblades on our side. Is that really so bad? You can trust us! We're the good guys!"

Kurama the Spirit Detective then tried alongside the X-Man as he said gracefully, "Please, Falco, do not make this difficult for us or for yourself. There is no point fighting amongst ourselves."

"I **said** I'm not going with you," Falco said with cold finality as he glared at the heroes. It was clear he made his decision.

This challenge, not surprisingly, started to wear down many individuals' collective patience.

"I'm sorry, you must actually think you got a choice in this matter, asswipe," Kuwabara growled, unsheathing his red energy sword of spirit aura.

"You're coming with us, Falco, even if we have to beat you senseless, tie you up, and drag your tail-feathers out of Shaw Industries **by force**," Hawkgirl threatened, holding up her mace and tapping it against the palm of her hand symbolically. Falco couldn't help but be a smart-aleck at that sentence.

"Funny, I would have pegged Wonder Woman as the kinkier female founder of the League," he drawled, and before anyone could reach out and grab Falco (and Wonder Woman wanted to personally ram Shayera's N'th metal weapon down his throat), he nimbly made a dash for the obsidian sword that was lying on the floor with one arm, faster than many of their eyes could process. And since magic was nullified, the Charmed Ones and the Scooby Willow couldn't keep him still with any spells. And Flash was too taken aback by Falco's comment (and the look of wrath on Diana and Bruce's faces) while Quicksilver was too busy snorting to even dash off. And as the Titan Robin let loose several birdarangs along with several steel ninja stars from Blind Master and before any of the X-Men could think to fire bola missiles to incapacitate him, the avian slammed his free hand on the marble floor and said with a concentrated snarl of remorse and pain.

"_In the name of the Aeroga Kingdom and in the name of the Elementa Trinity…_" as he miraculously dodged the metal projectiles, whizzing by his head and body by no greater than an inch or two. Instantly, in mere fractions of a second, the entire room burst with a roar of ferocious, pressured gusts of air, as powerful as any Category Three tornado. Several, such as Toad and Multiple were nearly knocked off their feet, and many of the other heroes had to try hard to make sure that they wouldn't lose their bearings.

"What's going on?!" gasped Sango as she did her best to shield her eyes from the wind painfully drying out her retinas with cold, ferocious gusts of air, "I thought he couldn't use magic in this room! So how is he able to use it now?!"

"We don't know! Our scanners can't explain it! We don't analyze everything! **And don't throw anything at it!** It'll just reflect it back at us!" Quinn yelped as loudly as she could as there was now a powerful column of wind encasing Falco in the middle of the room and barricading him apart from the gathered assemblage of the Joes, mutants, and their allies. She was saying this right as Jinx and Inuyasha were about to strike with a pink hex-bolt and his Tetsusaiga sword, effectively stopping them.

Quentin frowned as his enhanced senses were blaring from the abnormal levels of magical energy; this wasn't a typical barrier of wind, and in order for Falco to still use it with the presence of Green Materia (when the witches of the Ghostbusters couldn't), he was certainly more powerful than he let on. Exhausted but still defiantly satisfied, Falco panted, sweat trickling down the sides of his head.

"Thanks for giving me my voice back and healing me. It was all I needed to do this final spell," he squawked hoarsely. A few gave Justin and Xi a dry look of exasperation.

"You know, technically, upon retrospect, we _should_ have seen that one coming," Xi admitted with some weary embarrassment

"Add another notch to your screw-ups, chubby cheeks," grumbled Quicksilver. Whitelighter winced.

"Hey, how were we supposed to know he'd do this if we healed him?" the Misfit whined sheepishly.

Wonder Woman looked at Toad as she asked with restraint, "Toad, about the idea of having of a line of people giving our Mr. Lombardi a well-deserved thrashing? Right now, I can't say I disapprove…"

Pete Wisdom then growled before shouting as loudly as he could over the din, "Give it up, Falco, every exit's blocked! There's no way in hell you can bloody out run us, and if we don't drag your arse in, the Organization and the Hellfire Club will! And they won't have any qualms about killing you! There's no where else to escape, so you might as well drop the bloody drama and come with us! At least you have a chance to survive!"

"Who said I wanted to survive?"

The British agent blinked, taken aback. That answer came out of a lifeless shell. Falco then gave a weary and mercurial look to the heroes before he made he final plea.

"Take the Talisman from my heart and use it and the mirror to fight against the Heartless. Once you have all three of the Talismans, you'll be able to find the Sovereign and the Champion. And then all the people who died will come back to life. I'm not entirely sure…but it's the best chance you've got. Much better than if I was around."

Everyone just stared at the blue-feathered alien before they realized what he was offering. Falco didn't create the barrier to distract them so that he could escape; he created the barrier so that they wouldn't be able to stop him.

"You're…sacrificing yourself?" Blob asked, blinking.

Falco didn't answer Fred before he turned to the leaders of the Misfits and the X-Men.

"Oh yeah…almost forgot. Cyclops, Wavedancer…sorry for everything I did to you and your other friends and the Joes," Falco added with some afterthought. Cyclops and Jean, both stunned, could only nod their acknowledgement dumbly.

"It doesn't have to end this way," pleaded Bree, trying to break though. It had no effect as Falco then turned the sword upside-down, the pointed end of the blade directed at the floor and gripped the handle with both hands, his body shaking with fear.

Damn. This was going to be hard.

"Falco…" whispered Wavedancer, white in the face. Yes, she certainly held much resentment against him for Octavia and his action in the past, but she couldn't help but feel sorry for the avian. And though she could tell that none of them could really do anything to stop him, she didn't want this, another death. She had witnessed so many already due to the Heartless and the Organization to accept it.

Superman then made one last effort as he held out a hand, yelling and trying convince the avian, "**Falco, stop!** You don't have to do this! We can fight and save the world and everyone without the Talismans! There's no need to kill yourself! We can help you! We can help you find the Sovereign and Champion you're looking for! There's been enough death because of this! We don't want you to kill yourself!"

"You've **got** to be kidding me," Beast Boy muttered crossly, rolling his eyes. It was apparent that he wasn't going to mind particularly if Falco offed himself (and this statement earned him a slap from Rapunzel upside the Titan's head).

"Ow! What was **that** for?!" protested the shape-shifter.

"Did you have to even ask?!" Rapunzel snapped, annoyed.

Falco then made a resolute face of acceptance as he gave Superman a baleful look.

"You're an awful liar, Boy Scout. But thanks for trying…"

With that and a swift movement, Falco plunged the blade of the sword into his chest, in the middle of his ribcage. A few people gasped as they were surprised that the Cornerian pilot even had enough of the nerve in him to stab himself as the audience would see the very tip of the black blade protruding out of his back, sending a geyser of blood. Falco, despite bracing himself and summoning every ounce of nerve he had, made a strangled croak and wheeze.

Oh God, it hurt so much…

Falco made a death shudder, the sword gruesomely sticking out of his head and his jacked now stained with fresh blood as he wobbled, remaining on his feet before he cast a final lost look at the wide-eyed and astonished crowd. He was actually surprised to see that a few of them pained and saddened, that Batgirl, Dragonfly, Magma, Kagome, and Multiple had tears in their eyes, and that Superman himself actually looked like he lost a friend.

One step, then two, and Falco gave a weak rasp before he pitched back, unable to breathe and losing strength rapidly, blood starting to trickle again out of his yellow beak.

"But…I _wasn't_ lying," Superman said with some sorrow as Falco toppled to the floor, falling on his back. He landed with a solid thump, his hand twitching unconsciously from the lack of blood flowing into his veins. Still, the pain wasn't as bad now; it was starting to lessen thanks to the numbing and his body growing cold.

And in reality, it wasn't as dismal as expected. He did the right thing and…he could swear he could almost envision Peppy, Slippy, General Pepper, and Fox all looking at him sadly, bathed in a blinding white array of halos of light as his vision of the ceiling dimmed.

"Fox…everyone…I'm sorry…" whispered Falco as he died, his body began to glow in a faint halo of silver before it disintegrated, bit by bit, exactly like the many people who have perished by losing their hearts to the Heartless. And sensing that their caster was dying, the barrier of silver air and pressurized currents lessened bit by bit before they faded and calmed down into a peaceful silence as Falco's body flashed once before a pink heart crystal, surrounded in an orb of soft, rosy light, radiating in a cyclic rhythm. The black sword of obsidian, previously sticking out of Falco's deteriorating body, clanked noisily to the floor.

To everyone's shock, as Falco's pink heart floated up high above in the air for all to see, it stopped in place, as if grabbed by an invisible hand, before there was a soft burst of white light. Now glowing even brighter, the heart began to fade away before the white aura fully transformed it into a giant, majestic shield, resting in the center of a sphere of silver essence. There was a faint burst of wind, a cool refreshing breeze, which wafted into everyone's faces when the Talisman fully materialized. The shield was round and tear-drop shaped, but at the top and bottom ends, the edges narrowed to a point and were sharp and tapered like a spear point. And additionally, the top portion of the shield had two additional barbs in the shape of feathers, pointing out of the sides, like sharpened wings. The metal of the Talisman was dark blue, like Falco's plumage, with its edges were inlaid with a rim of razor-sharp silver, keen and polished. In the center of the shield was a golden mark of a crown and underneath was a white heart with the symbol of a keyhole inside. And on the sides of the heart were three silver bird wings along with the bottom of the heart, at the tip, was an inset symbol of a blue bird, its wings and feet outstretched and akimbo.

They had found all of the Talismans of Twilight. But no one felt particularly triumphant and joyous as the last specks of light from Falco's body faded into the void.

**Author's Note: Surprised, eh? Actually, some people were able to guess that it was Falco and Octavia all along who had two of the Talismans (if you recall the similar plot from Sailor Moon S). And check back in three weeks or so for the next chapter, for this is far from over! The Organization and the Hellfire Club will not take this new development lying down, and once all the Talismans of Twilight are found, it is an epic battle as the battle becomes a full-out, no-holds barred, battle between Organization Thirteen, Selene, and the Hellions versus the X-Men, Misfits, Joes, and their allies all in one ultimate brawl! But there is a wild card with this battle as the one chance for the claim of the Sovereign's power comes to play, and if anything, the X-Men and Misfits will be in the biggest fight yet as not one but two or three secrets are revealed in the fight for the ultimate power for the side of light and the side of darkness in the next chapter, "The Third Priest". As to who is/was the third priest, I'm not saying. I have already left plenty of hints as to the identity of who the last priest really is. Until then, ready and enjoy! And thank you!**


	37. The Third Priest

**Author's Notes: First of all, I wish to thank all the people and fellow readers who have been patient with me and with this update. Not only did I just finish school and classes for work, but incidentally, real life sort of got in the way as well as other reasons (see below). However, I want to thank all the people who reviewed this story and to answer one reviewer's (Cyberbeta) questions about the timeline and Kingdom Hearts canon of this story: KH1 is canon and had happened, but KH: Chain of Memories and KH2 have not, and I'm incorporating as much of those elements into this as possible, which is why Roxas is still with the Organization.**

**Anyway, thanks again to everyone who has been patient and gracious enough to grant me enough time to make sure this chapter is all right, quality-wise; that support means a lot as well as every review sent here. Thank you. And now, let's see exactly who's…**

**CHAPTER 37****: The Third Priest**

"Fugate, transmission status," ordered Colonel Flagg through his earpiece communicator as the special mechanisms and computer drive loaded with wonderful nanotechnology and decryption apparati (courtesy of the technology of Cadmus).

"About seventy one percent complete, the WiFi signal still going strong and remaining hidden underneath the Ghostbusters radar. Estimation time to complete defragmentation and download five minutes and forty-two seconds and counting. None of the security mechanisms on their servers have been fully alerted, and with the crisis of the reactor core, no one shall be the wiser. And of course, from what I can tell, no one had yet been alerted to decrypted signal transmitting from your position. Even with their hacking skills and resources, it would take at least eighteen minutes within a berth of fifteen to twenty seconds to fully override the commands and system to shut it down."

So far so good, though Rick Flagg felt his irritation perk up slightly at Deadshot's mutterings of discontent.

"This is just another big disappointment, Colonel Bastard," the assassin commented, his tone every bit as derisive and dissenting as he could make it (and how Flagg wanted to personally break Deadshot's fingers, one by one, for that moniker), "I was hoping for some action since being forced to come here."

"Speak for yourself, mate," shivered Captain Boomerang. It couldn't be soon enough that he got clear from this God-forsaken place.

There was an audible click of a gun hammer being drawn back.

"You've got ten seconds to answer what the hell you're doing here, or we start firing," a hard voice said from behind, and Flagg cursed inwardly as he and his team whirled around to see Peter Venkman, Winston Zeddemore, and Janine Melnitz standing behind them, all three of them wearing filtered masks to resist the sleeping gas, and Janine and Winston looked as mad and defensive as hell. Peter, if anything, looked a little amused as he threw a joke.

"Sorry, the building's closed after hours, but if you're willing to call, tours of our wonderful establishment take place Mondays through Fridays from nine to five during regular business hours, appointment only. But call out hotlines within the next ten minutes, and we'll give you a hearty slime-ball as a token of our appreciation to your wonderful visit here at the Ghostbusters headquarters."

Janine felt a vein twitch in her forehead as she asked with gritted teeth, "Peter? _**Not now…**_"

Flagg warily noticed that Winston was holding a rifle, Peter was armed with a proton gun, and Janine was wielding an aluminum baseball bat. Apparently, these three of the original Ghostbuster teams weren't foolish enough to come here unarmed, and most likely had already alerted whatever allies and paranormals that were still residing in the building. And despite Fugate's assertion, _anything_ could happen in five minutes.

This mission could not be compromised.

The Clock King's voice then spoke softly in their communicator earpieces, "Four minutes and forty-seven seconds and counting…"

"Hands up," growled Winston as he pointed his rifle at Flagg foremost. The members of Task Force X hesitated.

"I'm an ex-Marine **and** a crack-shot. Get your hands up. _**Now**_," the elderly man commanded.

"Do as he says, team," commanded the colonel at last, his voice mild, but the other three members picked up on the phrase instantly. It was a code word for a specific tactic…

The Task Force X group obediently raised their hands high. Janine turned to Peter who was scanning the four suited and masked trespassers with an EKG meter, the mechanism beeping softly but nothing positive or alarming.

"Anything?"

"The meter shows nothing. There's no ectoplasmic activity. In fact…they're human."

Janine and Winston were puzzled (though Winston kept his eye on the prowlers); **that** was a new one. But the Plastique discreetly dropped a coin from her palm to the floor. Or at the very least, it didn't hit Winston that coins normally aren't white and plastic-looking until it was too late…

_Kapaff!_

The flash bomb went off with an uncontrollable and blinding blaze of white, taking all three of the Ghostbusters by surprise, and the metal and reflective sterile walls of the Ghostbusters' server room only increased the concentration. Though Flagg and his team had darkened, protective eye-visors, the three Ghostbusters did not.

"Yaaaahhh!" they all cried out in pain, their eyes now stinging from the abrupt surprise attack, and Flagg looked over the drives that were still downloading every word, document, and miniscule speck of information from the Ghostbusters' servers as he touched his communication headset.

"Transmission status! Now!" the colonel ordered while Captain Boomerang used a particularly sharp boomerang to slice at the stunned Winston's hands and caused him to drop the rifle from his hands.

"Four minutes and counting."

Flagg turned to his teammates and ordered, "Stop them from leaving this room."

It would disastrous if they got reinforcements; Flagg was thankful it was just human Ghostbusters this time.

Deadshot wordlessly took out his dual tranquilizer guns before he fired, but Peter and Winston were quicker. Peter grabbed Janine roughly around the shoulders and hurled himself to the left while Winston dove to the right as the darts flew over their heads. Luckily, all three of them were able to duck behind several of the server racks, the metal structures holding thousands of dollars worth of sensitive and vital computer drives, network hubs, and rare firmware that Egon and his team had built from scratch.

"Damn it!" Winston said as the bullets ricocheted off the metal of the server racks and embedded themselves into and past the plastic coverings of the proxy, database, and application servers that functioned as a core unit to the Ghostbusters consoles and communication systems. Michael Lee and Jenny Calendar were going to have absolute fits when they saw the soon-to-be-extensive damage. But with them firing the guns and with his rifle out of reach and broken, there was little he could do. And Janine's baseball bat did little against guns while Peter's proton pistol and pack only works on paranormals and spirits.

Deadshot smirked as he started walking up to the racks where they were hiding for cover. Like a cornered mouse…

WHAM!

Deadshot was suddenly sent flying as something huge and heavy and extremely strong surprised him with a powerful fist from above at his blindside right immediately after the heavy and furry form yanked both of his pistols from his hands. Flagg, Plastique, and Captain Boomerang all looked up to see a rather irate and livid brown, furry gorilla wearing a brown fedora hat, a green backpack, and khaki shorts, hanging from the ceiling on his feet while holding Deadshot's guns. And next to the gorilla and floating was a strange green and slimy ghost that was actually bean-shaped with no legs and skinny arms, yellow narrowed eyes, and a toothy gigantic mouth.

Flagg recognized them instantly; more of the Ghostbusters, Slimer and Tracy the gorilla. And from what it looked like, Tracy looked ready top rip each and every one of them to pieces, his eyes simply glowing, and snarls and growls from his gritted teeth making him like a rabid animal. And the fact that he simply smashed the guns into nothing but broken pieces of metal indicated that he was in the mood for some violence.

"Tracy, Slimer, sic 'em!" yelled Peter as he, Janine, and Winston charged. The gorilla and the ghost complied.

"As if!" snapped Bette as she hurled a heavy canister and aimed at the spot right in front of the charging line, and with a terrific explosion, the electronic spark ignited the container of flammable chemicals and created a flaming and impenetrable line of fire, threatening to incinerate them all as the flames licks at the floors, walls, and surrounding computer equipment.

"Tracy, Slimer, stop them! Go ahead of us! We'll catch up!" Winston yelled as he grabbed a nearby fire-extinguisher and started spraying on the pool of gasoline and butane, grateful that no one was seriously hurt.

Tracy complied as he howled in rage, setting himself upon Captain Boomerang and Deadshot as he leapt over the fire with an impressive acrobatic jump. The assassin managed to recover enough to see a heavy gorilla hurling himself with a fist, and instincts aside, Deadshot rolled away at the last second, only for Tracy's enormous fist to smash the computer server where his head was a moment ago, leaving a crushed dent with sparking and exposed circuitry. Had he lingered, Deadshot would have most likely had a crushed skull. Tracy was about to smack Deadshot again before several bola boomerangs wrapped around his body and tightly pinned the gorilla's arms to his sides with steel wire and snaring Tracy.

"Gorilla on a Barbie tonight, mate!" Digger quipped sadistically as he pressed a button on his console and instantly, the boomerangs tying up Tracy beeped several times before a powerful and devastating electrical current through the wires lassoing him. Tracy arched back and screamed in pain.

"Leave him alone!" growled Peter as in desperation, he aimed his proton gun and fired (consequences and warnings about using their proton weapons on human beings be damned, this was an emergency). Both Deadshot and Captain Boomerang ducked the streams of energy as Winston nearly put out the fire.

Meanwhile, Slimer launched himself at Plastique and Colonel Flagg, and Bette was a bit alarmed, especially since her bombs couldn't affect a spirit. Flagg then took out a candy bar and unwrapped it in front of the floating apparition, the insides of which were laced with iron fillings, silver shavings, and doused in holy water.

"Here, ghost…" Flag tried to say with tantalizing temptation, before tossing the chocolate treat at the far end of the room, having it hit the wall with a soft thud. Hopefully, the specter would take the bait.

No such luck.

Slimer gave the Task Force X leader a deadpanned and annoyed look that said somewhere on the lines of "_how stupid do you think I am?_" before he roared and launched himself at the man with fists and slime ready. Flagg was a bit surprised at first (considering that Wolfram and Hart's reports specified that Slimer was all stomach and hardly any brains), but only for a moment. Like any good soldier, he had a back-up plan, and Flagg pressed a discreet button on his belt just as Slimer was going to deck him.

Slimer screamed incomprehensibly as he suddenly felt the jarring impact of the bio-electrical shield he made in contact with before he was flung back forcefully and hit the opposite wall with a sickening thud, leaving a gruesome, green splatter-spot. And with Captain Boomerang hurling electric boomerangs and Deadshot (now using a flame-thrower attachment he had around his wrist), Tracy and the other Ghostbusters were able to be kept at bay.

"Two minutes and counting…" Clock King's voice said, each second an eternity to Task Force X. Still, at least the process hasn't been interrupted yet…

"Slicer missiles, away!" yelled a voice and to Captain Boomerang's shock, a strangle, rocket-powered missile with razor-sharp cutter blades at the top flew forwards and expertly cut the wires that were trapping Tracy, freeing him from the electrified net. Tracy fell to the floor, hurt and sporting third-degree, smoking burns where the wires singed his flesh and fur, he was still alive and conscious.

Task Force X then heard a cockney voice, thick with a British accent, speak offhandedly, as if bored.

"Think we can take them, Peaches?" His companion, clearly having a baritone American accent, shrugged casually as he answered his teammate.

"Eh, if there's one more, there might be trouble, Spike."

"Then that's the one I'll have to take care of for you, love."

This was instantly followed by a snort of disbelief and playful disdain.

"What, you're fighting too?"

"Stuff it, prat."

"Up yours, William."

"You know I hate it when you call me that."

"Right now, I'm seriously reconsidering the fact that I had to call _**you two**_ for back-up. I'd be better off asking the Three Stooges for help," Xander groaned as he fired a spider missile from his glovatrix at the four intruders (Deadshot instantly dispatched a plasma gun and shot at the missile, causing it to explode harmlessly).

Then Plastique noticed that as Xander, Spike, and Angel emerged from the shadows, ready to add in to the brawl, though Xander was wearing gas mask like the other Ghostbusters, Spike and Angel weren't.

"Hey, how come you two aren't asleep?!" blurted out Plastique in surprise. The blond man then gave a rather smug snort, his mouth barely twitching into a smile, as he carelessly flicked away his cigarette (he hated to waste a good smoke).

"That's the funny thing about vampires, love. They don't need oxygen," Spike drawled before he and Angel transformed, their faces now marred with the distinctive, signature appearance of the unholy vampire, complete with the marred brows, the yellow, cat-like eyes, and the pointed teeth, giving a soft growl each like a feral animal.

Colonel Flagg swore mentally; now this would be even more difficult. Still, the mission needed to be done, with or without Task Force X…and Waller and Flagg weren't stupid enough to not have backup ideas and precautions.

Captain Boomerang felt his heart thud against his chest; this was certainly one of his worst nightmares come to life. And damn if he didn't nearly lose control of his bladder right then and there. So he could only voice the only thing that came to his terror-crazed mind.

"Oh shit…"

With that both of the vampires charged along with Xander with fists ready. The one-eyed Scooby went directly as back-up fire as he aimed with his glovatrix again at the four intruders, ready to deliver several bola missiles. However, Captain Boomerang's self-preservation instinct then kicked in.

No way in hell he would be food for vampires and freak-lovers.

Digger took out a special set of five boomerangs from his supply belt and sash lashed around his waist and across his chest, with these weapons made of titanium and silver and riddled with special circuitry and polonium cores to emit specially-designed electromagnetic pulses. With a deft flick, the former rogue activated the weapons and threw them at the various Ghostbusters in the room.

Like clockwork, there was a series of high-pitched whining, almost impossible for the human ear to detect, before Xander yelped as his glovatrix started to smoke and short-circuit before it died and became unresponsive. And no matter how many times he tried, Xander couldn't trigger the gift from Razor to fire.

"Huh?!" blinked the eye-patch Scooby. And it was that one moment that Harkness was waiting for as two boomerangs he threw with timed and skillful accuracy recoiled off the metal walls before striking Xander hard upside the head, causing a deep set of lacerations and bleeding profusely.

And it wasn't just Xander who was incapacitated by Captain Boomerang's sonic accessories. Tracy the gorilla was now shrieking in malaise, holding his ears and howling and gutturally roaring. Though Angel and Spike both winced at the high-pitched frequency, Tracy's hearing was far more sensitive and the ultrasound was driving him crazy, almost to the point of insanity. He stopped his tactics to defend and strike against the intruders and just stood there stupidly, concentrating on nothing else but the pain ringing in his ears and making the blood painfully roar inside.

It was completely unbearable.

And it was easy enough for Deadshot to fire a tranquilizer dart full of sodium pentothal into Tracy's neck, smack dab in the ape's main carotid artery and instantly rendering the animal into a sleepy state as convulsing, Tracy dropped to the floor, unconscious and breathing weakly.

And the fact that Tracy was slightly twitching meant that Deadshot's dart had enough of the chemical to cause a lethal effect in the gorilla if they didn't get him help soon.

"Trace!" yelled Xander groggily.

"You're next, Harris," grinned Deadshot as he aimed his gun at the Scooby until a metal baseball bat flew in the air, spinning quickly, and struck Deadshot upside the head, causing Floyd to drop his guns and fall to his knees, close to passing out from the concussion the metal weapon bopping him on his temple.

"No, **you're** next, creep! Don't mess with Melnitz!" growled Janine, glasses askew, as she and Winston charged with fists (and fire extinguisher) ready. Unfortunately for them, Harkness then tossed several more electric boomerangs at the duo, causing them to stop abruptly to avoid the projectiles from hitting them. Deadshot meanwhile decided to face the vampires as he took out one of his special machine guns given to him by Waller and fired a stream of bullets at Spike who madly dodged and strafed to try to escape from being shot. Still, he wasn't that fast and Deadshot was skilled.

"Bloody hell!" yelped Spike as he felt a few bullets hit him in the arm and thigh. The burning, the pain…those weren't ordinary bullets…

While Winston did his best to help out Spike, Angel growled in a feral manner, his voice now enraged ten-fold, as he set himself upon Flagg.

Unfortunately, Angel didn't sense the protective spells Tala cast on the colonel and his person as he delivered a powerful jab at the unknown's face, directly at his nose area. There was a swirling flash of purple-colored chaos-magic, microseconds before this fist even could get within an inch, almost as if…

A flash and a surge of white fire erupted instantly.

"Argh!" yowled Angel as he pulled back his fist, the skin and knuckles now smoking and badly burned. Flagg grinned as he effectively returned a swift and devastating kick to the vampire's stomach, enough to make any normal human bowl over and whimper in a fetal position. Apparently, Waller's hunches of Tala being an essential asset to Cadmus were well founded.

Taking the hit, Angel stumbled backwards a bit to gain a little distance before completely swiveling around to deliver a powerful turn-kick at Flagg's head. He could take blows far worse than that. Flagg didn't seem at all taken back by the least as he utilized his training to match the vampire blow for blow, strike for strike. And if anything, the vampire was the one slightly surprised; he didn't expect the human to be _this_ good at martial defense and combat. But as the fisticuffs began to get even uglier, Flagg deep down realized that unless something happened, he couldn't keep this up forever.

Clock King was apparently on the same train of thought…

"Flagg, Deadshot, since Angel and Spike have enhanced speed and agility far superior over a normal humans, it takes about a quarter of second for them to throw a punch and a third of a second to throw a kick. Time your attacks and shots accordingly and fire sooner than you expect. Deadshot, based on your uncanny reflex speed, aim with a wide-array benzo-bullet at your left at the eleven o'clock position…"

Floyd waited as Plastique managed to hurl another series of flash bombs in front of Peter and Winston, temporarily trying to blind and hinder their efforts to make headway while Xander and Janine were busy trying to avoid the razor sharp boomerangs that were rebounding off the walls in various directions.

"You're mine, wanker!" snarled Spike as he lunged forward.

"…now," commanded Clock King, and Deadshot fired a specialized missile from another attachment from his gauntlet that released a spray of needles and shrapnel, dispersing a wide array and shower that immediately struck Spike with full force, being unable to dodge it completely, and even managing to wing Angel and Winston from the sidelines. Spike suddenly felt so heavy, as if his body and his muscles were lined with lead, so heavy and numb…

"What the hell?" rasped Spike as he staggered while the concentrated benzodiazepine drugs were kicking in and entering his body within thanks to the needles.

Deadshot smirked; after all, vampires were still susceptible to drugs and poisons, though to a much lesser effect than humans, as Winston looked like he was struggling to not pass out as his central nervous system was slowing down. And Angel was feeling the effects as well as his attacks got slower and sloppier, allowing Flagg to gain the upper hand and turn the tables quickly.

At the same time, Xander, despite no longer having a functional glovatrix, was busy trying to fight and physically brawl with Captain Boomerang up close, throwing a multitude of kicks, punches, and a good tackle after managing to get close. But Clock King managed to snatch the baseball bat that Janine had thrown at Deadshot before he solidly and viciously struck Xander in the firearm, hearing the satisfying crack and the scream of pain from the eye-patch-toting Scooby as he backed away, holding his broken appendage gingerly.

But of course, it was that moment of taking out Xander that seriously distracted Captain Boomerang as he didn't see the bespectacled Janine rush forward and tackled the rogue with a flying leap that was probably worthy of most linebackers of professional football teams. In fact, she rammed him so hard, the baseball bat went flying out of his hands. And as the two crashed to the hardwood floor, tussling and fighting, Captain Boomerang's aching head was soon lessened as Janine was furiously fighting him by trying to knee him while on top, clawing and punching. Already, she even managed to make several small tears through his uniform and mask with her nails and the misplaced knee missing its target to his privates was enough to make him think of thanks to any higher power and close enough to make him sweat. Abandoning the punches and scratching, shrieking, Janine's hands went around his throat and she pressed her thumbs into his larynx hard, making him choke and gurgle in pain as she tried to strangle him.

As comprehensive as Wolfram and Hart's files on the Ghostbusters were, they failed to accurately say how much of a spitfire Janine was when she got extremely livid. And Captain Boomerang, despite all his strengths, was a coward and an _average_ hand-to-hand combatant at best. But Digger was then desperate as gagging, he managed to shakily grab a razor-sharp boomerang from his belt and unfolded it before he stabbed upwards…

Janine gasped in pain, shocked at the sudden spike of agony as Digger embedded the pointed end of the metal weapon into the right side of her rib-cage, blood spewing out like a geyser. In fact, the only thing that completely saved the secretary from having her lung punctured was the fact that the boomerang was embedded and stuck into her rib bones, wedged in. But the excruciation made Janine lessened her hold on the rogue, and that's what Captain Boomerang needed as he punched the woman hard in the face before kicking her off.

It was then that Clock King said the most joyous and triumphantly alleviating words Deadshot, Plastique, and Captain Boomerang could ever hear.

"Transmission download complete. Mission has been successful."

"Finally, mate…" rasped Digger as he scurried to the escape hole they made earlier. He was getting out while he still could (and frankly, he didn't want to stick around in case that crazy woman was going to try breaking his neck again).

"Retreat! Task Force X, retreat! We got what we came for! Retreat! _**That's an order!**_" Flagg hollered.

Winston perked up at this, despite the blood running down his head from the wounds he received as he hoarsely croaked to himself, "Task Force X?"

"You're not going - !" growled Angel as he was about to tackle Flagg, but then Plastique hurled another projectile, this time the bomb exploding high above before deluging Angel and the company with a foul and dangerous solution…

"Yeow! It burns!" Winston yelped, having some of the fluid splash against his uniform and eating away at the fabric. Peter Venkman then realized why as the liquid was beginning to smoke a familiar odor he himself had grown familiar with from his college chemistry lab courses and from his countless hours of research in his glory days.

"No wonder! That's hydrochloric acid!"

And Spike suddenly realized that the bomb also did a considerable damage to his body as well, including his black jacket as the caustic substance ate it away, leaving barely anything else except shriveled, crinkled, tattered rags to drape awkwardly on Spike's body. His coat was ruined and gone forevermore.

Spike's eye twitched ever so slightly; that was his favorite leather trenchcoat!

OK, granted, he got it off Nikki Wood in a really morbid and sick manner, but still…

"Okay, you damned bastard!" growled Spike, now really desiring to beat this unknown stranger an inch within his miserable life before castrating him after making him beg for death, "Now I'm bloody mad as hell now!"

Digger swore he felt his knees quake a bit; he could already imagine what was going to be in store, especially since he remembered from the extensive briefings of _**why**_ Spike got his nickname. He did the most obvious thing he could….by running away, screaming like a terrified girl, practically diving into the chasm to the sewer systems underground.

Flagg choose a much more dignified tactic, stopping the two Ghostbuster recruits in the tracks as he held up a wooden cross he stored from his belt, saying, "Not in this lifetime, vamp. You're lucky I'm deciding not to slay you."

Damn, he _was_ prepared.

Temple Fugate then commanded to Plastique as Spike and Angel furiously did their best to get close regardless of the cross that was being shoved right in front of faces.

"Plastique, do you see ventilation shaft to your left at the nine o' clock position?" the Clock King asked calmly. The red-haired explosive expert looked, and her eyes fell on the sliver grate on the eleven by five rectangular ventilation shaft.

"Affirmative."

"Judging from your position in the south-south east position in the room, and how it would take Angel and Spike two-point-five seconds to reach your person and estimating how mist and vapor travels about roughly thirty miles per hour on the account that it is lighter than dry air and taking into the dimensions of the room, use your mist-spray bombs…now."

Plastique obliged as she followed his orders, tossing the glycerin-bombs filled with a special fluid for maximum payload…

KABOOM!

The area around Task Force X and the two vampires was instantly besieged with a thick, wet, and humid fog, spreading so quickly that everyone could scarcely believe it. Angel suddenly started convulsing as he halted in his tracks, choking and hacking uncontrollably, as if he was suffocating. And unlike the others, Spike and Angel weren't wearing gas masks.

The red-haired Janine rushed instantly to Angel's side, ignoring her injuries, asking with great concern, "Angel, what's wrong?! Oh God, we gotta get you and Spike some help!"

"It…it's…" Angel hacked and coughed, falling to his knees, his lungs, his nerves, every inch of his body inside in extreme pain, as if sulfuric acid was flowing through his veins and bloodstream (if he still had one). But that was impossible; the only thing that could burn vampires like this was…

It hit Angel. Holy water. The fog consisted of basically evaporated holy water. And for a vampire, breathing it in was the same as ingesting it. Though they didn't need to breathe in oxygen, Angel and Spike still had, by instinct, the natural lung reflex.

"Ah, bloody hell, this stings!" Spike roared, hacking and rasping, tiny pinpoints and scorch marks starting to show on his skin and face.

"And if you don't clear out and back off, you're going to be buried alive," Flagg growled, and all of the conscious Ghostbusters looked up to see Flagg, Deadshot, and Plastique standing close to the escape exit (Captain Boomerang already ran away like a true coward) with Plastique holding two circular bombs, each white disk containing a worrisome amount of nitroglycerine.

"Your choice, Ghostbusters. Go after us or help your friends," and with that, Flagg nodded at Plastique who hurled the bombs up at the ceiling, the explosives instantly latching to the roof before ticking down and beeping madly.

"_**Get down!**_" yelled Angel as he barely managed to cover Janine with his own body a split-second before the multitude of bombs above exploded with a furious nova and firestorm, sending charred wood, shrapnel, and metal everywhere. Xander was surprised when Spike likewise tackled him out of the way of the resulting conflagration at the same time Angel grabbed Janine…

KABOOOM!

"Hmmm…impressive…those Ghostbusters will be set back for several months from this one," Deadshot couldn't help but remark at the now flaming piles of brick, mortar, and wood, the nearby consoles and computer servers completely ruined, now turned into nothing but hissing and sparking twisted pieces of charcoal and useless plastics. The room permeated with the thick smell of ozone. And Winston was seen badly injured from several heavy and crushing rocks and bricks he took for Tracy as he shielded the ape with his own body, knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to humanly lift the heavy simian. Now, instead of Tracy, Winston Zeddemore was bleeding badly and apparently had a few broken bones from the impact of the rubble striking him.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, sweetie," Bette shot back poisonously as she dropped into the escape gap, and as Flagg and Deadshot were about to exit, Flagg was suddenly tackled from behind by a furious and still headstrong Peter Venkman, catching the military soldier by complete surprise as he pushed him to the ground.

"You're not going anywhere!" yelled Peter with surprising and unexpected strength as he applied a chokehold on Flagg from behind, with the colonel doing his best to try to elbow the man off him.

Despite the blood running out of his mouth and his injuries, Peter Venkman wasn't letting go of his hold on Flagg until he heard the click of a gun above and he momentarily looked up to see the barrel of a specialized handgun being held by one of the masked men. And this gun _didn't_ fire tranquilizer darts…

Peter froze with fear, which was exactly what Flagg needed as he solidly decked Peter with a fierce uppercut, cracking the man's head back, before positioning his foot into Peter's abdomen and shoving him off. The lone Ghostbuster crashed on his back, but he was still conscious and quite alive, coughing and wheezing from the blow to his gut. Deadshot then smiled (and Flagg's blood froze).

"Deadshot, STOP!" bellowed Flagg in rage, but the assassin ignored the colonel as he turned back to Peter.

"_C'est la vie_," Deadshot said without much shame as he fired the silver bullet directly into Peter's head.

---

Meanwhile, as the Ghostbusters firm in New York was suffering a rather damaging attack, things were getting understandably edgy, morbid, and worrisome over at Shaw Industries in Kentucky. The beautiful Talisman of Twilight freed from Falco's heart was still hovering above the heads of the heroes above, the surface glinting under the lights of the basement chamber.

"Poor Falco…" murmured Multiple under his breath. Beach Head, not surprisingly, wasn't very sympathetic or sentimental to the X-Man.

"Quick, grab the shield and let's scram," the Army ranger commanded, nodding his head at the object floating above in the air. Kagome Higurashi, one of the Ghostbusters, gave Wayne a scolding and disapproving glare.

"My, you're very compassionate, aren't you?" she drawled sarcastically as Superman, deciding to act, flew upwards to grab the beautiful silver and blue metal Talisman that was freed from the avian's heart.

Beach Head just gave the archer a simmering look of molten steel of his own as he growled dangerously, "At this point, miss, you'll find there's very few people who'd actually feel sorry for that feathered twerp. So put a lid on your bleeding heart, and keep in mind that I'm the grown-up who knows what he's talkin' about and you're the obnoxious teenager who's still got a lot to learn."

Just as Superman gently and delicately grasped the exquisite metal disk in his finger (and when Kagome was considering kicking Beach Head hard in the shin), things took an unexpected turn for the worse as Quentin, alarmed and startled, looked down to see that the ghost trap in his hands, the prototype that Egon designed to trap living beings, was starting to shake and rattle, hissing out hot sparks.

The dhampir's eyes widened ever so slightly as he cursed, "Shit."

The trap was less powerful and effective as they thought. With all the technological engineering and magical spells their resident mages placed on this trap, Quentin and the team was so sure that they had five to ten minutes at the very least…

The other heroes immediately noticed this too with instant alarm and foreboding.

"_Dios Mio!_" cried out Menos the Titan in his mother tongue while his brother Mas was more lucid in a predictable solution.

"We have to get out now! We should run for it!" the speedster cried out.

"Quentin!" gasped Kylie before the Ghostbusters' field leader leaned his arm back and threw the trap as far as he could, away from the crowd and his allies, the yellow, metallic disc clanking loudly against the floor and actually reaching the far end of the grand chamber, still hissing and shaking madly as if possessed.

"Crap, they're getting out! It's overloading!" Garret exclaimed.

"Why didn't you destroy the bloody thing and leave them trapped in that dimensional rift forever then?!" asked Pete Wisdom angrily, and Quentin felt the slight temptation to kick the secret agent from A.U.N.T.I.E. hard.

"Don't tell us what to do, Wisdom," growled the dhampir, "There's nothing honorable and right with sentencing them to _that_ sort of fate!"

"Genie, get us out of here, yo!" yelled Toad, but it was too late as the trap finally broke from the power Roxas was summoning through the temporal vortex in time and space in order to release him and his comrades by opening the one doorway back to Shaw Industries…

With an enormous and alarming flash of paranormal, nuclear fusion, and dark energy, the trap broke apart and released a torrential and powerful typhoon, the foyer a whirlwind of activity and taking everyone by surprise. The inferno was so bright, many of the human heroes had to wince and turn away, shielding their eyes and preoccupied for a brief second or two…which was exactly what Roxas needed.

And to make matters worse, as Althea and the other Misfits summoned out their respective scepter and Keyblades, there were a sudden blur that instantly flew by them, and a split second later, there all felt incredible and excruciating pain around their torsos, abdomens and backs instantly, the throbbing from the bruises and the deep lacerations slowly coming to light. They didn't even have time to scream, and hissing and whimpering, Wavedancer and her teammates fell to their knees, feeling rivulets of blood well inside their uniforms and trickle down their arms and sides.

"Ow…" groaned the Delgado triplets in unison, their silver and purple uniforms already starting to blossom with red blotches. Shipwreck and the other Misfit handlers rushed instantly to their wards' sides with panicked agitation.

"Tinkerbell!" called out Spirit in alarm, and to the Native American's relief, the blond and glowing pixie appeared before she started to bathe them in her healing magic. But while this was going on, the blur managed to skillfully evade and scurry by the various wall and crowd of heroes without even touching them. Though a few brief heroes such as Quentin, Batman, Faith the Slayer, and Robin the Titan could sense the darting figure, it was much too fast for them to do anything about it as Roxas focused his sights on the blue and red clad Kryptonian holding the Talisman of Wind in his hands.

Superman though was no weakling, and he could sense something approaching fast behind him, and swiveling around, with one free hand, the Justice League founder timed it right as he made a fist and punched hard directly at the incoming shadow.

Unfortunately, Roxas was expecting this as he set himself upon the extraterrestrial, narrowly eluding the fist by several inches, as he brandished his dual Keyblades. Superman didn't even comprehend on the fact that a mere boy, a teenager really, managed to equivocate his moves before he felt the raw and fierce, crushing blows of the Keyblades hammering down upon his back and body.

_Whack! Clang! Whack! Clang! Whack! Clang! Whack!_

**POW!**

The blows and strikes from the sharp and honed edges of Roxas' weapons raced across Superman's body so fast, he could scarcely believe it, and it allowed the Organization warrior to take him completely by surprise before he delivered the final blow on the Man of Steel. And unlike his time with Wolverine, Roxas was much, much more ruthless and brutal with his attacks on Superman. Dropping like a rock, the alien crashed forcefully to the ground, leaving a deep crater as the illumination and flare was starting to fade away…

When the burst of energy subsided, the heroes then saw to their anxiety and dismay that now Selene and Emma Frost along with the Hellions were now fully freed from the dimensional rift that Quentin and the Extreme Ghostbusters had trapped them under. Each and every one of them were standing at the far end of the room, at a safe distance away from the heroes with looks of acute displeasure and ire.

"Ugh…that's a relief…" muttered Roulette, not sure if she would ever forget being trapped in some weightless and suspended realm of blank space, no food, no water, and hearing nothing but unbearable silence and seeing only emptiness as far as the eye could see. Though unharmed, the telepath considered it an insulting transgression…and if the herd of allies for the damned X-Men and Misfits thinned out a bit, she would gladly make each and every one of those mutants of Xavier pay by ripping their brainstems out.

And she wasn't the only one with the same thoughts.

"Remind me to kill as many of the Ghostbusters as I can during the Gathering for this. They're getting too smart for their own good," muttered Selene to the White Queen with homicidal and vicious promise.

The Hellion Beef blinked as he admitted, "Really? I thought it wasn't so bad…"

"Maybe because it was as vacant as your head!" snapped Empath, clearly bad-tempered and in a foul mood as Roxas landed next to them, holding in his hands the shield and…the mirror? Low Light and Roadblock looked down at Quicksilver, who had the Talisman last, only to see that it was no longer in his possession.

"Damn it!" cursed Cooper under his breath. Apparently, Roxas must have taken it away from Pietro as he attacked him, the Misfits, and Superman. And all in a matter of seconds…which meant that now the Hellfire Club had all three Talismans of Twilight in their possession.

OK, this was bad…but they still had a chance to win this, hopefully if the Dinosaucers were pulling through.

"Don't let them escape…" hissed Superman in pain as he was helped up by Green Lantern and Wonder Woman.

"The Save the King shield, as told by the Oracle…" the member of the Thirteenth Order said before he gave it to the Hellion Monet for safekeeping, "We're done here."

"Damn it…" cursed Black Widow as she aimed with her submachine guns and instantly fired, letting loose a barrage of ammunition, the air ripping with the sound of rapid gunfire and empty bullet casing dropping to the floor. Without even a change to his facial expression, the cloaked soldier simply spun his Keyblades and deflected the barrage of bullets effortlessly.

"Wow…" Xi couldn't help but bitterly comment as he was being energized by Bambi, "You're good."

"I told you that numbers didn't matter when I faced you at the Institute," Roxas returned coolly.

Despite the pain as blood ran down her side, Wavedancer couldn't help but be puzzled. If Roxas had time to use his Keyblades to hurt them, Superman, and grab the mirror and the shield Talismans, then why on Earth didn't he just act first and foremost to finish the enemy at the first chance he got? He could have easily decapitated them, sliced off their heads and limbs during the blinding distraction of the trap exploding. If Roxas truly wanted his mission to succeed, he would have strategically taken out and eliminated the greatest threats first before grabbing the Talismans. And if he was fast enough to catch Superman by surprise, then no question that this was possible, especially with all the Keybladers in the room at once.

So why?

Was Roxas…_holding back_?

Wavedancer just looked long and hard at the young boy with spiky blond hair and azure eyes as blue as the oceans while he coldly and effortlessly hefted the Oblivion and Oathkeeper Keyblades in his hands, prepared for any additional futile attacks from the other heroes. What exactly was his deal?

Captain America just stoutly remained firm and standing as he addressed Emma, Selene, and the Hellions with concrete and steel, "You have no chance of taking us by surprise again, and we're wiser to your tricks from before. And considering that you're against a good number of powerhouses, we'll give you a choice: peacefully hand over the Talismans without conflict or we take them from you via force."

As fair and diplomatic as this was, many of the heroes were either rolling their eyes skyward or giving the Avenger looks of disbelief (he might as well ask for a million dollars and a pony while he was at it).

"And I thought Supes was supposed to be the Boy Scout," the Flash quipped to himself dryly.

Both Superman and Steve Rogers glared at Wally with one look to shut up.

One tense second passed, then two and three, but nothing absolutely happened, and the Hellfire Club's minions along with the Thirteenth Organization member just remained standing there. And Roxas appeared to be more and more surprised and confused with each passing moment, his hostility and antagonism melting away into shock. It was certainly odd to see the boy's face looking like as if the floor was pulled out from underneath him, leaving nothing but a gaping, bottomless hole for him to plummet into.

Blob suggested helpfully, "Uh, do you need a bathroom break or something, Roxer?"

"_Roxas_, Blob," corrected Wanda, close to snapping, "And now is **NOT** the time to ask someone if they need a bathroom break!"

None of the Hellions were paying much attention to the Mohawk-toting Misfit as they looked at Organization's Keyblade wielder expectantly.

"Uh…Roxas?" asked a slowly panicking Roulette, "Any time would be good right now!"

"In other words, **move it**, slowpoke!" barked Buford, but the young Keyblade wielder from the Organization shook his head with a mixture of fear and outrage.

"I don't understand," hissed Roxas, "Something is blocking us, preventing us from leaving!"

---

The Superior was not pleased. Not in the least damned bit.

First off, it was already confirmed by Selene and Emma Frost via telepathy that Falco and Octavia had entered in the Shaw Industries building and grounds and that the trap had been sprung. But that was over fifteen minutes ago, and no one from the Thirteenth Order nor the Hellfire Club had received any report about any update on the status of their mission. And the respective queens of the Inner Circle were always punctual.

Secondly, the scrying waters of the Oracle fountain were no longer able to spy and display what was happening in the complex. Not only could they not even observe periodically upon the company and the pathetic attempts of the heroes to spy on them, but the fountain's powers seemed to be mysteriously repelled and actively kept at bay by an opposing force. And there were relatively _few_ sources available on Earth that could even match up to the Oracle's omnipresence. And it was because of the magical hindrance that the Thirteenth Order wasn't able to detect the errant in their plans sooner than they would have liked.

And add to the fact that they could already faintly sense two new and relatively powerful sources of magical forces originating from the industrial structure that were not there before practically cemented the conclusion that the Black and White Queen along with their charges and Roxas had at long last gained the coveted Talismans of Twilight.

So why have they not reported back their victory and returned after killing Falco and Octavia? Surely they weren't as foolish as thinking that they could simply endanger their chances of obtaining the treasures without running into interference from the heroes? And even Roxas was given strict orders to not directly engage with the heroes (since they would so predictably unite and try to outnumber and swarm him and the Hellions by sheer numbers) and to strategically retreat with the two Talismans once they were obtained.

So why haven't they done it now?

Something was wrong.

And if not even the Organization could utilize the portals of darkness to actively teleport into the very center of Shaw Industries, then it was imperative that each and every one of the order go to Kentucky to beat back (and preferably kill as many of the heroes as they could) while helping Roxas, Selene, Emma, and the Hellions escape with the bounty of the mirror and the shield. After all, if they couldn't teleport _into_ the company, then it was logical that Roxas and his band would not be able to disappear _out of_ the company. And as such, the best course of action would be to reappear outside the boundaries of the strange and unknown energy blockade and work their way through the obstruction.

And the leader of the Organization specifically told Lord Imperial that he and his subordinates would personally handle this. He hated unknown and unexpected developments, and this difficulty was the mother of all obstacles that could possibly mean that everything went wrong. And with the two Talismans of Twilight being so close in their grasp, the Superior was more than furious with this.

With swirling gates of black, smoky matter, the Superior and the other eleven members of the Organization appeared onto the very outside grounds of the land surrounding the Shaw Industries complex. And then to his ire, he saw exactly why they were not able to appear into the complex.

The entire construction of Shaw Industries of Louisville, the warehouses, the offices, the neighboring sidewalks, all three stories of the building itself, was encased in a hemisphere of shimmering, mystical brown light. It was an aura of magic, and a rather powerful and foreign one at that, a spell not from any magic source of this planet like the Charmed Ones' reliance on Wicca. And even at a distance, the dome was incredibly vigorous and formidable, pressing air forcefully against the Thirteenth Order's faces due to the pressure the mystical ward was generating. And it was doubtful that even the Superior could get through the barrier easily, at least not without wasting a lot of time he did not have the luxury of to expend on a meaningless task for more than necessary.

And then the leader of the unholy mercenaries spotted the source of the annoying interference. Allo, the leader of the Dinosaucers, was sitting in a lotus position, meditating and his back erect, calmly using his skills to actually levitate several feet off the floor, floating on thin air. His body was glowing in the same color as the supernatural barrier, his tail was perked up straight, and though his eyes were serenely closed to the point where it actually appeared he was in deep slumber, Allo was softly chanting under his breath while his claws made alien and unrecognizable signs and movements.

As Batgirl said herself in her Phoenix-Force-induced vision earlier, "a clever trap and a trap for the clever".

The Superior cursed; these heroes were much more calculating and astute than he gave them credit for. He never dreamed that using the magical tolerance of the Nexus stolen from San Francisco would still be useless against Reptilion magic. And all around the barrier was a gigantic circle, a pentagram really, outlined in chalk and all along the border, it was drawn with a series of undecipherable hexes, written incantations, and strange symbols. But what was the most incongruous was that almost bordering the chalk marks were series of objects placed at intervals, consisting of a scattered table salt, iron amulets in the forms of ankhs, and crystals of moonstone (a Reptilion power-booster) and clear quartz (gifts from Willow Rosenberg and the Charmed Ones).

Mixing different types of magical sources to strengthen his Reptilion magic into something much more powerful and malleable. Ingenious…

Allo then actually halted in his spellcasting and magical summoning as he spoke clearly without turning his head, almost as if he sensed the enemy's approach, "I was wondering when you and the other members of the Organization would show up."

Not one to give in to baiting, the Superior spoke coldly, "Clever and impressive, Allo. You actually managed to take me by slight surprise with this tactic."

"I'm not here to impress you," Allo returned with hidden insult in between chants to fortify the blockade of alien magic.

"Such insolence. My Superior, shall we?" growled Lexaeus, the Organization's resident earth-manipulator, as he and Saïx brought out their respective tomahawk and the Claymore broadsword. The hooded leader of the group nodded his consent.

"I wouldn't attempt it if I were either of you two," Allo said mysteriously, his voice casual. The two took a single instant to use their heightened senses to spot or expose any sort of traps, but to their knowledge, the entire plot of land all around them was empty, bare.

"That is a rather pitiful show of bravado," Saïx said dispassionately as he walked forward. Or at least, he and Lexaeus attempted to before they stepped on a certain patch of dirt and grass…

KABOOOM! KABOOOM! **KABOOOM!**

The explosions were enough to even caused the Superior to stumble backwards by several steps as he and the other members of the order saw the fleeting image of the conflagration and resulting detonation of fire, blue-colored energy, and explosives caught the two warriors completely off-guard, sending them backwards, flying and crashing to the ground, badly burned and singed, but surprisingly enough, there was no blood or lost limbs. A small pity in Allo's opinion.

"Actually, I was referring to the fact that you were about to step on the magically-enhanced land mines we planted, courtesy of the Joes and the Ghostbusters," Allo continued blithely. Saïx felt the sudden urge to lose his temper and break through his usual stony demeanor, truly furious at the fact that he was humiliated in front of everyone like that. And that Dinosaucer was cunning, for those mines couldn't even be detected by _their_ probing (hence they too were magically shielded).

"You know, if I actually had a heart, I'd find that pretty funny with a capital-F. And we can't send the Heartless on that lizard sorcerer because he's immune since Vexy here first infected him with a spore earlier," commented Axel rather snarkily, taking evident pleasure at Lexaeus and Saïx's misfortune at not taking into anticipation of additional defensive attacks that allosaur had in preparation.

"And you honestly think this display of mockery will protect you, reptile?" growled the seething Lexaeus as he gripped his tomahawk tightly, the fabric of the glove making squeaking noises on the handle, "There are other ways to die than to lose your heart to the Heartless."

"The thought crossed my mind, yes…" Allo said with barbed calmness and aloof distance, mentally preparing himself for battle as he continued to strengthen the mystical wards. And all without even turning around to face the Silent Hero and the Lunar Divider, much to their slight aggravation. It would actually be less presumptuous if he turned to look at them in the eye instead of blatantly ignoring them.

"I'll deal with him - " began Larxene, rather eagerly as she drew out her yellow kunai, but then before she could act herself with her magic, several beams of light then came flying out of nowhere and struck the blond-haired, sociopathic female full in the chest and taking her by surprise, causing her to stop short. But to Larxene's astonishment, nothing happened.

"Hey! She didn't turn to rock!" they heard Bonehead's voice from a distance, but they didn't see anyone else on the entire radius of the grounds of the company. Itchy was heard next.

"Nuts. Looks like our fossilizer guns don't work on this bunch of losers. Guess we'll have to do things the hard way," the ichthyosaurus' voice was heard next.

Plateo was heard next, sighing lugubriously, "By the gods, of course. Why else should our lives be any easier?"

"What in the name of – _**who dares**_?!" snarled the Superior (his irritation was beginning to increase dramatically). And bringing forth another unpleasant surprise, the rest of the Dinosaucers and the four human Secret Scouts suddenly appeared in their line of sight, shimmering into full appearance thanks to stepping out of the bounds of the cloaking spell that Allo had cast of them. All of the dinosaur aliens were there, from the mammoth Bronto-Thunder and Tricero to the young Montacera and Struthio. Even Sarah, Ryan, Paul, and David were present for battle, all of them dressed in special, black polymer suits with blue gloves and boots, designed by the Dinosaucers and based on the New Mutants' uniforms from the X-Men. Only this time, they were slightly modified with Reptilion alien technology for a few hidden weapons and defenses thanks to Dimetro's inventions and their Secret Scout powers bequeathed by Allo years ago.

Now instead of hoping to just kill Allo, Organization Thirteen now had to deal with an entire army of gigantic, heavy, and skillful dinosaur soldiers and humans who would unquestionably hinder their efforts to get the Talismans of Twilight even more. And they were now even in more danger of losing their chances to cementing their triumph over the Gathering to come.

The number one member of the Organization was now starting to truly hate the annoying defenders of this mud-encrusted planet. They certainly planned this well.

"Surprise," crowed the pint-sized Compy annoyingly, making his voice as smug and grating as possible (a specific talent of his).

"What, you actually thought that we'd be stupid enough to leave Allo unprotected like that, you Hellfire cronies?" David said with little fear and much aplomb, grinning while cracking his knuckles. Stego was uncharacteristically hostile and dangerous as he glared at the Organization while his spiked tail was now sporting a special attachment on the end, like brass knuckles, only armed with sharp spear-points, heavy blunt-ends, and made completely of adamantium metal.

"We can't stop you from trying to get the Talismans, but we **can** slow you down," the stegosaurus stated.

"I've been lookin' forward to this one," Bronto-Thunder practically rumbled with eager anticipation, now wearing metal gauntlets of reinforced steel, "We still have to pay you Organization creeps back for infecting Blind Master and Allo when you attacked the G.I. Joe Pit."

"You've made a big mistake showing yourselves in the open like this, you little group of outdated reptile-trash! You're pack of pre-evolved lizard-rejects are nothing compared to the Keyblade wielders!" snarled Larxene

"Please, we're not stupid," grinned Teryx, one hand on her hip, "We've got a lot more surprises in store for you Thirteenth Order goons to help even the odds. And besides, what makes you think we're any easier to fight? Dinosaucers don't go down very easily."

"You dumb, prehistoric twits actually think you can stop us?" Xigbar chortled with disdain as he brought out his purple Rayguns, primed and ready for firing barrages of energy-searing shrapnel, perfect for such large and cumbersome targets.

"Only one way to find out," Ryan said simply before he, Sarah, Paul, and David all raised their hands up in the air, invoking the power from the rings Allo gave them, chanting, "Secret Scout Ring…_**Power Up!**_"

The Superior had enough as he ordered his minions, his voice booming powerfully across the grounds of the company and echoing across the grassy lawns and empty spaces, "Kill them all. And be sure to target the one named Allo specifically."

"Bring it, jerks!" shouted Montacera with eager enthusiasm and courageous aplomb as she and a the other Dinosaucers (bar Allo who needed to maintain the magical containment) and the Secret Scouts charged with a gamut of emotional variances of fear, worry, anger, determination, courage, and bravado. The Superior and his Organization did not show the slightest bit of fear and hesitation as they dashed forward to meet the roaring dinosaur extraterrestrials and humans, weapons drawn and ready to kill…

---

Many of the assembled heroes had to admit that it was quite satisfying to see the dawning comprehension and shock growing on their faces (who didn't enjoy watching a villain's plans fall flat on their face?). Even the normally self-assured Emma Frost and Selene were considerably stupefied and taken aback from the development. Quicksilver then managed to sum up the explanation in one, pompously-confident, smug word as he fully recovered from his injuries.

"Gotcha."

"We're not stupid. We knew y'all would try to make a break for it the first chance you got just in case," the Titan Cyborg grinned as he readied the sonic cannon on his right hand, setting it to the maximum energy level.

The Slayer Rona then readied her spiked mace before she grinned with anticipation and said with casual threat, "So, seems like you scrubs still have a choice: give us the Talismans or give us a chance to deliver you some whoop-ass, free of charge!"

"And in case we need to remind you, you can't fight all of us…" implied Cover Girl as she aimed with her laser rifle at Emma Frost's forehead (she had a little grudge against that telepathic slut from day one). The White and Black Queens of the Inner Circle cursed; it was only by a miracle and the heroes' foolish mercy that they were able to stall for so long up until now.

But before any of the heroes could either make an ultimatum or just decide to directly attack first and worry about the consequences later, Roxas' face remained stony and in a deep scowl as he revealed his trump card with a snap of his fingers.

Instantly, to the heroes' rude awakening, there were numerous and swirling portals of black magic all around them, and defying their belief about the precautions they so carefully took, there came a series of very familiar roars and demonic shrieks.

"What the flying fu- ?!" gasped Faith the Slayer, but the brunette's swearing was cut graciously short as a massive group of Hellfire Heartless emerged into the grand chamber of the basement levels, the entire mammoth compartment being wide enough for a circle of the muscular, hulking behemoths to surround the X-Men, the Misfits, and their allies. They were actually noticeably taller, almost inches away from touching the ceiling high above and being three-fourths of the heights of the Sentinel robots built by Trask, their black skin with still shining, pristine and new, and their muscular and slightly overblown arms had wicked claws and fingers that had to be at least several feet. With their beady yellow eyes narrowed, they started charging with lumbering swipes and shafts of black-colored lightning from the thorny-heart symbol on their chests.

"Yikes! Agh! Whoa! Eeek!" chorused Bumblebee the Titan, Kuwabara the Spirit Detective, Nightcrawler, and Rio the Shaman at various intervals as they madly dodged and leapt away from the numerous blasts of lightning that whizzed dangerously by their bodies. While many of the X-Men summoned their Telsa barriers from their glovatrixes and several non-mutant heroes began trying to block, hit, and parry the Heartless' hands from touching them or their friends, it was instantly starting to be clear that they were being overwhelmed. Quicksilver then instantly acted along with Trinity.

"Aeroga Guardian Hurricane!" yelled Quicksilver, extending a hand out, and Daria, Quinn, and Brittany decided to additionally help out and give their friends and family another advantage as they too invoked their magic spells.

"Stopra…Time Freeze!" Trinity yelled in unison, each pointing a finger at the Hellfire Heartless. But to everyone's shock and puzzlement, nothing worked. Neither spells from the Aeroga and the Stopra emerged to hinder the army of black ogres, and instead, there only came an empty silence which was broken instantly by the bloodthirsty roaring and inhumane snarling of the experiments.

"_What the hell?!_ What happened?! Why didn't you use your magic?!" yelled Wolverine as he pulled Chao-Ahn the Slayer out of the path of in incoming path of a stream of energy while Felicia and Agent Jay of the Ghostbusters combined their attacks skillfully, the proton beam and wave of multi-colored spirit energy delivering a direct hit into the Heartless' face and torso.

"_**We did!**_" all four of the Misfits snapped back urgently.

"Let me try! I can freeze these guys in place instead! That should buy us enough time!" suggested Lina as she flew a bit into the air and tried to summon the violin of pure ice and frost into her hands, chanting her spell, "Blizzaga…Arctic Requiem!"

But like her teammates, Lina was absolutely horrified as nothing emerged, no violin, no familiar surge of magical transcendence, and no powerful enchantment of ice from the Blizzaga Kingdom. Her magic failed to emerge.

And unfortunately, by hovering above the ground, Dragonfly made herself an easy target to single out as several Heartless fired their lightning attacks at the insect-girl. The female Misfit shrieked as she brought out her Icewing, but there were way too many to block or dodge and avoid. Danny Phantom thankfully intervened.

"I gotcha!" Danny yelled as he instantly appeared and touched Lina by the shoulders, thankfully ghosting both himself and Lina and making them white, translucent, and intangible, and Cover Girl couldn't help but exhale in great relief when the attacks from the Hellfire experiments passed through them harmlessly. Thankfully, though Danny couldn't ghost himself _into_ the room (as previously shown with J'onn), he could ghost himself and others from attacks _on their person_. Selene and Emma both couldn't help but make a mental note about this; it would be disastrous to let this go as a possible weakness in their drones and future war tactics.

"It didn't work! I can't use my magic either!" cried Dragonfly as she and Danny floated to the ground safely. Batgirl then remembered why.

"The Green Materia! It won't let you! Remember what Leomon said?!" the red-haired Gotham Knight yelled as she sent an explosive Batarang at the arm of one monster before it could try to grab Inuyasha and Pete Wisdom.

"Oh no…" groaned the Scooby Willow, realizing that since a good portion of their attacks were magic-based, many of them were seriously handicapped.

"Oh…damn it!" cursed Avalanche as he took out his Steel Quartz with a fury of brown sparkling auras, "Things are never easy, are they?! Simba, **Proud Roar!**"

The Disney lion tossed its head backwards and roared, sending three or four Heartless flying backwards from the resulting sonic boom generated from the magical attack. Unfortunately, the other Heartless were more than willing to take their comrades' places, and Simba wasn't that powerful enough to send all of the monsters back.

"Yeow! They're firing everywhere!" Dana the Slayer cried out, thankful to Captain America as he valiantly got in front of her and blocked an incoming attack in order to save her life, the black lightning instantly making his shield almost hot to touch. Dana had a point; with so many of the Heartless firing at once, it would be very inevitable that they would get hit.

"I got it! Everyone, gather close to me! _**Now!**_ That's an order!" roared Green Lantern as he summoned a force-field quickly with his power ring, invoking a green orb of protection to shield each and every one of the congregated heroes right before the entire army. Thankfully, it held fast and the Hellfire mindless fiends were unable to touch them any longer. Daria, Quinn, and Brittany instantly started scanning the congregation of monsters before they paled when they counted how many black fiends were in the vicinity. There were fifty of them, all together in this room and with strength and energy levels higher than the other ogres they fought and killed in past incidents.

The Hellfire Heartless were stronger than before, more than ever. No wonder that Roxas guy left this as his final trump card. There was no way all of the heroes as a combined effort could easily win this fight. Roxas then turned to the Hellions, ordering sternly.

"Let us leave. The sooner, the better for the Superior."

Beef the Hellions' strongman protested angrily, "Hey, you ain't the boss of us, you hooded emo goth-reject!"

This earned him a swift slap upside his head by his headmistress as Emma snapped, "No, but** I** am. Now let us leave our charming heroes to their fates and return back to the Inner Circle. We have what we came for, and the shield and mirror are in our grasp. Now go."

"But…but it's seven floors up, Miss Frost!" whined Beef. Emma gave her student and pupil a dry, condescending look.

"Then start running, dear," she said with apathy, almost glowering, and Beef, gulping at the sight of his teacher looking like she was going to deliver a swift kick up his rear, actually started power-walking hurriedly along with the rest of his teammates who wanted to get out as soon as possible so that they could gain the accolades and praise from Lord Imperial and the rest of the Inner Circle they so richly deserved from all of this. The last ones tailing behind were Roxas, Emma, and Selene, each of them holding the glowing Talismans of Twilight, walking slowly and deliberately and snidely taunting the heroes in their victory.

"Crap, they're getting away!" Multiple shouted.

Hiei the Spirit Detective gave Jamie a dry glower as he intoned with deadpanned superciliousness, "And exactly what would the purpose of alerting us serve when we're busy trying to survive while trapped and hiding like cowards?"

Jamie had to admit that Hiei had a point.

"Damn it! Allo wasn't able to keep them out!" Colossus yelled as he transformed into his steel mode. Selene scoffed at that notion, her sharp ears picking up that one statement of hopeful disappointment.

"Don't be silly, X-Man. Your Dinosaucer friend is no Priest of Twilight," she derided, almost happily and gleeful as Roxas then ordered to the Heartless still battering away at Green Lantern's shield.

"Kill them all."

"Oh change the record, you Organization buttwipe!" snapped the Slayer Kennedy with bitter sarcasm as Roxas, Emma, and Selene left upwards to the grand-stairways out of the chamber, disappearing out of sight, "Can't you tell the Heartless to do anything else besides kill so-and-so?!"

Her retort was left unchallenged, only responded back by the numerous and piercing screeches and cries of the demonic beings that were engulfing them. One or two Heartless even leapt on top of the green hemisphere and were pounding and trying to stomp on it, threatening to crush it. As a safeguard, Green Lantern mentally forced spikes to appear on the surface of the shield, trying to force the monsters off of it. Undaunted, though now sporting messy puncture wounds and bleeding holes, the Heartless continued to fire streams and multitudes of black lightning upon the fortified humans. Jinx the West Coast Misfit then had an idea as she got on one knee and touched the metal floor. Instantly, outside the dome and with a flash of pink hex-magic, parts of the ground collapsed and formed sink-holes into the metal slabs, trapping a few feet and making several of the attackers stuck. Though there were still plenty who were unaffected, it was a significant help.

"Good one, girl! You're hurting 'em!" yelled Cyborg.

The pink-haired witch panted as she tried to cause several additional hexes to cause sections of the floor and ceiling to cave in, indirectly stalling them with some obstacles and distraction, "Unfortunately, I can't cast that many hexes! There's too many Heartless all around us! And I can't reflect their attacks back on them because the Hellfire monsters aren't affected by their own weapons! This can only divert them!"

"Jinx, think you can use a hex to make a tunnel through the hole to get up out of here?!" Cyclops asked.

"No, I can't use my hexes **that** way! I cause things to go haywire like Scarlet Witch, but I can't use them to actively form and create stuff! Hexes and bad luck don't work that way!" she explained.

"And she wouldn't be able to anyway! The floors are reinforced with titanium, adamantium and reinforced steel! And nothing but solid rock after that because we're at the bottom level!" Quinn exclaimed, looking at her scanners.

"Let me try. I think I can tunnel us all out. Get clear as far as you can," commanded Superman, hovering several feet above the air, and as the heroes obliged, Superman began to rotate and twirl quickly, gaining speed and momentum until he was nothing more than a blur, the acceleration causing strong winds to rip at everyone's clothing. With that and like a drill, the Kryptonian descended downwards into the floor feet first, boring into the ground and starting to form a deep mound of rock and metal.

But within a second of drilling, something went wrong. There was a sudden green flash of light from underground, and snakes of energy ascended upwards and engulfed Superman's body briefly and subjecting the Justice League founder to extreme bouts of pain. Superman stopped suddenly and yelled in agony, arching his back as the strange and magical force enveloped him before it stopped and Superman was sent crashing to his side, panting heavily as Blob, Supergirl, and Wonder Woman rushed to their friend's aid.

"Are you all right?!" Kara asked.

Catching his breath, Superman nodded before he croaked hoarsely, "I'm fine, Kara, just…stunned."

"But what happened? What hit you, Mr. Superman?!" Blob asked with a wide-eyed look. Daria then provided the answer as she then saw why with her scanner.

"It's the Green Materia," the Delgado triplet groaned, "Apparently, it's not just in the room, but it's specifically within the walls and floors, even the ceiling! It prevents us from leaving because of a strong, opposing magical force! The Hellfire Club embedded them throughout the interior of the room and the ground underneath! This is why we can't do magic in here! Because this room's surrounded with it, enough to flood a football field!"

The other Justice League members inwardly winced; as powerful as Superman was, he was vulnerable to magic…

"And you couldn't tell us this before _**why**_ exactly?" drawled a very, very irritated Aqualad which earned him three consecutive glares from Trinity.

"I think because trying to get the Talismans before Octavia and Falco along with being taken by surprise by fifty Hellfire Heartless might have something to do with it…_Garthie_," they said in unison with sickeningly sweet smiles, drawling extra-long on Aqualad's embarrassing nickname. The Titan felt one part of his temple throb ever so slightly as he glared at Speedy who grinned, unashamed.

"I thought I'd share the joy all around," Roy admitted.

"I'm putting stink bombs in your room the first chance I get, Jackass!" Aqualad threatened.

"_Mein Gott!_ So much for trying to smash our way through like before!" Nightcrawler groaned.

"I've got an idea. Green Lantern, make several holes in your shield, wide enough to allow us to attack from inside but small enough to reduce the chances of being hit by the Heartless," Batman said calmly, and a few had to marvel at how quick and efficiently the Dark Knight conjured up that idea as John obliged for his friend. With that, many of the heroes started firing through the small holes, narrowly missing the attacks while gaining an advantage to snipe effectively through the gaps.

It was effective. Many of the Heartless closest to the barrier were instantly subjected to a payload of energy blasts and sharp or explosive projectiles. Though it slowed them down, only two fell and died instantly, primarily because of Supergirl using her flame vision given to her by the Phoenix Force before she expended too much energy and willpower and collapsed to the floor on her knees, her head swimming.

"Supergirl, are you OK?!" yelled out Jean as she and Amara helped their friend up.

"No, I'm not! I can't defeat all of them! Even killing those two Heartless took a lot out of me! They're not easy to incinerate!" Kara said worriedly, quite tired and needing a bit of a respite to catch her breath. Thankfully, a little healing from Tinkerbell and Bambi was enough to ease the fatigue.

"Well, so much for the plan of the Phoenix Force being able to wipe them all out," Low Light muttered as he aimed perfectly and delivered a devastating shot into the left eye of one Hellfire drone.

"I only have **a piece **of the Phoenix Force, **not** the whole thing, Low Light! There's a difference!" pointed out Supergirl with dry impatience.

"Wait…Miroku, what about your wind tunnel?! Can't you suck up all the Heartless in the room?! We need something fast, and I remembered when you used that attack in New Orleans!" Jean asked as Wood the Watcher and Blind Master let loose a plethora of steel ninja-stars and explosive darts laced with curare poison at the heads to two Hellfire Heartless, aiming at the faces and managing to fire directly through one of the small holes that Green Lantern left out in the barrier. They scored direct hits as one Heartless faltered and screaming inhumanly, clawing at the shuriken that sunk into its eyes and nostril-cavity while the other Heartless unluckily had numerous pin-point explosion eat and perforate away at its flesh.

The Japanese priest shook his head in dismay and in slight outrage as he clarified, "I can't! I had trouble drawing in one Heartless into my wind tunnel! And it hurts! These creatures aren't like the demons I've faced in the past! I can't possibly bring them all in! And if I leave it open too long, the curse on my hand will be completely out of control and destroy us all!"

"Damn it all, the Hellfire Club really knows how to screw us over!" Pete Wisdom cursed as Kagome the Ghostbuster and Speedy the Titan let loose consecutive shafts from their bows into the neck, head, and torso of one Heartless in front of them.

"And the longer we stay here, we'll definitely lose the Talismans! We can't afford to be at this stalemate!" Black Widow yelled in between pauses from his rapid machine-gun fire, "Nightcrawler, Whitelighter, can you teleport us out of here?!"

Kurt shook his head, knowing Justin's teleportation limitations as well as his own, nearly wailing with fright, "No! Even the both of us _combined_, we can't teleport everyone out of here at once! It'll require several trips at the very least!"

"No, we can't leave the Heartless unattended!" yelled Quicksilver, being uncharacteristically insightful as he threw his Zephyr Keyblade through a particularly large opening (the Heartless managed to dodge it), "Think about it! If we don't take care of them, they'll get loose and out of control! And if Allo can't keep them out, he can't keep them_** in**_ either!"

The Flash cursed as he admitted, "Crap, he's right! And if those things get loose on the city above us…!"

"It'll be a massacre. The destruction from fifty Heartless is unfathomable, more so than the battle for the Nexus in San Francisco. We have to destroy them, here and quickly," Martian Manhunter agreed grimly, though he too was running short of ideas.

"But how?! We can't use our Elementa magic on the Heartless as long as we're trapped in this room! And they're stronger than before! Meaning that unlike the last times, these Heartless are smarter and won't fall the same tricks for long! They're actually learning and thinking now!" Brittany cried out in despair.

Murphy's Law, as always, had incredibly bad timing in this universe.

Instantly, the Hellfire Heartless got smart before a good number of them then skillfully and with remarkable precision fired shafts of their devastating lightning through the openings that Green Lantern made in the shield.

"Yeow!" Danny Phantom cried out as he stopped firing his energy blasts and narrowly went into ghost-mode, the shaft of dark energy going right through him and thankfully hitting the floor precariously close to Kurama and Gambit's feet without killing them.

"They're firing in the holes! They know!" yelped Sango as she managed to block one shaft of black lightning fully with her bone-boomerang that made through the barrier. It was a miracle that no one got killed during that brief siege.

"Lantern, close all the holes! Quickly! They're catching on to us!" Hawkgirl commanded, with John complied, but now it was starting to get even more nerve-racking as all fifty of the Hellfire Heartless then started to gang up and cluster around the shield. Many began hammering and physically striking the hemisphere in various intervals, but Green Lantern winced with each blow. It felt like he was trying to hold an entire herd of stampeding elements still, and each one forming miniscule and thread-like cracks throughout. No matter how much he tried to maintain it, John couldn't stop but feel much pain from the Heartless' poundings.

There was no doubt about it; this latest batch of Hellfire Heartless was far smarter and stronger than ever before.

"My shield can't hold out forever!" yelled Green Lantern in warning as he did his best to maintain his concentration, sweat starting to bead on his forehead and temples, gripping the hand bearing his power ring with his other palm. With fifty Hellfire Heartless battering and blasting at the dome with their claws, arms, and black lightning attacks, it was dubious if whether or not the shield could be maintained much longer.

"Green Lantern, I'll help!" yelled Jean before she brought both of her hands to her temples and summoned a telekinetic shield to reinforce the green energy barrier underneath that John was creating. Raven the Titan additionally joined in.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos," she intoned calmly, and to Green Lantern and Jean's relief, the outside of the green shield was instantly dusked by blackness and shadowy forces, and the white-robed Teen Titan reinforced Green Lantern's energy with her own telekinesis.

It took a lot of the burden off, but even with Raven and Jean's help, there was no way to stop it completely. The Heartless just continued to hammer and pound away, causing all three of the heroes to wince from the pain and excessive force.

"We can't keep this up!" Cyclops yelled, "The longer we stay here, the more time the Hellions will have to get away!"

"But what else can we do?! We're stuck here! And I don't think we can take out so many Hellfire Heartless at once without risking one of us biting it! All of us whose hearts got locked can't shield and take the hits for all fifty of them at once!" Boom-Boom yelped urgently, readying her glovatrix but already feeling light-headed from the truth that this could be the death of some of her friends.

"So much for _Operation-Send-In-the-Meat-Shields-First_…" gulped Garrett from his wheelchair, and Strom couldn't help but throw the member of the Extreme Ghostbusters an irritated glare at the thoughtless remark.

"Wheelchair or not, don't make me fry you," the X-Woman growled.

"It was a joke!" protested the redhead, holding up his hands in a submissive _I'll-be-good-please-don't-electrocute-me_ banter.

Toad then tried another resort as he turned to his Disney summon and begged, "Genie, we can't use our magic, but maybe you can! Get rid of these Heartless, yo! Help us out here!"

The djinn grinned before he rolled up his sleeves (not that he had any) for dramatic effect before wiggling his fingers and cheered with annoying enthusiasm, sending a furious discharged of multi-colored fireworks and sparks.

"Let's get ready to rumbleeeeeee!" cheered Genie as he spun his hands in a speedback motion, his fists turning faster and faster before he cut loose with a blinding cloak of magic, and howling, the large group of Heartless let loose a final howl before with puffs of blue and red smoke, they were fully transformed into harmless, small, white rabbits. All the Heartless were now completely and effectively neutralized.

"Thank God…" sighed Paige Halliwell with extreme relief as Green Lantern, Jean, and Raven relaxed and instantly let down the shield, holding a hand to her chest, "That was too close."

Genie seemed quite proud of himself as he jerked a thumb over to the circle of white rabbits, bragging to the extremely thankful and palliated group of heroes, reassuring them almost cockily, "Ah, what's to worry?! Heartless don't mean squat against semi-phenomenal, cosmic powers! And if I can toot my own horn…" (and at this point, Genie's head actually turned into a red and gold bicycle horn, squeezing and blaring upon effect), "I got it all under control!"

Genie, however, should have remembered the phrase "famous last words". And the Misfits should have remembered that after all the incidents and battles in the past with the Disney summons and their attacks, the Inner Circle and Organization would have found ways to make sure that their Heartless monsters would be more resistant by Genie's magic for future effectiveness. Sure enough, each and every one of the white rabbits began to shimmer and waver in their appearance, almost as if they were mirages, their eyes now glowing the same, telltale yellow.

"Oh shit!" yelled Wolverine as he saw this, having an inkling of what was going to happen as he and Shipwreck went tense with Shipwreck aiming his dual Eagles at the rabbits and hoping to kill as many as he could, but it was too late. With a quivering burst of darkness and cold aura, the rabbits stood on their hind legs and roared before reverting back to their original, muscular, black-skinned formed, screeching inhumanly with triumph. Genie's transformation spell only lasted several seconds, and this took many of the heroes by rude surprise (especially Genie whose jaw dropped to the floor, literally extending to several meters).

As one, the Heartless began to charge and fire, ready to slay the now exposed heroes where they stood. Many such as the Misfits, Hawkgirl, the Shamans, Hiei, Sango, the Titan Robin, and Kurama began striking back with their own weapons.

"_**GENIE!**_" chorused nearly everyone with much annoyance and disappointment. The Disney summon gulped as he sheepishly shrugged.

"OK, so they're actually now a lot tougher than they look," Genie admitted with some embarrassment as he summoned a red and white parasol umbrella to block one shaft of black lightning.

"Again, I would like to say this before we die: **some genie**!" snapped Quicksilver with extra venom on those last two sarcastic words.

"And for once, I am in complete agreement!" added Colossus bitingly as he narrowly managed to get into the path of Starfire and Jericho of the Ghostbusters and blocked a shaft of black lightning before it could hit the two, valiantly taking the hit for them so that the paranormals wouldn't lose their hearts. Thankfully, it was enough before Jean, Green Lantern, and Raven formed another layered shield of force all around them to protect everyone like before.

"Oh geez, that was too close!" panted Amanda Firestarter, on the ground on her hands and knees, grateful she didn't pass out from fright of the rude awakening.

It was getting bleak; even the veteran warriors such as the Joes, Batman, Quentin, and Wood the Watcher were having difficulty of thinking of another contingency plan to bail them out before they were truly done for. And the cracks in the combined force-field were starting to grow precariously by the second (and John Stewart, Jean, and Raven were already tired).

Wavedancer was about to risk trying her scepter, despite being sure she could never destroy all of the forty-eight Heartless at once, she blinked with surprise and shock as she swore she could have heard a voice, faint and distant, echoing in her head. It was familiar, and almost like as if it was coming from something deep inside her.

_All in one, one in all…that is a key._

That same voice…the one she swore she heard when she and the other Misfits were trapped in the Phantom Zone…

_Keyblade…Keyblade…_

The Keyblades? Could they still work, despite the Materia? And the last time they combined their powers, she and her team were able to escape Zod, Mala, and Doomsday, but instead of combining their magic, could that mean then that they needed to combine…?

Wavedancer turned on her communicator and yelled with desperate steel to her teammates.

"Misfits, follow my lead! I have an idea! Follow my lead and point your Keyblades at the Heartless! **Follow my lead!** That's an order!" Wavedancer yelled, taking everyone by surprise.

"What?! Why?! What should we do?!" Xi asked, unable to logically see where this is going.

"Just point your Keyblades at the Heartless and concentrate! Try thinking of having them activate or something! Remember, like Simba told Lance and us one time, if there's a way, it's gotta be through the Keyblades! _**Just point them out and concentrate!**_" yelled Althea.

"But the shield's still up!" pointed out Colossus.

"Don't worry! Hopefully, this will go through the shield so that it doesn't affect this!" Wavedancer called out as she pointed her scepter at the ring of Heartless.

"But…Wavedancer, what exactly are you gonna do? How do you know this'll work?!" Amara couldn't help but blurt out in dread.

"I don't! But…I just have a feeling, in my heart!" Wavedancer couldn't help but say, drawing a series of groans and rolling eyes.

"Out of all the plans you've ever had, this is easily the stupidest!" snapped Quicksilver. Mushu and Wanda glared at the albino speedster, and Wanda actually kicked her brother hard in the shin, drawing forth a pained yelp.

"You have a better idea?!" Scarlet Witch snapped.

"Yeah, Quickie! Just keep your mouth shut and follow Wavedancer! What else have we got left to lose?" Mushu joined in rather snarkily.

"Uh…lemme think, perhaps something like _**my life**_?!" snapped Pietro.

"And if you don't want to lose it any faster, you'll shut up and trust her! We gotta try it, and unlike you, she's got a good point! The Keyblades may be our last hope!" Blob growled, and from the look on his face (and Wanda's), Pietro's preservation instinct kicked in and he obliged along with the other mutants of G.I. Joe.

The other heroes just looked on wordlessly, listening to the muffled but powerful roars of the Heartless outside the shields, feeling the vibrations of the powerful thuds and thumps from the claws and energy blasts. The Misfits were in a sparse and wide-spread circle, clear of anything but the energy-barrier and the Heartless, their eyes closed tightly and the heads of their weapons pointing to the enemies outside. Standing with feet apart and bracing themselves, the Misfits just concentrated on one thought to destroy the mob as they felt the looming fear of failure cloud over them.

_Trust the Keyblades._

"Please let this work, please let this work, please let this work…" repeated Justin under his breath in a scared and terrified mantra, his mouth moving ever so softly. For several seconds, nothing happened, and the heroes were tempted to abandon Althea's plan and just go out, fists and weapons ready. But then to everyone's amazement and awe, each and every one of the Misfits' Keyblades began to glow, in their respective colors of the Elementa Kingdoms. The Heartless, upon seeing the colorful rainbow gleaming throughout the entire room, stopped their assault and shrieked in pain, covering their eyes and backing slowly away from the harsh light.

"Bugger…" was all Pete Wisdom could say as he witnessed the beautiful light around the Keyblades increasing and causing the weapons to quiver a little from the building forces. It was actually working.

The Misfits then knew. They actually felt…something.

"All in one…" Avalanche said, echoing Wavedancer's words.

"One in all…" Xi continued, his claws tightening on the handle of his Rainforest Scale.

"That is a key!" Blob finished with growing confidence his eyes flying open.

That power, it was flowing into them, each and every one of the Misfits and their Keyblades (and Althea's scepter) in response was glowing, shining pure white and causing the Heartless to cower in fear even more.

With that, the Misfits struck as one as they shouted, aiming with their glowing weapons and bellowed in unison, "_**UNITED KEYBLADE ELEMENTA ATTACK!**_"

There was a loud discharge, a roar of powerful sparks, as all the Keyblades of the Misfits flickered upon command before they exploded with a massive and widespread illumination of pure light, blinding, clean, and completely devastating. The array of beams passed through the energy shield of Jean, Raven, and Green Lantern like glass and struck all forty-eight of the Hellfire Heartless with full-force, illuminating the foyer. The luminosity was too much for even these modified clones of the Inner Circle; in fact, it even shattered and annihilated each and every orb of Green Materia in the chamber, the powers of the Keyblades overpowering even its magic. With dying shrieks, the luminescence caused the Heartless to die instantly, falling to their knees as they actually disintegrated into plumes of black smoke and floating pieces of ash, fading into thin air. But upon disintegrating, the Heartless each released a gigantic, pink heart crystal, bigger than the ones they had normally seen and witnessed in the past, these hearts actually the size of small cars.

"Whoa!" Mas y Menos of Titans East couldn't help but marvel at the apparent size, "Those are **big** hearts!"

The room was clear, now completely devoid of Heartless. And all along the metal walls, marble floor, and domed ceiling were charred holes, crevices, and cracks of twisted metal and chipped rock of where the spheres of Green Materia were hidden, thoroughly obliterated by the combined Keyblade attack. And the Misfits were now all unconscious, lying on the floor, their strength spent.

"Kids!" yelled Low Light, Roadblock, Shipwreck, and Bree as the Joes and some of the X-Men rushed to their senseless wards. Breathing heavily with exhaustion, Green Lantern, Jean, and Raven let the shields drop at last, more than happy to be free from that burden.

"Are they all right?" Colossus asked with some worry as Cover Girl held Dragonfly in her arms, trying to wake the insect girl. Bree answered strongly as she took Wanda's pulse for several seconds in the Misfit's neck, feeling a strong and steady beat.

"They're fine! Just out of it! I think that last attack took it out of them!" the Joe nurse said with faint relief.

"And that is not all that is out, my fair-haired medical beauty from G.I. Joe!" the green-skinned guardian spirit named Tokageroh (Rio's partner) called out as he, Amidamaru, and Corey materialized into visibility, hovering above the heroes, "That strange bad-mojo vibe we got from before from this entire company! It's gone! I do believe that the Misfits and the others can perform magic now! This building is completely free from the bad vibes, my fellow friends and allies!"

"You sure, _mon ami_?" Remy asked. Finally, some good news…

"Yes, we are. We can no longer sense it like before. Those Keyblades not only destroyed the Heartless, but the Green Materia as well. There are no longer any restrictions that prevent us from our abilities to the fullest extent," Amidamaru said.

"Good, then we can phase and teleport to the surface before the Hellions and Roxas completely make their escape. I do not think that Allo can contain them indefinitely if it is highly likely that this has already attracted the attention of Organization Thirteen," Martian Manhunter pointed out with a calculating look in his eyes.

"But they're still out of it. What do we do? We can't fight that Roxas guy entirely without Keyblades of our own, and what if we run into more Heartless upstairs? We might be able to handle Roxas and the Hellions, but facing more Heartless like what happened here would be really risky," Phoebe Halliwell pointed out worriedly. Dumbo the flying elephant then came up with the solution, tooting through his nose in a high-pitched yet exuberant tone. Aiming his trunk, he shot out a downpour of icy water at the Misfits and drenched their collective heads and torsos, skillfully aiming without getting any of the Joes wet.

With a series of yelps, coughing, sputters, and soaked hair and clothing, the Misfits were roughly jerked awake.

"Hey! What's the big idea?!" coughed Avalanche roughly.

"Five more minutes, Grammie…it's Saturday…" Blob couldn't help but partially murmur in a drowsy state, as if he wanted to go back to sleep and continue his slumber on the floor. Pietro, not surprisingly, was raising a fuss.

"My hair, my beautiful hair! It's ruined, _**ruined**_! And I spent a good two hours this afternoon blow-drying and conditioning it! AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!"

"Ugh…this guy can sure scream loud," muttered Kid Gloves of the Ghostbusters, the muscular Eurasian teen wincing as his ears caught the brunt of the screaming that could possibly register on the decibel scale.

The Flash couldn't help but snicker, "I always said you were all wet, Jerk-Off!"

"Oh come up with an original one, _Mr. Wham-Bam-Thank-You-Ma'am_!" Quicksilver snapped with ire as he shakily got to his feet, throwing Dumbo a dagger-filled look. The Disney character just smiled back, unremorseful, as he used his trunk to tip his yellow hat at the Misfit speedster.

At the same time, a rather foul-tempered and tiring group of Hellions were making their way towards the surface levels of the Shaw Industries, and Emma, Selene and Roxas (especially Roxas) were actually being quite annoyed at the gabber, whining, insults, and complaints.

"Ugh, finally!" Money said with much impatience and disdain, "I hated so much of that walking!"

"Yeah, why couldn't we take the damn elevator?" grumbled Beef, "I wanna get out of here and get back to showing Pierce and those other Inner Circle snobs how we passed their stupid test on being capable of holding our own against that dead duck. So why the hell do we have to walk all these stairs instead of taking the shafts up so we don't have to do all these dumb climbing all these stupid stairs?!"

Jetstream gave his teammate a disdainful and rather pitying look at Beef's abysmal short-term memory, answering, "Do you have any idea how idiotic that just sounded, Beef? We booby-trapped all the elevators in this company just in case any of the heroes were stupid enough to try it. Of course, if you want to die in a fiery death and fall eight or nine stories to a bloody splat at the bottom, then be my guest."

"Yeah…well…" sputtered Beef, unable to think of anything to rebuke that straightforward fact. Empath however was pretty much in a less than gracious mood himself, his calf-muscles actually stinging from going up seven flights of stairs (and considering that these underground chambers were large enough to hold aircrafts and Sentinel-research for Camp Hayden, that was not a light and easy task).

The Spanish mutant griped in his usual calm voice, fingering the red bruise on his face where Falco punched him, "I actually agree. Exercise and toil and physical activity is rather…beneath me. It actually gives me bad memories of when we ran into the X-Men and the Misfits at that reckless and pathetic relaxation-therapy camp in the woods due to a rather inept and worthless idea to have us search for the Hellfire Club's rumors about that dumb sea serpent. My feet actually have blisters."

"And that shall be nothing compared to the pain I shall deliver to your head if you do not keep your snide remarks to yourself and continue mentally preparing yourself for a battle with those blasted Dinosaucers once we reach the outside. A little manual regimen will hardly kill you, or would you prefer I give you a mental 'persuasion' to try going the rest of the way without use of your legs?" Emma asked mildly with barbed and rusty anger, steel flashing in her blue eyes. She would not tolerate any moaning, especially since she was deeply proud of how much closer her prized Hellions would be not only future instructors and leaders at her academy, but Lord Imperial would certainly consider them as the personal guard and squadron of the Inner Circle, an esteemed role and stepping stone to being the reverent Price and Princesses of the Hellfire Club. Any complaining and dissension would be a small but noticeable sign of weakness, of a lack of control.

Empath got the hint and just sulked inwardly. Roulette and Tarot were conversing softly with prideful and pleased tones of voices, their heads held high.

"I can't wait to rub it in Donald Pierce's face on how we were able to gain the Talismans of Twilight. That'll put that smug, arrogant, buttkisser's smirk clean off his face, and not to mention that this is a excellent way to gain even more popularity with the other students and staff at the school," Jennifer remarked, already thinking of how she would easily be able to use her newfound popularity and admiration from the lesser peers to do her bidding.

"Thankfully, I should have enough cards left to help get those annoying lizards out of our way. Just think though, after the fact that we've faced the Priests of Twilight, the X-Men, the Misfits, the Joes, the Teen Titans, and now the Dinosaucers, Shaw and the other members of the Inner Circle are sure to hold us in high regard!" Tarot said, usually giddy at the thought of being in the high graces of powerful people such as Lex Luthor and General Black of Wolfram and Hart.

"Your Hellions all have quite a provocative yet rewarding time in store for the future," Selene said, already dreaming of how much more lucrative her plans to be one of the few Externals and powerful magic-users on the planet once she and General Black eliminated the damned Slayer line and the Charmed Ones. And with her as future Queen of the Underworld…

With a flash of light via the Mass Device, orbing, Genie and Nightcrawler's teleportation, and Martian Manhunter and Danny Phantom phasing a large group of heroes joining hands through the floor, the ensemble of criminals and scoundrels were instantly blocked by a wall of their adversaries. Though a bit singed, dirty, and certainly tussled and disheveled from their brawl with the Heartless, all the heroes were accounted for and present (much to the Black and White Queens' collected disappointment).

And all the members of the X-Men, Misfits, G.I. Joe, Justice League, Titans, and Ghostbusters were now seriously annoyed and pissed.

"You know, right now, we'd start reasoning, but at this point for once, screw the talking and the Professor's judgment. _**X-Men, beat the crap out of them!**_" Cyclops shouted as he jabbed a finger at the Organization member and the Hellions, fuming and now quite eager to relieve his stress and pains for the whole day on a few deserving targets. He may be a stickler for Xavier's rules, but even he had his limits.

And it actually seemed that no one on his side wanted to refute and argue against that order.

"Damn, I knew there was something I liked about you, Cyclops!" Yusuke the Spirit Detective grinned as he charged up both of his fists with _ki_ energy. With that, a good number of the heroes charged and began to close the distance between them and the Talismans, energy blasts, projectiles, and fists flying.

"Hmph, they actually managed to kill the strongest experiments we had on reserve. Impressive…" Roxas said without much emotion as without further ado, he took out and brandished his Keyblades with flickers of black and white, displaying his Oathkeeper and Oblivion Keyblades.

As he had done previously with Falco, the thirteenth member of the Organization leapt up in the air, crisscrossing his two Keyblades and causing them to illuminate with blinding, pure light before summoning the circle of Organization insignias all around the heroes and his own allies. With crackling surges of roaring energy, Roxas spun his Keyblades, one in each hand, as he summoned a massive torrent of white energy spheres and caused them to thunder and hail down towards the heroes.

Many of the heroes began attempting to dodge the assault raining down upon them or by directly attacking with their own abilities like the Misfits, Hawkgirl, and Kuwabara smashing and deflecting anything they could with their respective Keyblades, mace, and sword. But there were far too many, and none of the heroes could comfortably dodge while making headway towards stopping Roxas. One sphere unluckily hit Superman as he protected Kagome and Black Widow with his own body, and it caused him massive and untold amounts of pain as he was sent crashing to the ground, horrifically burned, twitching and hissing.

Apparently, the Man of Steel couldn't take that much from an Organization member.

"Superman!" Kagome cried as she rushed to her ally's side while Black Widow and Inuyasha fired with their bullets and Wind Scar to protect her and the Kryptonian. Thankfully, the Japanese female archer saw that Tinkerbell and Bambi, starting to look worse for wear, were already in full effect, giving Superman an adequate supply of pixie dust and mana orbs to help him recover and gain his strength back. Quicksilver thankfully was able to act when he saw that this was getting nowhere (and he was now free from the Green Materia).

"Aeroga Guardian Hurricane!" Quicksilver yelled, and thankfully, a cyclone of silver winds immediately appeared and encased many of the heroes from Roxas' attack.

"It took you long enough, Jerk-Off!" snapped Supergirl from above bossily, trying to blast at Roxas with her flame vision (unfortunately, he was easily putting it at a stalemate with a simple stream of energy from his Keyblades to blast at the Phoenix fire). Pietro then decided to get a little nasty.

"_I see London, I see France, I see Supergirl's underpants!_" he called out loud in a sing-song voice, pointing upwards to Kara.

Even in battle, Pietro couldn't resist making things worse (or more aggravating).

"_**WHERE?!**_" chorused a good number of male superheroes eagerly, looking upwards (and humorously enough, Beef, Bevatron, and Jetstream of the Hellions). Despite being hurt, Superman glared at his allies with a look of annoyed displeasure. Supergirl looked like she was going to have an aneurysm as her face turned purple.

"Kara, not now! Kill him _**after**_ we win this!" Wonder Woman ordered as she blocked a destructive and surging energy ball with her bracelets. Meanwhile, a few such as the Flash, Jean Grey, Robin the Titan, and Genie were trying to take the discreet method and instantly rushed towards the Hellions and the Queens of the Inner Circle. Jean stayed behind as she carefully brought her hands to her temples as she tried to focus her telekinesis on the mirror and the shield, hoping she could simply grab them clandestinely without Emma and Selene knowing it.

No such luck. Jean's inner mind was instantly met with a large and oppressive dark forced that literally shoved her out forcefully the split second she tried to even focus her telekinesis on the two powerful mutants.

"_**Augh!**_" shrieked Jean in pain as she fell backwards, clutching her now sore and aching head, her mind feeling as if someone hammered a red-hot iron stake through her skull. The Flash, Robin, and Genie met with a similar, unpleasant surprise as Flash moved faster than the eye could blink, one hand reaching out to snatch the Enchanted Mirror and the Save the King shield. Unfortunately, before he could even get within five feet, he was struck full-force by the energy barrier that Selene and the Hellion Tarot summoned around themselves and their teammates.

With a cry of agony, Wally was sent flying backwards, his hand now feeling as if it was broken. As Robin rushed to the speedster's side, Genie, upon seeing this, summoned a gigantic, wooden baseball bat in his hands before (after transforming himself in a red and white baseball uniform complete with a red baseball cap) he flew towards the Hellions.

"Hey! Swing, batter, batter, batter, _**SWING!**_" Genie roared (with a Boston accent to boot) as he got close and swung his weapon with all of his might. There was a giant conflagration as Genie's magic went toe to toe with Selene's magic. With a bright flash of light, a current of black energy literally coursed through the Disney character's body, electrocuting him in a humorous fashion, before Genie went still, gave out a single cough, and crumbled into a pile of ashes, bat, uniform, and all with only his mouth left intact on top of the pile of charred, smoking ashes, reminiscent of any Looney Tunes cartoon.

"Wow…you're good…" coughed Genie's mouth as she slowly reverted back to normal. Even though she was a mortal, Selene could give Genie's semi-phenomenal cosmic powers a run for his money.

"And you're out!" Jetstream quipped with a wide smirk, quoting the baseball axiom.

Genie pouted with a glare as he strategically retreated backwards to cover Robin and the Flash from Roxas' attack with a parasol umbrella (since his magic was apparently not going to affect this group head-on), protesting, "Hey, only I make the cheesy puns around here, Hellion!"

"And you honestly think we would have left ourselves that vulnerable? After so many battles and fights with your pathetic, backwater lot, we've learned to anticipate and read your every possible move. Rather an uninteresting and unoriginal tactic of your telekinesis, Ms. Grey," Emma Frost couldn't help but conceitedly boast. Jean couldn't help but give Emma Frost a look of icy daggers as Cyclops managed to avoid the spheres to help his girlfriend off the floor.

Selene then had enough as she hefted the black sword in his hands after handing the blue and silver shield Talisman to Emma to hold, eagerly anticipating the bloodbath as she invoked her magic, centuries and centuries of untold and satanic black crafts and knowledge, channeling it into the obsidian blade. With Roxas distracting them and with a considerable amount of heroes outside of Pietro's protective wind magic, Falco and Octavia wouldn't be the only ones to lose their hearts.

And fortunately for Selene, she could do a widespread energy attack with the deadly sword for the same effect, and only a small few were able to notice that the sword in Selene's hands was starting to glow.

But then, a familiar figure appeared from the shadows of the ceiling above, crying out as he aimed his one, unforeseen assault directly at Selene.

"_**Gaia…Fist of the Beast King!**_"

"What?!" Roxas yelled as he and everyone else in the metal chambers were taken by surprise, stopping their attack instantly. Fortunately, the allies of the X-Men and Misfits only needed to back away a bit to avoid the danger as the gigantic, concentrated attack of yellow energy in the shape of a roaring lion's head aimed directly at the young Organization member and the Hellfire Club associates.

"It's Leomon!" Bree exclaimed as she and the other heroes witnessed the attack tearing through the air, leaving it shimmering in its wake.

"Man, that's a huge attack!" winced Wildstar as the magical spell descended down, causing the entire basement level to quiver and rumble madly as if under one of Avalanche's earthquakes. The hooded Keyblade wielder of the Thirteenth Order immediately stopped his energy onslaught before he dashed forward, his whole body being nothing more than a blur of light as the lion's head collided with the Oblivion and the Oathkeeper.

KAWHOOOM!

The resulting, concussive explosion and backlash of air and pressurized force sent both sides stumbling back a bit, though it was Roxas and his allies that took the absolute worst of it. Even with Roxas going on the front lines, the magic from Leomon's attack sailed past the boy and struck the shied Selene and Tarot generated, effectively shattering it and subjecting the mutants inside to a powerful taste of the Gaia Kingdom. With a peal of surging magic, Roxas landed on his feet heavily, skidding rearwards by several meters and his Keyblades still crossed out in front of him. Aside the singed and smoking black cloak and the scuff marks, Roxas was unscathed.

Emma Frost, Selene, and the Hellions weren't as fortunate. With various screams, the Gaia spell sent them flying and crashing in a jumbled heap, rolling and stumbling for a good distance, and even in her transformed diamond mode, the White Queen felt considerable pain striking through her bones and nerves, making them feel as if she was on fire. In fact, there were quite a few cracks on the glassy, smooth surface. Selene, despite being an External, had the worst injuries, with blood now dribbling out of her nose and one corner of her mouth and her entire body streaked with red bruises, some of them immediately turning bright burns and blisters. And the black sword she was hoping to use on the heroes couldn't withstand the Fist of the Beast King.

To Selene's indignation and infuriation, the blade of darkness clattered to the floor before white cracks began to spider-web before her sore eyes, sizzling and hissing as the fractures grew larger and longer. With a final crackle, the sword shattered to pieces and completely broke apart, releasing a plume of vile, thick smoke before the pile of shard evaporated and faded into thin air.

The sword was gone forever more. And Leomon landed softly with his padded, furry, bare feet on the marble and metal floor in front of the Misfits and X-Men before he stood tall and aimed a balled fist at Roxas, showing he was ready to shoot another spell if need be. Roxas cursed; they were at a stalemate.

The flock of heroes was justifiably wary to see Leomon appear again after he deserted them so conveniently before the Heartless attack and Falco's suicide.

"Nice of you to show up when we mostly made the job of catching them easier for you, flea-farm," sniffed Genie, obviously showing not much respect for the Digimon.

"Yeah, so what were you going to do when you were actually going to get up off your butt to fight? When a good portion of us died from the Heartless? Which, by the way, we're fine now with no thanks to you, thank you for asking," Colossus added, using extra sarcasm in the last part of the sentence.

"I just saved your lives. She was going to use that sword as a final attack to take all your hearts," Leomon said shortly, not taking his eyes off Roxas and the Hellion with his right fist still pointed at the congregation from the Hellfire Club, glowing with earth magic.

Some of the heroes understandably didn't buy this.

"Yeah, tell us a new one. Is the word '_stupid_' your middle name?" spat Beast Boy.

"No," Leomon returned evenly without missing a beat, "And is the word 'obnoxious' yours?"

Beast Boy turned beet red from that backhanded return.

"Really?" Roadblock asked with cold steel as he aimed his machine gun at Leomon's back (with Leomon making no move to defend himself as he kept looking at the injured Selene and Roxas), "Why is it I find that excuse just plain silly? After leaving us right before a Heartless ambush and tight situation, I'd be willing to say leading us to our deaths so you'd get the Talismans for yourself is a good explanation."

"Wood, I know he's your bud and all, but I'm never getting used to his rhyming," Faith the Slayer whispered surreptitiously to her lover who simply shrugged in response.

Leomon didn't answer as he continued pointing his fist at the collected enemies.

"Uh…wow, this is hard, _hommes_. Who do we hate more: Leomon or the Hellfire Club and Roxas?" Gambit asked, his fingers tightening along the surface of his metal staff as he charged a five-card hand. Batman, ever so blunt, shushed the Cajun mutant.

"Go with Leomon for now. Something's about to happen."

"You've got to be kidding me. That's sort of like deciding whether to be decapitated or shot on sight," retorted Chao-Ahn the Slayer, but Quentin Blud raised a hand to stop the Chinese girl's tirade.

"No, he's against them as much as we are. And think about it: if he's waiting until now to show up and fight, then that means that there's a damn good reason he's involving himself and that it's a big payoff we can't afford to interrupt or get in the way. Remember Batgirl's prophecy…" the dhampir highlighted.

"Plus, the more firepower we have on our side, the better," admitted Spirit, "And right now, he's fighting them for us."

"You meddled for the last time, furball!" Bevatron the Hellion swore angrily as his fists crackled with bright and searing currents of electrical energy. Emma managed to regain her cool and professional composure as she stood up and idly straightened out her white uniform.

"You will never have the third Talisman. This ends now," Leomon rumbled with the dangerous ferocity only a lion could muster and instill into his prey. Some of the heroes weren't happy that Leomon just destroyed the black sword that was practically irreplaceable. And others were simply confused from his reply to the Hellion.

"Uh…that's kinda obvious since you broke it, Leomon," quipped Bumblebee the Titan dryly at Leomon's statement. Beach Head, not surprisingly, was less civil and diplomatic.

"_**You goddamned idiot!**_" roared Beach Head, turning beet red underneath his ski-mask, "Are you completely insane?! You destroyed one of the Talismans! You just screwed over all of us! Now we can't ever get our friends back!"

But then Leomon's voice broke through calmly, thought intense and loud enough to be heard over the din.

"That wasn't the real Talisman. The sword was a fake. That was **not** the third Talisman of Twilight."

"Huh?!" exclaimed a good number of heroes in unison, confused and not sure if they heard correctly. The Hellions look startled that Leomon was able to guess it so easily and concretely. Emma frowned while Selene gave the lion warrior a searing look of daggers. Roxas' face betrayed no emotion.

Emma then drawled with smug and arrogant pleasure as she pointed out, "Too little, too late, my unrefined and slow Leomon. We still have two of the Talismans."

The X-Men and Misfits' collective heads popped up.

"Clever," Storm said with distaste.

Luthor and the other members of the Inner Circle apparently thought of this ruse quite well.

And Falco and Octavia fell for it completely for it was the best way to ensure that it would not only bring the Talismans to the Organization's hands and eliminate them with one fell swoop, but in a way where it would ensure that the heroes and the Keyblade wielders would have difficulty in interfering.

"You're not going to have them for long!" Magma snapped, going into her flame mode.

"But then…if the sword of black was false, then where is the third Talisman of Twilight? Was it not said that all three would appear to fight for this Sovereign of the three priests?" Starfire the Titan asked, her green eyes wide and puzzled.

"That's impossible. All the priests are dead! Falco said so before he killed himself!" Speedy the Titan said with confusion.

"Maybe your premonition was wrong, Batgirl," Wolverine suggested to the female Gotham Knight, recalling that her foretelling via the Phoenix Force clearly stated that all three of the coveted Talismans would appear here and now together along with the Priests joining in the fight for this "Sovereign". Batgirl honestly couldn't say for certain.

"Doesn't matter anyway, you twits…" rasped Selene, wiping the blood from her mouth as her healing factor kicked in from the lion's magical assault, "None of you would even be able to use the mirror and the shield even if you **did** get it from us. The third Talisman is as good as ours."

Oh she was going to relish draining each and every one of these deluded and irritating heroes out of their life energy to the last molecule within. But then Leomon's next sentence puzzled even her.

"No, you'll **never **get the third Talisman," the lion growled in a low yet assured voice as he then reached behind his back and grasped at his weapon's handle in his massive paw. With that, he slowly and methodically withdrew his bronze blade from the black, leather, scabbard.

It was then that a sharp few were able to guess the truth, of why Leomon waited for the Talismans to be revealed, why he showed up now, and why he wasn't attacking Roxas and the representatives of the Hellfire Club…and it made them all the more shocked.

Wavedancer could only blurt out, her face blanching, "Wait a minute!"

"Oh my God…" Black Widow said slowly. Hawkgirl mentally berated herself for not seeing it before.

"Of course!" exclaimed Robin the Teen Titan, his eyes wide behind his mask as the pieces fell in place. Shipwreck, not surprisingly, had no idea what was happening.

"Uh…can someone explain what the big deal is? Why are you looking at Leomon like that?" the Joe sailor asked, befuddled. Shannon the Slayer then asked in a hushed but befuddled tone.

"Leomon, what are you talking about?! They have two of the Talismans! They'll use it to find the third one! And none of us know where it is! They're going to get away! And we'll never be able to rescue our friends' hearts!"

"No, they won't…" Leomon declared with grave finality as he held his hilt-less sword out in front of him, aloft for all to behold before he declared in a booming, final voice, "**BECAUSE **_**I**_** HAVE THE THIRD TALISMAN!**"

That one statement got everyone's attention as that all exclaimed the same word simultaneously as they whirled at the lion-humanoid, startled.

"_**WHAT?!**_"

Rio the Shaman couldn't help but ask dumbly, "In…in _your_ heart?"

But Sango then guessed the truth as she clarified for those listening around her, "No, in his hand. He's _holding_ the last Talisman."

And there, villain, tyrant, Nobody, and hero alike, looked upon with wonder, surprise, and awe at the light gleaming off the bronze and copper-colored hilt-less blade in the gargantuan paw. And Leomon looked deadly serious, so it was highly unlikely he was joking.

Leomon's sword was the final and missing Talisman of Twilight.

Wolverine and Batman's mouths thinned. This explained why Leomon was so intent on his mission for the Talismans and why he left so quickly before they discovered Falco and Octavia; because he didn't want to endanger his sword during the ambush underground.

"Goddess…" Storm murmured, her mouth slightly dropping in astonishment.

"So who did you have to kill to get it, you cowardly lion _connarde_?" Gambit groused uncharitably at Leomon, but then Raven the Titan's eyes went wide with recollection at the fateful event when Trigon managed to temporarily conquer Earth…and how Leomon freed her using the very same sword he was holding now.

"He didn't kill anyone. He **had** the Talisman all along," she said, looking at the neighboring allies around her.

"Wait…if you had the Talisman, why didn't you tell us in the _first_ place?!" Scarlet Witch demanded angrily.

"You'll see why…" was all Leomon said, mysteriously as the Hellfire Club and Roxas looked upon Leomon with varying ranges of disbelief, calculation, and fury. And as much as Emma and Selene would be willing to attack for the sword, unless they had powerful reinforcements, they wouldn't have been able to easily get it from Leomon.

"Is this furball for real?!" gasped Roulette the Hellion as she gazed upon the sword, "I mean, this is practically the weirdest set-up and kick to the teeth in our favor!"

"No, he has to be lying," said Jetstream in a hard voice, "Otherwise the Organization would have known beforehand."

"Organization Thirteen is powerful, but it isn't omniscient, brat," Leomon growled, one corner of his mouth bared.

Roxas, however, believed it quite plainly the first time, and he actually showed cold anger of disbelief, a rare occurrence if there ever was one.

"Impossible!" he shouted with rage, "You can't harness its powers! Only a Priest of Twilight can wield the…"

He trailed off as the possibility hit him.

"You…" Roxas hissed coldly. But then that meant…

"No way!" Multiple, Cover Girl, and Trinity all exclaimed in unison as they looked at Leomon.

Leomon's blue eyes glittered with suppressed ferocity only a lion could muster, dangerous, impressive, and foreboding, as he spoke, his husky voice growing louder with each word of emotion, "The priest that you killed was a willing decoy, pal. I'm the _**real and third**_ Priest of Twilight…for I am Leomon, the last of the Digimon and warrior of the Digital realm, steward of the Elementa Kingdom of Gaia, and my sword you see right now is the final piece of the Elementa Trinity and the final Talisman of Twilight you've been looking for…THE LIONHEART BLADE!"

There was several seconds of flabbergasted silence as the heroes and the enemies took this all in. Really, this was enough to take anyone by surprise; not even Batman thought of this possibility.

"A willing decoy?" echoed Blind Master hoarsely, "So…Leomon's the real thing?!"

"Impossible! The Organization was sure they killed the third Priest long ago!" Selene screamed with rage.

"And thus, the decoy was successful since you all fell for it," Leomon said flippantly, his gruff voice having a tinge of sarcastic venom in it.

Willow Rosenberg was actually quite jovial and flustered with relief as she spoke out loud, her mind racing through thoughts so fast, it made her edgy, as she went on, "Oh wow…that explains why he's so powerful! He's a Priest of Twilight! Or…he's the only Priest of Twilight, although Falco didn't seem to know otherwise he would have told us before he killed himself. Not that he should have done it in the first place, but Leomon might not even be the real priest since Falco and Octavia didn't know…although maybe he was trained as an apprentice beforehand – hee hee, Leomon as a priest's apprentice is actually a little funny when you think about the little white robe and him reading at a desk and - "

"**Willow…**" Wood cut in with emphasis in that _now-is-not-the-time-to-be-babbling_ sort of tone of voice.

"Is anyone else getting a headache here?" Edurado asked, holding a head to his throbbing temple.

Emma Frost's red lips then grew into a smile before she said, "Well, then I must personally thank you, Leomon. You were kind enough to deliver us the final piece we need."

The White Queen had a good point. Any rational person would have gone to the furthest regions away from the Organization to keep the Talisman as far away from them as possible.

"You _**really**_ didn't think this through, did ya'?" asked Blob with one raised eyebrow at the Digimon's apparent foolishness.

Leomon's demeanor did not change. In fact, he was gravely stern and assertive.

"Like hell it will. The Talismans will never be yours," Leomon said with finality as he then extended out his other paw as his aura began to increase exponentially, his entire yellow and orange furred body radiating with the essence of comforting earth magic. To everyone's astonishment, right on the white marble floor, streams of brown light began to glow and traverse into a pattern until the symbol of Gaia (like the one that had been on Lance's forehead) was clearly outlined and encompassing around the large form of Leomon. Roaring, a pillar of earth seemed to grow all around him as he was encased with halos of light. With that, the lion's body and his sword especially began to shimmer and blaze with the purest tone of the color brown, the winds and air revolving around his feet as a miniature cyclone and causing his fur and mane to stand up on end and weave in the air back and forth, like seaweed during the ebbing of the tide of the ocean. And in response, the bronze sword in the warrior's hands began to hum and vibrate with a whine as each and every portion of the Talisman of Earth was outlined with pure, holy light, encased in an orb of radiance as white as snow.

And it wasn't the only one either.

"Hey! What gives?!" Monet the Hellion cried as the Save the King shield that Emma entrusted her to hold began to vibrate painfully like Leomon's Lionheart, and it too was encased with a bubble of holy light. And to Monet's horror, it was starting to move of its own free will, floating towards Leomon as if under a strong magnetic pull, and no matter how hard Monet pulled and tried to dig her feet in, she couldn't stop it. Upon seeing this, Emma had a sudden amount of dread ball in her abdomen as she then felt a similar sensation in her hand. Looking down, she saw that the Enchanted Mirror she was grasping was glowing in the same telltale light.

"Hellions, kill him!" ordered Emma Frost as she used both of her hands as well as the increased strength from her diamond form to maintain her grasp on the handle of the Talisman, attempting to slow down its trajectory while Money resorted to using her telekinesis to keep the shield in place. The other Hellions along with Selene powered up to attack the priest while Roxas decided to go for the direct route and charged, his Keyblades ready to lop of the Digimon's head as he became nothing more than a white, instant, blur.

Thankfully, Leomon was quicker as before Emma even gave out her order, he spoke in a hollow, ethereal voice not unlike his usual timbre.

"_In the name of the Elementa Trinity, in the name of the Gaia Kingdom…_" Leomon softly spoke, his words still echoing across the foyer.

With a growing and painful burst of luminescence, the sword, shield, and mirror all burst forth with a intense outpouring of illumination, nearly blinding everyone and actually burning poor Monet's arms in the process because of her skin contact with the metal handles of the shield. Screaming in pain and fury, the teenage Hellion released her hold, her arms shaking with the trauma of now sporting third degree burns on her smooth skin. And Emma Frost felt a powerful and severe flow of power actually stream into her body like electricity, and despite the protective defenses of being completely diamond, the talisman became too hot and painful for her to hold. Not to mention that she was blinded temporarily by the strong flash of light that practically seared her corneas and she dropped to her knees, rubbing her tender eye-sockets as she reverted back to her flesh and blood form temporarily.

And Roxas found out the hard way that all three of the Talismans together produced an opposing force that he couldn't break. With a crash, the Organization's Keyblader soldier was vigorously shoved backwards by a pressurized wave of invisible energy, his Keyblade hacking nothing but empty air. And a split-second later, the hooded warrior was vehemently propelled and hurtled backwards like a rocket, slamming against the far wall with bone-shattering impact and leaving a human-sized dent in the metal surface. And Selene, Emma, and the other Hellions followed suit, despite Tarot attempting to use another Shield Card and Jetstream attempting to shoot himself at Leomon with his mutant powers, fists first.

"AAAAAA!" they all screamed as they too were sent soaring in the air as the light heaved them like rag dolls, rendering them extremely weakened, dazed, and confounded. Now clear, there was nothing left between the heroes and the three Talismans as the shield and mirror, as if guided by invisible hands, flew and hovered in front of the heroes, positioning themselves just so that they were forming a special, equilateral triangle with Leomon's weapon.

Once aligned, the three objects began to vibrate even more visibly, their auras filling up the entire room with wisps of air, cold mist and salty smells of an ocean, and the warmth of Leomon's earth magic radiating from his body.

The Lionheart Blade.

The Enchanted Mirror.

The Save the King.

Leomon continued to say regally, holding out his free paw to the shield and mirror, "_In the name of the Sovereign and the Champion, restore the hearts you protect. Bring the hearts from the darkness and resurrect them into the light…_"

"_**What?!**_" gasped a good number of startled heroes, but it immediately became apparent that Leomon said exactly what they thought as to their further disbelief and flabbergasted wonder, the mirror and the shield began to shimmer a bit before emerging from them…were two, glowing, pink heart crystals.

"Whoa!" Magma exclaimed, her hands to her mouth and her eyes so wide, they looked as if they were in danger of popping out, "Wait! Those two hearts! They couldn't be…could they?"

But Amara was correct in her guess as the hearts distanced themselves a bit away from the two Talismans, and to the heroes alarm, pools of shadows were starting to gather underneath the hearts before the dark murky shadows grew, rising and forming strange yet humanoid shapes with beady yellow eyes that looked almost like…

"Heartless…" Hawkgirl growled as she readied her mace, but Leomon called out to stop the Thanagarian.

"No, leave them be! This needs to happen! Do not attack them!" the lion warned.

"As if! What the hell are you doing?!" Agent Jay of the Ghostbusters snapped as he readied his proton pistol and aimed at the two figures of darkness next to the mirror and the shield.

"_**Just trust me!**_" Leomon roared back, and a good number of heroes looked like they'd rather jump off a cliff than take that suggestion. However, Raven easily pushed her way through before she strongly yelled over the din.

"We do! Just do whatever you need to!" she yelled, a hint of emotion in the deadpanned yet loud tone of her voice. And from the resolute look on her face, she was serious.

"Raven, are you nuts?! Apparently, you take Stockholm Syndrome to a whole new level!" protested the Titan Cyborg (which earned him a rather baleful and menacing death glare from Raven).

"Just trust him! If you won't give him the benefit of the doubt, then give **me** the benefit of the doubt!" Raven snapped.

Piper Halliwell agreed wholeheartedly as she yelled, "Look, he wouldn't just protect us just to raise Heartless! And he's a Priest of Twilight, and if the Organization wanted them dead and if Leomon's done enough to save us and fight the Heartless, then maybe that's enough to trust him on this one at least!"

"In case you've forgotten, you prissy witch, but it's because of Leomon that a good number of Joes are dead!" snapped Beach Head, getting into the Charmed One's face. Piper simply went toe to toe with the army Ranger and looked him steely in the eye.

"And in case **you've** forgotten, butthead, he made a stand against Falco and Octavia after Blackheart attacked the Pit and he tried to defend you! He got mistreated and shunned for making his decision to side with you!" the Wiccan female pointed out with a hiss.

Toad thankfully managed to break the argument between the Joe and the Ghostbuster as he pointed at the two black, gelatinous shapes, crying out, "You guys, look!"

The forms, now substantial and solid and gleaming under the light of the Talismans, shuddered a bit as the two hearts slowly descended and merged into the torso areas of the Heartless humanoids, the crystal giving a faint gleam of light as they faded. To everyone's amazement, the Heartless' bodies began to flash from the exact area their hearts were residing before they transformed before the heroes' very eyes, webs of white encompassing the black and forming arms, fingers, legs, skin, and…feathers?

In less than several seconds, the two Heartless, no having regained their lost souls, transformed into Falco Lombardi and Octavia, their eyes closed and their faces serene and peaceful, standing tall and in behind the mirror and shield talismans.

"FALCO AND OCTAVIA?!" chorused many of the dumbfounded heroes in unison.

"Holy smokes!" shouted Shipwreck, dazed before he turned to Leomon and asked in a alarmed whisper, "You…you can bring people back from the dead? Cure them from the Heartless thingie?"

"Only those whose hearts were linked to the Talismans or who were completely overcome to the darkness since I'm a Priest of Twilight," Leomon answered shortly without averting his gaze or even moving a muscle.

Avalanche then suddenly recalled that tense stand-down after the resulting devastation Blackheart laid upon the G.I. Joe Pit, the one that resulted in the deaths of a few loyal and beloved Joes and where they discovered that Leomon was secretly a part of Octavia and Falco's troupe…

_"I thought it would be the only way to see whom out of your group would be the one chosen to wield the Keyblade along with finding out if the Talismans were in the hearts of people who resided here at the Pit."_

_"So you __**let**__ them attack us?! So that you could find which of our hearts had the Talismans like Falco said?! That's why you let so many Joes die right now?!"_

_"Yes. But I wouldn't have - "_

He left the sentence unfinished, but the Misfit geokinetic then knew what Leomon was going to tell them.

"Let them die…" Lance whispered. A few next to him turned, puzzled, as well as Leomon who overhead this statement and was regarding the mutant geokinetic with his trademark frown. Avalanche spoke more clearly, as if affirming.

"**That's** what you were going to tell us when Blackheart killed some of the Joes when he attacked the Pit," Avalanche went on strongly, "**That's** why you never told us that you have the third Talisman, why you wanted to find them before Falco and Octavia, and what you were going to say before we kicked you out of the Pit. You were going to tell us that you had the ability to save the people who had the other two Talismans in their hearts, that you could give them back their hearts without sacrificing them. You were going to tell us that you wouldn't have let them die. You weren't going to kill anyone. **That's** what you wanted to tell us at first."

Leomon then has a slim ghost of a smile turn his mouth upwards. He nodded.

"Amazing…" was all Martian Manhunter could utter, his red eyes wide as he and the others could only stare at the miracle.

"_Mein Gott!_ That…that's impossible! Resurrection of anyone else goes against everything in the Catholic teachings!" Kurt couldn't help but blurt out in shock as he crossed himself. Leomon shook his head.

"A death by losing one's heart is not a normal death you're thinking of, Nightcrawler," the third Priest answered.

And immediately afterwards, the halos of light surrounding Falco and Octavia faded before the two of them slowly regained consciousness and opened their eyes. Falco felt so woozy and his head felt as if someone filled in interior of his skull with mud, and he nearly lost his balance as he held one throbbing temple.

What happened? The last thing the avian remembered was…

The memory of the black sword being plunged into his chest, his final attempt to end his pain, as well as Selene the Black Queen stabbing the imprisoned Octavia and stealing her heart to reveal the mirror then hit him like a ton of bricks.

"So I'm dead…" the Cornerian pilot muttered sadly to himself. As much as he was glad he could see Fox, Slippy, and Peppy again, he was so ashamed.

"Falco!" gasped a familiar voice, and startled and completely struck dumb, Falco jerked his head towards the sound to see a joyful Octavia, looking at her close friend and fellow priest with nothing less than pure bliss and ecstasy, grateful he was all right.

"Octavia?!" Falco, likewise, truly never looked so happy, relieved, and confused all in one priceless expression. In fact, he was actually delighted. Had times been less dire, Leomon would have actually smiled; deep down, that was the vulnerable side of the avian…

Unfortunately, now was a dire time.

"Falco, Octavia!" yelled Leomon, and the falcon and the octopus woman both looked up to see Leomon holding his sword and glowing in hues of brown, right in front of a shocked and bewildered group of the X-Men, the Misfits, the Joes, and their allies. Their exhilaration melted away into puzzled confusion.

"Leomon?!" Octavia asked, blinking.

He was with them, in this place?

"How in the name of Starfox are you - ?!" Falco blurted out, his beak dropping slightly open. Leomon hurriedly cut off the blue-feathered avian.

"Grab the Talismans and establish the Elementa Trinity! Hurry, for crying out loud! The Organization's not far behind!"

That point hit home as Falco and Octavia immediately forgot their previous grudge and mistrust towards the Digimon as they nodded.

"Uh…should we be comfortable with this?" warned Jericho of the Phantom Investigators, the paranormal adolescent eyeing the three with unease, "We don't know what's gonna happen or if this is even a good thing. Heck, we don't even know if they're really on our side!"

"Would you rather let the Organization and the Hellfire Club have the Talismans?!" shouted Spirit fiercely.

"He has a point! We don't know what we're dealing with, and this is less troublesome! Let's just see what this does!" Wolverine yelled with authority, and realizing that this was probably the best option, the crowd was forced to watch as Falco and Octavia, with respective looks of ferocious resolve and tentative shock, reached out and grabbed the shield and the mirror.

Instantly, Octavia's body began to glow in a deep, azure blue as the symbol of the Aquara Kingdom actually began to form and glow underneath her feet, creating streams of water to swirl in a soft whirlpool around the Priest of Water, the azure markings of light etching the symbol of the floor exactly like Leomon's. Likewise, as Falco carefully slid his left wing through the two arm-supports of the blue and silver metal shield, he was suddenly glowing in a similar fashion, his body radiating in pure silver as the insignia of the Aeroga Kingdom formed a pillar of wind to protect and encapsulate the Priest of the Skies. Both of them glowing and channeling their respective Elementa magic and kingdoms exactly like Leomon.

Three pillars, three Talismans, three Priests, a lion, an octopus, and a falcon, all of them representing…

"The powers of Land, Sea, and Air…" gasped Batgirl as the words of her premonition came instantly and clearly into her mind. But that was not all as suddenly, the mirror, the shield, and the sword each gave off a furious discharge of gold and white, beams of holy essence radiating everywhere from each of the three points of the trinity as a golden triangle of light began to form between Leomon, Falco, and Octavia, each talisman (and Priest of Twilight) being a point in the shape.

"A golden triangle! Well whaddaya know, Batgirl! Your Phoenix Force powers are working in our favor! It's coming true, just like you said!" Roland the Extreme Ghostbuster said with awe, recalling the words.

There was a gigantic and blinding flood of white, and everyone around, enemy and ally alike yelped as they shielded their eyes as the growing upheaval of luminosity engulfed the whole room and the entire grounds of Shaw Industries, effectively causing Allo to stumble and catching him by surprise as it disintegrated his magical barrier and erased it as if it were nothing while the Dinosaucers and Secret Scouts brawled with the Thirteenth Order outside and above…

_**FFLLLLAASSSSSSSSSHHHHHHH!**_

"What's going on?! I can't see anything!" yelled Caridad the Slayer yelled as she shielded her eyes, hoping that she wouldn't go blind.

"Captain, permission to fire?" Black Widow asked coolly as she readied her machine guns, but Steve voiced his order strongly.

"No, Black Widow, at ease for now! As strange as it sounds, I think we **can** trust Leomon and the other Priests, especially if it means we can gain back all the people who lost their hearts - !" but before Captain America could finish with his reasoning, the light slowly faded. At first, everyone was furiously trying to regain their bearings and recovering from the sensory overload. But as they looked around, adjusting as quickly as they could, they could see that unfortunately, nothing really changed. They were all still alive and upright, Falco, Octavia, and Leomon were still holding the Talismans of Twilight, and Roxas and the Hellions were as confused as they were. No floating hearts, none of the people who died were back, n portal, nothing.

The Flash was clearly now in a foul mood as he griped, "_**That's it?!**_ That's what we were nearly killed for?! A whole lot of nothing?! Gee, so much for this whole '_the-fate-of-the-fight-against-the-Heartless-depends-on-this-fight_' mission being actually important! I had to interrupt my beauty sleep and a dream that I was in the Playboy Mansion with a conga line of swimsuit Bunnies for **THIS**?!"

Batman's hand firmly clamped on the speedster's shoulder as he curtly got Wally's attention.

"Flash."

"Yeah?"

"Up."

Blinking, the red-clad looked upwards at the ceiling above everyone's heads before he then saw what Batman was indicating.

"Oh," was all that Wally could say (although he hated it when Bruce made him feel like an idiot).

And there, in the very center of where the triangle once was, hovering high and behold for all to see, was the secret revealed by the three Talismans of Twilight.

It was a small, white statue of a female angel.

The entire figurine was intricate, carved from the smoothest and purest form of material that some could say was a transcended form of marble. The angel was a slim and yet beautiful woman with long, billowing hair and pupil-less eyes and a long, flowing gown of white worn around her body and curves. Her face was serene, perhaps even peacefully content, and the wings behind the angel's back were spread out in full-view, each feather marvelously carved and shining in a beautiful pattern all along the wingspan. But what was the most noticeable about the white bronze was the object that the figure was holding out in front on her in her outstretched arms and hands, as if she was bestowing a gift to the heavens above. In the center of her cupped palms was a small insignia of a heart with a keyhole inside it, like the one that was displayed on Althea's scepter. And in front of this symbol was a miniature depiction of a small and seemingly ordinary cup that liked remarkably similar to a wine glass. But the glass was so small; it was barely a quarter of an inch tall.

And the statue of the angel itself was not that much bigger; it was only about a foot large, and the wingspan of the treasured object could have been no more than a foot and a half. All around it, it was encased in a bubble of warm, translucent light, glowing softly in the air high above everyone's heads

This was the one moment Leomon, Falco, and Octavia had been waiting for, fighting for, toiling and searching for so many years…

Still, despite this, nothing…happened.

Despite the brilliant light show and the reunion of the three Priests of Twilight and their weapons of power, there was absolutely nothing that appeared, no glorious display of the Sovereign or the Champion, nothing.

To say that a select few (especially Falco) were disappointed was an understatement.

"The Sovereign!" Falco cried, looking around wildly, "What happened?! Did we do it wrong?!"

Oh Peppy and Fox and Slippy forgive him…if he made a mistake…

"Hn." Regardless of the situation, it appeared that Hiei's trademark response always seemed to be rather deadpanned and yet appropriate as he eyed the floating object above.

"Uh…so that's it? That's what we've been after this whole time?" blinked Blind Master as he stared at the white effigy hovering above (oddly enough, despite being blind, it really did seem like he was staring at it).

"I know. I'm disappointed too," Garrett said from his wheelchair.

The Flash pouted as he complained, "This **still **wasn't worth interrupting the Playboy Bunny dream…"

"Flash?" Hawkgirl asked in a deadpanned voice.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up," chorused the female Justice League Founder and a good number around her.

Shipwreck then had a lewd smile as he whispered to Flash surreptitiously, "Y'know, we **do** have a handy-dandy invention called the McGuffin Device…"

"Pop?" Wavedancer said in a deadpanned voice, her sharp ears catching this whisper.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up," she said along with a good number around her (and not surprisingly, this included Storm and Avalanche).

Faith the Slayer then recalled the meeting they had a while ago at Xavier's Institute, when they all saw the visions that Jean managed to extract out of Pluto's mind for one brief moment, saying, "Hey, hold up! Isn't that angel thing the same one that Red saw when she tried to look into Pluto's mind?"

It clicked in everyone's heads.

"Leomon, what **is** that?" Storm asked, her eyes wide.

But before Leomon could answer, Selene of the Hellfire Club flew as quick as lightning, recovering enough to realize that she could make her attempt now while the heroes were so foolishly observing the prize. Though still bleeding and her bruises and burns have yet to fully fade away, the External mutant tore through the air at speeds that could have rivaled Quicksilver and Cannonball. Though she had no idea exactly what the figurine was, the Black Queen was sharp enough to guess that this was supposedly a most prized and important reason of infinite power, the main reason why the Talismans of Twilight and the Elementa Trinity were so coveted by the Priests of the King and Organization Thirteen.

She could be a god at last! If this was linked to the fabled Kingdom Hearts, she would rule all, just like the Experiment!

Before any of the heroes could do anything, Leomon then held up a massive paw to signal them to cease.

"Wait for it," he said calmly.

Selene was salivating with pure euphoria and delightful anticipation as she felt the comforting warmth and aura of the light surrounding the statuette wafting her skeletal fingers, soaring closer and closer before those heroic naïfs…

_**Kassshhhiiiinnnngggg!**_

So she was certainly more than bewildered and infuriated when the instant her clawed fingers got within inches of the figurine, there was an abrupt, vigorous and keenly violent flare of white. Before she even could comprehend it, Selene was once again sent flying, rammed aside by an invisible yet oppressive force far more powerful than the first incandescence of light caused by the trinity formed by the three Talismans of Twilight. And she slammed back into the far end of the room along with Emma and the other Hellions (who all, in self-preservation, hastily got out of her way), crashing to the surface with such bone-breaking impact that despite her invulnerability due to her immortality, it even made her dizzy. And to add injury to the insult, her hands were now cracked and charred, her once flawless skin now crusty and burned beyond any recognition.

"You can't touch it, you filthy witch," Leomon snarled with malice, "The Sovereign's Chalice, her essence, cannot be handled by something like you. Only those worthy can be allowed to harness it."

"Does it do that to everyone who touches it, _mon ami_?" gulped Remy, blanching.

"No, it's just that Selene is a special case…and thankfully, it's enough as a protective safeguard for the Grail," Octavia said at last, the magical weapon in her hands still being protectively clutched close to her body. A good number of the other heroes looked at the female Tigershark in confusion.

"A grail?" asked Felicia the catgirl before she made a little noise of questioning puzzlement like a true feline before pointing out, her knowledge of the Catholicism coming to her, "Uh…that's not a grail or anything close to a grail. And unless you're saints or apostles of Jesus Christ, that ain't the Holy Grail either."

But Batman then knew it as he voiced slowly in his deep voice, "Felicia, what is another synonym for the word 'grail'?"

The white-furred catgirl blinked. She didn't know…

"Uh…a cup?" tried Yoh the Shaman only to earn him a disapproving glare and condescending look for his wrong guess from the Dark Knight of Gotham.

"Christ the Lord?" Nightcrawler asked. Another glare.

"Chalice…" Leomon said softly, and Batman nodded.

Kylie the Ghostbusters then gasped as she remembered going to a private seminar with Egon and several of the Ghostbusters long ago, attending a discussion of symbology at Harvard University taught by a famous and world-renowned Dr. Robert Langdon. She said, "It's a word play. _Chalice_ is a term that identifies a symbol meaning 'female'. That's why that statue can be called a grail, because it's a figurine of a woman."

Several were then starting to see it.

"In other words, this Sovereign of Twilight, the one that can use this angel figurine you've been trying to get from the Talismans - " Paige Halliwell began in a hushed tone.

"…is a woman, a female, one who hopefully resides here in this planet if we can find her on time," Leomon finished gravely.

"And she will never emerge, you fool!" snarled a familiar voice, and everyone turned to see ten portals of darkness emerge in front of Selene, Roxas, Emma Frost, and the Hellions right before the figures entered the very same room…

"Oh crap," Low Light muttered as the soldiers of Organization walked through the murky shadows, appearing before their very eyes. Save for Vexen and Demyx, all of them were now beside the representatives of the Inner Circle, their hoods lowered off their heads, and the heroes and the Priests now all could see that the robed soldiers were certainly inflamed and looked like as if they've gone worse for wear. One of Xaldin's dragoon lances had completely lost one of its spear-head, a apoplectic and murderous Larxene had deep, parallel gashes across her face (no doubt from one of the Dinosaucer's claws), bleeding and dripping down her pale skin, Zexion's black robe and leather boots had multiple gashes, tears, and burns from energy blasts and physical pummeling, Lexaeus was visibly limping, and even the normally cheerful and cocky Axel seemed moodily resentful and irritated, primarily because of the red bruise swelling up on one side of his face (that Sarah the Secret Scout caused when she delivered the right hook to his jaw). Only the last and front-most member of the Thirteenth Order seemed pretty much unscathed and unhurt as he angrily pulled out his hood down.

"You could not maintain the Talismans in your possession?" growled the now revealed and feared leader of Organization Thirteen, throwing a simmering and restrained glare of disappointment and blame at Roxas who had trouble maintaining his gaze at the glowing red eyes.

"We have no more Heartless, my Lord, and the heroes are far too powerful for myself to take on. It was by nothing short of a miracle that we've been able to stall them for this long."

Wavedancer and the other Misfits perked their heads up. If Roxas was being incredibly submissive to this being, then that meant…

"That's the Superior?!" blinked Storm. The enigmatic man turned out to be tall and striking as well as menacing, with tan skin and a deep voice that commanded obedience and authority. His face was flawless and perhaps a bit feminine, but his eyes actually had red pupils and were narrowed along with a bared snarl from his mouth. And he had a long mane of scraggly, almost spiky, hair of silver. But though appearing no more intimidating than anyone else they had tangled with, the X-Men and Misfits knew better to underestimate him, especially if he's the prime member of a group that commands and controls the Heartless.

"Any ideas, Scott? Logan?" whispered Jean fearfully at Wolverine and her boyfriend.

"Try to stay alive and stop them from getting that Chalice angel?" Xi suggested. Cyclops and Jean threw Xi a dirty and exasperated look.

"Let me clarify: something **other** than the obvious?" Jean asked sardonically, her voice dry. This sarcasm unfortunately didn't register with the lizard.

"Oh! Well in that case, no," Xi admitted blithely as he got his Rainforest Scale Keyblade out in front and ready for battle. The Superior then flourished out his weapons, and for the first time, the heroes saw two thin beams of red light, as crimson as freshly spilled blood, forming hilt-less swords. In fact, they were exactly like dual light-sabers from the "Star Wars" movie.

Roy Harper said in surprise as he eyed the glowing red sabers in the Superior's hands, "Good thing George Lucas isn't here, or we'd have a lawsuit!"

"Speedy, not now!" groaned Mas y Menos in English.

"Your Dinosaucer friends have given me much trouble…" hissed the Superior, standing with his back erect and his head held high, "I'll personally see to it that none of you heroes leave here alive for that annoying tactic."

"No…" whispered Whitelighter tearfully to himself. Did he kill them?

Blind Master then said strongly, leaning over to his son and his voice low, "Whitelighter, your Dad won't go down easily and neither will the others. Have faith in that. But concentrate on fighting now."

"Bring it, _mon ami_!" Gambit snarled, showing one hand that was full of charged kinetic cards, "We not afraid of you, _connarde_!"

"Gambit…" Quentin said slowly, not taking his eyes off the Superior, his senses now raising alarms in his nerves and rational thought to the level of Defcon-4, "On a scale from one to ten, if the Hellions are a two, and if Selene and Emma Frost are around seven or eight, and if Roxas in a ten, that Superior is an _**eleven**_."

"That's…pretty bad, comrade," winced Piotr, realizing that if a dhampir and field leader of the Ghostbusters was wary of the Organization's leader…

"He's _**that**_ powerful, yo?!" gulped an ashen-faced Toad, feeling his faith and confidence wane a bit.

"He's on the same level as that one-winged angel Heartless Wavedancer fought against at Slayer Academy in London, no question."

Quicksilver shut his eyes at the memory and groaned with sarcasm, "Thank you, Quentin, as if I didn't have enough reasons to lose control of my bladder right now."

"TMI, Pietro," Tabitha said with annoyance, rolling her eyes at the Misfit speedster. But at the same time, Falco and Octavia's collective jaws dropped open as it was as if a veil had been lifted from their eyes and memories. That face, the long mane of silver hair, almost white, the dark-skin and red eyes…

There was absolutely no mistake about it.

"Xehanort!" gasped Octavia, now absolutely sure that she was correct as she clutched the Enchanted Mirror tightly to her bosom in fear while Falco just grit his teeth his anger, his mouth compressed into a grim line. Leomon, however, was a bit taken by surprise as he overhead the Tigershark's exclamation.

"_Who?_" Leomon blurted out, puzzled and with one eyebrow raised. He, unlike Falco and Octavia, had no idea who the Superior was or his true identity. The leader, however, heard it quite clearly, and from the way his face marred and furrowed with dangerous and immeasurable rage, it was clear he didn't appreciate being called the moniker.

"My name is _**Xemnas**_…" he hissed his correction with ire, looking absolutely demonic and unholy under the light of blood bathing him and his black cloak.

---

Back at the G.I. Joe Pit, when the statue of the angel was released by the three Talismans of Twilight and appeared at Shaw Industries in a blazing glory of illumination…

The golden-furred hound, Pluto, practically cried out in pain, jerking awake from his slumber as he napped in Trinity's room in peace, feeling the alien yet distinct surge of essence of…twilight?

Pluto was still for about a minute as the horror of what that meant dawned on him. If all the Talismans had been found, then he knew exactly what that meant and how the Superior and his Organization would not be too far behind.

With a nod of his head, the Disney dog squatted on his haunches and his eyes began to flash in a white light before a portal appeared in front of him, and without further ado, Pluto dove into the swirling vortex to the one place of the ultimate battle.

**Author's Notes: This was the other reason why I took so long with this update. Originally, I planned this to be one chapter, but well…this went over eighty pages and still counting, and I didn't want to post an eighty-plus page chapter to read all at once, so I decided to split it into two, even though it took me over two months to write this as one…**

**Fictives: coughlosercough**

**Fictives, DON'T PUSH IT!**

**Fictives: You're writing an eighty-page plus chapter for people you don't even know. coughnutwithnosociallifecough**

**Anyway, before I get my trusty sledgehammer on the fictives, the bright side is that the next chapter will arrive much quicker than this update! Stay tuned for "And To Think We're Not Even At The Gathering Yet" where if you think the fighting's been intense so far, you haven't seen nothing yet! Team-ups, Fastball Specials, and various combo attacks as the X-Men and Misfits fight to protect their friends and the angel statue from the Organization's clutches! But can they succeed, even against fighting Xemnas and his order in a full out brawl without any sign of the Sovereign or Champion of Twilight? Folks check back in two weeks (hopefully, Lord willing) as one of the fiercest all-out grudge matches in this universe's history takes place!**

**Fictives: coughdramaqueencough**

**You know what, forget the sledgehammer. I need something sharp and pointy!**

**Until then, read and enjoy! Constructive criticism welcome!**


	38. ATTWNATGY Demyx and Vexen

**Author's Note: First of all, I apologize for delaying this for over a year. I ask all of you readers for forgiveness for making you wait. What happened was a combination of real life, writer's block, and trying my best to get this chapter finished before I could post anything. Since this was going to be a big fight scene, I first thought that concentrating on making it perfect while getting it finished before posting anything would be the best way to go. Over a year later, I now have a three-hundred page chapter that's still growing, and not even completed and hardly any creative juices. So, I then decided to settle on the advice of a dear friend to post what I have done and eventually hope that this will get the writing flowing back into me. And the reason why this scene is important to me is because I'm concentrating on giving all the groups that went down with the X-Men and Misfits parts in the fighting of Organization XIII. Sigh! Well, I do have some of the fights finished, so hopefully, posting and the reviews might speed up the writing of what hasn't been finished yet. And don't worry; I intend to finish this story if it kills me.**

**Fictives: That's what we've been praying for!**

**Shut up. Anyway, hope you readers aren't too mad at me to read, enjoy, and possibly review if you're especially kind…**

**Fictives: People are actually going to review THIS piece of crap?!**

**Quiet all of you! And if I didn't know any better, I could have sworn you fictives were behind my one year delay and writer's block in this updating of the story.**

**Fictives (hide voodoo doll with pins in the head and eyes): Us? Behind THIS? Nooooo…you must be paranoid.**

**Anyway, to recap: Task Force X invaded the Ghostbusters headquarters for reasons yet to be revealed and Peter Venkman of the original Ghostbuster Founders was killed (or is he?), the X-Men and the Misfits along with all their allies found out that Leomon was the third Priest of Twilight and that all the Talismans revealed a powerful artifact of a white angel called the Chalice. Unfortunately, the Organization along with Selene and Emma Frost and the Hellions of the Hellfire Club aren't going to let it go without a fight. So sit back and enjoy the first of the many battles to come in…**

**CHAPTER 38****: And To Think We're Not At The Gathering Yet (Demyx and Vexen)**

"**Just what the hell did you think you were doing??**" Flagg bellowed as he and his team were safely back at their reconnaissance point at a secure and underground laboratory in the hidden regions of the snowbound regions of the Great Plains in the north-western ends of the North Dakota state, amid an uninhabitable region of kettle lakes in the Missouri Plateau. Safe underground in secure chambers of metal and an entire research facility, weapons center, and medical bay that could have rivaled many resources of S.T.A.R. Labs, the government's Initiative, and S.H.I.E.L.D, Cadmus wasn't in any real danger since this was only one of the numerous outposts Waller positioned throughout the United States, with the President and the Jugglers' collective approval. Since it was nowhere close to Cadmus' main headquarters, they would be in no trouble in housing Task Force X there. Especially since there were numerous guards and security systems that could have put the Pentagon to shame.

Unfortunately, it was starting to get a bit ugly considering that Colonel Flagg was furiously roaring at the rather shameless and uncaring Deadshot. The other members of Task Force X, Plastique, Clock King, and Captain Boomerang, were watching this with mixtures of detachment and distraction.

"Making sure you were able to get away without having that old man or those vampire freaks tail after us," he said off-handedly.

"I gave you orders to not kill any of the Ghostbusters!! This is the exact thing that we'll have trouble dodging from when the Ghostbusters hunt us down for this, legally and vendetta wise!! Why the hell do you think that Waller gave that order?! Because she knew that it would give them further reason to prosecute us, especially since the Ghostbusters have a few allies in Capitol Hill and unlike the Justice League, they and G.I. Joe would be able to use those connections discover about Cadmus in a matter of time!!"

The black-haired, emotionless assassin held up his hands, clearly not even that disturbed (and considering who Flagg was working with, that wasn't really of any surprise) as he stated coldly, "And I did my damn job like a good little lackey, Flagg, so piss off. I helped you escape, remember? And besides, what else was I supposed to do? And calm down, because chances are, with his friends close by, Venkman will be able to get medical help and escape bleeding to death if they work on him."

"_**You shot him in the effin' head!!**_"

"OK, so they'll have to work quickly. Besides, it was just a useless, elderly, paranormal-lover. Big whoop. No big loss, few tears are spread, that's that. You got what you wanted for Waller, and I fulfilled by duty of being your hit man, so job's done, everyone's satisfied, and I can finally get out of this hellhole and start living free after doing my so-called service to the country," Floyd said facetiously as he walked away rather arrogantly.

Or at least he tried to when he felt a heavy hand clamp hard on his right shoulder, and when the hit-man tried to turn around and tell the army colonel exactly where to shove it, a fist instead collided rather violently with his chin, causing his head to crack back painfully as he crashed to the floor, now with an aching jaw. Despite the agonizing spike of pain in the back of his skull where it joined with the spinal cord, he was quite furious, ready to go for his gun in retaliation for Flagg for striking him. But as his palm flew to the smooth handle of the revolver butt, a voice he had soon grown to loathe spoke out from behind.

"I wouldn't attempt that if I were you, Mr. Lawton, and I trust you would be smart enough to not need an 'or-else' statement at the end of this sentence. I would like to think that being a top hired killer and assassin would require slightly more brains than normal," Amanda Waller said sternly as she, the sorceress Tala, and Dr. Hugo Strange walked in, all of them looking particularly at Deadshot with smug amusement (or in Waller's case, cold stone and a general _don't-cross-me_ glare). The hit-man was now tempted to shoot Waller as he hissed out his reasoning.

"I did the job. I was told I'd be granted clemency and a full pardon," the raven-haired sharpshooter pointed out acidly.

"And you will, once you serve your duty as a patriot to this country for the next ten years…under Flagg's authority _and mine_," Waller returned with no sympathy, brutally honest. That tore it. If the rude surprise of being a government dog for ten years wasn't enough to make Deadshot lose his temper, the threat of being Waller and Flagg's subordinate was too much to bear. But before he could take the firearm out of his holster, there was a sudden electrical surge of pain and anguish that hammered through his spinal cord and gripped each and every fiber in his central nervous system, causing him to have a seizure, convulsing and jerking madly and wildly. He forgot all attempts to shoot his way out as he curled into a fetal position and tried to compress his body's surface area as some futile attempt to alleviate the pain.

After ten seconds (though it felt like an eternity to Deadshot), the pain stopped and ceased, leaving Deadshot to weakly open his eyes, saliva and blood dribbling out of one nostril and one corner of his mouth. But despite being put through that hell, he was giving Waller a look of pure hate, and Dr. Strange had to smirk inwardly; that was so typical of the assassin's mental state.

"The explosive nanites in your bloodstream have a secondary setting, one that is fully monitored and under Cadmus' control. You've just felt **one of** the effects of what else we can do to you if we decide to not give you an easy way out…or if you ever perform a blatant disregard of mine or Flagg's orders like this ever again," Waller said in a final tone before she turned to the other members of Task Force X with the same stern glare.

"Any other objections? I'll make this clear: perform your duty for suicide missions for ten years, and you're free to go, all charges and past records of your criminal activities erased and fully dismissed. A clean slate. Along with a _very_ sizeable monetary repast granted by the President himself for a comfortable life, provided it's to our liking and doesn't cause any trouble. You have my word. Fail or attempt to betray Cadmus and there are other ways to inflict misery besides the nanites."

Plastique and Clock King were stony and silent, showing resentful but submissive looks. Captain Boomerang on the other hand looked absolutely scared out of his wits, almost as if he just realized he was truly in over his head (and that one look of dread and alarm made it look like he was going to vomit).

Still, none of the three criminals could deny that a clean record was very, very lucrative and advantageous. And the money (if Waller's hint was valid) was clearly the icing on the cake.

The heavy-set African-American woman then turned to Rick Flag and spoke tersely, but Tala and Dr. Strange could note that in her tone of voice, she had a faint speck of admirable praise and respect in Flagg's loyalty and patriotism (a considerable weakness for the Inner Circle to exploit).

"You have done well, you and your team, Flagg. The documentations, the specifications and blueprints and endless yet invaluable formulas of advanced paranormal mathematics and physics. This is a huge boon for our plans with the League. And of course, I'll be using the information to further persecute against the Ghostbusters firm for containing such dangerous weaponry and a nuclear reactor core that could have further damaged the entire city and its populace. It'll be far easier to convince the President and Congress that they need to put down under control once they see this evidence, the founders and the rest of their unstable recruits. Good work. Tala, I assume you and the good doctors can make great use of this?"

"Of course," the foreign sorceress answered, "Reverse engineering and full documentation will enable us to build the projects necessary. Dr. Hamilton shall tell you that he already has full copies as well as Lexcorp and Maxwell Lord to begin the construction."

"Excellent. Flagg?"

Flagg saluted at full attention smartly, like a true soldier, but he reported in a firm voice, "It was a team effort, ma'am. And you'll have the full report on your desk at oh-five-hundred tomorrow morning. But there may be a possible casualty with one of the Ghostbusters, the founder named Dr. Peter Venkman. This may cause a problem of litigation against us. You know how they are closely tied with the O.S.I.R. and the B.P.R.D. Murder is a harder charge to dodge, and we cannot entirely claim this as self-defense in front of your superiors."

"An unfortunate casualty," sighed Waller, sounding more remorseful than she actually was, "But it's a small price to pay. I'll call a few of the strings I have to make sure that even if Ghostbusters use what few allies in the government they have to track us down, they won't get far. And the Jugglers are already ensuring that Hawk and his sorry excuse of G.I. Joe doesn't ever manage to discover anything about Cadmus. The death of one man is an acceptable loss, and frankly, I couldn't care less about one old fool."

"So why the hell use the damn nanites on me if you don't mind one Ghostbuster dead?" Deadshot could help but retort as he spat out a globule of blood, pretty sure he bit his tongue during the excruciating torment of having the machines overload his nervous system with the purest and highest setting of pain one could ever imagine.

"Because I say so. You work for me, and for once, you'll be put to good use," Waller said coldly, her words like ice.

"What makes you so sure I'll even stay? I might even chance it and let the nanites blow my body and brains out rather than live as your bitch," Deadshot retorted back as he managed to shakily stand up, controlling the urge to heave.

Dr. Strange then gave an all-knowing and annoying chuckle as he spoke calculatingly, shrewd, "Ah, but you won't, Mr. Lawton, because despite you being unwilling to commit suicide, you would rather die a rather outrageously fabulous death, in blazing glory like the showboating pride-monger you are. Dying while running away is something you can't stomach, even more reprehensible than living as a subordinate on borrowed time. Dying in battle during suicide missions would be much more tolerable to you. Second, you are usually a patient man, otherwise you would not have spent all your time to hone your skills and be flawless in your craft of sharp-shooting. Ten years is relatively a short time, and you would rather take this than the electric chair, especially with the prospect of a clean record. And third, you hate the Justice League, especially Batman, with an absolute passion. You would do anything to get revenge on him and the rest of the League, and since you were unsuccessful in your own attempts, you know that the only way you can possibly hope to take them out is that if you stay with us. And don't bother trying to deny it. My thorough analysis of your psyche was the reason why it was decided that you would be a perfect candidate for Task Force X."

Floyd Lawton was fuming, incensed, before his head drooped slightly as he averted his gaze to the floor, his admission silent but evidently clear.

_Damn him_, thought the assassin. Waller felt that the matter was settled, but she turned to Tala next, serious and strict.

"Tala, use your magic and make sure that none of those paranormals from the Ghostbusters or any of their allies can track us down and link Cadmus to this attack. Any magical attempts to scry or pinpoint our involvement must lead to absolutely zero clues."

The purple-hair enchantress admitted, a bit wary, "That…shall be difficult, Ms. Waller. Willow Rosenberg and the Charmed Ones are far more powerful than I can ever hope to accomplish, and if they even have an indication or a guess to attempt to search for me, they can overpower my cloaking spells with their skills. And that is not taking into account of the Justice League's magic-users as well."

"No excuses, just do it. I will not tolerate failure, Tala. Use **any** resources as necessary, but I want all paths to us erased and Cadmus to be physically and mystically impossible to find. Is that clear?" ordered the director severely, her tone even more hardhearted.

"Understood."

"And do it quickly, Tala," Colonel Flagg enjoined, "There's no telling how much time you have left to fortify what protection Cadmus already has. I wouldn't be surprised if the Misfits and the X-Men have already finished their attack on Shaw Industries and the Ghostbusters have already discovered the siege on their headquarters in New York."

--

Flagg needn't have worried about that.

In the grounds above of the Shaw Industries branch, furiously fighting for their lives and to gain some precious time for their friends and allies inside, the Dinosaucers and the Secret Scouts (bar Justin, of course) were valiantly and fiercely brawling with Vexen and Demyx and an entire army of water clones, using a variety of energy weapons, physical attacks, and the occasional hurled projectile. Allo was grateful that the entire grounds surrounding the complex was a half-mile radius as to give them plenty of space while ensuring that the damage would be safely kept to a minimal to the neighboring buildings nearby as well as to not draw any attention, regardless of the ungodly hour. And of course, Allo additionally had the foresight to cast an invisibility and sound-dampening energy cloud across the entire block, making the ruckus unseen and unheard by any outsider.

Still, Allo did his best to maintain the brown shield of Reptilionian magic, memories of ancient spells that his aunt and uncle had taught him years ago from their motherland (that had never been used except in cases of severe urgency) were all coming back to his mind like an endocrine rush. And let's face it; this **was** a severe emergency. He offered a quick prayer to what deity was listening that the Misfits and the other friends the Dinosaucers had made would make it out alive (especially Justin). Allo earlier lost complete control of the barrier when the strange flash of light appeared and actually managed to cause him to break his concentration as the backlash of force shattered the brown barricade. Which the Thirteenth Order instantly took full advantage of as they teleported into company the mere second the barrier cracked and shattered like glass, fading into the air before the heroes could stop them.

However, furious that they were being stalled by the meddling, the Superior ordered Vexen and Demyx to kill the Dinosaucers and Secret Scouts while they retrieved Roxas and his troupe from the Keyblade wielders and their allies.

And though the Thirteenth Order did receive quite a painful beating, the Dinosaucers and the Secret Scouts had more than their shares of serious injuries as well. In addition to bleeding lacerations, bruises, and raw scuff marks, Paul had several cracked teeth and a bloody mouth, David had a broken nose, one of Tricero's horns was snapped off, Itchy's right arm was badly broken with the bones protruding gruesomely out of his skin and flesh, (though he was surprisingly adept with his left pincer and his tail), Raptor has a ghastly puncture wound on his shoulder where Larxene stabbed him, Saïx had cruelly hacked off many of Stego's bone-plates sticking out of the extraterrestrial's back with his Claymore sword, and Bronto-Thunder was clearly the most serious as his entire back was perforated with bullet holes from Xigbar. Being the largest of the Dinosaucers meant being the easiest target, and with the rivers of red running down his body and back and from the way his head was swimming, Bronto-Thunder was in danger of rapid blood-loss.

Still, now that the number of enemies had drastically diminished to just two opponents, the fight was starting to even out. Unfortunately…

"Dance, water, dance! Dance, water, dance! _Wahahahahaha!!_" hooted the Organization musician known as Demyx before an endless stream of clear-colored clones and drones made completely of crystal waters emerged and arose out of thin air upon the notes of music. With a collective set of splashes and roaring, cascading towards the Dinosaucers and Secret Scouts, ready to drown and beat them into submission. Dimetro and Paul of the Secret Scouts then both smiled secretly as they took out large and strange-looking metallic guns that oddly looked more like giant vacuum canisters rather than firearms. Dimetro was secretly quite prideful of his newly built electrolysis-machines, lightweight, durable…

"Not this time!!" Paul snapped as he and his dimetrodon companion fired, the polarity and electrical currents coursing through an impressive bunch of water-drones, and screaming, the clones fell apart, the water splitting into large amounts of hydrogen and oxygen gases. There was another reason why Allo used salt in the runes covering the building of Shaw Industries; it was an excellent electrolyte. And electrolytes made it possible for Dimetro and Paul to split the water army under standard pressure and temperature via electrolysis. In fact, before storming inside, per Dimetro's instructions, the Flash and Quicksilver bathed the entire quart-mile radius with a slick layer of table salt, a perfect condition to give them assistance in case the musician tried to overwhelm them. Demyx was a bit surprised as the two began firing all over the battlefield, disintegrating as many of the water figures as they could, causing them to decompose and evaporate before their very eyes.

"That's it, Paul!! Keep it up and thin out the herd to make things easier! Don't let them get close!" Dimetro said breathlessly as he and the Secret Scout sent a multitude of high-pitched, multicolored ribbons of energy and electricity throughout in a wide arc-span. More and more of the drones collapsed and fell to nothing more than vapor as Dimetro and Paul kept striking as quick as they could, effectively preventing their friends from being overwhelmed by a tidal wave.

The instrumentalist glared at the two; they were getting annoyingly clever. Still, he had plenty of more magic to spare, and unlike their leader, none of the Dinosaucers or the Secret Scouts knew powerful magic to counter him.

"Dance water, dance! Show 'em how it's done!!" crowed Demyx as he strummed his sitar with a melodious yet haunting rapture, more and more globules and torrents of water emerging from the ground to form more and more clones as well as gigantic geysers and spheres of fluid, each weighing over a hundred pounds, flying all over with further purpose of crushing and drowning as many of the Dinosaucers as they could.

Meanwhile, Vexen was not letting up in his relentless assault as a good portion of the Dinosaucers along with Ryan and Sarah of the Secret Scouts charged. With a mad laugh that could make any demented scientist from a sci-fi movie proud, Vexen brought the tips of his forefinger and middle finger to his forehead with his right hand while slamming the bottom point of his spiked shield to the ground with his left. To his opponents' collective shock, the air instantly plummeted to freezing temperatures, much too accelerated and expeditious for it to be a natural snowstorm. And as giant ice crystals and snowflakes began to fly across the field and frost began to collect over their hides, the extraterrestrials looked at Ryan and Sarah with alarm.

Whatever was coming, unlike them, it was doubtful that the two humans would be able to take it to their extent.

Bronto-Thunder then roared his command as the air became thick with white, bellowing, "_**Gather around Ry and Sarah!!**_"

Instantly in less than two seconds, Ryan and Sarah instantly felt them enveloped by a protective circle as Bronto-Thunder, Tricero, Stego, Struthio, Montacera, and Plateo then surrounded their two human friends in a tight and protective circle, shielding them as the temperatures then took their toll on the targets.

_Crackle, crackle!_ KASHING!

Vexen smiled with sickening satisfaction. Now, the six Dinosaucers and the two Secret Scouts were completely frozen solid, all of them encased in a gigantic, rough, misshapen globule of ice, an instantaneous kill. If they didn't freeze to death or die from organ failure from the lack of heat, then they would most certainly suffocate. As Vexen was about to turn away, content and fulfilled at his easy success, before the Organization scientist could attempt to attack and freeze the other heroes, he felt a slight aberration of heat coming from…the icy coffin?

The sickly-skinned man in the black robe turned, only to see that inside the milky ice, there was a glowing red hue coming from (surprisingly enough) the Dinosaucers' armor, each and every one of their metallic suits radiating specialized compartments of heat in temperatures of the hundreds, Fahrenheit. And before Vexen could attempt to invoke his magical spells again, the ice became too unstable and weakened from the searing heat within…

CRACK! **Boom!**

Vexen was suddenly taken aback and inundated by the various flying pieces of ice and shrapnel flying precarious close to his person, and as he raised his blue shield of ice to protect his body, Ryan emerged from the middle of the circle, holding a small and portable cannon over his shoulder, aiming the mouth directly at the solider from the Thirteenth Order as there was a high pitched whine while powering up.

Without further warning, Ryan fired the sonic bazooka that Dimetro had built for him for warfare, and a narrow yet intensely concentrated wall of sound energy, the invisible beam rippling the air in front before it rushed forward faster than they eye could blink and struck Vexen and his shield with the full intensity of the shock front. With a mighty yet fireless explosion, Vexen was pushed back by a considerable distance. Vexen snarled, gritting his teeth, as the edges of his cloak were tattered and his shoulder and arm propping his shield were now painfully aching from the concussive force as he dug his heels against the Earth and concrete. As the pressure from the first N-wave of the sonic attack rushed past (and unluckily flew past the grounds of Shaw Industries and damaged a few cars and multiple windows in its wake) and Vexen was subjected to the tail wake of the boom, he realized to his shock that now his shield had a worrisome, deep crack running diagonally across the surface as well as multiple spider-webs.

Ryan and the others noticed this as well. Montacera gulped, "He just took that sonic boom as if it were nothing! He's not human!"

"It still hurt him at least," Ryan pointed out, although deep down, he had his stomach clench up uncomfortably.

Vexen wordlessly looked at the unharmed Dinosaucers in surprise. By all accounts, they should have been dead! No lizard or reptile could survive such precarious freezing temperatures! Not even a human, a _warm-blooded_ mammal, could possibly make it out without severe injury! But the gruff Tricero answered the unspoken question rather cheekily.

"Thermal regulators," smirked the triceratops as he and Plateo touched the Dinosaucer insignia on their uniforms, invoking their dinovolving process in a blink of an eye before the Organization member, "You gotta love 'em."

With a flash of multicolored light, the two aliens devolved into their prehistoric forms, roaring and snarling with various deep, guttural noises, with both the dinosaurs now weighing over a ton each. And to Vexen's horror, the two heavy reptiles charged, galloping at incredibly speed, with both the triceratops and the plateosaurus causing slight vibrations in the ground during their blitz. In desperation, Vexen slammed the point of his shield again on the ground, and within an instant and a loud crackling noise, sheets upon sheets of ice and stalagmites of frozen white erupted from the concrete and dirt, ripping the terrain apart as if it was wet paper. Each spike was several meters high and quite thick and dangerously jagged, with one slip or stumble meaning that Tricero and Plateo would both be impaled and gouged like animals caught in a Burmese tiger trap. And not to mention that the walls were each several feet thick and so cold, it burned to the touch.

Though Vexen wasn't much of a fighter, he couldn't teleport away from this pack of bloodthirsty heroes and choose to avoid fighting. The Superior would have his hide if not killed him as slowly and excruciatingly as possibly.

Hopefully, this barricade of cold and frost would be enough to buy him some time before he could try another tactic to counter the Dinosaucers' thermal suits.

No such luck.

Though there was a bit of careful stalling and winces of pain from the Dinosaucers' faces, Vexen realized that he horribly underestimated the Dinosaucers' physical strength as Tricero's head actually crashed through the wall of ice and shattered it before Tricero's nose horn jabbed savagely forward and gorged through Vexen's stomach. Though there was no blood from the puncture wound, it was pretty gruesome to see a triceratops stab and plow through a man's body using its head. Especially with Vexen dangling off the Dinosaucer's nose and off his feet, his eyes glazed and one corner of his mouth bared, in severe anguish while being lifted up by the horn filleting him. But Tricero was hardly done as with a swift flick of his head, he violently tossed the black-robed man off his horn and hurled him against the ground in a graceful arc, landing hard with a solid thump. But before Vexen could try to teleport, the dinovolved Plateo set himself upon the fallen warrior, and considering that he was lying flat on his ripped stomach, Vexen couldn't effectively block the attacks with his cracked shield from behind, and thus, he was subjected to a gruesome and violent assault as the heavy dinosaur pinned him down and started raking his claws across the Chilly Academic's back, ripping it to shreds. In fact, after several attempt and finding no lack of blood, the plateosaur decided to desperately start biting his adversary. And the placid-faced man suddenly felt the new and painful sensation of the reptile's serrated teeth digging into his flesh.

At the same time while this was going on and Ryan, Struthio, and Montacera were charging to give Tricero and Plateo some assistance, Sarah turned to Bronto-Thunder, saying, "I need a boost!! Fastball Special, and throw me high in the air above him!!"

The enormous brontosaurus obliged as he gently lifted the glowing Secret Scout with one arm before he carefully took aim and threw Sarah high into the sky in a graceful arc, taking care not to pitch too hard and accidentally dislocate the human's limbs. Sarah remembered her past gymnastic training as she took out a plethora of miniscule glass spheres the size of ball bearings from a compartment of the belt on her uniform before she made a perfect swan-dive movement. And when she was just a bit past Vexen's position as she soared by high above, Sarah hollered as she let loose her payloads, "Tricero, Plato, scatter!!"

Both of the Dinosaucers did so (with the dinovolved Plateo giving the stunned Vexen a final whack of his tail), and as they dashed off, Vexen groggily managed to raise himself on one arm, despite the horrific wounds and bite marks and his swimming head before he felt the pitter-patter of the fragile, transparent orbs that Sarah tossed down upon him.

Right before in a split-second, they felt the jarring impact of the ground and their centers of sealed phosphorus inside the propane gas, their exposure to open air instantly igniting the mixture the moment the veneer shell of glass cracked and shattered. Sarah managed to gracefully and acrobatically flip forward in the air and land on her feet as Vexen screamed while being engulfed with flames and combustive heat.

Kaboom! _Boom, boom, boom!_ _**Kaboom!!**_

"Ry, Cera, Struthio, he's all yours!" Sarah loudly reported over her Secret Scout Ring as she dashed away out of the line of fire as the flames and heat of the fuel bombs flared up and incinerated the area where Vexen was still painfully trampled. Now, as the fires blazed to their full glory, Vexen was not only sporting serious burns, a charred cloak and boots, but his shield now had even more cracks in it, the patterns now even bigger against the smooth surface. Vexen blew off one burned strand of limp hair off his face; they were going to die excruciatingly for this travesty…

Ryan let loose with another blast from his sonic weapon, generating another traveling wave of devastating energy to send Vexen off his feet, but being no fool, the Chilly Academic teleported out of the path of the blast, vanishing into thin air before a split-second the pressurized sound could strike him. But as he hovered into the air, not too far above Ryan and ready to impale him with his shield, he got a rude surprise from the team-up of Struthio and Montacera, both of whom fully expected Vexen to dodge Ryan's bazooka…and had brilliantly made counters for it.

Struthio wordlessly swiveled around and joined his hands together, making a steeple and a convenient foothold for his partner and teammate to use as a stepping stone as he stooped down low for the teenage extraterrestrial to leap up high into the air, directly at Vexen before he could divert his attention from attacking Ryan. Montacera took out several metallic pellets and oval capsules from her uniform pocket before she flung them at her opponent positioned in the air, each of them excellently and accurately hurled towards Vexen. Remembering Sarah's attack earlier, Vexen brought up his shield to block the incoming fire.

That alien fool. The same attack wasn't going to work on him twice…

Yet when the pellets struck and clattered against his shield, the Organization's scientist learned that it wasn't butane inside the pellets. It was anti-matter (courtesy of Forge from the X-Men). There was a collective conflagration of white and a hissing pop as the area around Vexen met with the pellets' payload…

_**Flash!!**_

It only lasted a moment, but for Vexen, it was absolutely excruciating; Nobody or not, he still technically consisted of matter. And now there were actually several pieces of his flesh and air that had completely vaporized down to the atomic level from the bombs, leaving holes in his body as cleanly cut as a knife, as well as several cracked impressions and shallow holes in his blue weapon, weakening its structure even further. And Vexen didn't even have time to recover from the pain of the antimatter injuring him as Montacera simply bowed her head at the last second and gave Vexen and his shield a ferocious head-butt with her thick skull. And a montanoceratops was quite adept and skilled at using its cranium for attacks.

Vexen grimaced as he heard several cracks start to grow even more on the shield from the Dinosaucer's attack. He hissed poisonously at the teenage Dinosaucer as she flipped past Vexen and landed safely to the ground. But then before he could try to freeze her, Vexen was suddenly lassoed by a coil of thick wire, a grapple consisting of fibers of reinforced steel and copper, and with a soft noise, the Organization member was painfully lassoed in an instant. The cold wire snared him so tightly that even underneath the cloak, it was beginning to cut into Vexen's skin. But the Dinosaucer teen wasn't done yet as he activated a hidden button in the grapple he used to lariat his opponent, and with a crackling noise, Vexen was excruciatingly electrocuted as an extreme burst of electricity traveled up the wire and zapped him with deadly levels of energy.

Vexen was so overcome with pain from the burns and energy eating his body as he was being bombarded with high currents that he didn't even have time to teleport out before Struthio then yanked on the grapple as hard as he could, pulling Vexen brutally from his position in the air and throwing him towards the ground. Normally that wouldn't be such a bad thing…except that Struthio was aiming and steering Vexen towards the dinovolved Tricero's head (who brilliantly positioned himself within Struthio's sights, as planned multiple times before at the Lavadome).

There was a sickening sound followed by a high pitched roar of pain from Vexen.

"Ooh, that's painful…" winced Ryan to himself as he and his teammates looked to see that Vexen now was plastered with his back against an annoyed triceratops' head, and with the nose horn protruding through Vexen's stomach while Tricero's remaining and upper left head-horn actually goring through Vexen's chest and neck. Quite gruesomely too, despite the lack of blood.

And to add further insult to injury, Struthio wrenched hard on the metal rope again, jerking the injured Chilly Academic off Tricero's head and forcing the black-cloaked enemy to come flying off and towards Struthio.

And his fist.

POW!

Now Vexen was now lying on his back on the ground, his face numb from the haymaker that the struthiominus delivered to his face. But thankfully, the pain of all his injuries so far were able to snap him out of his haze as he then managed to teleport out of the way at the last second before Struthio and Montacera's fists went striking at his very spot, their hands hitting nothing but the dirt. Vexen was now scowling fiercely, swearing vengeance against the Reptilionians, and then made a rather unexpected move.

"Demyx! I require your assistance!" commanded the flaccid-skinned man as he held his blue shield out in front of him while pressing two of his fingers with his free hand against his forehead. Instantly, a whirlwind of glowing, gigantic snowflakes began to encircle around his body, each of them as a large as a manhole cover, glowing, dangerously spiked, and so cold that they burned to the touch. With a flourish, Vexen released the horde of snow-crystals, and like steel shuriken, they flew with alarming speed down on the crowd below.

"Yeow!! **Watch it!!** Those things are razor sharp!!" yelped Stego as he couldn't effectively dodge the whizzing ice-discs and several left deep lacerations on his shoulder and side when they sped past, leaving blood to pour down his wounds as Sarah, Ryan, Plateo, and Tricero madly strafed and dodged trying to avoid getting sliced and diced. Stego managed to take a pellet full of healing salve (the same one Dimetro and Teryx used on Blind Master when Justin discovered him in the desert last year) and broke it against his wounds, feeling the cooling and healing properties immediately as the gel created a makeshift pad and bandage to stop his bleeding. At the same time, Demyx heard Vexen's request and strummed the strings of his musical weapon.

"Dance, water, dance!" Demyx cried out with glee and to Vexen's satisfaction, several powerful waterspouts and rivers of fluid emerged and erupted from the ground out of nowhere and flew like snakes towards Vexen. With a wave of his hand and several fleeting seconds, the soldier managed to freeze the water solid and reshape it into a large amount of icicles and spikes of frozen water, each one wickedly pointed, barbed, misshapen, and as large as a submarine missile.

The prehistoric forms of Tricero and Plateo made worried grunts and growls; they could tell this was not going to be good. Ryan acted quickly as he aimed his sonic cannon at the figure in the air, but his enemy was quicker. With another burst of his magic, to the heroes' shock, Ryan, Tricero, and Struthio was immediately trapped by gigantic and spiked cages of ice that dangerously came close to impaling all three of them alive. Thankfully, though they were gingerly being fastened in between crushing spikes and unable to move much without being poked or burned, they were slowly but surely making headway in freeing themselves from Vexen's little distraction.

"Ry!" gasped Sarah, but Vexen then pointed the bottom tip of his shield at both Sarah and Stego, and half of the barrage of spears immediately snapped to attention, jerking in a smooth movement and pointed their tips directly at the two targets below on the ground. With a burst of speed, they flew directly at the Secret Scout and the Dinosaucer, threatening to skewer them where they stood. Sarah barely could dodge them as she gymnastically flipped and strafed madly, the barbs actually coming within inches of stabbing her.

Stego was less lucky, being larger, heavier, and slower.

"_**Aaaaaaaa!!**_" cried out Stego in agony, wailing as he tripped, having several large and painful thorns of frigid magic pierce through his right thigh muscle and his upper-back, close to his shoulder blades. Though none of the hits were instantaneously lethal, it was still worrisome.

"Stego!!" gasped Montacera, but then Vexen turned to focus the brunt of his ire on the struthiominus and the montanoceratops aliens.

"I should worry more about your own well-beings, you pathetic aliens," he said is a restrained and cold tone as the remaining faction of the points he magically formed from water jerked forward and raced downwards at steep angles, zooming too fast for either of them to run.

Montacera and Struthio both paled; there were too many icicles to ward off and block, and Struthio's grapple-whip couldn't possibly take out any of the incoming projectiles. But thankfully, like a true soldier, Bronto-Thunder stepped up admirably.

"Like hell!!" snarled the Dinosaucer brontosaur as he ripped up a gigantic slab of concrete from one walkway path of the company grounds, actually extracting it from the foundation with his strength. With a quick dash, Bronto-Thunder managed to get in front of the two younger recruits and held the thick slab of concrete, which was several inches thick and contained actual steel rebar embedded within. Using it as a make-shift shield, the enormous extraterrestrial managed to skid in the nick of time in front of Struthio and Montacera before the barrage of icicles and frozen spears struck them with bone-jarring force. Bronto-Thunder winced in pain as several shards of ice struck his shins or shattered and sent painful shrapnel into his fingers, but thankfully, many of the jagged shafts of ice hit the concrete, breaking upon the stone surface. And none of them hit the two other Dinosaucers, so thankfully, Bronto-Thunder succeeded in that one.

Vexen still was hardly dissuaded.

"Demyx!" he ordered sternly.

"_Wa ha ha ha ha!!_ Dance, water, dance!!" cheered Vexen's comrade, generating more powerful streams of water to come to Vexen's assistance.

"_**Can't you say anything else, you retard?!**_" David the Secret Scout snapped in annoyance as he launched a fierce and flying push kick at Demyx's head, only for the musician to effectively dodge it before trying to club the man with his sitar. Vexen took several seconds of mentally controlling his magic and froze the various rivers of water swirling around him into another deadly plethora of pointy, sharp ice stakes before turning back his attention to the three Dinosaucers below.

"You won't - " began Vexen before the large and gigantic cement block that Bronto-Thunder hurled met him in the air, colliding with him face-first.

WHAM!!

"Like I would waste an opening, blockhead!" Bronto-Thunder grunted, feeling certainly more than satisfied as the flat, concrete slab that had to weigh several hundred pounds and was about the size of a cross-town bus. Vexen was sent flying backwards, his concentration of maintaining the icicles dropped as he had no choice but to allow the concrete slab to painfully press against him as he was sent hurling across, unable to move. And thanks to the brontosaurus' massive strength, it could have been very likely that Vexen would have been sent across the city of Louisville itself had Allo not intervened.

While still maintaining the shield, the Dinosaucer leader used one clawed finger and pointed over his shoulder in mid-chanting, and as if a giant hand violently spiked the cement block like a volleyball, the cement slab along with Vexen were forcefully thrust straight down, almost making a ninety-degree trajectory change. And now trapped in an aura of brown Reptilionian magic from Allo, Vexen was currently incapacitated and unable to teleport. Which was why he was more than angry and outraged when he painfully crashed to the ground with enough force to agonizingly crush each and every bone in his body. And to add further insult, with the cement slab **on top** of him.

WHAM!!

Bronto-Thunder heard Allo's voice through his communicator on his metallic uniform while Struthio, Sarah, and Montacera, in a fit of inspiration, actually began jumping up and down on top of the cement slab, trying to use their weight to sandwich and smash Vexen to the ground even more. At this time, Ryan, Plateo and Tricero in their dinovolved forms were furiously working to free themselves from the cages of ice that the Organization member had earlier formed around them (they were already making progress half-way).

"_Careful, BT. We can't risk any of our attacks destroying any neighboring structures around Shaw Industries_," Allo advised calmly as he continued to maintain the shield, despite a couple of energy blasts of Saïx below in one of the underground chambers tore through a giant hole in the roof of the company.

"_**GGRRRRAAAAAHHHHHHH!!**_" bellowed the black-cloaked member underneath the crushing slab of stone and being flattened to the ground.

Vexen then absolutely had enough as Sarah, Montacera, and Struthio were sent flying backwards, screaming with surprise and pain, as a gigantic and jagged, multi-pronged stalagmite erupted from underneath their feet, effectively cracking the rupturing the cement slab in half. Vexen stood up, her face horrifically bruised and actually bloodied, and the robed scientist was having difficulty standing straight because of the immense injury to his back, but his eyes were now grotesquely and wickedly shining like a malicious frog's. And to the Dinosaucers and Sarah and Ryan's collective horror, the Organization's scientist had yet another trump card.

Vexen's shield began to glow once again before to everyone's horrors, the shadows on the ground began to enlarge, everyone's silhouette, whether they be Dinosaucer or Secret Scout, began to writhe and grow on their own accord, as if possessed. And growing so rapidly, the dark apparitions began to emerge and become solid, taking on very familiar shapes under the moonlight before Vexen finished his task.

And everyone's blood froze as they saw what Vexen created from their outlines.

"By the Gods…" murmured Bronto-Thunder, his face registering pure astonishment and dread.

They were all facing black wraith-like specters of Struthio, Montacera, Bronto-Thunder, and Stego, all of them standing upright and consisting of entirely of dark magic. But amazingly enough, they were exact mirror images, every detail of the gloom drones identical down to the armor and scales, except that each and everyone of the black duplicates had glowing red eyes, red as freshly-spilled blood and lifeless. Vexen smiled before he pointed a finger at the small group, and with a collective roar, the shadow twins of four aliens charged with fists and claws ready.

"Yeow, what the heck?!" Struthio yelped as he madly strafed to the side as his own evil double took a flying leap in the air, grinning maliciously, with its feet and claws out and ready to stomp and knock down the Dinosaucer. There was a massive cracking noise and a slight eruption of dirt and chunks of stone as the shadow replica of the Organization managed to crack the pavement upon its landing. Undaunted for missing, the black Dinosaucer simply swiveled and managed to crack its tail like a while against Struthio's face, drawing a bloody welt.

"Son of a - !" and the teenage Dinosaucer let the curse go unfinished as he launched himself at the doppelganger with fists, trading several punches in retaliation. Montacera was struggling and trying to buck her clone off her as she was grappling with her dark look-alike, trying to shove the doppelganger off her as they valiantly tried to send each other to the floor.

"Augh!! Get off, get off, _**get off!!**_" shrieked the female extraterrestrial as her duplicate tried to pound her flat. Stego was narrowly ducking to avoid the spiked tail of his opponent, narrowing whizzing by his skull by inches while Bronto-Thunder yowled in pain as his dark double deftly caught BT's tail as the real Dinosaucer attempted to swat down his replica.

"This is nuts!! We can't fight our own clones!!" Bronto-Thunder cursed as he then strafed hard to the left before the shadow doppelganger of the Thirteenth Order could decide to use BT's tail as leverage to throw him out of the company's grounds. The clone grunted in pain, caught completely off guard, as the real Dinosaucer's shoulder tackle effectively elbowed it into the chest cavity area.

But then to Vexen's amazement, a sonic blast from the right of the battle-field caught the carbon copy of Struthio off guard, sending it flying a bit to the side as the concussive force of the pressurized wave actually dislocated its arm. Vexen turned to see that his mistake of temporarily forgetting about Ryan, Tricero, and Struthio cost him as the Secret Scout, on one knee, took aim and fired a second shot at the clone of Bronto-Thunder, the compressed sound energy catching the large showdown upside the head and forcing the duplicate to release its victim's tail.

"What?" hissed Vexen. That spell should have cast the mirror images of _every one_ of his opponents. So why…?

"BT, fight someone else's clone!! Tricero and Plato will help you out!!" the blond man yelled out urgently. BT then realized a vital fact: Tricero and Plateo did not have any dark replicas of themselves emerge from Vexen's magic. And neither did Ryan and Sarah for that matter. But the only thing different between them and Tricero and Plateo was…

It hit him.

"Everyone, switch your adversaries!! Your twin can't dinovolve!!" BT roared as he pressed the insignia on his uniform now that he had a few precious seconds for respite free from his foe, and immediately, Bronto-Thunder was bathed in multi-colored light before he grew, transforming into a colossal, gigantic thirty-odd ton prehistoric brontosaurus dinosaur, towering over his opponent by more than ten-fold. Still, he ignored his current rival and instead turned his attention to the copy of Stego, dispatching it with a mighty power-slam with his heavy tail and actually causing slight vibrations and tremors to travel throughout the entire block in the city, waking a few people up from slumber.

"Got it!!" yelled Struthio as he touched the insignia on his uniform and converted into his prehistoric mode before he leapt upon the large back of the shadow copy of BT and started clawing and biting madly around the evil double's neck. Montacera, now free from her replica because Stego took Bronto-Thunder's advice and efficiently swatted it off her, leapt up to her feet and delivered a terrific and stunning headbutt into the black twin of Struthio. All the shadow clones had their red eyes widen slightly with fear and intimidation; not only were they more or less thoughtless without rationale, but unlike the real Dinosaucers, they couldn't devolve into their primitive and more powerful forms.

Vexen was now livid. Apparently, the Secret Scout and the antediluvian versions of the two Dinosaucers he trapped earlier were immune to the dark copy tactic (though he wasn't clear on the exact reasons why). Irritated beyond normal, Vexen focused his powers to send a blitzkrieg of gigantic and spiked snowflakes before summoning the discs of ice to decapitate and eviscerate the three troublemakers.

"Yaaahhh!!" Ryan yelped as he, Tricero, and Plateo all were bombarded by a whirlwind of sharp ice-crystals, the snowflakes whizzing by them precariously and actually managing to cut and lacerate them all severely, raising blood to pour down their uniforms. To Vexen's disappointment, they managed to avoid being killed as they wildly dodged and moved thanks to their powers. He raised his shield.

Pow!

Vexen didn't see Sarah move from his blind spot, but he certainly felt the result of her foot delivering the stomp kick directly on the back of his head. And because he was too distracted with avoiding Ryan's sonic discharges, he was taken completely by surprise before he managed to crack his skull back onto place and shot a glare at a defiant Sarah who got into a kickboxing defensive position.

Vexen snarled without words as he angrily jabbed the ground with the bottom tip of his ice-shield, and Sarah had a quick reminder of previous attacks Vexen used on them as she acrobatically flipped out of the way, her gut screaming to move quickly.

Kashing!

Sarah managed to get a good several meters of distance before she stopped and looked over her shoulder. Where she had been a second ago was now a gigantic spike of ice. Had she remained there, the Secret Scout would have been impaled to death. Vexen frowned before he jabbed the dirt with his weapon again, and Sarah immediately knew what that meant.

The blond woman cursed under her before she sprinted, her lungs aching from keeping up with the sudden exertion as a line of ice erupted in a long and winding trail behind her, threatening to overtake the human and rip her to shreds. Sarah gasped as she took a fleeting glimpse behind to see that she couldn't outrun the tremor of ice magic much longer. She then tried cart-wheeling, somersaulting, and flipping to safety, narrowly avoiding each attack that threatened to gouge her from below. With all her fluid leaps and bounds, she went into an unpredictable pattern that made it difficult for Vexen to predict her position.

"I'll get you yet, you annoying harlot…" Vexen snarled, but Stego, now furious for Sarah's safety and managing to effectively crush the head of the shadow clone of Montacera with several blows, immediately intervened as Vexen then felt a swift presence from behind. He stopped his assault on the Secret Scout and furiously and stoutly shoved his shield above at an angle, protecting his person from behind and not willing to be taken off guard…

Whang!

Stego's tail immediately struck the smooth weapon of ice, and the Dinosaucer was astonished that a small thing could withstand against his tail of bone and with the adamantium attachment. Stego growled as he continued anyway, his tail relentlessly and powerfully striking, slapping, hitting, and poking at Vexen who was forced to go onto the defensive, trying the block the incoming blows from all directions. And adamantium was one of the hardest if the most durable and difficult metals of the planet. The vibrations and backlash from the blows ringing down Stego's tailbones were nowhere near as painful as the vibrations ringing through Vexen's body as he was being besieged with bone-crushing blows on all sides. And Stego wasn't letting up as he was supremely and uncharacteristically furious, actually losing his cool and naïve demeanor for once.

"_**You – will – never – hurt – our – friends – again!!**_" the stegosaurus Dinosaucer roared, delivering a swipe with his tail with each word before he then swiveled around to gain momentum and brought down his tail down on Vexen as hard as he could. In fact, he actually bent the adamantium attachment with his final strike.

With a tinkling similar to a window shattering, Vexen's blue shield of ice broke apart at last and crumbled to pieces, nothing more than useless fragments of ice. Vexen let loose a sickly scream of aghast horror, anger, and surprise all rolled into one because he now had nothing to protect him with. And additionally, all the shadow replicas of Montacera, Struthio, Bronto-Thunder, and Stego let loose an ear-piercing scream before Vexen's control began to weaken, decreasing their strength and vitality immensely and allowing the real Dinosaucers and Ryan to take them out as quick as they could. And Vexen being weaponless was exactly what enabled the stegosaurus to deliver a mighty clout with his tail that would have been enough to cleave through a reinforced army tank.

WHACK!

Vexen was sent flying by Stego's tail, right towards the gigantic tail of Bronto-Thunder who was more than willing to reintroduce Vexen back to the pavement as he spiked the poor robed man in midair with his significantly larger and thicker tail.

_**POOM!!**_

If Vexen was severely injured before when BT threw the concrete slab at him, it was _nothing_ compared to the weight of a brontosaurus' tail slamming and crushing him against the ground and pavement, leaving a very deep impression in the hard floor. Even the Hulk or the Juggernaut would have been stunned from the sheer force of the extraterrestrial's strength for that one strike. At the same time, while dinovolved alien was busy trying to press his enemy down, the others were finally managing to finish off the last of the clones. Plateo succeeded in breaking the neck of the replica of Bronto-Thunder cleanly, and Tricero managed to kill the shadow clone of Struthio was gorging it cleanly with his horns before trampling and stomping it to death underneath, his heavy feet pounding and squashing the doppelganger flat and breaking its bones and frame until it perished, leaving behind a faint and ethereal plume of black smoke.

Montacera, as she watched, couldn't miss the look of triumphant pleasure in the gruff ex-cop's eye.

"You've been wanting to do that for a while, didn't you?" Montacera accused her uncle irately with her hands on her hips, like any moody and exasperated teenager. The gruff ex-cop grinned as he reverted back to his humanoid self.

"Ever since you told me you had a crush on him, 'Cera," the Dinosaucer elder answered shamelessly.

"_Ergh!!_ You're the worst uncle in the world!!" snapped the young teenager, throwing an adolescent temper tantrum, before she charged with the others towards Vexen (who managed to teleport out from BT's crushing weight and reappear in the air, ready to attack again). Tricero just smiled even more.

"I'll take that as a compliment then," he snarked under his breath.

At the same time, David and Paul of the Secret Scouts as well as Dimetro, Raptor, Compy, Teryx, Bonehead, and Itchy were doing their best to stop Demyx from sending his water attacks against Allo (who was needed to maintain the shield to keep the Organization members inside from escaping) as well as counter-attacking.

"Dance, water, dance!!" cheered Demyx. Instantly, a sea of the musician's carbon copies emerged with sickening squelching and dripping noises, consisting of frothing, clear water as they fluidly danced and bounced on the battlefield as if this was nothing more than a merry game for schoolchildren. They were all humanoid and faceless, yet their arms were shaped in various tendrils, dense clubs, and elongated, sharpened stakes. With a flurry of lopsided activity, the battalion of replicas rushed forward, hopping, pounding, and flying in the air and ground, almost defying gravity.

While the others took the task of making their way towards Demyx and avoiding the water attacks, Paul and Dimetro still continued to blast as many clones as they could with their portable electrolysis-cannons, splitting the water into vast amounts of hydrogen and oxygen gases. Unfortunately, there were still too many and back to back, the Secret Scout and the alien inventor still couldn't give themselves a comfortable berth. The clones were creeping across the line, inch by inch, slowly and surely.

"There's still too many!" Paul cried out as he has a liquid copy steam up madly only inches within his face, feeling woozy from the sudden heat and compressed air that wafted and hastened like being hit with a flaming pillow. The air was getting noticeably thicker too, with all the frenzy and steam all around them making the grounds a literal sauna.

"Keep at it! The more clones he makes, all the better they have of getting to him since it tires him out!! Keep at it, Paul!" Dimetro panted, sweating underneath his blue cowl, as he aimed and fired his electrical current at the numerous humanoid figures splashing and dancing hauntingly in the air and war-zone. At the same time while the Secret Scout and the dinosaur inventor were lessening the pressure around them, the Organization member was busy summoning other forms of water to devastate, cripple, and kill the heroes.

With a few series of melodic notes, to the others' collective shock, the ground and pavement beneath their feet started to tremble significantly before three gigantic geysers of churning and roaring water erupted and gushed towards the heavens above. Each was literally a pillar of thousands upon thousands of gallons of water, wide enough to encapsulate a large truck or SUV automobile, well over ten stories tall, and powerful enough to make holes in mountains. Demyx pointed at the group with one hand and a wide smirk of fun.

"Bath time! Time for a good ol' game of 'Dunk the Dinosaucers'!!" he crowed, and with a collective roar, the giant streams of water fluidly moved and lashed forward like snakes, moving in loops and wavy patterns, making them difficult to predict their next position and strike, before congregating on all of the aliens and the two humans sent to battle him.

"Shit! _**RUN!!**_" screamed Compy before he dashed away for dear life. And Raptor couldn't help but note dryly that Compy was the first one to bolt. But immediately, everyone listened to the sage advice as one waterspout homed in on the airborne Teryx who furiously and desperately took off with her wings, trying to avoid being shot down from flight. Another geyser actually flew sideways in the air before coiling back and attempting to crush Raptor, David, and Bonehead. And the third and final tornado of water arced high above before whipping towards Paul and Dimetro. Paul paled; the cannons they had in no way could split _that_ much water in a scarce amount of time.

"Damn it!" yelled Paul, and he and Dimetro stopped firing and tried to sprint away from the power wave of cascading waterspouts and violent eruptions tearing the entire field, especially the humongous one right above them. But neither of them were fast enough as the crushing and vehement river about to brutally swallow them whole. And unlike his other Secret Scouts, Paul didn't know how to swim. Dimetro then did a very brave thing as he then flung himself over his human friend right before the cascading waterfall struck them with full force.

Demyx smirked wordlessly as the downpour of water swallowed both the dimetrodon extraterrestrial and the African-American young adult, a blue whirlwind of uncontrollable, frenzied liquid encapsulating the two and trapping them with vast amounts of pressure and movement. Even though the large reptile shielded his human ally from the brunt of the crushing blow, they wouldn't survive without oxygen. And with the inescapable waters trapping them and squeezing from all sides, they would drown like rats…

Dimetro and Paul then both managed to look up, and through the clear waters, Demyx was shocked to see that both of them had strange, white apparatuses in their respective mouths, forming a tight seal and mask, while streams of air bubbles were softly pouring out of the breathing apparati. Though a bit shaken and bruised, both Paul and Dimetro were all right and clearly showed no indications that they were having problems with lack of air.

The Organization member was now annoyed. So much for trying to drown them before like tried with Bobby Drake at the Heartless attack in New Jersey; that Dinosaucer was a lot cleverer than he thought. And though they were trapped, thanks to Dimetro being extremely heavy, little by little and inch by inch, while still protectively holding Paul in his arms tightly, the dinosaur humanoid was slowly and surely able to inch his way out closer and closer to the edge of the water cylinder trapping them.

Teryx meanwhile was busy trying to fly and use every evasive flight maneuver she could to avoid being swallowed up and swatted out of the sky as she flew, turned, glided, dove, soared, and rolled expertly and fluidly in every confusing angle she could. But unfortunately, she couldn't lose the turret of water that was tailing her; it followed her inexorably, curving and flowing like a snake.

And to make matters worse, it was gaining.

Teryx then resorted to a final choice as she took out a potion bottle from a belt pocket, recalling words of Willow Rosenberg and the Charmed Ones when they talked to her privately a few weeks ago…

_"We got the idea after studying Falco's movements and attacks so many times at the Ghostbusters' headquarters. And if it works for him, it should give us a good strategy," explained Piper Halliwell as she held up a tray of potion bottles the size of soda one-liter containers (tiny to the alien archaeopteryx), each clear container of glass containing a reddish clear liquid, oily, and as bright as lava._

_"And with so many incidents of two of the Organization members using water or ice attacks, this might give you an edge, especially since one basic law is that magic can usually be best fought with magic," Phoebe added, showing some additional potion bottles that were in a multitude of colors from blue to green to yellow._

_"And since we may need all the edges we can get, this might give you the upper hand. But unfortunately, for your safety and for the other Dinosaucers, we enchanted the potions so that they would only be temporary, five to ten minutes at best so that there would be no irreparable damage to your body," Paige, the youngest, chimed in, though Teryx couldn't help but be nervous. Willow, who was sitting next to the Wiccans, added some encouragement._

_"With all the data of Reptilionian anatomy and biochemistry Trinity and your Dimetro provided for us, we fairly sure that it should work without harming you at all. And since you're usually in the air, you leave yourself as a big target with not enough defenses to protect you like some of your other Dinosaucer friends like Bronto-Thunder or Stego."_

_"Or Allo," Piper added with a shudder, "When I first met him, I was afraid he was going to eat me or rip me into pieces with those oversized hands."_

_"To be fair, you __**did**__ slap his son," Paige shot back with a bit more of twisting the knife than necessary. She enjoyed that one moment when Piper realized that Justin's father was a gigantic extraterrestrial dinosaur alien, her face going white as a sheet and torn between fainting or running for her life. Teryx decided to ask her question for the umpteenth time (and really, any rational person may have a few reservations against the hidden dangers of magical items)._

_"Are you sure this will work? That it's safe?"_

_Phoebe finally answered with a timid smile, "Well…we used a test subject, and it pretty much left him intact after the last ten or so tries, so there's no reason why it shouldn't for you at this point."_

_The restrained look of worry on Phoebe's face, that niggling doubt of uncertainty, wasn't helping._

_"A test subject? Who?"_

_The four young women turned to see a smoking and ash-faced Leo Wyatt, coughing something fierce and hacking out the smoke out of his lungs, his hair charred and sticking straight out like a porcupine as well as his clothes being sooty and with smudges of charcoal._

_"Trust me, you get off easy…" rasped a sullen Leo, giving his wife the evil eye of resentment._

Getting drowned or getting burned. Deciding for the lesser evil, Teryx popped open the potion bottle and downed the entire contents in one swallow, grimacing a bit as the syrupy concoction oozed down her throat while the water snake got closer and closer, nearly misting her tail feathers. It wasn't so bad; it was like drinking a pure form of cinnamon…

Teryx then felt pleasantly warm, not hot but rather brimming with vigor, and to Demyx's shock, the avian dinosaur began to glow in fire, her entire body flickering with red and orange flames and covering her entire body with a magical fire spell. She literally appeared to be like a phoenix, similar to Falco's Fire Bird attack. And it wasn't the least bit painful or unpleasant. With a flourish of her wings, Teryx's caused a giant conflagration of heat all around her like a nova, extending by a radius of several meters, and as the waterspout sent by Demyx struck her, to her relief, it melted and evaporated upon contact with the magical inferno, hissing and steaming into thin air, wafts of haze and vapor surrounding the alien. But to Demyx's horror and outrage, Teryx was left unaffected as the blaze as his magical current of liquid was completely nullified.

"Hey, no fair!!" protested Demyx, which understandable drew much scoffing and annoyance at those words.

"'_Fair_'?! '_**FAIR**_' ??" snapped Itchy as he set himself upon the hooded and black-robed troublemaker, delivering numerous tail swipes and a powerful push kick or two, threatening to stomp and pound the musician to the ground, "I'll give you 'fair', bastard! **In bruises!!**"  
Demyx, not in the mood for further physical confrontation, simply evaded and dodged each punch, swipe, and kick from the aquatic Dinosaucer before sending a blast of water to wash him away. However, Itchy, being a powerful and adept swimmer by nature, was able to keep his balance, not losing too much ground as he was rudely shoved backwards.

Meanwhile, Compy the Dinosaucer then took out two thin knives from the compartments of the sleeves of his uniform, both of the watered blades actually attached to wires on the power source of his suit. And with a click, the blades began to heat up, starting to turn redder every passing second.

"David, I need a Fastball Special!! Over at the butthead!" the short, neon-red alien called out to his friend as he ran towards him, careful to not accidentally stab anyone on the way. David couldn't help but crack a joke as he smoothly grabbed Compy by the back of his uniform and began spinning to gain speed using the strength from his Secret Scout ring.

"_Which_ 'butthead' are you referring to this time?"

"Well for once, it's _**not**_ that back-stabbing Raptor!"

Raptor did his best to silently fume and not shout a retort (he didn't want to give Compy the satisfaction of knowing he got his goat) as he used his flamethrower on the third current that was heading towards him and Bonehead. With a snarl, the black alien took aim and fired, releasing a gigantic and artificial nova of heat and fire from the butane pack, a firestorm that rivaled in size with the river that was about to flatten him. With a loud hiss, the flames met the liquid attack and reached a stalemate, each element trying its best to gain and overwhelm against the other, the column of fire from the flamethrower pushing against the oversized whirlwind of blue in a demented game of life and death.

"Just checking," David grinned before, thanks to numerous practice sessions under Wolverine and Bronto-Thunder's eyes, he pitched the small Compy in a perfectly straight line, without fail, sending the scavenger towards the unsuspecting Demyx's back with his blades drawn out. And because he was so busy trying to avoid getting flattened by Itchy's swipes, Demyx didn't see Compy coming until it was too late and Compy braced himself for the impact.

Shhhhiiipp!

The noise was soft, almost inaudible. But the mullet-toting Organization warrior certainly felt the unpleasant sensation of Compy's heated, red-hot knives embedding into his back, right in the thoracic region of his spinal cord, the metal hissing and invoking a sweet-smelling yet disgusting odor upon contact with flesh. But the compsognatuhus wasn't done yet as he took out a pellet brimming with tar, black ,sticky, difficult tar, and from behind, messily smashed the orb against Demyx's face, exploding the entire contents upon Demyx's face. Demyx's roared as he stopped fighting and angrily, by reflex, started clawing at the messy and irremovable concoction against his visage, blinding his sight and smell. Compy took the opportunity to detach the daggers from the wristbands of his uniform before jumping clear and yelling the signal to the ichthyosaur.

"Now, Itchy!!"

Without fail and with as much anger and strength as he could muster, the aquatic extraterrestrial swung around abruptly and delivered a mighty and powerful clout with his dolphin-like tail into the left side of Demyx, and the poor musician was completely blindsided as he was sent flying, lifted off his feet and swatted into the air.

And thanks to Itchy's aim, Demyx was additionally heading directly into a patch of ground that contained the magical land-mines provided by the Joes and Ghostbusters.

_**KABOOOOM!!**_

"Think that finished him off?" Compy asked warily, looking at the sudden cloud of flying dirt, flames, and smoke in the distance, the plume of the explosions shrouding the view of the opponent's fate. Itchy knew better than false hope, and his suspicions were founded when, on cue, Demyx appeared above them in a plume of dark aura and black smoke, his uniform, weapon, and hair singed and several black smudges of where the tar on his face couldn't be clawed off. But still very much alive. And Itchy and Compy felt especially perturbed and nervous at the demented smile on the antagonist's face as his fingers began to play a slow and deceitfully soothing tune, like a slow dance song, as the waters then surged high into the sky, a series of miniature lakes forming above the sky at towering altitudes.

"_Wahahahahahaha!!_ Dance, water, dance!!"

"Uh oh…" gulped Bonehead as he and his teammates then saw what Demyx was summoning this time with his water magic. Now, the massive floods and rivers were surging high into the sky out of nowhere, forming gigantic balloons and perfectly-shaped orbs of liquid, each one consisting of hundreds of gallons of water. And water was actually a very heavy element considering that its density was greater than ice, so it was safe to say that each sphere of liquid was enough to weigh in thousands of pounds, more damaging that any wrecking ball at full-speed.

Paul paled as he asked Dimetro, "Think was can electrolyze that much water at once with our cannons?"

"Absolutely not," gulped an equally apprehensive and wide-eyed Dimetro, feeling light-headed.

"Right. Just checking."

With a wave of his hand, to everyone's horrors, the massive and gigantic orbs of water dropped like gigantic stones and fell with accelerating force. Allo, with his eye on the battlefield behind him, gasped before he risked weakening his hold on the magical shield and his own body to protect his friends, wincing as one of Xaldin's tornadoes actually erupted from the underground compartments of the company and painfully struck against the brown dome covering the complex. With a wave of his claws over his shoulder, Allo felt the sweat trickle down the back of his neck as a semi-transparent shield of Reptilionian magic, like an oversized umbrella.

With several intense and severe thuds (ones that sent spikes of pain in Allo's body), a major portion of the gargantuan rainfall of water was instantly halted and sheltered his teammates and family from being squashed and broken into bloody lumps. Unfortunately, the attacks came so fast that Allo couldn't stop all of them (and he was already risking much of the process it lessening the power of the shield on the company to prevent the Thirteenth Order from leaving).

"Yeow! Run, run, run!!" David yelped as he and his other friends scattered, playing a very risky game of hit-and-run as they avoided the water attacks from above, doing their best to not trip while they looked over their shoulders to see any incoming projectile ready to mash them into pulp on the dirt.

"AAAA!! This jerk plays dirty!!" Itchy yelped as he nimbly sprinted in an irregular pattern, avoiding having the gigantic balloons of water coming down to crush his body where his stood. Even as an aquatic reptile, he wasn't immune to being crushed to death by hundreds of gallons of water all at once.

"Then we should too! Fight fire with fire!" Teryx in flame mode said with anger as she touched a button on her uniform next to the Dinosaucer insignia, sending an encrypted emergency signal.

Itchy narrowly managed to duck several giant orbs, literally skidding and rolling across the mud before he shouted, "Uh…Honey, shouldn't it be _**water**_ in this case?!"

"**Don't start with me, or you're not getting any for the next year!!**"

Itchy knew better than to push it. Compy lewdly chuckled, holding his smile behind his claws.

"_**Ew!!**_ TMI, Teryx!" Montacera was heard commenting loudly from the sidelines.

And like guardian angels, the nine metallic spaceships of the Dinosaucers, each one ranging in gigantic proportions of being large enough to fit into a baseball diamond and with enough advanced artillery and alien weaponry for one craft to be its own battalion. All of the large spaceships, from Allo's to Struthio and Compy's personal vehicles were heading towards them, relayed by Teryx's signal to attack and divert all the water embodiments as well as a specifically annoying foe in a black cloak.

With a plethora of laser guns and missiles and bullet-fire tearing through the air and rocketing towards various targets, the numerous orbs and cannonballs of liquid were instantly besieged with numerous blasts of energy and explosives as the nine aircrafts split in different directions and began blasting anything liquid, honed in thanks to her and Dimetro's recent modifications to the spaceships' A.I.

_Boom! __**Kapow!**__**Boom!**__ Crackle, crackle! Kazap! __**Zap, zap! **__Kawhoom! __**Budda, budda, budda!**_

To Demyx's distress and offense, the entire battlefield was now much more balanced because of the spaceships returning a multitude of fire upon the clones already on the field as well as taking the hits from the giant balls in the sky, adding extra-protection for the fighters and heroes below. Every one of the oversized globules of water was being blasted apart by advanced alien technology, laser beams of high temperatures, and specific rockets resulting in messy explosions, neutralizing all of his attacks. Enraged, Demyx send a storm of water shots, each the size and weight of a bowling ball, to go hurtling upwards in the sky towards the various metallic UFOs with each flying ammunition racing with enough force to dent reinforced steel, like using cannonballs to sink a sailing vessel. Regrettably for Demyx, however, even a volley of water couldn't significantly damage any of the alien crafts, and he couldn't even forcibly rip the weapons clean off or cause the electronics inside to short-circuit upon contact.

None of his water could clearly affect the flying saucers. And washing away a large, heavy, metal rocket-ship was _much_ different from washing away a humanoid dinosaur or a human being.

Teryx seemed to read Demyx's mind as she flew upwards, her wings fully outstretched and looking like a comet as she left a trail of flames and heat in her wake, and Demyx saw her coming too late as he dodged at the last possible second. Alas, the feathered Dinosaucer managed to wing his painfully in the shoulder, leaving a nasty burn and bubbling flesh just from one second of physical contact. And to complicate matters even further, all the water she came into contact evaporated on touch, not even slowing her down in the slightest, and she easily cut her way through like a hot knife through butter.

"Nice try, but we're not stupid!" snapped Teryx, "We made our ships water-proof, fire-proof, lightning-proof, and every other possible safe-guard we could make against your Thirteenth Order!!"

The Organization musician was now irritated beyond all comprehension as he growled with bared teeth, now starting to actually show some troubling emotions contrasting his normally goofy and incompetent exterior as he was about to play his sitar again. But Teryx has an additional trick up her sleeve. Literally.

With a smooth and practiced movement, Teryx aimed a hidden gauntlet in her wrist and fired an energy-net directly at her foe, a wide-spread, circular mesh of ultra-violet energy, and it came so fast that it took Demyx completely by surprise (he was expecting the female alien to try to blitz him again). With a crackling discharge, Demyx was caught in the energy net and snared securely, subjected to intense burning energy that snaked across his body like electricity. And to the black-robed villain's horror, he couldn't teleport out of the net; he was completely stuck (primarily because the net Teryx used was modified with the same anti-teleporting technology and mystical enchantments the Joes used when they first tried to capture Leomon on the first attack at the X-Mansion). And because he was finally forced to remain still, David of the Secret Scout managed to perform his secret move with a remote-control console complete with a joystick, like he was playing a video game.

"Just a little more…" the raven-haired man said with a grin, and Demyx was too subjected with agony from the energy net to notice the black hover-bike of David, now being guided by invisible hands and the electronic signal of the joystick, rushing towards him. But he certainly felt the impact of it slamming into him with full force at top propulsion-speed, harpooning him like a fish and spiking him towards the ground…

CRRAAASSSSHHHH!! Demyx's shrill screams of pain were music to David's ears.

"Oh my. You certainly are going to need a new hover-bike, David…" was all a wincing Teryx could comment as she looked on the gruesome scene of David's prized black hovercraft brutally pinning and spearing Demyx down against the concrete, effectively crushing his midsection against the stone and leaving a deep crater. Any human caught in the path would have nothing more than a mushy, crushed spine and a mangled body. David hardly seemed regretful of the fact that his personal aircraft looked nothing more than a crushed soda can.

"It was worth it."

Demyx then had enough as he teleported from underneath the compacted and trodden remnants of the hoverbike, his entire body aching and throbbing with serious pain from being spiked and gouged against the concrete. He was nowhere back to being new and fully recovered again. But he was now intent on making each and every one of the miserable humans and dinosaur-rejects pay for ruining his music.

With a new and vicious idea, Demyx began strumming his instrument again, this time the fingers from both of his hands dancing and plucking madly at the strings with a fast-paced polyphony, more harried and frenzied in speed and pitch.

"Hee hee hee!! Dance, water, dance!! Move to the beat!"

"Uh…is it just me or does his laughing seem even…_**more**_ disturbing now?" Bonehead asked uneasily. He had good reasons to be especially cagey. Instantly, Demyx was trying a new attack (and there was really no end to them). To everyone's surprise, many of the heroes were sent flying as massive amounts of water erupted from the ground in an entirely different and unexpected manner, an attack he never used before in the past.

Waves of water were erupting in seismic explosions, actually tearing up the dirt and concrete like it was paper and breaching a good distance, destroying everything in their wake. What was odd was that the waves were in the form of bars pointed diagonally, like the backwards-slash character from a computer keyboard, but they oscillated and traversed like sound or energy, shoving and pushing back everyone in the process and actually causing a few heavy-weights such as Dimetro to go flying, his back sore and red with welts. Apparently, the water of these waves were highly-pressurized, and being touched by them would most likely lead to severe bruising, as painful as a whip biting into your skin.

"I **knew** I should have just stayed in bed and gotten drunk today!!" Compy wailed as he, David, and Paul sprinted hard, doing their best to avoid from being subjugated by the new frontal assault of liquid hammering in from all around them. Unfortunately, they were unable to outrun it, and all three of them were sent flying, only to come crashing down in the distance hard, rolling and groaning as they lay in a jumbled heap. And David was hoping the burning in his ankle was only a sprain and not his foot being broken. Paul automatically rushed to his friend, taking out the green-translucent medical salve Dimetro prepared for them, smashing the capsule of healing gel against David's injury.

"Watch out!!" yelled Itchy as, despite his broken arm, managed to gather up the three of them and held them close to his chest before he madly dashed out of the way of another incoming wave, showing no other anxiety and alarm to anything except his friends and teammates. Itchy bit down on his lip and cursed in pain as one wave struck his tail as it narrowly passed by his body, but thankfully, only his rear-appendage was bloodied and heavily lashed from the passing water.

"Careful, everyone!! These things are fast!!" wailed Dimetro as he hurriedly ran and dodge-rolled past one wave, skidding to a slippery stop on mud and scratching his foot against the broken concrete, only to come into the path of another oscillation of pressurized waterspouts. Their Organization foe was throwing them all over the place, not caring where he was aiming and trying to achieve maximum damage. Thankfully, Teryx managed to actually burn a wide gap into the surf and have the wave harmlessly pass through and circumvent the dimetrodon as the fiery avian then flew into the wave, evaporation a hole upon contact in the wall of fluid. Dimetro, upon seeing the close shave, immediately forgot his injuries as he aimed his cannon and starting blasting all the water that was trying to approach him and Itchy, disintegrating them before they could hit their targets.

Raptor realized that a good portion of the waves were coming inadvertently close to Allo, the brown-skinned leader still floating serenely in his lotus-sitting position and trying his best to maintain the shield so that none of the Hellfire Club associates could escape while they were all still inside the building. And Allo was weary enough as it is as one gigantic eruption of water began ripping up the ground as it traversed towards the Dinosaucer leader.

Panting and breathing hard, Allo sensed the wave targeting him fast, and he was about to risk expending some of his energy into creating a force-field to deflect the wave when a familiar black velociraptor leapt into the fray and hurled a flat, metallic disc, about the size of a Frisbee, directly at the approaching blast of water with a deft flick of his wrist. There was a series of fast-paced beeping before the disc exploded into a gigantic firestorm of flame, causing a veritable nova of heat and red fire to meet with Demyx's swells. And with a loud hiss and massive amounts of steam, the water was kept at bay, leaving very little to wallop the two. Still, several move waves were weakly managing to push their way through the protection of the fire, depleted and weakened enough for Raptor to use his butane flamethrower to take out the rest, snarling.

Allo's voice sternly reprimanded Raptor through his communicator, "_Raptor, I appreciate the help, but I'll be fine. Concentrate on protecting the others; they need your strength more than I do._"

Raptor did his best to not say several extremely foul oaths at his leader as he heatedly snapped, "By the mother planet, can't you appreciate that I'm trying to protect you for once?! Stop being so damned noble, concentrate on the damned shield, and be quiet, Allo!!"

Deep down, Allo could only surmise that this was the ex-Tyrannos' way of showing his concern.

Bonehead then did an extremely risky act as he lowered his head like a bull's and charged, his legs and muscles automatically burning from the sudden effort as the pachycephalosaurus sprinted harder than he ever could in his entire life. Ignoring his fears and with resolute determination, Bonehead actually charged through and forced his way past the waves of water, earning some painful welts across his face and chest, but actually managing to force his way past the impulses as he stampeded towards the black-cloaked contender. Bonehead was coming in so fast that Demyx nearly didn't see the Dinosaucer coming, but upon defensive instinct, Demyx held his sitar upside down, gripping the handle of his instrument like a baseball bat, before he swung at the dinosaur's head.

Both Bonehead's skull and Demyx's sitar met with brute and concussive force.

BAM!

The result was certainly unpredictable as now the Dinosaucer was hopping up and down in pain, wailing and whining in agony, gingerly holding his skull and he danced in an effort to lessen the throbbing in his skull and brain. His head now had heavy amounts of blood running down it, the skin split open like an overripe fruit (though miraculously, the skull was more or less intact). And Demyx was now horrified that the bottom portion of his sitar was now cracked and had a _very_ big and deep dent caving inward from colliding with the pachycephalasaurus' cranium. Bonehead's skull was a lot more durable than he thought.

"_Owwwiiieeeee!!_" yelled Bonehead, sobbing as he kept holding his aching skull, "My head!! _**My head!!**_ You hurt my head, you big jerk!!"

"_Aaaauuuuggghhh!!_" screamed Demyx at the same time, mourning over the damage of his prized instrument, "My sitar!! _**My sitar!!**_ You hurt my sitar, you dumb Dinosaucer!!"

"I really don't know whether to wince or laugh at this," Dimetro wearily muttered as he started on another wave with his cannon. Life could certainly be a farce in _this_ universe…

Except Demyx was hardly jovial; in fact, now that his beloved instrument and music was ruined, he was furiously murderous. And now he was already plotting painful and excruciating ways to drown, batter, and kill the Dinosaucer for ruining his fun. But then to his surprise and rude disruption, caught completely unaware, he was painful yanked high into the air by his sore shoulders, instantly feeling as if he was being singed by two blowtorches while being perforated with a nail gun. Bonehead, now safe, was still crying with pain as Dimetro ran over and applied the healing paste on the wound to stop the blood loss and hopefully halt any possible fracture.

"I think it's time you took a nice, relaxing flight for a time out," Teryx said with barbed hostility as she flapped her wings, dragging Demyx painfully higher and higher up into the air and the claws of her feet sinking into the Organization member's shoulders, gouging him. She was snatching him from the ground like how a hawk snatches a mouse, and already they were a good distance into the sky. And considering that she was still in flame-mode, it was additionally burning his shoulders and neck as well.

Unfortunately, Murphy's Law again showed why it was a particular bitch in this universe.

With a slow and steady decline, the fires and flames magically surrounding Teryx was diminishing before it fully went out, leaving her normal feathered and flesh form, leaving a stupefied Dinosaur with even less power against a mass murdering musician. The Charmed Ones' potion wore off. Teryx's eyes widened in horror.

But before she could try to snatch another potion bottle out of her sleeve, it was already too late as an annoyed Demyx then managed to simply summon an orb of water all around his body, the sudden appearance of it managing to catch the flying Reptilionian by complete surprise as she was suddenly shoved out of her flight pattern, the detonation of water sending her stunningly into a tailspin as she was temporarily rendered senseless.

"Teryx!!" roared Itchy before he managed to dash without a thought about his own injuries, and with a flying leap high into the air, the ichthyosaurus managed to snatch his fiancée in the air and landed into a rough tumble, breathless and panting. But Teryx was alive pretty much unhurt (though shaken) as she then realized where she was.

"You OK?"

"Yeah, just bruised. Thanks…"

Unfortunately, the conflict was not even remotely at a standstill as the bothersome instrumentalist began causing more trouble, invoking yet another army of dancing and skipping clones, the humanoid monsters setting themselves upon the group at full intensity and force without any respite whatsoever. But in addition to that, Demyx was moreover utilizing his previous attacks as well, the entire air and skies above now filled with gigantic orbs of water, snake-like rivers wiggling like serpents and wingless-dragons with enough might to demolish buildings within minutes, and pulsating waves.

"All right, no more 'Mr. Nice Guy'!! _**Dance, water, dance!!**_" roared Demyx with an insane and manic smile as he played an entire one-man symphony with his strings, his fingers dancing and flying across the musical tones and notes. And with a collective roar, the four various raids set themselves upon the humans and extraterrestrials alike as a massive saturation attack (pardon the expression).

"Oh, by the friggin' Gods! Now he's going full out!! He's doing _**all**_ of his attacks at once!!" yelped Compy as he grabbed a portable flamethrower he had as backup and with both hands, he aimed at several waves before they could send him flying head over heels.

"Why can't things_** ever**_ be easy?!" yelled Dimetro lugubriously as he, Bonehead, Teryx, and Raptor madly dashed out of the way of a wave and several balloons of water from above, the multiple and diverse attacks forcing them to wildly stumble and making it extremely thorny and tiring to dodge all of the attacks at once without being taken by surprise. Unfortunately, as they were trying to run away from the crashing and oversized hail, they inadvertently stumbled into a rather vicious pack of water drones that immediately attacked them on sight.

"_Mua ha ha ha ha ha ha!!_ _**DANCE, WATER, DANCE!!**_"

Considering that Demyx had kept saying that line over and over and over, it was pretty understandable that the Dinosaucers and the Secret Scouts were getting just a _little_ sick of it.

"Urge to kill…rising…" hissed Bonehead, one corner of his left eye twitching ever so slightly as he managed to narrowly push his way through one battalion of clones (and a wave) with his head.

"If I hear you say that stupid line _one more time_, so help me, I'm personally gonna ram that guitar of yours up your ass!" David growled with growing frustration and adrenaline, still going on strong, as he managed to narrowly evade a glob of water the size of a cannonball. Martial instincts snapping to attention, David then managed to dash forward and let loose several swift jabs and a hook, like a boxer. Demyx was now on the defensive as David left him a beauty of a red mark and a shiner. Demyx was now forced to dodge and attack hand-to-hand again, and in close quarters. With a frown, he narrowly backtracked and gripped the handle of his sitar like a baseball bat, ready to club David to death with one blow. But as he swung, Demyx suddenly found that his sitar was arrested in mid-flight, brought to a screeching and rude halt, nearly causing the mullet-haired man to drop off balance. He turned to see a now thoroughly pissed Itchy…right before Itchy's left foot made contact with Demyx's stomach in a brutal kick.

Winded, Demyx furiously yanked his musical instrument free out of Itchy's unbroken claw, causing the Dinosaucer to wince, but before he could try to summon a water attack to blast and push David and Itchy away from him, Paul instantly leapt from behind the sidelines and caught the Organization member from the rear in a wince-worthy, rear-naked chokehold. Demyx instantly stopped in mid-speech and gurgled weakly as he tried to pry the young adult off him, but thanks to his Secret Scout Ring, Paul couldn't be shaken off easily, his strength and dexterity managing to ruthlessly tighten his grip around the enemy's head. Demyx rasped and coughed as he was being strangled. And it was that distraction that allowed Itchy and David to deliver a series of punches and kicks at Demyx's head, torso, and stomach, the two of them working in perfect teamwork as their fists and feet solidly thumped into Demyx's body with enough force to leave cracks in brick walls, the two of them using every martial art move they could remember in their adrenaline haze.

Now battered and starting to lose control, Demyx then teleported out of the way, his broken and sore body disappearing in a plume of darkness, and startled, Paul could only yelp as he completely lost his grip on his foe and passed through the dark portal as if it were a ghost, leaving him nothing to fall on as he crashed to the ground.

"Damn! He got away!!" the African-American Secret Scout cursed as he hurriedly dodged an incoming waterspout.

"Seriously, is there _**any**_ weakness this nutcase has?! We haven't done anything significant!" yelped David as he gymnastically rolled and flipped out of the way of any incoming wave.

"Perhaps there is none to begin with David! Any wretch who can handle all these tactics with our best efforts surely has little or no weakness we can exploit! At the pitiful and embarrassing rate we are right now, we can only bring his powers to a standstill!!" Raptor yelled as he madly strafed to the left of another wave, hoping the butane levels in his flamethrower pack weren't low.

"Maybe if you actually pulled your weight for once of your damned life, we'd actually be makin' headway here, ya' Tyrannos moocher!!" snapped Compy as he let loose an energy grenade at one colossal serpent of water, sufficiently causing it to falter and halt, temporarily breaking apart from the blast.

"Perhaps one should try questioning his own usefulness before showing his passive aggressiveness at his jealousy at others with far more superior fighting skills, rodent!!" snarled Raptor as he actually managed to grab the arm of one clone and surprisingly whirled the entire water creature over his head like a flail, using all his strength to swing Demyx's doppelganger as an improvised weapon and taking out all the nearby clones around him with wince-worthy strength.

Compy, not to anyone's surprise (and to everyone's irritation), took offense instantly.

"Hey, hey, hey, dirtbag!! You wanna say something to me, then say it to my face! That is, if you don't mind being unable to admit that I'm ten times more of a Dinosaucers than you'll ever be, butthead!!" Compy snapped accusingly after he let loose a volley of pellets containing bentonite, clay powder, montmorillonite, and other absorbent minerals. With each pellet delivering several pounds of payload, many of Demyx's water clones were reduced to soggy, ineffective piles of mud and clumpy matter.

"At least I'm certainly ten times _taller_, Eater of Feces!!" snapped Raptor, looking up from his act of using his butane flame-throwers on a sizeable wave before it could strike Dimetro and Paul. Compy instantly took this to offense.

"And you're certainly ten times _**smellier and uglier**_ too, ya' Tyrannos traitor!!" snapped back the short compsagnathus.

Predictably, despite the severity of the situation of needing to fight, this just escaladed into another unwanted distraction.

"Miserable, filth-wallowing wretch!!" snapped Raptor, sizing up the short antagonist.

"Nose-pickin', moldy, Fang-Face!" jabbed back Compy, hands on his hips and glaring daggers.

"Swamp rat!!"

"Turd!!"

"Cheese Lips!!"

"Bag of vomit!!"

"_**Dwarf!!**_"

"_**Bastard!!**_"

"They can't even stop fighting when they're _fighting_…" groaned Dimetro as he managed to cause another bunch of clones to disintegrate and evaporate into nothing with his electrolysis machine.

Itchy was a little less refined as he mockingly prayed to the skies above, saying loudly with promise, "Gods of Reptilion, I swear that if you let us survive this, I will _gladly_ kill the both of them and offer Raptor and Compy's collective heads as sacrifices of thanks."

"Itchy, **NOT NOW!!**" snapped Teryx, already at the end of her rope, as she used an energy net on a group of clones, causing them to scream and evaporate from the extreme heat of the covering. The black-cloaked musician then noticed that though the other Dinosaucers and David and Paul of the Secret Scouts were furiously fighting and brawling for their lives, Raptor and Compy were actually having the gall to ignore everything around them and waste away shouting, hurling obscenities, and shooting death glares.

Demyx thought irritably, _Of all the nerve! They didn't even appreciate all the fun I'm creating for them!_

And if there was one thing that Demyx absolutely hated more than anything, it was being blatantly ignored (as attention-seeking pranksters such as Pietro would attest to wholeheartedly). With that, he actually teleported right next to the velociraptor and the compsagnathus, ready to play and interrupt their quarreling.

"C'mon, Dinosaucers!! What's with the hold-up?! Dance, water, da-!!"

"_**SHUT UP!!**_" roared Compy and Raptor as they both broke from their glaring match to deliver their fists simultaneously into the musician's face (or in the diminutive Compy's case, into Demyx's stomach) as a combined, wince-worthy sucker-punch.

_**POW!**_

Demyx could honestly say that truthfully, it wasn't as painful as it looked, especially since it was sort of nice with your jaw numb and seeing flashes of light before his eyes as he was now lying stunned on his back on the ground. And being dazed was an effective way to not be aware of any agony your body is feeling. Being punched by two extraterrestrial dinosaurs that were much stronger than any human being was certainly not something one could dismiss easily.

"_**Thank you**_," chorused Allo, Bronto-Thunder, Dimetro, Tricero, Teryx, Montacera, Paul, Sarah, and David in unison, rather dramatic with their relief. After all, anything that could stop that enemy from spouting the same annoying line over and over again like a demented record was a public service, really. Bonehead took no time to waste as he made a flying leap towards the stunned Demyx, his legs pushing him high above the ground while touching the button on his uniform that instantly transformed him into his dinovolved form, growing bigger and heavier by the second. Demyx's paled as his eyes then managed to focus in the split second before the gigantic and prehistoric form of Bonehead was falling like a rock from directly above.

"Oh no…" Demyx could only utter, and it was too late for him to teleport as the extraterrestrial hit the ground solidly.

BOOOM!

Now Demyx had further insult to the injury as he was actually being _sat on _by a dinovolved and prehistoric form of Bonehead, the thick-skulled dinosaur grumpily looking pleased with himself as he burrowed his rear end even further to the ground. And there was muffled screams of protest coming from the ground where Bonehead was sitting upon.

"Oh, what I would give for a camera to commemorate this one moment," Dimetro smiled upon the sight.

Allo then absolutely had enough as he heard Raptor's earlier words on how they could only bring Demyx's attacks to a standstill at best, and despite the pain he felt of Xaldin's tornado actually blowing through the roof of the building (majestically erupting from the basement levels) and smashing against the apex of his barrier, he felt strong enough to risk for some intervention on his part. With a wave of his hand, Allo manipulated a good portion of his Reptilionian magic upon Demyx and Vexen, and to the Organization warriors' shock, they were encased with an impenetrable and robust force of brown-hued mystical energy. And to their outrage, it was keeping a vigorous and formidable hold on them, preventing them from using their attacks or weapons, as if trapped in solid rock, unresponsive and forced to remain still. Vexen snarled as he tried to teleport, but to his outrage, he wasn't able to. Both he and Demyx were unquestionably stuck, and apparently, as powerful as they were, Allo's magic was currently much stronger thanks to the enhancements on the hex surrounding Shaw Industries.

Allo winced, feeling a hot spike of pain rupture down his spinal cord as Vexen then tried to create a devastating eruption of ice and arctic energy with his shield to break the enchantment, the toil starting to increase on Allo's willpower, but thankfully, the Dinosaucer leader still held firm as he then cast an additional telekinetic spell over the field and collected every drop of water all around the floor. With a rustling noise of a heavy rainfall, all the water ascended into the sky and congregated into a massive body of shimmering, clear fluid, the volume of which consisted of enough to fill in an Olympic-sized pool. With another wave of his hand, the water actually swirled of its own accord and encapsulated the two hooded men in a prison bubble. Now Demyx's own tactics were turned against him and the Chilly Academic.

"Hey, no fair!!" whined Demyx gratingly, his voice still echoing underneath the swirling water.

"You know, at _this_ point, I really can't say we give a crap," snapped Struthio as he and Stego helped a bruised Bonehead rise from the dirt, the Secret Scouts and the Dinosaucers quickly gathering in a semi-circle around the two miscreants. Allo's voice then relayed his idea to Paul and Dimetro over their communicators.

"_Paul, Dimetro…use your cannons on the water surrounding them, hurry! I'm not sure if I can maintain this long enough before they can escape!_"

Dimetro gasped as he then saw the reasoning behind it instantly, declaring, "Allo, you sly-a-saurus, you're an absolute genius!! Now, Paul, for the Gods' sake!!"

With that (and to several of the audience's confusion), the Secret Scout and the Dinosaucer inventor aimed their electrolysis-weapons at the body of water, setting them to the fullest intensity they could, before they fired steady streams of multi-colored energy at the vast bulk, splitting all the liquid down to its atomic-structure, forming massive amounts of hydrogen and oxygen gas all around Demyx and Vexen.

A minute passed. Then two. But still several others still didn't see what this whole trick was supposed to do.

"It's not doing anything!" wailed Stego, now nervous, but Dimetro irately cut his comrade off.

"Everyone, get back!! This much should be enough!! But we need a spark, a flame in other words!! Right underneath those two inside!!" Dimetro commanded, the air all around them getting thick and heavy.

"Allow me…" Sarah volunteered instantly as she hurled her last glass filled capsule of butane and phosphorus at the trapped pair of Thirteenth Order lackeys, forced to remain still amid water being decomposed and split into hydrogen and oxygen thanks to Paul and Dimetro. Sarah's aim was true as the orb shattered upon contact with the concrete ground below them, igniting a spark.

And as Vexen and Demyx were going to find out the physics withstanding the hard way, hydrogen gas and oxygen combined with flame made a very, _**very**_ terrific explosion (especially with the amount Paul and Dimetro caused).

Even at a close but somewhat acceptable berth, the resulting rumble and detonation of furious heat and the force of the compressed air knocked all four of the Secret Scouts off the feet and was nearly enough to make Bronto-Thunder almost lose his balance.

_**KAAAWHHHOOOOOMMMMM!!**_

The firestorm and searing heat completely engulfed the two warriors from the Organization, too quick for them to allow escape via teleportation, and both Demyx and Vexen had no choice but to allow the flames to swallow them up as they screamed upon the incineration.

"Oooh…" winced a grinning Tricero as the now badly burned and weakened figures now sunk to their knees, trembling and quaking in agony as there were now large cracks in Vexen's ice shield and Demyx's sitar was now blackened with many of the strings snapped and broken, "That's gotta hurt."

"And that's what? The second explosion we've put them through?" quipped a satisfied Bronto-Thunder.

"Soon to be the third," Allo returned evenly as he ordered, "Get clear of the areas with the land mines."

As the other Dinosaucers and the Secret Scouts complied, Allo simply waved one claw, and automatically, there was a faint tremor throughout the grounds of Shaw Industries before with a burst of brown auras, each and every one of the land mines that had not been activated yet were extracted out of the dirt, leaving noticeable potholes. With another wave of his claw, just as the fires subsides around Vexen and Demyx, all the land mines jerked before flying through the air before congregating on the very spot where the two Organization soldiers were weakly standing.

Demyx's eyes widened in horror at the fleeting image of all the land mines approaching them at once, and he and Vexen, so badly hurt from the explosive and combustive effects of the hydrogen gas, they didn't even have time to teleport out of the way as the metal discs struck them…

**KABOOOM!**

"Well, we used up all the land mines that the Ghostbusters and Joes gave us," Montacera couldn't help but remark as both Demyx and Vexen were sent flying in the air before gravity took into effect, and still stunned from the explosion, they had little choice but to meet the ground face-first…

WHAM!!

"On the upside, it was for an effective tactic," Struthio grinned as Demyx and Vizen both grimly and weakly picked themselves up from the deep craters they made in the dirt and grass upon impact. Not giving them a chance to get back up, all but one of the Dinosaucers and all four of the Secret Scouts, despite their weariness and injuries, charged with fists, claws, and weapons ready and roaring. Allo remained in his serene, lotus-position, trying his best to maintain the barrier so that no one from the Thirteenth Order would be able to teleport out. He offered a quick prayer to the Gods of Reptilion and any other deity listening (experience with various groups and allies taught him that there were many beneficial gods in this planet).

_Please, let no one die…_

**Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! The next one will be in two weeks on Friday October 3****rd**** (yes, you may PM me if I'm late) because it's already been written! While we witnessed the Dinosaucers giving it to Vexen and Demyx, the next fight is a big one because it's focused on the fight underground Shaw Industries with the Superior and Empath the Hellion! While the others fight for the Chalice, the Superior of the Organization, Xemnas, goes head to head against Superman, Wavedancer, Dumbo, Cyclops, Low Light, and Yoh and Amidamaru while Batgirl and Cyborg do the beat down on Empath, but can it be enough? Can these combined efforts even work? Expect lots of planning and team attacks for action scenes in this battle is going to be anything but mediocre (I hope, Lord willing)! Wait until two weeks to find out! Until then, constructive criticism welcome! Ah I missed doing this!**

**Fictives: Pray for another year delay…pray for another year delay…pray for another year delay…**

**Funny thing is I definitely don't miss the fictives…**


	39. ATTWNATGY Xemnas

**CHAPTER 39****: And To Think We're Not At The Gathering Yet (Xemnas)**

Meanwhile, the battle with the rest of the members of Organization Thirteen was actually getting rough. Looking back on it, all the heroes could agree later that it was the ugliest battle they ever had ever since the Heartless showed up in the events that lead to the Armageddon brought by the arrival of Trigon in Jump City.

And considering that this was taking into account of the times when the Heartless attacked San Francisco and when they began attacking various cities and places all over the world, that was **not** a light statement.

Xemnas snarled without a coherent word as his other brethren of the Thirteenth Order along with the White and Black Queens of the Hellfire Club and Hellions. While they left to go against the heroes, the Superior instead made a direct beeline towards the Grail of Kingdom Hearts, teleporting a path via a swirling vortex of darkness. It was just in his sights, and he wasn't going to waste any time fighting something pointless (in his opinion). He was so close, only a few meters more…

The blessing of the Sovereign's Power, untold! A boon to their side!

He stretched out a hand towards the glimmering and beautiful statue of the angel…

POW!!

Superman came so fast that the Superior didn't even see that coming, and it angered the robed warrior to immense proportions as he was sent flying from the subsonic punch that the Kryptonian soldier delivered from his blind spot, only to come skidding to a halt in midair, greatly shaken and quite injured. As strong as the Superior was, he couldn't withstand a powerhouse like Superman without feeling _some_ sort of pain. He was literally left winded. Superman barely gave the Superior a second glance as he arrived next to the Holy Chalice of the three Talismans of Twilight within a fraction of a second while the other members of the X-Men, Misfits, Justice League, Titans, and the Ghostbusters scattered, instantly remembering the numerous battle strategies they had gone over beforehand weeks and weeks ago.

"Everyone! Hold them off and don't give them an inch!! Follow your targets and your plans! _**Yo Joe!**_" roared Roadblock over his communicator before he let loose a plethora of bullets from his machine gun at Zexion who was instantly taken aback as he managed to use an invisible force to have them deflect harmlessly from his position.

"Yo Joe!!" roared the other Joes and Misfits in unison as the heroes clashed in various intervals with the Hellions, the Queens of the Inner Circle, and Organization Thirteen. Meanwhile, Superman was about to grab the Grail close to his body when the instant he touched it, the white surface of the statue began to shine and gleam even brighter.

"What the - ?!" blurted out Clark right before he was sent hurtling back.

_**FLASH!!**_

Superman gave out a yelp (he wasn't hurt, unlike Selene's attempt to grab the statuette) before the force from the holy bronze of the angel shoved him back, gracefully but with the same intensity of the force originating from a black hole. Only in reverse. Wavedancer rushed up to the Kryptonian as Yoh the Shaman commanded to his Guardian spirit and partner.

"Amidamaru, _**Spirit Unity!!**_" yelled Yoh as Amidamaru materialized and fused with the boy's body, Yoh still gripping his Harasume sword into his hand, and immediately Yoh and the samurai became one in soul and mind. The spectral form of the gigantic, white-robed ghost hovered above Yoh's head, both of their expressions collected, angry, and ready for any attack as they reached one-hundred percent fusion. Unfortunately, before they could try anything, they were suddenly blitzed by a rampaging Jetstream, effectively distracting them.

"Superman, what happened?!" yelled Althea in alarm, looking up at the stunned and shaken Superman.

"I couldn't touch the Chalice!" Superman blurted out.

"You **can't** touch it!! Only a chosen few can harness the Sovereign's power!!" yelled Leomon in the background as he took a quick glance from the sidelines at this act before he sprang, roaring towards Xaldin, aiming a glowing fist at the black-robed, wind-rider.

"And I intend to be _one_ of those select few," growled Xemnas as he charged directly towards Wavedancer and Superman, his sabers dancing and cutting the air with impressive whistling sounds as he bore down on the two. Since the Kyptonian couldn't touch the Sovereign's symbol, then that just meant that the girl was the only threat…

Althea guessed this too, and instantly, she tore towards the Grail. Well, if Superman couldn't touch it and get it as far away from Xemnas as possible, then perhaps she'd have better luck. And she certainly wasn't going to stand back and hope for the chance that the angel would reject the Superior too (that was too much of a risk). Xemnas saw this, and the leader of the Thirteenth Order rushed directly at Althea, intent on lopping off her pretty, little head before she even took another…

POW!!

Xemnas actually collided into the opposite wall as he was sent flying. Hard. Enough to leave a deep impression into the thick metal of reinforced steel, lead, and titanium. Now his face was throbbing from the uppercut that Superman delivered.

Superman decided on another tactic as he yelled while rushing towards Xemnas in a blink of an eye, "Wavedancer, get the Chalice!!"

"Got it! Just keep the Superior out of my hair!!" Althea yelled as she sprinted towards the floating statue bathed in halos of white.

The leader of the Thirteenth Order bared his teeth so hard, the bone was beginning to throb. Damn that meddling fool. Now the only way he can get to the Grail and kill Wavedancer would be through Superman himself.

His funeral.

Cyclops, being too far away to help escort Althea to safety, did the next best thing as he fired a powerful and concentrated blast directly at Xemnas while he was still embedded in the wall. It was powerful enough to eat a hole through the armor of a Sentinel robot, but to Cyclops' shock, Xemnas barely spent a thought of focus as he idly waved a hand at the incoming beam of crimson heat. To Scott's shock, the optic beam was easily deflected and sent shooting back at him by invisible magic, and the X-Man was in danger of having his own mutant power hitting him instead. Cyclops took a flying strafe to the left, effectively rolling out of the way, only for the energy come within a hair's breath of incinerating the teenager. Panting at the close call, Scott got immediately frustrated; obviously, like the time when the Superior showed up at the Mansion, direct assaults on his part were hardly effective. Fortunately, Xemnas completely ignored the X-Men's field leader as he focused on his main troublemaker.

Xemnas growled as he flew at Superman and swiped at the Kryptonian with his dual sabers, but to the Superior's anger, Superman easily dodged, exerting himself in the air at speeds so fast, not even the non-blinking human eye could process it (and Xemnas had underestimated that Superman could move at speeds that could rival the Flash). But before Xemnas decided to execute a deadly dance all throughout the room to force Superman to back off, he felt the devastating riposte that Superman delivered with full force right between the cloaked warrior's shoulder blades.

Xemnas couldn't help but let out a grunt of pain; the extraterrestrial was hitting him much, _much_ harder than the first punches Clark threw at him. Yet as the swordsman was doing his best to break his uncontrolled momentum so that he could hover to an abrupt halt and teleport away, Superman unexpectedly flew within a mere thousandth of a second before he appeared in front of the dual-saber wielder and delivered a devastating right-cross. Xemnas felt as if his head was violently ripped off and detached from his body as his skull cracked back hard against his neck-bones as he was forcefully punched backwards. Though that was nowhere as painful as the sweep-punch Superman did to Xemnas' back and spine as he flew swifter than lightning behind Xemnas as the poor man was pitched forward again from the Kryptonian's assault.

Normally, Clark was always extra sensitive and mindful about his strength and to those who were around him. One miscalculated blow, one moment of using much more strength than normal, one simple instance of losing himself in the heat of battle, would not only be disastrous should he still be in his alter-ego, but fatal as well for he could easily kill someone with a flick of his finger. It was like being in a paper box, unwilling to cause any sort of tear whatsoever. Superman needed, wanted, to constantly hold back and put himself under control, if not to be merciful but to prevent himself from causing a death (as much as villains, especially Luthor, irked him, he certainly didn't want to kill regardless of the justification).

Now, as he was facing Xemnas, a being who caused untold deaths around the world due to the Heartless and who framed the Justice League for the attack on Washington D.C, Superman didn't hold back in the slightest.

In fact, he was letting loose to the fullest extent he could dare to do while inside an underground chamber (he didn't want to risk a cave-in and kill his friends by burying them alive in rubble). With a rare yet calm anger only reserved for a select few such as Lex Luthor, Darkseid, and Brainiac.

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! **Kaboof!!**

Xemnas slammed into the metal floor from the sky, almost breaking it with impact as a small crater and a considerable amount of dust arose from the force of the Superior's body crashing into it after the hammer punch the Justice League founder delivered. Superman felt a bit of worry perk up. Xemnas was a lot more powerful than he thought if he could still be alive; thankfully, Superman was faster as well…

"I thought you were supposed to be a pathetic, sniveling Boy Scout…" rasped Xemnas as he murderously gave Superman a lethal glare with gingerly extracting himself from the deep impression he made in the floor.

"And yet here I am, giving you a well-deserved thrashing. Life's funny that way," Superman returned with admirable calmness as he readied another haymaker to deliver on the Superior, swooping down and ready to finish it. Xemnas then smiled as his body was quickly vanished into a swirling and crackling orb of dark magic, leaving nothing but thin air and shadows as Superman's fist passed through the mass with no effect before the leader then cast a special enchantment.

"What?!" gasped Superman as he saw, to his horror, that he was now surrounded by a black triangle of energy, magically appearing with each point of the triangle formed by a manifestation of the Nobody sigil. And the liens of the triangle were crackling, searing black lighting, as black as the purest, unvarnished obsidian. Superman tried to fly faster swiftly all around the room as if attempting to escape, but it was too late as the flashing triangle of dark magic began to glow even dazzlingly, so hot it seared to the touch, as it spun and revolved around the Justice League alien faster and faster.

KRACKLE! **KAZAAAAAPPP!!**

With a bright flash, Superman screamed as the magic and darkness engulfed his body and drained all of his energy and strength, nearly killing him, and actually setting each muscle and nerve fiber on fire. This was no ordinary spell; it was one of Xemnas' strongest attacks. Within several heartbeats, the black hues detached and Clark toppled from the air and crashed to the ground solidly, causing the ground to quake a bit throughout the hangar, severely weakened.

"Hang on, we're comin'!" Yoh yelled in alarm as he managed to fight his way past Jetstream (who thankfully began to target someone else) as he held his blade at his side while he sprinted, his sneakers pounding hard against the metal.

Meanwhile, Althea was just within meters of the Chalice when immediately, as a rude surprise, a wall of fire erupted in front and cut her off from the holy artifact. Althea gasped and skidded to a stop, nearly tripping forward and burning her face as she came close to diving head-first into the unwelcome heat, singing her bangs.

"Hey!" the Misfit ninja-in-training protested with outrage. Who did…?

The perpetrator's voice then called out teasingly, and Althea recognized the little buttwipe's teasing and gloating at once.

"Nuh-uh-uh, Wavedancer!!" chortled Axel's voice through the flames and wall of fire, taunting her and her slow action, "That Chalice is as good as ours!"

Wavedancer swore a foul oath as Axel was suddenly blitzed by Jean Grey and Shipwreck behind the covering of heat and searing magic, the X-Girl and the Joe ready to deliver some payback for his past transgressions (plus interest). Axel one-upped her; now he had a better chance to get the statuette of the angel. As various yelps and sounds of punches and energy blasts started to ring throughout the air, Althea was contemplating on using her magic to put out the fire, a noise from behind made her instincts scream a warning in her head, and immediately, the hydrokinetic jumped to the left, avoiding the red light saber that came close to cleaving her skull. Instead, like a hot knife through butter, it cleaved the floor with a gentle whine, leaving a deep slash, with red, molten metal bordering all around. But as fast as she was, it was by pure luck only. As a result of the Superior's surprise assault, one large lock of her black hair was completely hacked off, charred at the stubs.

Wavedancer immediately fled, doing her best to avoid getting sectioned into a messy pile as the leader of the Thirteenth Order pursued her, swinging and flailing madly. Right now, as long as she was cut off from the Chalice, then the chance to get rid of the alpha Misfit and her damned staff was more alluring.

"Get away from her!!" snarled Low Light as he transformed into a particular noxious and unstable form of charcoal gas, a gigantic cloud the size of an SUV and as black and as thick and opaque as the harshest smoke. The Joe sniper flung himself onto the Superior with his mutant power before he could get close to Althea. Xemnas roared and sputtered madly as the charcoal dust stung his eyes, burned his nostrils and mouth, pinpricking his skin as the particles blew faster and faster against his person of their own accord. Cooper then instantly turned into phosgene, a highly toxic gas, and the Superior coughed and choked like his lungs were being forcefully hacked out of his body. Wavedancer then took her chance at the distraction.

"Aquara Water Dragon!" she yelled, pointing a finger at the incapacitated Superior, and her hand glowed in azure light as the roaring and gigantic stream of crystal waters emerged out of nowhere, rising high above, before forming a hollow-eyed, horned dragon with a sharp, beaked, roaring mouth, and surged forward. But immediately afterwards, Althea had a trump card as she whispered an incantation, too low for her opponent to hear her, under her breath with her scepter…

"Give me strength."

Enraged and upon hearing the cry, Xemnas teleported out of the blinding and noxious cloud of yellowish nerve agent, avoiding the waterspout at the last second. Instead, all the dragon did was pass through the vapor harmlessly, and Low Light was forced to transform back into solid form back on the ground. The Superior appeared behind Althea and was about to lop off the girl's head in a blink of an eye when he was violently gripped by a strong and supple tentacle of some sort, wringing his neck like a snake before being rudely hurled backwards with brute force, almost snapping his neck apart from his body. Xemnas managed to stop himself in mid-flight and now incredibly angry, ready to kill as he brandished his twin light sabers again. Until a second stream of water caught him full in the chest and sent him crashing into the ground, the force of the propulsion of water nearly crushing his ribcage. Dumbo, his blue eyes blazing, blared a trumpet-like war cry through his snout before charged forward in an attempt to protect his partner. Wavedancer summoned him as back-up, knowing full well the Superior wasn't going to just stand still.

"Go get him!" yelled Althea as she and Low Light rushed towards the stupefied body of Superman.

The drenched and soggy man managed to quickly dash out of the path before Dumbo landed solidly on the floor at the exact spot the deranged leader was moments ago, causing the crater and cracked hole to cave in even more under the elephant's weight. Had the silver-haired man not sidestepped, he would have most likely been crushed against the floor. Xemnas snarled as he then swung at the Summon's head, about to sink his red weapons deep into Dumbo's skull until his blades were suddenly arrested and brought to a sudden stop by a Japanese samurai sword with a fierce clang as light met metal. Xemnas was surprised once again; technically, no physical blade could ever stop his weapons.

The black-cloaked warrior looked up to see a fuming Yoh, with Amidamaru hovering above him, looming like a translucent, disturbing specter above the teenage Shaman. And both Yoh and Amidamaru were now angry, yet cool enough to show nothing more than scowls on their faces.

"You dishonor us with your presence," Amidamaru said stonily before Yoh fluidly strafed and delivered a mighty slash at Xemnas' chest while Dumbo took the chance to fly above to safety before positioning himself and spraying a pressurized torrent of water from his snout. Already trying to avoid Yoh from stabbing him, the Superior was now also trying to dodge the cascade of icy water threatening to wash him off balance. Encouraged, Yoh and Amidamaru dashed forward, their sword now radiating pure holy light and spirit energy before the brown-haired shaman slashed diagonally in a downwards movement quickly. Xemnas dodged the sword, though the energy wake from the shaman's magic was enough to cause a neat cut in the black fabric covering his body. And the entire area of ground where the leader once stood was now cleaved with a gigantic gash, neat, smooth, and like a hot knife through butter. And Yoh wasn't giving up as he and Amidamaru let loose a salvo of energy swipes, making it difficult for the Superior to get close. Over and over, the slashes from Yoh's oversized wooden sword, fused with Amidamaru's spectral samurai sword, made a deadly combination, each strike and slash coming inches from delivering fatal blows to the leader, more than several blows actually causing deep tears and lacerations in the man's flesh. And to Xemnas' annoyance, he couldn't block all of them.

With a snarl, the Superior tried to teleport, disappearing in a black portal, and reappeared behind the Ghostbuster, but to his surprise, the shaman completely saw it coming as he and his spirit then simply positioned the sword behind them without even turning around, and Xemnas' light-sabers were instantly blocked by the teenager's blade. There was no doubt about it; thanks to Yoh's training with Anna, he was a proficient swordsman.

But before the Superior could even try to perform another dance, he felt his senses perk up as the X-Man named Cyclops let loose a finer and thinner, more concentrated beam of red energy, but then to his disdain and scoff, the beam missed by a wide berth, at least by ten meters or so. Still, that one split-second pause was all Yoh needed to use the distraction to his advantage as he and Amidamaru swung their swords together at Xemnas' head, a wide arc of bright radiance curving into a sharp and wicked slash. The Superior easily dodged it and traveled a bit at a safe distance before he sneered at Cyclops in the distance.

"You missed," Xemnas shot condescendingly…right before the beam that just missed him by a wide margin a second ago ricocheted off the walls several times at amazing angles and struck the Superior on the back of his unsuspecting head.

_**Kazap!!**_ Xemnas let loose a scream as the optic and crimson energy seared into his skull, leaving a deep and scorched hole in the back of his head. Had it been a normal human, Xemnas would be left with permanent brain damage.

"No I didn't," Cyclops returned with a smug smile. Oh, those Danger Room sessions were so paying off now. He let loose another two quick pulses of radiation, bouncing one off the floor and the next one off the far adjacent wall, taking care to not hit Supergirl who was doing her best to clobber Xigbar. The Superior avoided the first one, but by doing so, the second one struck him right in the side, burning his skin. Both of them had rebounded and recoiled against so many numerous surfaces that Xemnas couldn't possible expect to see where they were going to come from. And Cyclops planned his laser beams well; he was an uncanny sharpshooter. Yoh took the advantage, instantly working side by side with Scott's blasts and even though he had to be careful to not get hit by the optic energy, he still complemented the assault wonderfully well as he then leapt up and delivered a flying kick to the cloaked man's face before somersaulting over the Superior's head and cleaving Xemnas' back with the sword as he flew by in quick succession.

The Superior screamed in absolute and excruciating malaise as the back of his torso and cloak was now sporting a gruesome laceration that went diagonally across the left side of his abdominals towards the right shoulder. But as Yoh and Amidamaru safely landed to a safe distance, the spirit of the samurai turned to see to his shock that the injury was healing itself miraculously, disappearing and renewing itself in mere moments. Within a second, there was no evidence of the injury on the black fabric or the man's body.

"Impossible…" murmured Amidamaru in terror. That was a spirit-attack, and few things in the physical world could withstand and acclimate against it that easily. Thankfully, Cyclops then hit Xemnas with a powerful blast from his visor before Xemnas could recover, and like before, the white-haired man was sent flying into another wall before he was firmly embedded against the metal surface upon bone-breaking impact. Now Xemnas was enraged for that insult to his injury.

All right, forget killing Superman and Wavedancer. Scott Summers would be the first to die.

Xemnas then tried another tactic as he then abandoned his battle with Yoh before rushing towards Cyclops, his red, glowing weapons drawn. Cyclops saw him coming, and instantly, the mutant teenager let loose several short beams of red energy before finishing it with a wide-spread beam of light that nearly winged Speedy the Titan (who was fighting with Larxene) and Bree who was busy exchanging punches and judo-moves with the Hellion, Monet, in the distance. But before any of these energy discharges could hit their mark, the leader teleported and promptly vanished in a puff of black haze, leaving Scott to miss him completely. Though it wasn't a complete loss as one beam struck the Organization member Lexaeus in the back, caught unaware as the energy seared into him, which allowed Ace Starr to grab Magma from Lexaeus' deathblow.

"Damn…" cursed Cyclops under his breath as he wildly looked around, his sharp eyes underneath his visor trying to spot anything resembling his foe amid the yelling, screaming, explosions, and occasional energy blast. Amidamaru then got a cold shiver down his back as he sensed something…from right above Cyclops. He glanced up and his eyes widened.

"Yoh!!" the samurai yelled, and the shaman glanced up to see the alarming sight of the Superior, his arms outstretched and crackling with energy from his red sabers, diving directly above the X-Man, falling like a stone from the apex of the ceiling.

"Cyclops, above you!!" Yoh roared as he dashed forward, praying he would make it in time. Cyclops immediately looked up and fired a powerful beam on instinct without wanting to waste the precious time he would spend gawking. Xemnas hardly seemed bothered as he crossed his blades in front of his face and effortlessly blocked the X-Man's blast, and the mutant field leader could only pale as Xemnas' descent got precariously closer and closer, now matter how hard his concentrated his blast. Thankfully, Yoh and his spectral partner reached him in time.

Before Scott could do anything, the shorter, brown-haired adolescent reached Scott's presence, nearly face to face and toe to toe, before he crouched down and leapt with a powerful leap towards the deep-diving monster, his sword ready to swing as he approached the foe, closer and closer. And before Scott could comprehend it, Yoh additionally used his shoulders as a sturdy stepping stone and he felt his body painfully get trodden upon as the paranormal leapt towards the fast-approaching man in the black cloak.

It was a game of chicken…only with swords. And Xemnas scoffed as he saw the diminutive boy not even bothering to swing out, his arm slack and to his side, as he closed the distance. To die so young and like a fool…

The Superior's senses and mental alarm bells then rang at full, heightened warning as he realized too late that as Amidamaru and the boy got within inches of his face, the Ghostbuster had sharper and enhanced abilities far beyond many humans as he raised his dual red swords over his face and torso at the last minute, only to catch the duo's fused sword with a bone-jarring clang. Had he hesitated for only an instant more, Yoh's sword would have connected. Even though he was barely a teenager, the Shaman was clearly not to be underestimated.

But Yoh wasn't finished yet as he quickly used his sword caught against the block as leverage to flip past the Superior's head as quick and clean as you please before Yoh speedily tucked into a ball and double-somersaulted in the air with his sword out in front of him, catching his opponent full into the back twice. Xemnas roared as the gigantic, glowing sword cut a path through his body again twice before Yoh and Amidamaru then turned and delivered a final horizontal cleave with all their strength, smacking the poor man towards the ground like a baseball, and Xemnas has no choice but to go plummeting down towards Cyclops, completely helpless and temporarily too wracked with pain to do anything to block the incoming optic blast at full force…

KAZAP!!

"I had to admit, that one felt good…" grinned Cyclops as the Superior, caught in the brunt of the massive solar energy beam, was sent flying past Colossus and Xaldin only to go crashing into the opposite wall, leaving a very wince-worthy hole. Yoh and his spirit landed onto the ground, with the teenager softly landing on his feet like a cat with a sheepish grin.

"Sorry about that. But I didn't have time to ask permission for a boost," Yoh grinned amiably, showing his teeth sheepishly.

Scott couldn't help but grin as he said back with a melodramatic drawl, "Hmmmm…I think I can let it slide considering you both saved my life."

"And to think that a good portion of the Misfits swear by the fact that you have no sense of fun and humor," Amidamaru quoted for jest with one raised eyebrow. This banter of growing trust was immediately interrupted as Xemnas teleported from behind, trying to slice at them. With acrobatic moves and quick reflexes, the two barely managed to avoid getting killed by mere inches.

Meanwhile, both Wavedancer and Low Light reached Superman, who was woozily staggering back up, disoriented but fine.

"C'mon, Boy Scout! Fight's not over yet!" Cooper tried to prod as he used all his strength to help Superman stand up (but truth be told, Superman weighed a ton, literally) with Dumbo's assistance. Clark, obviously having problems standing and maintaining his balance, wasn't ready yet.

"Low Light, we got this one!! Just help Superman!!" Cyclops roared as he then switched the setting of his visor and delivered a stream of short, bursting pulses of optic energy, a river of small blasts rushing forward Xemnas like chunks of hail. Yoh and Amidamaru charged head-first with their swords for a tactical close-combat.

"Cyclops, we'll help out too!! Dumbo, like we practiced!!" yelled Althea as her Disney partner then nodded at her. Screw the Chalice; making sure that Xemnas wouldn't kill any of her allies was more important. Cyclops and Yoh (and Amidamaru) wouldn't be enough, and they could use her help more than Superman could. And as long as Axel's fire was covering the field, she couldn't reach it without wasting a lot of time while her friends were risking their lives. Dumbo swooped down from the air and flew low, allowing the ninja-in-training to jump onto the Disney character's head as he passed by, riding on his neck like a flying steed. Instantly, Dumbo pointed his snout outwards and released a spray of water, but this time, Wavedancer used her hydrokinesis to form all the water into minute droplets and beads, hundreds of thousands of them, radiating around them like a swarm of angry bees, working in conjunction with each other as trained at the Pit.

With a wave of her hand, the barrage of droplets buzzed and hovered around the air like a swarm of bees, and flying at high speeds, the cloud of precipitation surged forward and actually pelted against her adversary painfully. Flying at high speeds, the beads actually stung against the Superior's skin, raising red marks and effectively blinding him and his vision, an endless torrent of liquid bullets. And because the cloud of water from Althea was effectively obscuring his vision, it was enough for Wavedancer to leap down off Dumbo's back from above and deliver a downwards kick at the Superior's head before she effectively made contact.

Pow!

The man's head was painfully shoved and cracked hard against his collarbone to the right from the force of Wavedancer's kick, and before he could even attempt to recoup from that oversight, Wavedancer quickly strafed back to gain some distance before she let loose five steel shuriken stars, all of them at Xemnas' head. Though his face was dripping water, Xemnas was able to sense the incoming metal blades approaching him, and he teleported out of the way before his face could get slashed, high above and from an aerial view of the three teenagers below. Though soaked, Xemnas could clearly get a good shot of another deep-dive move before…

That was until Dumbo brutally rammed the Organization leader from behind, the flying elephant's head catching the man by complete surprise with all of his strength, and Xemnas was again distracted by the pain of having a broad, round object hit you with the force of a speeding car. The man's cry of pain drew Cyclops, Wavedancer, Yoh, and Amidamaru's attention as they all looked up. And Dumbo then unceremoniously grabbed Xemnas by the neck, his long nose wrapping around the man's upper torso and throat like a noose before, with an angry hoot, Dumbo tossed Xemnas right down towards the floor. And Cyclops' incoming optic blast…

The man in the black robes barely managed to teleport out of the way of the incoming red laser beam, going past him and nearly striking Dumbo, who squealed and narrowly flapped a bit backwards to avoid getting incinerated. With a puff of black smoke and magic, the white-haired man with demonic red eyes reappeared behind Cyclops and instantly moved eerily in a twirling dance of swords, his blades about to slash across Cyclops' body multiple times as Scott turned around too late to see the red lightsaber bearing into his face. Until Yoh and Amidamaru gracefully got in front of Cyclops' view and blocked the incoming strike with their Harusame katana. This enabled Wavedancer to move in, blitzing forward in an irregular pattern, strafing left to right quickly, jabbing forward with a series of rabbit punches at the Superior with her actual white staff. Though she obviously remembered that its powers wouldn't work on the Organization members, if it was strong enough to deflect against Xaldin's spears and lances when he attacked the Pit, it should be enough for an offensive weapon. And it was. Xemnas was now wincing and grimacing from the bruises on the face, chest, thighs, and arms from where Althea rammed him with the top portion of her scepter. It literally felt like being poked hard and repeatedly with a metal baseball bat. And Yoh's energy swipes from the down-strokes of his sword was additionally sending curved backlashes of furyoku spirit energy to cleave at the Superior, starting to get in close and working alongside Wavedancer's physical punches by adding several jabs, lunges, and swipes with his steel sword. With now two opponents barraging him at once, Xemnas needed both of his light-sabers to parry and deflect, no longer concentrating on killing; and to make matters worse, both Althea and Yoh's weapons were actually strong enough to block his attacks and retaliating swipes as well. Cyclops then began firing a multitude of red energy blasts, either choosing to bounce them across the walls and floor or aiming directly at the man himself while Dumbo from above starting firing water from his snout, a cone of icy liquid drenching the Superior from above.

And that was starting to be an annoying hassle in the heroes' favors; Xemnas couldn't focus on close combat with Dumbo, Wavedancer, Yoh, and Amidamaru while trying to dodge the optic blasts from Cyclops from the sidelines.

"My eye is quicker than your hands, Xemnas," growled Cyclops under his breath as he then expertly used another concentrated optic energy discharge to bounce and ricochet off the metal walls of the chambers in a stunning light array before it fully caught the confused and distracted Superior in the face, accurately striking his eyes and upper brow, causing him to roar as he temporarily went blind. The Ghostbuster shaman and his Guardian both went for the kill as Yoh did a fantastic upper-slash followed smoothly with an overhead downwards cleave and a stab movement directly at Xemnas' chest right before Althea followed suit with a flying cross across Xemnas's face before twirling around and adding a backhanded-strike with her scepter, the white glass orb painfully bashing across the cheek and forcing the enemy's head to crack to the side.

"I've only begun, pests!" Xemnas growled as he started to get nasty, dancing in circular patterns wildly like a twirling dervish or a spinning top, moving so fast that he was almost a blur as Yoh and Wavedancer yelped as they now had to avoid numerous red swipes and incursions that actually cut through the air with bone-chilling humming noises, jerking back and forth wildly to avoid losing a limb (or worse). And even with Cyclops and Dumbo providing cover fire, it was doubtful that they could keep this up for long.

At the same time, Cooper was desperately trying to get Superman to get back on his feet, nearly begging frantically (a sure and rare sign of anxiety and distress for the Joe sniper). Thank God turning into adamantium was allowing him to be able to offer support to the alien without having his spine telescope.

"Damn it, this wasn't Kryptonite, Boy Scout! You're tougher than this, and I can't leave you here weakened! Snap outta it!!"

"If you _really_ wanted to help me, Low Light, you _might_ just want to stop yelling in my ear and making my headache worse. _**Please**_…" grumbled Superman as he shook away the last of the cobwebs from his pounding forebrain. Low Light couldn't help but exhale with relief. Superman showing manners and etiquette at a time like this could only mean he was OK.

Low Light then had a stroke of absolute genius before Superman could attempt to fight Xemnas again.

"Superman, I got an idea! Can you and your suit handle energy absorption?" the Joe sniper asked. Puzzled, Superman just nodded.

"Then hang on…I've got an idea. _**Just stand still!**_" Low Light ordered as the sniper from G.I. Joe then turned his entire atomic structure of his body into pure, white, electromagnetic energy, turning into nothing more than a sparkling, hot, blank specter. And to Superman's shock, the mass of energy surged and went straight to him.

Superman was a bit startled at first until he realized that the electro-magnetic energy wasn't burning him. In fact, it was pleasantly warm and soothing as it was merging into every fiber and cell of his skin, not burning it but _infusing_ with it.

And Superman felt the white electricity run throughout his being, actually making his eyes glow white and to his surprise, completely altered his skin tone so that it was a light shade of azure while his uniform was now no longer red and blue, but blue and white, the energy altering even the fabric of his attire and cape to be encased with glowing halos.

Superman was beside himself with admiration.

"Think this'll be enough to give you an edge against that Superior's magic? You don't have any time to learn the ropes, Supes," the G.I. Joe soldier pointed out.

"How can you do this?" asked Superman, blinking at his new skin color.

"Ever since the Heartless have hit the Pit, I've been doing a little training with my powers…here and there," Cooper answered, and one would almost swear by the tone of voice that the Joe was smiling sheepishly.

In a way, the glowing Superman now looked like the electrified form of his nemesis, Live Wire.

"Hm…guess we should call you now 'Superman Blue', huh?" Low Light's voice could be heard with an amused tone, despite the fact that his body was now fused with Superman's and making the Kryptonian now noticeably more dangerous and intimidating. Clark couldn't help but give off a smile.

"That is the corniest name I've heard yet," and with that, the energized Superman (merged with Low Light) flew towards Xemnas as he was doing his best to cut down Dumbo, Wavedancer, Cyclops, Yoh, and Amidamaru. And not a moment too late too. Yoh accidentally made a mistake as he quickly tried to forsake the warning and actually tried to dash forward with his sword jutted out forward, thinking his could manage to get close and block the helicopter-like attack of sabers cutting through the air before trying to find a way to stab Xemnas into the heart and chest. He missed narrowly, flying past the man before the white-haired sadist then slashed forward with his right light-saber in a devastating upwards slash, and Yoh wasn't fast enough to dodge it completely…

There was a sickening hissing noise, over in a moment before Yoh gave an agonized scream as he now severed arm holding his sword fell to the ground, lifeless and detached from the rest of the Ghostbuster's body. With a soft noise and loud clatter, the wooden blade and the decapitated appendage thudded to the floor as Yoh fell to his side, wailing in excruciating anguish, almost in a death throe as the stump that used to be his right arm was charred and searched neatly at the edge, no blood anywhere. Just a nicely sliced cut through flesh and bone, like a surgeon.

But much, much painful as Yoh, through his tears and to Amidamaru's horror, could see the Superior about to kill him in his weakened state before Yoh could have a chance to recover from the pain. Thankfully, despite great risk to themselves, Cyclops, Wavedancer, and Dumbo blitzed him from the side, shooting optic blasts, water, and a barrage of martial kicks and punches. Xemnas immediately backed away from the attack and was furiously put on the defensive as Cyclops moved in flawlessly like a boxer, strafing right to left while delivering crosses and jabs at Xemnas' torso (as well as an occasional push-kick) while firing optic blasts in the meantime. Althea and Dumbo automatically picked up the slack as Althea flew in with an excellent flying kick while hurling several additional ninja stars while Dumbo, upon seeing that his water attacks from his nose weren't having much effect, immediately bore down from the air like a hawk, hooting angrily as he prepared to undertake the Superior in a crushing tackle. All this was an excellent safety as Scott immediately sidetracked and rushed to Yoh's side, only to go pale at the sight of the dismemberment and the small, almost miniscule, blotches of blood on Yoh's shirt and the floor.

"My arm…my arm…it hurts…" Yoh half-rasped, half-wailed in complete torture as his remaining hand was tightly clutching the severed arm and wound. Scott forced himself to remain calm as he tried to think of a solution, but then Amidamaru realized that they needed a magical healer for something this gruesome.

"Tinkerbell!!" bellowed Amidamaru, praying she could hear him, "We need you! Yoh is badly hurt! Please, hear my call!!"

To the spirit's relief, the blond-haired Disney character flew in, panting from having to heal Paige Halliwell, Amanda Firestarter, and Scarlet Witch from their wounds they gained from Marluxia's scythe. But it was nothing compared to Yoh losing one of his appendages.

Tinkerbell's face blanched at the sight of his left arm separated from the teenager's body, but then she made a series of urgent chiming noises, and to Scott's puzzlement, Tinkerbell made both of her hands into fists before she shouted something indecipherable before bringing her two fists together, joining them as one. Scott then knew what the Disney Summon wanted to do as he lunged for the detached arm and seized it frantically before he then adhered the two ends of the wound together, like a jigsaw puzzle. Tinkerbell nodded before she took up her cue and flew down to the blackened cleft that separated Yoh's limb and touched it with one chiming hand. Instantly, the wounds glowed with yellow pixie dust before it miraculously healed completely, without even a scar and the flesh, bone, and skin knitting together as new.

Yoh felt the pain dull and evaporate as the warmth of Tinkerbell's magic before he looked at his now reattached arm and awkwardly flexed the muscle and clenched his fingers.

"As good as new…" Yoh shakily grinned, drawing a breath of relief from Scott and Amidamaru. Tinkerbell nodded, satisfied, before she flew towards the battle with Luxord, hearing Gambit's howl of agony as Luxord sadistically blinded him.

At that moment, Althea gave a short scream of surprise as she was rudely and violently shoved backwards by a sudden blast of magic, invisible and nigh undetectable as Xemnas simply gave a flick of his hand to somehow send Althea flying with the same force of a battering ram, leaving her winded as she crashed on her back, her gut and stomach feeling numb and excruciatingly throbbing. And left stunned and dazed, Xemnas was easily able to improve the odds in his favor as he rushed towards Althea, avoiding Dumbo's panicked attempts to wash him off course with his water attacks through his trunk as the Superior then did another Deep Dive attack move, directly towards the stupefied Misfit.

"Come closer…" hissed Xemnas maliciously, his red light-sabers out and extending, pointing from his extended hands, but as he was about to get within only a few feet of the teenage girl, a powerful surge of white, electrical energy blitzed and shot forward at his head, and Xemnas had to stray fast and hard to avoid it from striking him in the back. His attention was only misguided for less than a second, but to his outrage and fury, the body of Althea was gone from her position on the floor, and Xemnas turned to see why. Dumbo, Cyclops, Amidamaru, and Yoh were altogether, looking completely surprised but joyful with hope at the sight in front of them as Althea awake only to find herself in the protective arms of a glowing blue-and-white Superman, his body flickering and alive with electromagnetic energy. Superman used the primary attack on the Superior to distract him while then using his speed to grab and carry Althea out of danger. And though Superman cradled Wavedancer close to his chest protectively like a baby, the energy surrounding his body didn't even burn her.

"Whoa…" Althea could only remark. Even the mere sight of Superman was starting to give her a newfound second wind in her.

"Get the hell away from them, Xemnas," Low Light's voice said at once as the Kryptonian set Wavedancer to the ground on her feet.

Yoh, despite his horrific dismemberment seconds ago, grinned as he gave a thumbs up sign and remarked, "I hafta say, Superman, that I **love** the new look!"

Xemnas was hardly dissuaded, scoffing at the foolish attempt. No form of any sort would give Superman the advantage as before as he was about to invoke the same black magic spell he used on Superman the first time, flying in the air. With that, he faded into nothing more than a black cloud of magic, but this time, Superman and Low Light knew exactly what to do this time.

"Now, Supes!!" yelled Low Light's voice while Superman dove right into the mass of darkness and vile-smelling shadows, quicker than the eye could blink, and the four heroes could only watch as Superman and Low Light combined lunged right into the mass itself. But once inside, before the villain could attempt to cast his spell again, he forgotten one law that Low Light remembered well as he let loose an enormous backlash of the electromagnetic power and current surrounding Superman, creating a white nova of vigor and intensity that could have rivaled Thor's hammer.

Energy was energy, whether it came from magic, science…or mutant powers. And unluckily, Xemnas in his incorporeal, ethereal state was still not immune to the energy discharge as both heroes let loose, nearly frying Althea, Dumbo, Yoh, and Cyclops in the process.

KAAAZZZAAAAPPPPP!!

Superman arched back, gritting his teeth, as Low Light's powers practically illuminated the entire underground hangar for a second or two before Xemnas screamed. By being directly in the midst of the two heroes, he got a full close-up of the exposure of the atomic energy. To everyone's joyous surprise, the black cloud instantly faded from the bright pulse of light before the Superior could even finish his spell on Superman. And with a shuddering moan, the Superior himself appeared in thin air, floating above their heads, burned severely and actually a bit scorched as well as giving off wafts of vile-smelling smoke. The Joe's mutant power hurt him more than he even anticipated. But before the black-robed leader could even attempt to try to attack with a another tactic, Superman in his blue and white apparel rushed forwards, flying faster than Xemnas could process and taking him by complete surprise before he nailed him with a terrific jab to the face. Followed by several more as the Superior was sent flying back and forth like a tennis ball…

Pow! Boff! _Wham, wham, wham! _Kapow!

Now Superman was continuing the multiple punches and strikes beatdown against his opponent, only this time, thanks to Low Light, each punch gave off a powerful discharge of electricity as it solidly rammed brutally into Xemnas' body. Each point of contact sadistically channeled thousands of volts into him, electrocuting him with the same force as the infamous chair for death sentences. As Xemnas was repeatedly being pummeled, it was clear that "Superman Blue" now had a bigger edge this round; Low Light's addition made Superman even more powerful (if that was humanly possible). The evil Nobody then had absolutely enough of being the punching bag as he teleported away before he reappeared behind and above the Kryptonian, diving once against in a swooping manner with his swords outstretched, like a silent hawk about to kill a rabbit.

But that was Xemnas' costly mistake as Superman and Low Light both dodged the attack, and to the Superior's horror, Superman grabbed the man from behind with a ferocious bear hug before he could rush past him, pinning his opponent's arms to his sides and rendering them useless, his red light-sabers crushing against his body. And Superman and Low Light were hardly done. As Superman squeezed harder and harder, he grew more and more vicious, using enough strength that should have crushed a normal man to death instantly and certainly could even cripple a super-strength being such as Darkseid or Sebastian Shaw. And to supplement that, Low Light in his energy form let loose the most devastating discharge and release of energy he could, exerting the charge to the highest level and creating a small, white nova of electricity. Unfortunately, it wasn't killing him; they couldn't use this tactic forever without Xemnas getting wise and finding a way to offset. Low Light's voice then cried out to Wavedancer below.

"Al, use your scepter's attack!!"

Wavedancer blanched as she remembered when she tried it on Demyx before she cried out, "But it might not work on him, _**remember?!**_"

"Just try it anyway!! It should be able to stun him a bit! And nothing else we do is working!! This Superior will kill us if we don't try everything we can throw at him! And it's a good bet that the scepter won't work on us either since we're not infected!!"

He had a point.

"Destiny - !!" began Wavedancer, but Xemnas then used another tactic as he then managed to shove away the pain of being electrocuted from the energy on Superman's energy-mode before, to the heroes' horror, everyone could sense something powerful welling and surging up from the Superior. The Justice Leaguer and the Joe soldier were horrified as they dare not let go and set Xemnas free to kill the kids, but before they could try anything else, a gigantic shimmer seemed to ripple the air and all around them. Like something was ripping through the fabric of space and time…

"Shit! Supes, let - !!" Low Light hollered, but that was all he could get out before Xemnas managed to forcefully blast Superman and Low Light off him, giving payback ten-fold with another powerful and completely new spell.

"_**Guard!!**_" commanded Xemnas in a booming voice. And in a flash of light, a gigantic barrier of translucent energy, fragmented in small squares like panes of glass on a window, emerged out of nowhere, growling from the size of a ball bearing into a gigantic sphere that could have rivaled the size of a small house. And despite their combined high defense and power, Superman and Low Light's energy form were sent forcefully flying, unable to maintain Xemnas in the bear-hug as the two men were caught in the brunt of the incoming force-field and energy shield and subjected to a magical attack that completely felt like it was ripping them apart, down to their very core.

"_**AAAAAAAA!!**_" roared Superman and Low Light together in the highest levels of agony. It was like being slammed by the hardest wrecking ball of steel while having every cell and bone in your body being set on fire with a blowtorch. They flew straight to the ground below at a steep angle before the solidly hitting the ground and floor below, skidding to a stop with a mighty collision that shook the foundation slightly and raised a welling to twisted and crumpled sheet of steel and metal as the figures skidded painfully to a stop.

"Low Light!" Yoh yelled.

"Superman!" Amidamaru yelled, and the two rushed towards their allies while Dumbo, Althea, and Scott provided an effective distraction of cover fire with water and multiple optic blasts causing the ceiling to collapse on top of the Thirteenth Order leader. The shaman adolescent managed to hurriedly kneel down next to a groaning but still conscious Low Light who managed to sit up with a hand on his throbbing skull, the head feeling as if he ran face-first into a brick wall, one thread of blood trickling out of his broken nose.

"You are injured, my friend," Amidamaru pointed out.

"I'm OK, just woozy. My energy form didn't allow me to get too fazed by it. But Superman's out," the army sniper groaned as he looked upon the Kryptonian's unconscious form. The Justice League Founder was sprawled on his back, breathing but unmoving and clearly singed. The reflective attack took more out of him than expected.

Cyclops cursed as he overheard this; so much for their biggest hitter.

"And it'll be a while before Tinkerbell and Bambi can come over to heal him!! They're busy helping our other allies! We can't depend on them and wait around!" Yoh cried. Low Light cursed, looking around wildly and seeing the familiar gold dust from the Disney fairy bathing a good portion of the heroes all over the foyer while Bambi was busy delivering a hind-kick to Zexion's back before delivering additional mana orbs to Willow Rosenberg and Octavia. It definitely would be a while; they had to help other people too.

"Can you hurry it up?! There's got to be some sort of weakness this Superior has!!" yelled Cyclops as he helped Althea and Dumbo in the distance, bouncing multiple beams off the walls, floor, and ceiling over and over again, making various energy lattices all around and limiting Xemnas' movements (actually winging him a few times too).

Yoh then stood up, eyes blazing, as he and Amidamaru silently decided on a final tactic. He turned to Low Light and said uncharacteristically with anger and determined fury, "I have an idea. Keep him busy, but I'll stay here to guard Superman's body until the time when we can hit him hard."

With that, Yoh got into a semi-trance, his eyes dilated and non-responsive, as he positioned himself into the Tathagata fighting stance, his arms at his side along with the swords, his legs slightly bent and spread shoulder-width. Amidamaru hovered above his friend at the same time as well with his face dark and small wisps of light dancing across and around his body like clouds, both the teenage Ghostbuster and the samurai acting in parallel. And Cooper couldn't explain it, but the air around them actually got…colder and heavier; something powerful was building up.

"Yoh?" blinked army sniper as he shakily got up, and the teenage Ghostbuster and his spirit turned to the man solemnly.

"Don't interfere," Yoh said, his voice uncharacteristically serious.

"Prevent the Superior from getting close to us, and we'll handle it the instant we see an opening," Amidamaru added. Deciding not to question it, Low Light nodded before he, Dumbo, Wavedancer, and Cyclops charged as a united front towards their one opponent. And though Xemnas was now starting to predict and be familiar with Cyclops and Wavedancer's attacks, he was completely taken by surprise as Low Light's arm actually stretched out and elongated, like rubber, but only this time, his fist increased in size and density exponentially as it separately transformed into pure titanium. Xemnas growled as he narrowly avoided the first arm, passing over his ducked shoulder by mere inches, but he completely missed the second incoming fist, this one now not only consisting of titanium but with spikes embedded all around it. It solidly connected with the man's face with a bone-breaking crack, forcing the opponent's skull to roughly jerk backwards against his neck jarringly. But that was nothing compared to when the metal of titanium instantly turned into fire, scorching the Superior's face upon contact with searing heat, instantly causing his skin to smoke and blacken into charcoal, effectively blinding him. Xemnas roared as he tried to swat away the flames, but then because of the distraction, he didn't see nor sense the approaching pressurized spout of water coming directly at him. But he certainly felt it as it struck him full in the chest and sent him off his feet before crashing on his back as the waterfall of water continued to pour down and soak him and his body with endless, heavy, massive amounts of water.

Or at least it _looked_ like water…

"AAAAAAA!!" howled the black-cloaked leader as the liquid was burning his skin, every inch of his body now horrifically stinging as if being jabbed by hundreds of hot needles, the caustic liquid eating away at his flesh and even the fabric of his uniform and forming holes in both. Needless to say, it wasn't pleasant.

And that was because Low Light's free fist (reformed and retracted back upon command) was immersed deep within the waterspout from Dumbo's nose, his hand transformed into hydrogen fluoride, and mixed with the water, Low Light's mutant powers gave Dumbo's attack a little bit of an additional kick as the Disney continued to work together with Low Light while submerging the Thirteenth Order leader. And the screams of pain from Xemnas as he was being drenched certainly sounded like it was working. Wavedancer turned to the G.I. Joe soldier in confusion.

"What is that?" she asked.

"Hydroflouric acid. Supposed to _**really**_ sting. So get back," Low Light said shortly.

"Since when are _you_ a chemical expert?"

At this, Low Light couldn't help but let a small smirk as he bragged a bit, "Airtight's really been handy at showing me some new tricks with his advice back at the Pit. He's the one who came up with idea whenever I had a chance to team up with Dumbo or any water-generator."

Superman may have been their biggest hitter, but in this group, he was arguably the second biggest. Being able to alter your atomic structure to almost any sort of matter and element made Low Light an incredible opponent.

Cyclops then took a chance for a distraction, and looking at the ceiling above, he shot a massive and widespread beam of red optic energy at the roof above, the metal instantly melting and tearing apart from the concussive force of the light. Xemnas had little else but to scream helplessly as the force of Cyclops' attack caused a few heavy pieces of metal and rubble to precarious rain down and slam to the floor on the Superior (thankfully missing everyone else despite the whole chamber being a battlefield). This included not only several heavy slabs of sheet metal, but an armored Jeep complete with a turret gun and a M1 Abrams tank, each of the objects weighing more than several hundred pounds and all of them scoring a direct hit as they collapsed and buried Xemnas alive under the crushing rubble. Apparently, the floor above them had a plethora of equipment designed by the company and was used for storage (and all the more perfect to smash someone to the ground with).

_Radda, radda, radda, wham, wham, __**POOM**_**!**

"Good one, Scott!" Althea couldn't help but laugh with some hope, but that one shred of hope lessened instantly as Xemnas erupted from the crushing debris, pushing the wreckage off him and freeing himself as if he was nothing more than buried with confetti. The slabs of metal instantly fell to pieces, cut into useless shards thanks to the lightsabers, but the tank and the jeep went flying above the air in a graceful but dangerous arc, soaring high. Thankfully, Martian Manhunter and Paige Halliwell picked up the slack wonderfully as the green-skinned extraterrestrial swooped down and grabbed the tank to use as a battering ram against Luxord while Paige orbed the Jeep towards her.

"Army jeep!" she cried out, causing the vehicle in the air to vanish in a plethora of Whitelighter auras before telekinetically smashing into Marluxia with a flick of the brunette's hand.

Dumbo then saw his chance as Cyclops made the hole up on the ceiling of the chamber. The baby elephant expanded his ears and flapped as hard as he could, making a direct beeline towards the gap in the ceiling as speedily as he could. Althea blinked at her Disney summon.

"Dumbo?! Where are you going?! Come back!!" Wavedancer yelled. Was he running away? So now they were one more member short of fighting the Superior. Wavedancer cursed loudly. So now what was she supposed to do? Low Light, recovering from his similar puzzlement, did the next best thing as he immediately transformed the upper part of his body into diamond with the lower part of his body into pure energy, his legs disappearing and reforming into a trail of blinding yellow. Like a rocket, the Joe used his lower half to propel him forward towards the Superior, bravely forcing himself to go hand-to-hand towards the fallen opponent while he still had a chance to end it, his arms and fists outstretched and ready to punch a gigantic hole through Xemnas' body in order to rip him apart. But Xemnas was unfortunately quicker as he then raised a hand at the approaching Joe sniper.

With a crackle, Low Light was immediately surrounded with snakes of blue electricity, snaring and surrounding his approaching form faster than the eye could blink, like a net. Now the tables were turned as Xemnas rose to his feet, electrocuting the Joe while at the same time, ripping him apart molecule by molecule as he slowly began to absorb and drain his energy and vitality. Low Light bit down the urge to scream from the pain as he tried transforming his body into a gaseous state, water vapor, brick, stone, solid steel, and even tried to reabsorb the magic trapping him by converting into energy form himself. But nothing worked. He was still trapped, no matter what his atomic structure, and completely under the Superior's mercy.

"Can you lend a heart?" sneered Xemnas as he drained the G.I. Joe warrior of his life force, little by little, killing him excruciatingly and deliberately slowly as snakes of energy continued to engulf Cooper's body and suck it dry. Low Light could only howl as he finally succumbed to the pain and arched back, his body in spasms.

"Low Light!" shouted Scott as he then went on the defensive, firing a number of blasts to reflect all around himself and the Joe sniper as a temporary protective array to make it difficult for Xemnas to get close while hoping one would thankfully strike and get Xemnas off Low Light, but to his shock, like before, Xemnas easily stopped the incoming red beam short before reflecting each and every incoming attack right back at the X-Man, and Scott had to run and roll hard to avoid getting hit.

"Destiny Kingdom Heartlock Reform!!" cried out Wavedancer as she pointed her scepter at the Superior, and before Xemnas even knew it, he was suddenly engulfed by the ten sigils of the Elementa kingdoms followed by the trinity of the Nobody, crown, and Heartless…

_**KAWHOOM!**_

To the Misfit's horror, Xemnas was still standing when the light subsided and faded, the pillar disappearing once the spell was finished, leaving him still very much intact and unaffected. In fact, he actually turned and gave Althea a spine-tingling sneer full of malice at the attempt to kill him.

"Pathetic. That staff was as soft as the wind…" sneered the white-haired man as he then increased the concentration of power upon his helpless victim, and Low Light now screamed louder, his yells absolutely blood-chilling.

"No!" screamed Wavedancer. So much for her most powerful attack. Unlike Demyx, the Superior wasn't even the least bit affected. And her scepter was her last trump card. And remembering the past skirmish, she wasn't willing to attempt hand-to-hand combat with him again. Thankfully, Low Light tried another tactic…

"Get…off!!" roared Low Light as he then managed to transform the atomic structure of his entire body into a risky form of white phosphorus (Airtight nearly had a heart attack when Low Light tried turning only one part of his hand into the substance; thankfully, the Joe had plenty of fire extinguishers in his lab), and upon immediate contact with the oxygen of the room…

KAAABBBOOOOM!!

The combustive ignition was instantaneous. Xemnas couldn't even dodge it in the least as he was suddenly engulfed with a blinding light followed by the force of the explosion. And because he was firmly taken by surprise, it shook his concentration enough to allow Cyclops' optic blast to work past his magical deflection and catch him on the side, pushing him away from the Joe and out into the open space, away from himself and Althea. And by doing this, he was forced to release his magical hold on Cooper, and the G.I. Joe warrior crashed to the metal floor on his back, singed, burned, and with every bone in his body aching and screaming from being drained, but he was thankfully very much alive. And though Xemnas was forcibly shoved back and badly injured from the explosion, he was more than intent to continue as he took out his lightsabers with a flourish which was more than enough for Cyclops, Wavedancer, and a disoriented Low Light to try a single team up of Althea's water dragon and Cyclops and Low Light's mutant powers to counter.

And yet Xemnas failed to realize that because he was far enough away from the group and was focusing so much on the Joe, Misfit, and the X-Man, Xemnas completely forgot about two other heroes waiting on the sidelines.

But this was thankfully the moment Yoh and Amidamaru were waiting for as the Shaman expertly gripped his wooden sword in his left hand and ghostly version of Amidamaru's Harusume in his right, instantly springing from their stance. With a mad dash, they sprang forward before Xemnas could even sense them coming (thanks to their _ki_ aura disappearing and being ethereal like a ghost), practically zooming on air as they closed the distance.

"Halo Blade!!" both the samurai and the adolescent shaman yelled, their spirits as one and in full harmony, thinking and fighting together in unison as they both struck with their dual instruments. Xemnas was too preoccupied with the surging rush of water, electricity, and Cyclops's optic blasts to even notice that Yoh and Amidamaru were getting close until it was too late and the teenage Shaman and his spirit cleaved their blades together in a forward slash attack…

_**WHOK!! **_

Xemnas felt all time stop. His body was frozen, paralyzed. He couldn't even scream or change his facial expressions. He just felt strangely floating in air, limp, though he did feel the massive initial thump of the Ghostbuster's attack as both swords cleaved through his body and into his very soul. Xemnas actually defied the laws of gravity as he remained in the air, stationary, but only for a brief second as Yoh and Amidamaru skidded a safe distance away from the Superior, flying past his position before the teenager's sneakers skidded to a stop of the ground and both the shaman and his spirit solemnly crossed their swords together with a soft _cling_.

There was a soft noise as the build-up of the spirit energy from Yoh and Amidamaru's attack finally released as a simultaneous and instant one-hit kill. The entire area around Xemnas actually flashed in white before his body actually exploded, his flesh feeling as if a gigantic balloon of pressure was growing inside before expanding so fast that it was ripping him apart, his cloak instantly reduced to tatters and shredded.

"YAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!" roared the Superior as he felt the results of Yoh and Amidamaru's teamwork and combined furyoku to the fullest extent before he toppled to the ground in a crumpled heap.

"In…credible…" gasped Cyclops. If Yoh and Amidamaru could do such an attack on the Superior himself and cause _that_ much pain, it would be handy to see what the effect a shaman's attack would be on the Juggernaut or Apocalypse. And Scott had worked long enough with the Ghostbusters to learn that Slayers, witches, and paranormals were not beings to underestimate. Meanwhile, Wavedancer was pulling Low Light up, satisfied that Yoh and Amidamaru settled the Superior once and for all.

"You OK?!" she queried worriedly.

"No, but when has _that_ ever stopped…?"

Cooper's face paled as he looked over Althea's shoulder as she helped him up.

"Oh shit…" the Joe gasped. They turned to see a surprising sight (and Yoh and Amidamaru were actually horrified). The Superior wasn't dead; slowly, shakily, but surely, he was managing to bite through the pain as he hoisted himself off the floor by one arm, black fluid heavily dripping from the wounds underneath his cloak. He was very much still alive; weakened, but alive.

"I'll kill you - " but that was as far as the Superior got before he got the briefest glimpse of a shadow looming over him right before a gigantic and fully-furnished T-38 Talon military jet (one of a pride and joys of the research and development teams for Shaw Industries) was brutally slammed on top of his body, dropping like a sledgehammer, and cracking the fuels tanks instantly.

_**KABOOOM!!**_

"What the heck?! Where did – who threw that jet craft on top of him?!" coughed and sputtered Scott as he and his friends shielded their faces from the pressurized wave of heat and air that blew and wafted against their faces like a balloon, hot enough to singe and to stir Superman from unconsciousness, only to wake up to find the deer fawn, Bambi, licking his face tenderly as an effort to wake him up, mana orbs pouring into Superman's body and re-vitalizing him.

"Wha-…Bambi??" moaned Superman, feeling the mother of all headaches, but Bambi, upon seeing his task was completed and that Dragonfly was in desperate need of magic as she shrieked in pain from Axel's fire attacks, gave a single bow with his head before he bounded away to assist more people, dropping a few mana orbs in front of Low Light and Wavedancer for them both to absorb).

"It must have come up from the floors above!! Someone must have thrown the aircraft on him!" Amidamaru surmised.

"Wait! Starfire?! Hawkgirl?! Danny Phantom?! Is that…?" but Low Light's voice died in his throat as the flying figure then flew quickly away from the flames, high above for all to see who was the one who delivered the fatal blow, a figure with giant flapping ears and baby eyes of the lightest blue.

Everyone stopped and stared at the baby-faced, flying elephant in the clown's hat. Dumbo hooted proudly from his trunk.

"Did Dumbo just…?" blinked Low Light, trailing off as he tried to process what he had just seen before his very eyes. In the past, had anyone told him that Dumbo the Disney elephant would have been strong enough to power-slam the leader of the Thirteenth Order to the ground, he would have outright laughed in their face.

"Clobber the Superior of the Organization by slamming a jet on top of his head? Yep…" grinned Wavedancer at her Disney summon. That was unquestionably Dumbo's most bad-ass moment to date. She turned to her partner.

"Sorry about thinking you were running away."

The Disney elephant just nodded his gracious understanding as he gave a jovial _toot_ with his nose.

"Whoa, Dumbo's stronger than he looks!!" marveled Yoh. Scott couldn't help but smile.

"Hey, if he's strong enough to carry _Blob_ of all people…you OK, Superman?"

Superman wearily placed a hand on his aching forehead as he groaned, "I can still fight, if that's what you're specifically waiting for."

"Good, because the Superior's still not going down, no matter what we throw at him," Cyclops said as calmly as he could as he and Superman saw the unmistakable sight of a lone figure slowly making headway through the flames.

It was Xemnas. Horrifically burned and with patches of his cloak shredded off and sporting bloody wounds, but the one look on his face meant merciless bloodshed and murder. He was livid beyond all human comprehension as he turned to Dumbo, Low Light, Yoh, Amidamaru, and Wavedancer, forgetting that Cyclops and Superman were a bit off to the side, hidden from the Superior's view by the smoke traveling upwards through the hole in the ceiling.

Clark then came to a decision.

"Cyclops, combine your powers with mine!!" yelled Superman as he could distinctly see within the smoldering and flaming pieces of burst and twisted metal that Xemnas was fighting his way through, shakily and clearly not at top condition, but still very much dangerous. Yoh gasped, his face white as Amidamaru looked positively flabbergasted.

"This wretch won't go down!!" gasped the spirit of the feudal samurai.

"'**Won't**', not '_**can't**_', Amidamaru!!" growled Wavedancer, not giving up as she pointed a finger at the Superior, feeling the mana from Bambi refilled her magical reserves immediately, crying out, "Aquara Water Dragon!!"

Dumbo and Low Light instantly combined their attacks as one, with Dumbo expertly firing a powerful downpour from his nose while Low Light transformed into pure electrical energy and shot out two streams of lightning from his hands to combine with the water, causing it to glow as a crackling, burning serpent from high above. Yoh decided to help as he and spirit roared with angry battle demeanors, yelling while holding out their swords and brilliantly dashing in between the two dragons of water and energy, "_Charge!_"

Unluckily for them, Xemnas then teleported high into the air, avoiding Amidamaru and Yoh completely as he remained stationary above them, and despite the twin water attacks streaking up towards the man in black, Xemnas simply deflected the water from touching him, crisscrossing his weapons in front and having the rushing geysers and electricity messily splatter and nullify against his protective wards.

"Cursed fools - !" the man growled in his bass voice.

Xemnas left his threat unfinished as a powerful combination of red, searing energy then struck him in the back and propelled him flying past Yoh, Low Light, Wavedancer, and Dumbo before slamming with bone-breaking impact against the far side of the wall, actually leaving a crumpled impression into the metal wall. Still neither Superman or Cyclops stopped, the two of them combining optic energy and heat vision into a single, unbelievable attack that was boring heat and searing flesh into the Superior's body, causing him to scream as he was pinned against the wall.

"Don't let up! Keep him pinned down!!" yelled Superman, concentrating his heat vision.

"I'm trying!!" snapped Cyclops as he willed so much power through his optic visor that his head was beginning to spin.

Meanwhile, the Hellion known as Empath was busy trying to manipulate extreme levels of fear and anger into the army of superheroes that were charging directly at them. Even though he couldn't overwhelm and destroy all of them (he wasn't that powerful), if he could succeed in gaining control over Captain America or Superman or even Willow the Scooby, it would be enough to use them as a collective pawn in their favor. And despite the mental blockers that each and every one of the heroes were wearing, immunity to telepathy was not the same as immunity from emotional manipulations (especially since cognitive thought and emotions originate from different regions of the brain). And no matter how good the telepathic blockers by the Joes were, like all machinery, they weren't one-hundred percent foolproof.

And thanks to Roulette gracing his body with a white good-luck hexbolt, Manuel was certainly feeling more than safe and secure in his position.

Empath focused his powers upon Genie the Disney Summon, Wonder Woman, Faith the Slayer, Robin the Titan, mentally trying to manipulate their emotions of fear, anger, and discord, already salivating on how much he was going to enjoy watching friend turn on friend.

"They hate you…you can't trust them…they'll turn on you," purred Manuel, eyes gleaming as Robin and Faith winced to themselves inwardly from the subtle emotional probing, "You've always been frustrated with them, haven't you? Don't deny it, it's there inside. All their little quirks, the suffocation of not having the freedom to do what you want, the pressure, the stress. Don't you want to get away from it all? You know what this means, don't you? You need to kill them first…kill them - "

A blue stream of sonic energy interrupted his session before he could fully make any significant headway into their emotional probing. Empath looked up to see a very incensed Cyborg, his right arm (now transformed into the sonic cannon attachment), pointing at the Hellion.

"Uh-uh, ya' sellout. Not this time," growled the robotic Titan before he fired again. The Hispanic Hellion and protégée of Frost quickly strafed and flipped with an impressive display of acrobatic leaps and jumps, avoiding the sonic blasts that Cyborg fired. Though barely. And it was also to his advantage that Roulette gave him uncanny good luck as well as Cyborg doing his best to not kill Empath (only stun him).

Still, it was worrisome. He couldn't evade the energy blasts forever, and his emotional manipulations were only half as effective because Cyborg's brain was half-mechanical.

The blue-metallic Titan yelled, "Stand still, you little punk! You ain't getting' away from me that easily!!"

Empath then grinned as he managed to adroitly and quickly press a hidden control on his belt, a special gift created by the Reavers and given upon Lord Imperial's orders. Instantly, the air around Cyborg and Manuel began to shimmer and crackle with static electricity, as if the atmosphere was heating up. To his horror, Cyborg realized that his sonic cannon in his arm started to whine, heating up and bit while the instrument sparked and crackled madly. With a dying whine, the whole sonic gun lost power and shut off, completely unresponsive.

"Hey!!" sputtered Cyborg before he focused a glare on the mutant adolescent in front of him. Empath grinned.

"Looks like your outdated technology finally went obsolete."

The robotic Teen Titan took this to offense as he charged, raising his right fist as he growled, "And so will your face, you little pill, once I kick your…"

And to Victor's horror, there was another growing effect from Manuel's little sneak attack. As he dashed towards his opponent, the strange interference and electrical signals that disabled his sonic cannon was spreading at an alarming speed throughout his entire network and interface, like a virus. Cyborg yelped in terror before his circuitry, despite the anti-viral software, firewalls, and safeguards he embedded into it, started to heat and give off dangerous sparks. To his horror, inch by inch, the mechanical parts died, the lights dimming and growing dark, and worst of all, the weights feeling numb and unresponsive, no matter how hard he tried. And to make matters worse, with several harsh noises of electronics backfiring and popping and compressed air and smoke being released, his legs and right arm fell apart, detaching from his main torso and body, giving out from underneath his weight.

With a massive collection of creaking, unresponsive machinery and groaning protests from his circuits taking in too much labor and effort, the actual structure of Cyborg's metallic body began splintering and crumbling, bits and pieces of metal collapsing under the weight and damage. Victor landed hand on his chest and face, now having only one good arm that somehow managed to survive some visible functionality as he propped himself up shakily only to see the smirking Empath leering at him.

Now he was all in pieces, all strewn out along the floor like confetti. Though he was grateful that the back-up battery in his chest still was generating enough for his head and brain and that his arm still was somewhat attached, everything else was in ruins. His legs, his weapons, all made and kept clean with meticulous care, were black, non-responsive and dead. Nothing was working. And his only appendage clearly didn't have anything vital he could use for fighting that was still operative. He could feel it; the sonic cannon, the laser pistols, the electrical discharges, all of them were lifeless and numb.

"What…the…hell?" rasped Cyborg.

"A special handy gift. It disables anything electronic, and it causes certain death to hardware. Too bad it couldn't kill you completely," the mutant teen couldn't help but brag as he then slowly and methodically reloaded the gun he used to shoot Falco earlier. He immensely enjoyed seeing the look on Victor's face as the teenager's skin paled at the sight. Damn it, he was helpless! And there was nothing he could do as Empath finished loading the bullets into the barrel of the firearm with a final click.

"Of course, eventually, you'll die once the back-up battery inside your body runs out of electrical power, but then again, why leave things to chance? Any last words before I can see if a bullet to your human half of your brain can finally finish you off?"

Cyborg couldn't help but smirk as he tried goading with a brave face, "Just like last time. You could never win in a fair fight."

"Hence why the Hellfire Club **always** wins," Empath returned (his voice a little more annoyed than he would have liked) as he aimed the gun at the organic portion of the Teen Titan's head. It would be a point blank…

Something flew in the air, and he registered it too late.

_Thwack!_

Empath screamed in pain as the yellow and black Batarang struck his hand, breaking a few carpal bones and causing him to drop the gun to the floor. Batgirl took the opportunity to deliver a flying kick at Manuel's head, ready to punt him hard into the far wall. Thankfully, the Hellion's reflexes and Roulette's good-luck hexes were enough to have him scurry and dart out of the line of the foot by mere inches. Batgirl still wasn't giving up as she effectively charged towards the mutant teenager, unable to give him a single second of respite as she tried to deliver several punches at his head followed by a roundhouse kick and sweep-kick in quick succession.

Now Empath was worried. His luck could only hold out for so long, and unlike Cyborg, Batgirl was a flesh and blood organism, so the gift from the Reavers wouldn't even affect her greatly. And not to mention that his only gun was now uselessly lying on floor, away from him. And Batgirl could unquestionably kick his ass any day of the week. But on the upside…

"Fear me…" hissed Empath maliciously, not even bothering to subtly probe the Gotham Knight's mind, and Barbara stopped suddenly, suddenly feeling quite odd and certainly doing her best to not wince and continue her assault despite the weird hollow feeling in her gut and heart. Encouraged, Empath pressed harder with his mutant powers, not even caring on how brutal his manipulations were being.

"Fear me…Barbara Gordon," said Empath snidely, and Batgirl looked up, shocked. Oh God, **he knew**. Empath continued probing as Cyborg watched this helplessly, alarmed.

"Batgirl, what are you doing? Don't just stand there!! _**Stop him!!**_"

But the red-haired vigilante didn't even hear Cyborg as Empath continued to invoke her instinctive fight-or-flight, causing Batgirl to just tremble slightly while hugging herself, "That's right, Ms. Gordon, I know. The whole Hellfire Club knows. We've known ever since you and Supergirl bonded with the Phoenix Force. Oh, but don't worry, we have uses for you and Kara. You useless flat-liner of an old man, however, won't be needed."

"You - !" sputtered Batgirl before she lashed out, despite her terror, with a jab at Manual's head, but because of her shaky fear and waning lack of caution, she missed by a wide berth and tripped, falling to the marble floor, allowing Manuel to avoid it easily as he inched closer and closer to the gun on the floor, trying to distract the heroine.

"Batgirl, the gun!" cried Cyborg, still dismantled and lying on the floor, but his ally took no notice of the warning as Manuel continued.

"You won't be able to protect Commissioner Gordon if the Hellfire Club decides to erase him in an instant. Not even your esteemed Batman can protect him. We can eradicate him from existence in less than a day, an hour even if we were that determined. But then again, once we let it slip and the news gets out that his daughter is Batgirl, your rogues like the Joker or Two-Face will get to him and he'll be well taken care of for us. And he'll die cursing the day you ever became a vigilante because you won't be able to save him. The only reason we've kept him alive for so long was because we're waiting for the best moment to break you for good, you inadequate naïf."

The gun was only a few feet away from his hand now. Oh, a bullet in her body was going to be most satisfying…

"Shut up!" screamed Batgirl, and then instantly, due to her anger and defensive urge to fight, it actually overpowered the mutant's manipulative tactics as her one moment of fury then summoned a force that Empath was in no way capable of confronting. Out of the blue, Empath inside his mind was suddenly engulfed and surpassed every thought in his head by a gigantic and petrifying image of a very enraged and furious entity of a giant phoenix, crying out a shrill war cry as Empath now suddenly found himself underneath the damning eyes like suns and surrounded by insatiable fire.

And in the middle of the conflagration was a formidable figure of Batgirl, shrouded under the shadows of the flames, her eyes glowing red and looking positively demonic inside Empath's imagination as the Phoenix Force then spoke in a harsh and omnipresent voice, echoing in his head with ghastly rage and might.

_**Begone, selfish human!! This girl and her loved ones are under the holy protection! I cast thee out, you young fool!!**_

And with that, the fires consumed Empath's inner eye, and the Hellion screamed from the depths of his soul, his own fear increasing more than ten-fold as he saw nothing else but the Phoenix's glowing eyes. The falsetto screams of pure, agonized horror snapped Batgirl into the present before she and Cyborg became fully aware of the mutant before them.

Empath was on his back, blabbering incoherently, his eyes glazed and wide, the pupils dilated. One small gathering of froth was bunched up on one corner of his mouth, and his entire body, his limbs rigid, was trembling with slight spasms. His limbs were erratically bent in odd positions and twitching as if in death throes, and alarmed, Barbara rushed towards the mutant adolescent and placed two fingers on the main artery on his neck, relieved to find a pulse.

"Uh…is he…?" trailed off a flabbergasted Cyborg.

"Yes, he'll be fine, but he's under shock."

Cyborg looked at Batgirl in amazement.

"Damn, what did you do to him??" the Titan asked, wide-eyed and drawing a confused and nervous explanation from a rather befuddled Barbara.

"I don't know!! He was trying to manipulate my mind, and the next thing I know, he's like this! I didn't do anything!! I think…the Phoenix Force inside me pushed him out!"

"'_**Pushed**_ him out'?!" queried Cyborg at the traumatized Hellion, "Girl, looks more like the Phoenix Force gave him a good ass-whoopin' and then kicked him to the curb instead! But now that he's out for the count…do ya' think you can give me a hand here?"

Cyborg indicated with his head at his damaged and separated robotic parts strewn all over the area, and Batgirl hurriedly started gathering the mechanical limbs and burnt microchips while Cyborg used his remaining good arm to start fixing and repairing the damage Empath did to the Titan, invoking a blue flame from one finger, like a blowtorch, to begin wielding some of the damaged circuitry (he was thankful that somehow, even though his sonic cannons and cybernetic implements were on the fritz, for some very odd reason, the blowtorch was one of the few remaining working tools from his hand).

"We have to hurry!" Batgirl said with alarm as she awkwardly dragged the metal parts to her friend and arranging them in a somewhat straight order, "The others will need our help too!"

"It'll take time! They can hold off without us!" Victor retorted, doing his best to try to repair himself while Batgirl began scanning his body with a hand-held computerized-scanner she built back at the Watchtower, hoping she could help repair any aberrations to the software and circuitry with the tools in her utility belt.

**Author's Notes: The team-up attack "Superman Blue" was actually a new form Superman had in the DC comics, and hey, when you got a battle this big, I figured a nod or two from the canon couldn't hurt, right? Hope you all enjoyed this battle because we're not even at the end! The next one is going to be anything but quick as it deals with Lexaeus of the Organization and Roulette of the Hellions, but they're going to be in a rough spot when they face: Robin, Aqualad and Beast Boy (Teen Titans), Magma (X-Men), Whitelighter (Misfits – OC) and Tinkerbell (Disney), Wildstar (WC Misfits – OC by L1701E) and Jinx (WC Misfits – Teen Titans), Rapunzel (Ghostbusters – Monster Fighters Inc.), Kurama (Ghostbusters - Yu Yu Hakusho), and Robin Wood (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)! Quite a lineup, huh? This next chapter, since it's so long and not completely done yet, will be up in three weeks! Check back on October 24****th**** to see how painful…er, exciting and heart-stopping this fight will be!**

**Fictives: You were right the FIRST time, you sadist!**

**Quiet all of you! Until then, I hope you all enjoyed this fight between leaders, and keep a sharp lookout for the mentions of the battles outside the main skirmish with the other heroes and Organization members! You'll see the references returned back to full force in their respective future chapters when it really does seem like one mixed-up, crazy, free-for-all from Hell!**

**Fictives: Hard to be afraid of Hell when being written by a lunatic like you FEELS like one!**

**Shaddup…until next time! Feel free to review and constructive criticisms welcome!**


	40. ATTWNATGY Lexaeus

**CHAPTER 40****: And To Think We're Not At The Gathering Yet (Lexaeus)**

Not too far off from Batgirl and Cyborg, the Titan Beast Boy had just transformed into a hummingbird and had managed to fly up to close enough proximity to the ceiling above before transforming into a large, gigantic bull elephant, using the same tactic he used against the Sentinels during Trigon's Armageddon. Only this time, it was Lexaeus who was in his sights.

The earth-shaking Organization warrior sensed the distinctive sound of something heavy and large approaching from above and he looked up to see the two-ton elephant bearing down on him, snorting a war cry through its trunk as it got ready to land and crush the robed soldier in seconds. Lexaeus managed to dart forward and jump out of the way right before the green-skinned elephant landed on the floor with a mighty thud that actually rocked the foundation a bit. Despite the visible limp caused when Bonehead rammed him, he was still inhumanly evasive. Undaunted, the elephant gave an angry trumpet call from his trunk before it charged, stampeding towards the Organization member with full speed as it leapt from the crater and tried to trample the foe and knock him over. And charging with the same speed and force as an armored tank at full throttle. Lexaeus then gave out a wordless snarl, his voice chillingly deep, as he was about to swing with his gigantic tomahawk at the charging elephant's head, fully intent on meeting the green shape-shifter head-on. But then he was immediately blitzed from either side by the Ghostbuster Rapunzel of the Monster Fighters and Robin of the original Teen Titans. And Robin was silent and swift as he took out his collapsible staff out of his utility belt with his left hand while using his right to unexpectedly throw several red Birdarangs with a quick flick of his wrist.

Apparently, this group wasn't stupid to take turns on their opponent one by one. For a quick finish, it was necessary to do a combined blitz at once, and to just simply take your time until the Organization member struck first would be paramount to stupidity.

Lexaeus however was hardly uncomfortable and taken aback by the charge. Like a statue, his face remained passionless and stoic as he expertly struck, first hitting the metal ground with his tomahawk and solidly thumping his weapon against the floor, cracking the marble upon his strike. Instantly, the entire area, and indeed, the whole chamber, started to vibrate and shake immensely as if an earthquake was hitting Shaw Industries, taking many of the heroes a bit by surprise as they shakily fought to maintain their balance. Though it did cause the usually-stumbling Toad to trip awkwardly as he was trying to deflect Roxas' attacks with his Amphibionian, it was also detrimental to the villains as well as the two Sentinels that Tarot summoned to kill Dana the Slayer, Mas, and Menos were suddenly distracted from the swift veering of their center of gravity, distracting them for a few precious seconds for the three heroes to blitz towards the Hellion. Rapunzel herself was taken by surprise as she was jerked off her feet in mid-run and crashed forward on the smooth floor. Satisfied upon seeing one annoyance temporarily out of commission, the Silent Hero of the Thirteenth Order then effectively blocked each and every Birdarang with his weapon, the black and red tomahawk effortlessly swatting aside each of the projectiles like they were paper plates. Even the two explosive discs that detonated upon contact with Lexaeus hardly caused him to falter (though it did cause him to wince from the searing heat). And to the green blitzing behemoth, Lexaeus then got into a stance as Beast Boy galloped closer and closer, his tomahawk held out horizontally in both of his gloved palms, his robe slightly blowing in the wind from the numerous explosions and fights and chaos going all around him. But oddly enough, he wasn't attacking or doing anything. Foolishly, the green elephant ran faster, the ground trembling in his wake as he was encouraged to make his move now. But Robin then guessed what was coming.

"_**Beast Boy, stop!!**_" was all Robin could command before at the last possible second before Lexaeus began to actually glow, bathed in yellow before wisps of red aura and magical energy began drifting upwards all around his black robe, like smoke. And to Tim and Garfield's horror, they could all sense it, something building and the air noticeably getting thicker and heavier, almost stuffy with heat. And the Titan shape-shifter was running too fast to make an abrupt stop as the pachyderm quit his sprinting and dug his feet in the floor, leaning backwards and breaking the priceless marble tile as his momentum still caused him to slide dangerously closer and closer. But it was too late as Lexaeus then gave a wordless grunt before he swung hard with his weapon at the elephant's head. Unable to stop and strafe the attack because of the close proximity, Beast Boy did the next best thing as he shape-shifted at the last second, altering his shape into something a lot smaller and quicker.

Whoosh!

The sharp edge of the head of the weapon whizzed past the green porcupine's head much too close for comfort. In fact, it actually nicked him and took off a number of the quills on his back and head. Had Beast Boy remained in elephant form, he would have been sliced in half from that one blow. But Lexaeus was hardly dissuaded, even when Rapunzel and Robin both charged with her red hair and metal staff, managing to work their way to him as the previous earthquake subsided. Rapunzel's entire hair grew longer and thicker, like a living tentacle, growing massive like a serpentine, Medusa-like fashion, before it separated into six separate coils of red and tore across the room to snare the Organization enemy like a spider-web. Robin expertly jumped like a ninja in the air, twirling his staff over his head and as silent as a snowflake, before gripping it like a spear and thrust the blunt end at the man's skull. Still radiating with magical energy, Lexaeus snarled as he then swung his tomahawk first at the red tresses trying to grab him, and Rapunzel was shocked when the glowing weapon met her hair and instantly rent through it, causing the thin streams to die and limply fall to the floor. Since even demons have trouble escaping from her clutches, this was certainly a new one for the Ghostbuster. Dealing quickly with paranormal, Lexaeus then hurriedly brought his axe and held it out horizontally in front of his person with both hands as it met the masked vigilante's staff.

There was a sharp clang as metal met metal. But Robin was forcefully shoved backwards due to Newton's Third Law, the rod in his hands vibrating so hard upon the collision that his fingers were sore. Lexaeus, by contrast, didn't even falter in the least bit. Undaunted, the Teen Titan's struck again and again with the staff, using a variety of high and low jabs and sweeping motions to catch the tall, muscular opponent at his weak points. Fearless, the black robed warrior met and parried each blow, growing quite tired of the irritant as Robin's staff struck multiple times at his body, only to be arrested each time by the tomahawk. Growling, Lexaeus forcefully shoved the staff aside as Robin made the miscalculation of jabbing at the man's head, and with a graceful sweep on his right arm, the foe swung the axe hard at the vigilante's head. Already having his metal baton extended out as a thrust, Robin quickly did the next best thing as he griped the rod with both hands and attempted to block the staff as the tomahawk hit it, expecting it to be stopped effectively by the adamantium core inside the very center of the quarterstaff.

Wham!

Robin was so surprised, he didn't even yell or scream as the brunt force of the axe actually bent his treasured staff and sent the poor Boy Wonder flying off his feet, the transference of power actually causing the Teen Titan's arms to break as he collided into the wall not far from where Roxas was attempting to search for his targets amid the illusions of the multitude of white silken sheets hanging all around the battlefield, the ninja magic of Blind Master playing a simple yet effective trick of hide-and-seek. Roxas, upon hearing the sound of the Teen Titan's body colliding a close distance from his position, stopped and turned to see the injured Robin sliding down from the indentation on the metal surface, crumpling into a heap and the simple fractures in his ulna bones causing the raven-haired fighter to hiss in pain as he was unable to reach for the healing potions that Phoebe Halliwell and Willow Rosenberg gave him. But his blood then ran cold as he saw that he was practically helpless and that the dual Keyblade wielder from the Organization spotted him. One second passed, then two, before Roxas' next act stunned Robin.

Roxas turned his back to the masked hero and continued to intently hack and slice all the white sheets floating in air and space he could get close too, thoroughly ignoring the Teen Titan who should have by all arguments an easy target in his destabilized state.

The Titan leader was certainly surprised; he wasn't expecting that, a member of the Thirteenth Order who obviously has shown loyalty to his Superior. Robin then felt a surge of warmth and soothing reprieve wash through his arms and sore shoulders, easily erasing the agony as his bones mended like new. He looked up to see Tinkerbell finishing the her task of bathing the protégée of Batman with a generous amount of pixie dust before she nodded her satisfaction and flew hurriedly towards another part of the battlefield where Quicksilver was in dire need of healing from his battle with Xigbar. Taking several deep breaths to allow himself to concentrate, Robin tossed aside the bent staff (it was no use to him and he had two other spares on his person) before taking out two of the potion bottles that were given to him by Jason Blood from his utility belt.

Both of the glass containers were small and globular, about the size of a tangerine or tomato, and one held a yellowish, watery liquid while the other a dark-green, oily concoction. And though Jason was willing to offer any assistance, he warned gravely the consequences of relying on the magical enhancements too much, as he told Robin many weeks ago in his apartment:

_"Tim, remember that one important law in magic is that you cannot create or magically summon something from nothing. A balance needs to always be maintained in nature, and regardless of how they are only mentioned in physics, sciences, and philosophy, it is undeniably true in the world of the mystics as well. The green potion will increase your speed to near superhuman levels, undetectable to many magical senses. The yellow potion will increase your physical strength ten-fold, allowing you to perform tasks not even Bruce can perform easily on whim. Both can be taken at once, but be careful to not take them often because it will drain you, both physically and mentally. Think about it: in order to push your body into doing something strenuous, you expend a lot of mental willpower and vigor to achieve it. The same will apply to this case. Though the potions will enhance your vitality, it needs to enhance something that is already there, and the downfall of this is that the more energy that is amplified and use in battle, the more strength and vigor your body loses. Use too much of the potions too frequently, you will be weakened to the point of being unable to stand and remain conscious, possibly going into a coma. Or worse."_

Still, Robin wasn't stupid enough to try to go hand to hand with the Earth-manipulating soldier again without changing his tactics at the very least. With that and avoiding a nearby shaft of lightning from Larxene from the sidelines as she fired upon Natalie Porte and Boom-Boom, the Teen Titan hurriedly gulped down the foul-tasting medicine, chugging quickly.

At the same time, the New Mutant Amara was finally able to work her way through the crowd (it was incredibly difficult to push past the various battles and stray projectiles and energy blasts without being severely injured if you didn't keep your eyes open everywhere) to where Rapunzel was valiantly fighting Lexaeus alone with her hair. The teenage paranormal was actually putting up a good fight. This time, instead of trying to snare Lexaeus, she was literally trying to flatten and batter him like a piñata, her hair now one, smooth, thick whip and impressively lashing quickly in a multitude of directions. And it was hardly soft either. Because he was put on the defensive, he couldn't use the time to increase his strength and power again, and the powerful, brown-haired warrior was forced to try to parry and counter each and every stroke that flayed against his body and tomahawk. And the hair was stronger than it looked. It felt like being hit repeatedly with a padded sock full of metal ball bearings, and already, the Nobody's pale skin was marked with red welts and bruises from the number of times the edges of Rapunzel's hair slapped him. And arguably, the girl's hair had more of an advantageous distance, allowing her to strike her enemy while the black-robed antagonist could hardly get close.

Lexaeus then growled as he then hurriedly backed away before he merely grunted and stopped down, slamming his free gloved hand on the ground. To Rapunzel's shock, a seismic wave of dirt and rock erupted from the ground, ripping apart the metal and marble like wet paper (though surprisingly, they weren't even connected directly to the planet's crust to begin with). Dangerously large enough to swallow a car and spiked with a wicked looking spine of thick spears and jagged peaks, it rushed forward like a mudslide and snared towards the Ghostbuster. Too fast for Rapunzel to dodge as she shrieked, jerking to a rude halt.

She would have been hit if it wasn't for a particular, green pterodactyl which deftly swooped down and snatched the teenager out of harm's way, the avalanche of dirt missing the toes of her shoes by several inches. Watching out for his teammates like a true friend, Beast Boy merely flew high into the air with several flaps of his wings, avoiding the sudden tornado of the flying bodies of Cover Girl and Adam Bomb as they were swept into the winds by Xaldin, before the changeling circled back and dove sharply, invoking a nose-dive directly at the Organization member with Rapunzel ready to fight another round. And yet before Lexaeus could even try to leap towards Beast Boy and Rapunzel, he was suddenly struck in the back by a wave of fire, the surge of heat hot enough to actually melt through solid rock and steel like nothing. And even the Nobody could feel the agony of having the searing attack from Magma's powers burn through his cloak and turn his flesh into bubbling, liquefied gore, actually eating into his backbone. Realizing that Magma provided the vital distraction as planned, Beast Boy dove until he was close enough to the floor by four or five feet and gently, he released the Ghostbuster from her claws, allowing Rapunzel to tuck into a ball and roll safely on the floor, skidding to a stop exactly as trained. Now unburdened, the pterodactyl set himself upon Lexaeus in a blink of an eye, and the Organization soldier roared as Beast Boy grappled him with his feet and started clawing, ripping, and biting at him, his teeth actually sinking into his skull and torso area. Flecks of blood spurted everywhere and his black robe and cloak were being torn into tatters while Amara took the advantage to melt all the existing and protruding rock from Lexaeus' magical strike, her flames caking the hardened earth and dirt until it began to slowly, but surely, glow bright red. Now infuriated and with his arms pinned from the hold Beast Boy had on him, Lexaeus teleported out of the Titan's grip in a plume of smoke and dark aura, leaving Garfield with nothing in his claws and teeth.

"Huh? Where'd he go?!" Amara yelped, but then they saw him reappear not too far away from their position, close to the battle with Xigbar as Piper Halliwell did her best to try to blow the sharpshooter up. Beast Boy reverted back to his human form before transforming into a cheetah, and with a high-pitched yowl, the green-furred feline dashed and charged while Rapunzel used her hair to lob several potions from her uniform pockets and catapulted them high in the air directly at her opponent. Lexaeus snarled as he proficiently slashed at the incoming potion bottles with his gigantic weapon with a simple twirl and back-handed slash, the glass shattering and the potion splattering uselessly in the thin air and floor. Then, in a smooth motion and a guttural roar, Lexaeus then slammed his hand again on the ground in invoke another magical strike.

"Ruined Earth!" he called out strongly, and immediately, it was chaos.

A literal tower of dirt, an elongated pillar of brown stone and tightly packed lime and dust that was pointed and jagged at the top then suddenly sprung from the ground, magically growing out of thin air, and yet surprisingly enough, not tearing up the floor of marble and metal in the process. It almost acted like a mirage, except that the flecks of dirt and pebbles pelting his face and the fact that Rapunzel was wildly thrown off her feet from the sudden earthquake indicated that this magical attack was very real and very treacherous if Beast Boy got caught in it. Thankfully, the Teen Titan was able to shape-shift into a mountain goat, the green, wooly ram expertly and gracefully leaping over the jagged peaks and cliffs without even faltering, almost dancing and acrobatic as it bounded from the attack. And Garfield was still making alarming progress towards the black-robed antagonist.

Incensed, Lexaeus continued to invoke his magic, snarling, and immediately barricading Beast Boy's path and causing Rapunzel to dodge from being ripped and having every bone broken in her body was a plethora of sharp and towering rock pillars. The entire ground was a constant fluctuation all around Lexaeus as uneven skewers upon uneven skewers kept emitting from the floor, rumbling and shattering the region all around with eruptions as loud as thunder. There was no way an ordinary human could make his or her way past without being caught in the outbreak and mercilessly impaled and ripped to bloody shreds. But Beast Boy admirably didn't falter in the slightest as he soared and capered from pike and summit, changing adroitly from a ram into a chimpanzee, swinging and screeching with his limber paws and tail, before fluttering through a narrow space in the shape of a small garden lizard, easily weaving through the small gaps and cracks, and then flying high and furiously fast, avoiding several escalating high-rises in the form of a sparrow. Now even more frustrated that he wasn't hindering the shapeshifter in the slightest, the Organization member was about to try to summon the rock to move and crush the Titan by surrounding him when to his shock, he noticed that the Ruined Earth attacks were growing more and more languid and sluggish, no longer feeling one with the dirt that he previously summoned before. In fact, the sediment and residue were actually glowing bright red, each and every pillar and even the residue and walls protecting all around him perimeter were surely…melting?

Then the Silent Hero turned to see why as the walls diminished enough to reveal the strange and alien source of the heat. Magma, one of the New Mutants from the X-Men and a past encounter he forgotten in the ardor of the moment, was in full flame mode, her body outlined in red fire as a demon, a heliopath. And as much as she could, the Nova Roman was engulfing the whole area carefully (to not incinerate her friends) and heating up all of the Organization warrior's Ruined Earth pillars into molten rock, the floor starting to spill and ooze with lava which undeniably made things much, much hotter all around them and with Lexaeus directly in the center of it.

And she inadvertently stumbled on a basic paranormal law: change or alter a magical object's shape or form and it loses its mystic essence, becoming ineffective and no longer subject to manipulation and control. Magma's powers were basically making all of Lexaeus' rock reserves useless because controlling lava and controlling rock were two very different things.

Lexaeus swore inwardly. That little, obnoxious - !

WHUMP!

Lexaeus actually saw stars and great flashes of light flicker before his very eyes as his body and skull cracked hard against the floor while the colossal and blubbery form of the full-grown, green hippopotamus actually managed to tackle and hold down his assailant by crushing him to the floor, his fat and gelatinous belly and stomach pressing hard and practically smothering him. In fact, hippopotami could surprisingly run faster than a human adult male, so it was a good choice for the Titan to use to attack the strongman. And with his arms and legs uselessly trapped underneath the corpulent animal, he was unable to use his tomahawk to stab Beast Boy with. And before he could teleport again…

A living tentacle of red hair flew out of nowhere and suddenly cracked a small glass vial against his face, and the man roared with ire and great irritation as the glass fragments embedded into his skin and the contents of the bottle splashed down his face and skin, burning it unbearably like acid. And to his shock, he could no longer summon the portals of darkness within himself. Now he was truly trapped, his magic failing him.

"Hold him down! _**Hold him down!!**_ He can't teleport now!!" yelled Rapunzel as she then had her hair stretch, whip out, and fasten tightly to Lexaeus' neck before squeezing hard enough to make his face pop from the pressure. She hoped that last sentence she uttered was true (the Charmed Ones themselves weren't one-hundred percent positive). Thankfully, even with the abnormal heat, both she and Garfield were able to endure it enough to try to debilitate their opponent. Beast Boy roared out a wordless and animalistic growl of acknowledgement as he continued to burrow and body-slam his foe to the ground. In a slightly perverted way to any outsider observing this, it would have almost appeared as if Beast Boy was humping Lexaeus.

And considering that male hippos could reach a full-grown weight of at least seven-thousand pounds, this was enough to even compress and mash each and every bone in the brawny man's body. And of course, having the tress of hair wrap around his throat and strangling him was making it incredibly lethal for the subjugated evil minion of the Organization. This was why Lexaeus then attempted another tactic as his body started to glow once again.

Rapunzel, Magma, and Beast Boy weren't exactly sure how to describe it. They were trying to hold down the Organization combatant one moment, and then next thing they knew, there was a gigantic flash of brown and yellow light and a peal of roaring winds before a strange and oppressive force literally shoved the two of them away and off the Silent Hero. Considering that Beast Boy was still in hippo-form, this was not a slight wall of pressure as both the Ghostbuster and the Teen Titan were shoved off their feet and sent flying into the air, with Rapunzel screaming as she soared high above in a dizzyingly elevated distance, revolving head over heels over and over as the green hippopotamus was sent further back and closer to the ground, being heavier and larger. Thankfully, he didn't hurt any of his allies as he flew and crashed to the ground rather forcefully.

The only thing he did hit when he landed was Selene, the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club.

_**POOM!!!**_

Beast Boy groaned, trying to get his vision to clear before Whitelighter and Wildstar of the Misfit teams came in and orbed him out, both of them intending to join the battle with Robin, Amara, and Rapunzel, leaving a rather outraged and stunned Selene still sprawled out on the floor.

Batman, Kuwabara, Quentin Blud, Eduardo, and Kylie looked on wordlessly at this before the three younger Ghostbusters chimed in cheekily.

"Close enough."

As Rapunzel was roughly lobbed into the air, thankfully, a now revitalized and re-energized Robin swooped forward on his grapple-line and hurriedly grabbed the Ghostbuster around the waist, the lifeline enabling him from having Rapunzel fall to her death. And to the paranormal's shock, Robin was actually radiating with a faint yet discernable yellow luster, surrounding his entire body and even his yellow and green cape. Lexaeus barely seemed concerned. Now emitting a powerful luminosity all around him from the forces of the Earth he channeled and summoned, the muscular man now actually seemed more foreboding, heavier, unsurpassable like a towering statue of stone. In fact, the ground faintly rumbled and quaked with each step he took, as if the soldier's body mass had increased ten-fold, and feeling quite tired of this, he made his way towards a particular X-Girl. From the look in his eyes and from the way his tomahawk was slung over his shoulder, the Organization member seemed intent on making Amara pay for her interference.

Unwilling to be an easy target, Magma wisely maintained her distance as she hurriedly began picking up the pieces of the rock and earth that were left behind from the attack Lexaeus used on Garfield earlier. Prime fuel and ammunition. With a fury, all the chunks of rock that Amara picked up melted into glowing balls of molten lava, turning conveniently into flaming projectiles before the X-Girl's very eyes. She started throwing them, a volley of fire and balls of thick, viscous fluid to rain down from Lexaeus in a wide spray, making it difficult for the Organization member to easily dodge it without being burned. And thanks to her training at the Danger Room, several painful fireballs actually managed to wing his shoulder, thigh, and graze his cheek, instantly searing his skin and causing it to blacken, shrivel, and bleed in agony. The New Mutant actually had pretty good aim. Snarling, Lexaeus grunted as he then slammed the head of his tomahawk on the floor, instantly invoking another tidal wave of rock and earth to magically appear and spew from the floor before rolling and rumbling towards Magma with a gigantic tidal wave of dirt and brown limestone, much larger and torrential than the one he used on Rapunzel. In fact, it was actually tearing up the floor in its wake like the type of mudslides than could easily ram and carry off semi-trucks with little effort. And as Amara found out the hard way, her strongest bursts of fire from her hands wasn't enough to quickly melt it as it hastened at a rapid pace.

"Shoot!" cried Amara as she realized she was in over her head before she started running a bit away before using her sprinting as a running start for a few gymnastic flips and bounds, hoping that she could avoid the incoming inundation before it could crush and bury her alive. With a deafening and rolling bang, the avalanche of rock, dirt, and stone missed her by several inches. But then Amara's heart plummeted to her feet as she then saw to her dread and panic, the wave of earth kept going and rushing across the floor and across the chamber before it completely caught Piper Halliwell, Pete Wisdom, and Yusuke Urameshi of the Spirit Detectives by surprise before in less than three seconds, the heroes were completely buried alive underneath the rubble.

"No!!" cried out Magma in dismay as Flash did his best to help dig his allies out of the debris while Pietro and Supergirl concentrated on Xigbar. As Tim then set Rapunzel down, he looked back at the last second when Lexaeus struck with his tomahawk and caused the wreckage to try to swallow Magma. The moment he summoned the groundswell, the aura and glow around his body was actually dimming, almost…lessening.

Robin's eyes crinkled behind his mask. _That_ was an odd detail…

As Lexaeus then ran towards Amara with his tomahawk slung over his shoulder, intent on physically homing in on the X-Girl, the Teen Titan leader then took out two metal pellets from his utility belt before leaping high into the air after a running start and hurled them directly at Lexaeus' back. Lexaeus scoffed inwardly; did this boy honestly think he could take him from behind with that clichéd tactic?

_The idiocy of youth_, thought Lexaeus contemptuously to himself as he admirably did a duo-strike assault, swiveling around to face the incoming projectiles and swatting at them with his heavy mace while moreover slamming his free hand on the ground and invoking several towering columns of stone and rock that instantly sent poor Magma flying into the air with a scream, instantly bruising and spraining her wrist and right ankle. Considering that she was sent flying into the air by more than four stories, it was a steep and perilous drop and she surely would have died in the fall. Rapunzel, helpless to do anything from her position, screamed in shock, but then to Amara's surprise and disbelieving release of anxiety, a small yet intense burst of pressurized air actually slowed down and buffeted the girl's descent, saving her life. Amara was stunned as she slowly and safely landed on her two feet back onto the floor, feeling as if she was practically walking on thin air like Shadowcat seconds ago as a weightless balloon.

Who just saved her?

Lexaeus did not even notice; he was too suddenly taken by surprise by Robin's pellets as the second he whacked them aside, they exploded a rather unpleasant payload. With a loud whisper, several strands of rubber sprung out from their shattered containments and securely wrapped themselves around Lexaeus' body like cords the moment the Silent Hero struck them. And before Lexaeus could even realize it, his tomahawk was securely pinned to his body as well as his arms, bound and fasted uselessly by the red filaments of malleable matter, squeezing tightly and threatening to cut deep into his flesh as it shrunk and tried to contort back.

The chiseled-faced strongman was stunned as he strained harder, only to find that he still couldn't break free and that the elastic material cut deeper, drawing blood, into his skin like piano wire. It may have looked like rubber, but it was deceptively pliable and difficult to work through, stronger than steel.

Robin grinned; it was the very same elastic substance he used to hinder the other Teen Titans non-lethally when he was disguised as Red-X as an attempt to infiltrate Slade's circle of influence. He figured it would come in handy.

And with a roar, Robin struck, bringing down the end of his staff onto the top of Lexaeus' skull as he descended. And this came in so fast that the human eye couldn't possibly process the movement and only the aftermath.

_Whack!_

Lexaeus roared as the blood ran down his head and split scalp, now realizing why the Teen Titan was glowing abnormally in that yellow shimmer as Robin took full advantage of the being able to get up-close without much resistance. Using his staff and going through a variety of staff movements, kicks, and jabs followed by unpredictable strafes and movements all around Lexaeus' position, making it not only difficult for the Teen Titan to hit but also difficult to keep track of and see. In fact, in a matter of ten seconds, Robin has actually struck him over fifty times thanks to Etrigan's enhancements. And with his arms bound, Lexaeus had no choice but to awkwardly succumb to each clout, punch, and strike, the teenager's moves now actually breaking a bone or two as well as his face and hair being matted with red and dripping. Now Lexaeus had absolutely enough as he then arched his head back and screamed and once again, he began to glow even brighter as a massive and pressurized force shoved Robin off his feet, sending him careening into the air. Landing on his feet but still a bit dazed from being shoved so roughly, Robin managed to shakily look up to see the black robed man shining once again, this time much more dazzlingly and fiercely than before, the sphere of Gaia magic now actually engulfing a sphere several meters on all sides of him. And with a grunt and a bit of strength, Lexaeus easily snapped the red rubbery net covering and tying his arms to his torso, the material breaking as easily as if they were strips of paper.

As this was going on, Robin got a call on his communicator, Ace Starr of the West Coast Misfits yelling out, "Robin, I'm in position for '_Operation: Lava Top_'! Ready when you guys are!!"

Magma's voice then broke in through her communicator, saying strongly, "I'm ready, too!"

"Magma, Wildstar, on my command…" Robin warned heatedly as he braced himself. Now angry and still shimmering, Lexaeus was running towards Robin like an unstoppable tank, the floor shaking and actually caving in inwards, his footsteps leaving deep imprints in the metal and crackling the marble into fragments. With a gigantic leap, he bounded high into the air with his tomahawk raised over his head, ready for a power-bomb. Closer and closer, like a silent and deadly boulder at free-fall…

"NOW!" yelled Robin as he back-flipped with a powerful gymnastic leap at the last second, and narrowly avoiding the sudden impact of the enemy slamming his weapon on the ground and instantly causing an eruption of spiked earth and jagged hills to gush all around him, forming a ring and climbing as high as ten feet. But before the Organization warrior could rectify this failure, Magma let loose with all the lava and molten rock she had been busily liquefying during Robin's intervention, and wisely, she had been summoning and collecting each bit for this ultimate attack.

And what Lexaeus realized too late was that the New Mutant manipulated and converged all the lava directly underneath the very position he landed on his attempt to crush Robin, and all that red fluid rushed upwards like a pressurized geyser. And catching Lexaeus full as it sent him careening high into the air, burning him excruciatingly upon contact. Defying gravity, the Silent Hero was boosted upwards into the sky, the stream of fiery red pushing hard against his stomach, as he scaled upwards towards the ceiling.

And that was the perfect moment for one particular West Coast Misfit as he adroitly leapt onto Lexaeus' back as he was being propelled into the air, releasing the ten ultra-violet energy claws vibrating with humming whispers from his fingertips.

With a fierce grunt, Ace Starr jabbed all ten of his energy claws into the Silent Hero's back, feeling the sensation of his mutant nails digging deep into the man's shoulder-blades and searing it, the murderer's back now smoking with wafts of charred flesh. As the man howled at the sudden and unexpected strike, Ace then braced himself on his feet, bent his knees and pulled back as hard as he could.

_Ssshhhhrrrrrraaaaaaapppp!!_

Now Lexaeus' howled louder for in addition to being burned, his entire back with torn into ribbons, the claws actually cutting through his backbone, ribcage, and his vital organs. And it didn't take much on Ace's part to pull hard enough to drag his claws and literally rip his opponent into shreds, and upon feeling that he did enough, Wildstar managed to leap backwards off the cloaked adversary's back, allowing him and the lava to rush past him as it barreled upwards and as the brown-haired adolescent fell towards the floor.

Or at least until Robin with a grappling line to the roof easily managed to swing from his vintage point and ascend towards the ceiling before grabbing Ace's hand and stopping his fall.

"Dude, nice catch!" Wildstar said with amiable enthusiasm as the Teen Titan leader set him down on the floor next to Rapunzel, glad that the vigilante was able to watch his back.

"_**What kept you?!**_" snapped Rapunzel, which didn't suit well with Ace as the West Coast Misfit pointed at the Hellion, Bevatron, who was furiously duking it out for his life as Felicia the cat-girl and Agent Jay from the Men in Black were trying to take him down.

"Hey, it's not easy trying to run here and find the person you're assigned to beat on while there's all **this** going around! I had to go the long way to avoid being hit by the electric strikes by Bevatron before Whitelighter could teleport us safely at the first opening!! Not to mention we had to get Beast Boy!" the West Coast Misfit snapped. Whitelighter, a bit fearful and certainly anxious, managed to cut in strongly.

"Stop!" he pleaded, putting a hand to interrupt the potential quarrel in front of both of the paranormal and the mutant.

"Where's Kurama?" Robin asked.

"We didn't see him when we tried making our way here. He hasn't been answering his communicator either. I think he's still trying to find his way through safely without getting caught in the crossfire. It's like Hell on Earth all around us. _Yeow!_" Ace replied before yelping as he, Whitelighter, and Rapunzel narrowly avoided a flying, gigantic book with a black leather cover and the Organization symbol imposed on it from hitting their heads, emphasizing the mutant's point then and there. Zexion's attack could have easily caused a bloody concussion. Robin nodded as he then saw that Lexaeus was actually making his way back towards the ground, using a combination of his strength, his tomahawk, and gravity to climb and pervade downwards, slashing and battering away at the geyser of lava and preventing it from thrusting him upwards. Magma's face paled as she finished using the last of her reserves to attack the adversary, and enraged, Lexaeus tried to use another blast of Ruined Earth, but Beast Boy in the form of a green grizzly bear managed to catch the man solidly in the back with a powerful body-slam, biting and ripping with his claws savagely.

"All right, then let's take him down! Everyone, follow _Delta-Attack-Three_ and do your best to subdue him!!" Robin yelled, and with that, the other four charged, with Robin and Rapunzel running towards Lexaeus from one end, and Whitelighter orbing himself and Wildstar on the other side, the two groups triangulating their position with Magma and Beast Boy and surrounding the earth foe from the Thirteenth Order. The perfect set-up, and with little chance of having each other being accidentally caught in their friends' crossfire.

With that, they charged, with three of the teenagers launching a forward three-in-one blitzkrieg as they stampeded in unison while the latter three provided back-up cover-fire as a secondary, saturation offensive. Lexaeus wasn't stupid, and since he couldn't teleport, he did the next best thing as he slammed his hand onto the ground and repeatedly began summoning Ruined Earth over and over, trying to have the jagged pillars swallow the six adolescents whole.

_Poom, poom, poom, poom, poom!_

It just wouldn't let up; it was continuous and never-ending. And this way, though Beast Boy, Wildstar, and Robin were narrowly being diverted and sidetracked in their initial crackdown, Whitelighter, Magma, and Rapunzel were now at a loss from being able to sit on the sidelines and offer support. Now, all six of them were doing their best to avoid the sudden arrivals of jagged turrets that threatened to pound and rip all of them to pieces. And in addition to that, Lexaeus was slamming his tomahawk over and over on the metal floor, sending massive quakes and vibrations throughout the foyer, causing both heroes and villains alike to stumble or become preoccupied, the worst of which being those at the epicenter. Amara, who couldn't keep up her gymnastic maneuvering much longer, was abruptly slammed into by Beast Boy, in the shape of a green wolf, who in turn was caught by surprise by an unexpected outburst of Gaia magic painfully at his side. Both the Titan and the X-Girl collapsed as a heap, and elated, Lexaeus summoned a specific venting directly underneath the two fallen teenagers, and despite Garfield hurriedly turning himself into a pterodactyl once again and carrying Amara in his claws, there was no way they could avoid it.

Until a certain Wiccan intervened…

"Column of Earth! Organization cards! Organization book! Pound his little butt!!" Paige was heard yelling in the background, and to Amara and Garfield's relief, the tidal wave of dirt that threatened to slam into them disappeared, vanishing in a plume of Whitelighter orbs as the Charmed One simply teleported it to hit Marluxia. This was perfect to catch Lexaeus off-guard as Beast Boy (in the form of a snorting and gigantic charging male bull the second he dropped off Magma) along with Wildstar and Robin blitzed the enemy with a united storm, sidestepping and strafing bursts of dirt and rock spring forth.

Justin then realized a potential attack tactic upon seeing Paige's calling despite his panicked mind freezing with fear.

"Tomahawk!!" yelled Justin, extending his hand at Lexaeus' weapon, trying to steal it away by using his orbing, but to his horror, nothing happened. The weapon still remained in the warrior's gloved hand, and Whitelighter's hope was nothing more than a wasted attempt. And still equipped, the glowing Silent Hero roared as he continued to summon the multiple Gaia strikes while uncannily using his tomahawk to slash and hammer at both the ground and at Wildstar, Beast Boy, and Robin, eerily dancing and smoothly shifting between pounding at the ground and swiping at the three male fighters as if it was some sort of fast-rhythmic dance. Everyone was actually in awe at how seamless the hulking and muscular behemoth, though heavy and appearing uncoordinated, was actually quite nimble. He effortlessly strafed out of Beast Boy's tiger form as it charged, anticipated Ace's sweep kick and handstand kick, and swatted away all of Robin's Birdarangs, timing each attack in between drumbeats on the floor and causing multiple tremors. And though it was very subtle, Lexaeus' luminosity was actually dimming slightly, bit by bit with each hit.

"Ack!!" screamed Whitelighter, nearly panicking as he orbed out to safety, "We can't hit him with our attacks if we're dodging!!"

Rapunzel then chimed in as she exclaimed with growing panic, "You guys, be careful!! These attacks are a lot stronger than the ones he used before!! He's upping up the stakes!"

"**Change tactics, then!!** Everyone! Hit him with full-frontal assault and keep him down!!" Robin yelled as he set himself upon Lexaeus first, jabbing several times while airborne directly at the man's head, neck, and shoulders, causing him to cease his Gaia spell-casting and forcing him on the defensive, holding out his tomahawk in order to intercept the staff movements. Now Robin was within his element, and this time, his staff flew so swiftly, it was a mere blur, acrobatically bouncing off the floor and twirling in the air multiple times like a haunting ballet, except that the Teen Titan was literally doing a dance of death against Lexaeus as he went head to head, weapon to weapon. And once again, the Organization member was finding it challenging and problematical to effectively counter the young opponent when his staff, fists, and kicks each and every time managed to worm their way past his tomahawk and painfully clout a vulnerable spot of his body, especially his face. And each time he swung, the little upstart easily dodged Lexaeus' lunge and simply moved aside to deliver another round of quick and relentless hits. And thanks to Robin's orders, Beast Boy, in the shape of a snorting and inflamed rhinoceros with Rapunzel riding on his back, was charging towards the tall man and taking full advantage of the distraction Robin was giving. Ace meanwhile managed to slide next to Amara with an idea to further giving Robin an opening.

"Magma, team-up attack with me!" Wildstar ordered, and together, both the New Mutant and the West Coast Misfit struck with their mutant powers from the sidelines as a long-range attack. At once, a column of fire, hot enough to scorch sand into glass, rushed forward in the air while Ace surprisingly managed to manipulate the energy in his claws as a single, powerful, crackling bolt of pure, ultraviolet energy before he shot out with both fists. The end result was a thunderous and loud hissing of flames and energy as a snake of writing and charged plasma surrounded a mess of flames and both struck the back of the distracted Organization member in the span of two seconds.

_Krrraaakkkwwwwoooooofffffffff!!_

Lexaeus hollered and bellowed like a wounded bull, and Robin acted quickly at the interference as he finished doing a particularly damaging jab with one end of his staff directly into Lexaeus' nose (breaking it upon contact) before we crouched low and gymnastically swiveled around with the metal bo in a sweep movement, directly moving upwards at the knee pits. As heavy as the Silent Hero was, the Teen Titan's wallop was enough to cause him to lose his balance as he crashed on his back onto the ground with a heavy thump. In a flash, the masked Titan leader easily jumped on top of the Organization, his feet brutally stomping and pressing hard on the man's sternum and groin area, before Tim took the end of his staff and pressed as hard as he could with both hands into his victim's larynx and pushed repeatedly, hard and fast.

Lexaeus' eyes bulged as he gurgled, a stream of blood dripping from his mouth along with the spittle bubbling at the corners as he choked and tried vainly to awkwardly swat the Titan off him with his tomahawk, but Robin acrobatically avoided the swipes, lifting his leg this way and that while weaving back and forth like a snake, easily steering clear of the bludgeon endeavors as he pressed harder. It was like trying to hit a fly with a peashooter; he kept missing, despite the Titan remaining stationary on his chest. Lexaeus cried out, wounded, as the Teen Titan was literally trying to stab his staff clear through his throat. Sensing the approaching Garfield and Rapunzel, Lexaeus then decided to go on the defensive as he began to glow again, his entire body illuminating with the sepia tones of the Gaia forces, and with an unexpected and abrupt flare, Robin felt an invisible force surround his antagonist and was sent hurtling into the air, head over heels, stunned at the brutal concentration of power that shoved him off. Quickly, he managed to use another grapple-line to latch onto the ceiling as a safety while Lexaeus, still seriously hurt, then weakly got up before slamming his gloved hand on the ground, instantaneously raising up a wall of thick, dense, sturdy limestone, a ring of towering earth piled high above for at least ten or fifteen feet before tapering and closing up at the end like a cone. Clearly a protective stance to buy some time. And as Amara and Ace found out as they tried a combined energy blast once again, it was much too hardy and fixed to melt as easily as before.

Stubborn, the green rhino charged, galloping even harder (much to Rapunzel's worry) and cracking down in a straight beeline towards the dome of dirt and sediment, his horn and head lowered as the world passed by faster and faster in a blur. Beast Boy wasn't worried, thinking that he was strong enough in this animal mode to easily break his way though and trample that jerk down flat.

WHOOM!!!

He wasn't.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, **ooowwwwwwww**…!!" wailed Garfield as he reverted back to his human form (allowing the Ghostbuster to slide off him), gingerly holding his pulsating skull with both of his hands as blood trickled down his hair and bangs. The adolescent was still incredibly lucky he didn't break his neck by running head-first into a wall. He apparently miscalculated a rhinoceros' ability to charge through solid rock, especially magical rock of the Gaia Elementa Kingdom. Whitelighter then tried his hand.

"Beast Boy, Rapunzel, get clear!" he yelled over his communicator, and with Rapunzel as a lean-to, the duo brawlers made themselves scarce as the Misfit tried his magic attacks.

"Lumiga…Mark of the Sun!" cried out Whitelighter as he flung his hand outwards, and upon the command, a ring of glowing yellow symbols surrounded the Misfit before converging and rushing directly towards the rock haven safeguarding Lexaeus in a massive and concentrated beam of sunlight. Several intense pulses of yellow ringing all around a sun emblem blazed blindingly and appeared in the middle of the rock tower before white cracks spider-webbed across the conical surface. In a brief instant, the structure still held together, but only barely as it shimmered like a fading mirage before the multitude of shining cracks grew larger and made splintering noises. And in the next moment, the protective tent of rock broke apart and shattered like glass, cascading down in a torrent of jagged rock fragments (which Amara took quick note of for future ammunition).

"Dude, did he get him?" warbled a dazed Beast Boy as Rapunzel managed to set him safety down, having him lean against the metal wall for support, a bit far from where Roland the Ghostbuster was trying his best to blast Monet the Hellion with sharp bursts of fire from his proton pack. To everyone's shock, as the walls of walnut gravel deteriorated, they then saw that Lexaeus was still standing, upright, his back erect and straight, and his face contorted with a malicious snarl. And now that he was no longer covered by the umbrella of stone, his body displayed the horrifying and disconcerting fact that he was now blazing brighter than before, a flushing torch of Gaia magic. And in his hands was his tomahawk, now actually effectively blocking Justin's Lumiga spell, a vibrating and shining emblem of yellow trying valiantly to push against the heavy and formidable axe that was keeping it at bay. It was like a moth attempting to fly and push against a glass window; Lexaeus wasn't budging.

Whitelighter's magic did break the rock shield, but it did not even touch the Organization member.

"I'm guessing 'no'…" griped Magma before Lexaeus merely shifted the Mark of the Sun attack in his tomahawk's head and flung it directly upwards at the approaching Robin who was swinging overhead directly from his blind spot. The Titan leader was surprised and mentally bowled over as the beam of sunlight rushed forwards, too fast for Justin to try not attempt to call it back or suppress it (not that he ever did it before, mind you). Robin quickly released the grapple line at the last moment his reflexes could allow, and the Teen Titan felt the magical blast fly past his head and body as he descended out of the way, the emblem actually burning though the bottom of his cloak in its wake. Not taking much time in reflecting the close shave of being killed, Robin immediately and professionally took out his staff with one hand while flinging several Birdarangs directly at Lexaeus, dropping to the floor like a cat on its feet. Lexaeus blocked most of the red discs with his tomahawk, but once again, upon contact with his weapon, the Birdarangs exploded with a plethora of various effects, engulfing and subjecting the earth manipulator with an assortment of nasty surprises. Lexaeus choked from the stinging fumes of capsaicin mists, felt the searing and burning sensations of liquid oxygen and explosive kerosene discharging against his body, as each Birdarang from the Titan hit its mark directly at and around him in a saturation assault. Rapunzel then had a brilliant tactic as she took out several additional potions from her uniform's pockets and had supple tendrils from her hair grasp them delicately before she twirled her tresses over her head and hurled them as hard as she could, aiming at the target's feet. It was a good move; Rapunzel could throw objects far heavier and with greater accuracy than she ever could with her own hands. And bellowing like a wounded animal, Lexaeus succumbed helplessly like a battered piñata against the two explosive potions that discharged upon shattering on the floor and released a combustive blast large enough to take out a concrete wall. Or in this case, Lexaeus himself as he was sent off his feet and landed on one knee painfully, no longer upright and taken out of his groove and concentration. In addition to setting his robe and cloak with smoldering patches of heat, his cherished weapon was now charred, burned, and had flecks of where the acid ate away at the metal surface.

"An opening!" roared Wildstar as he moved in with a flying side kick at Lexaeus' head while Robin descended down and successfully managed to deliver a very wince-worthy blow right between the shoulder blades of the foe's back at the same time, distracting the Thirteenth Order member enough for Ace to deliver a fierce right cross with his fist. Magma was in the background burning Lexaeus with whatever hunks of rock she could grab her hands on that were scattered throughout the battlefield, discreetly melting any additional ones into liquid form for prime fuel for another lava wave. Beforehand this martial surge, the rebounded Lumiga spell that Lexaeus sent to kill Robin continued to ascend upwards, past the gaping hole in the roof and floors above that Xaldin made earlier, streaking across the space and into the open air and sky. Exactly close to the position where (surprisingly) a mid-air fracas was being clashed over in a detached and magical floating platform, as wide and long as a soccer field with dry earth and smooth terrain. And on this floating platform was where Zexion was furiously invoking a devastating whirlwind of magical parchment, the cyclone of manuscripts and papers swirling around and slashing at Roadblock, Multiple, and Casey the Phantom Investigator as well as defending his body as a shield.

Until the unforeseen Mark of the Sun made its way through the heavens from below and struck Zexion fully in the back, catching him by complete surprise.

_Flash!_

"Sor-…oh. Never mind!!" called out Justin upon seeing who the attack actually hit upon a second glance (the boy was incredibly grateful it didn't hit an ally). Zexion was certainly now enraged upon that the enchantment as it was able to weaken him and his tornado of books long enough for Octavia, Kennedy, and Rio the Shaman to rush in, unhindered. Rapunzel sprinted towards Lexaeus, additional potion bottles in her hand for the offense.

"Whitelighter, help Beast Boy!" she ordered, and the Misfit gladly obliged, orbing directly to the Titan, ready to use his powers.

"Dude, it's OK! Rapunzel gave me a potion!" warbled Beast Boy as he tried not to wince and hiss with throbbing discomfort as the sudden movement of protest caused the burning in his split skull to worsen. Justin was still adamant as he took the moment to lay his glowing hands on Garfield's bleeding head, stopping him from opening the cordial.

"Save the potion for when I'm _unable_ to heal you," insisted Justin just as fiercely as he slowly mended Beast Boy's head injury. In the interim, Rapunzel finally managed to reach her quarry, and with her red hair, she gave the fracas as good as she got, her contribution of hair-sweeps and kicks adding in fuel to the fire, and now, much to Lexaeus' irritation, he was truly fighting four competent fighters hand-to-hand, weapon-to-weapon. Now with Robin's staff, Rapunzel's living tresses, Wildstar's claws, and Amara's body covered with flames and full-on molten mode, the man from the Thirteenth Order was unable to truly fight effectively without getting intercepted, countered, and pummeled. Each time he tried to attack one or two of the teens, the others would easily gang up on him from all sides, the teenagers clouting and thumping with as much strength as they could. Though it wasn't easy and surprisingly, the man's body was hard and pure muscle, actually almost as if he was armored, Lexaeus was grunting and wincing with pain as the numerous assaults struck many vital areas.

Though it was nowhere as humiliating and degrading when Magma, out of desperation and in the heat of battle, lashed out with a fiery foot and kicked Lexaeus as hard as she could right between his legs, burning through his cloak easily and making direct contact.

_Whump!_

Lexaeus, biting back the pain, actually saw red, livid and certainly outraged.

All right, then if the girl wished to get so barbaric with her assaults…

Snarling and now summoning all of his might and vigor to work his way through their feeble attempts, Lexaeus lunged and slammed the tomahawk on the ground, managing to cause the four teenagers to dive out of the way of the blade. Not that it did much good as Robin remembered that there was the secondary effect of the down-stroke.

"Clear!" he yelled, and though as hard as they tried, the second Lexaeus struck the metal floor, the ground all around them flowed forth was jagged spikes of rock and stone, and the Gaia attack caught all four of them by surprise as they hurriedly backed away, tripping and falling in the process. Magma was the worst of it as the blow sprained her leg, bruising it and causing cuts as she slammed to the floor in a heap. But to her horror, the New Mutant looked up to see Lexaeus running towards her, his tomahawk slung over his shoulder, each step actually thudding against the steel floor, his body still having an outline of earthly colors.

"Magma, run!!" yelled Rapunzel as Ace and Robin dashed behind in an effort to tackle Lexaeus, but then Lexaeus took a brief moment to slam his free hand on the ground, and instantly, with a thunderous rumble, the entire floor split apart as a thick, tall wall of sediment and dirt leapt upwards to the ceiling, nearly touching the metal roof above and certainly leaving less than a foot of crawlspace. That meant that even if Robin could climb his way up, he wouldn't be able to easily wedge himself through the crown. And unfortunately, this encapsulated a good portion around the area all around Rapunzel, Robin, and Wildstar, caging them inside with no way out. Amara was now isolated with the Organization member and without support

"Damn it, we're trapped!" Ace shouted.

"Whitelighter, orb us out!" Robin commanded on his communicator, realizing that it was quicker than trying to blow and hack one's way through the fortification, especially with Magma's life at stake, "We're inside the rock dome!!"

To their relief, Justin answered the call immediately, appearing within a swirl of glowing auras and materializing into thin air inside their imprisonment. The three adolescents grabbed to the Misfit's extended hands, and without a word, they all teleported out to freedom.

At the same time, Magma was doing her best to ignore her injured leg as she let loose a continuous and thick stream of fire directly at the glowing opponent, but to her unpleasant surprise and fright, even though the fire was eating away at his robe and his skin was blackened and popping with oozing blisters from the searing heat, Lexaeus continued to heavily stroll towards the X-Girl, the blasts from her mutation not even slowing him down. His face was pure, cold, emotionless detachment, and his steps actually rumbled and shuddering the ground a bit with each step the illuminating figure took. It was as if a dinosaur was lumbering towards her. Deciding that she couldn't run, Amara bided her time until Lexaeus silently sloped the enormous bludgeon off his shoulder and slashed quickly at Magma's head. Danger Room training to mind, Amara ducked and dodged-rolled to the left, avoiding the blade as it swished past her head by several inches. Astoundingly, she then adroitly grabbed the man's arm, and taking advantage of his fixed, concrete weight, Amara used her grasp as leverage to pull her lower body upwards and swing it over the her adversary's shoulder, kicking him hard behind his head with her good foot, all the meanwhile burning him horrifically by contact. It was similar to a gymnast using the horse to lift, dip, and juggle themselves over the horizontal bar, only this time, Magma was repeatedly using the arm holding Lexaeus' tomahawk to boot his face and neck jarringly.

Lexaeus however, had his other hand free. With a lunge and a grunt, Lexaeus reached across his body quickly, so fast that Amara didn't even have time to flinch, before he cruelly grabbed the mutant girl around the neck. Magma let out a choked scream as she was sadistically pried off Lexaeus' left arm and dangled above the floor, slowly being strangled. Choking, Amara did her best to grab hold on the brawny Nobody's hand as she furiously tried to kick and writhe out of the vise around her neck. But the Silent Hero had a grip of iron as he was about to kill Magma, unhindered and finally emancipated from any meddling.

Or so he thought.

Roaring, a healed Beast Boy transformed into a green tiger, powerfully muscled with thick, razor-sharp claws, and did his best to pounce and tackle the man before he could try to kill Amara, but to his alarm, the Silent Hero easily sensed the Titan coming and simply sidestepped out of the way with Amara still in his grasp, having the tiger brush past him by inches. With a growl, Lexaeus swung hard, and the tiger yowled in anguished misery as he flew a bit and crashed hard against the wall, making a deep and bloody impact to go along with the deep laceration across his stomach, red pouring down heavily. The edge actually dug into his ribcage and stomach, causing internal bleeding and his bones now broken and ripped like wet paper. Still, Garfield was lucky that the cleave didn't sever him into two pieces. Convulsing slightly with bile churning in his gut, Beast Boy managed to shakily and uneasily revert back to his human shape before he took the healing anodyne Rapunzel gave him, grateful he saved it, as he gulped the potion down like a dying man in a desert guzzling down water in extreme thirst.

Now Lexaeus was unopposed to perform his execution.

With a grunt, the shimmering, muscular soldier hurled Magma with a mighty heave, and screaming, Amara went soaring across the air before she collided with the nearest metal wall with a sickening clank, her back against the smooth surface and now suspended upside-down. Dazed and her head cracking against the surface, the jarring force of being chucked against steel and titanium left her weak and stunned, and as a result of the concussion, she inadvertently reverted back to her flesh and blood form, the fires caressing her body being extinguished as she teetered at the brink of consciousness.

"I have you now, X-Girl!" roared Lexaeus as he was about ready to decapitate Magma's body in half, charging with his weapon raised high as he lunged. Unfortunately, at that moment, one of Cyclops' stray optic blasts, when he tried to shoot Xemnas and missed, struck him in the back right between the shoulder blades, effectively halting him in his tracks as he roared from the surprise assault. It was nothing short of heavenly intervention. Amara was too stunned from the throw to even regain her bearings and try to escape during the diversion, but thankfully, Ace Starr was able to intervene. With his cat-like agility and reflexes, the brawny mutant managed to grab Magma from the wall and dragged her away from the incoming strike at the last possible moment as Lexaeus recovered, only to see his prey luckily escaped.

"Thank God…" breathed Rapunzel in relief before she, Robin, and Whitelighter flung themselves at the man in the black robe. Cursing, Lexaeus tried to use another rock wall to divert and obstruct them, but to his great vexation, Whitelighter simply orbed himself and his two co-fighters through the barrier again before they all lashed out furiously. At the same time, Wildstar was assured that the Thirteenth Order sentry wasn't going to follow them now that his three friends were keeping him busy.

"You OK?" Ace asked hurriedly as he skidded to a stop safely away from the attack with the X-Girl in his arms before he set her down against the wall.

"Yeah," gasped Amara breathlessly as she hurriedly opened and gulped down a rejuvenating potion given by Willow Rosenberg to ease the pain from being slammed into the wall as well as heal the slight bleeding and bruises all over her back and behind her head, "Thanks for the save."

"Just wait back here and watch ol' Ace handle this one!" winked Wildstar with a mischievous smirk and a little bit of overconfident bravado as he then dashed forwards while Robin, Whitelighter, and Rapunzel were fighting valiantly with their weapons and whatever tactics they could use. Justin was clearly having a difficult time compared to the Ghostbuster and Titan because he was still not a proficient enough swordsman to effectively go head to head against Lexaeus, even with a Keyblade, so his movements were not only clumsy and wild, but the strongman could easily anticipate and read them. Robin and Rapunzel were much more refined and calculating in their attacks, however. As a recovering Beast Boy was charging and about to shape-shift into another animal, Lexaeus then got a nasty idea in his mind as he deliberately made a feint at Rapunzel's direction, and like clockwork, the Ghostbuster hurriedly wrapped her hair around the tomahawk in an attempt to pull it out of his hands.

Big mistake.

Being still empowered and naturally many times stronger, Lexaeus sadistically snatched out with his free hand and tugged hard on the tresses. With a cry and an agonized shriek, Rapunzel was lifted off her feet and dragged into the air by her locks. And twirling the girl around like a makeshift ball-and-chain, Robin was suddenly forced to duck and back-off while Whitelighter immediately yelped and tried to orb much too late, immediately catching the impact of Rapunzel's feet slamming into his face and left shoulder, knocking the Misfit down and causing him to see stars and be disoriented. And with another grunt and several revolutions over his head, the strongman heaved Rapunzel directly at the Titan shapeshifter. Unable to control her movement, Rapunzel could only shriek and groan in pain as she collided with Beast Boy in a painfully loud crash, eliminating the two fighters as they collapsed on a heap, bruised, overwhelmed, and numb with discomfort. The man, still radiating with energy, then made his way speedily towards the confused and staggered Whitelighter still groggily trying to pick himself off the floor. Robin then hurled a special black sphere from his utility belt and hurled it with dire urgency and desperation, and because of the speed and strength enhancements he digested, Lexaeus didn't even sense it coming until the round capsule struck his back and exploded, detonating its contents.

With a soft noise, the silica gel expanded a hundred fold for each second passed, a clear-blue yet gelatinous mass of hardening material and rubbery matter expanding like a pressurized balloon. The mucilaginous payload surrounded Lexaeus' limbs and legs, swallowing his body as it grew and grew such as a oversized beach ball. And with a quivering and squelching noise, the bomb was done, exposed to open air, as the Organization member was now completely engulfed and absorbed into the sticky prison of translucent mold. Like Jell-O, only many, many times stronger.

Which was why is was a terrifying setback and surprise when the Organization strong-man tore his way through like ripping through Kleenex, barely delayed as he rushed forwards towards the easiest target. Justin blearily looked up and his face blanched. Lexaeus was sprinting towards the Misfit with the intent on killing him, the deadly black, red, and yellow axe raised high above his head, and the teenager panicked before he yelped and teleported himself away just in time right before the tomahawk descended right down on the exact spot where he was earlier. Whitelighter, hyperventilating, orbed a bit far off to see that where he was only several seconds ago was now a wrecked gorge where the weapon had cleanly cut through the marble and metal. Justin felt the urge to vomit upon seeing how close he came to death.

Robin was stunned. This guy just kept going and going! And that specialized gel should have been enough to stop a rampaging bull in its tracks! But biting back his shock, Robin then was distracted by the sight of Wildstar jumping and running in an inconsistent configuration, acting as agile as a cat as he made his way towards the tall, strapping male in the telltale hood and cloak of darkness. But before Lexaeus could attempt to try to retaliate, to his surprise, a red Birdarang attached to a slim yet deceptively hardy metal wire flew through the air with a whisper before it encircled several times around Lexaeus' trunk, compactly and rigidly binding Lexaeus' arms to his sides and trapping him. Now bound and restrained, Lexaeus roared as Robin used all the strength he could muster to hold on tightly to the lifeline, his gloved hands straining hard against the red grapple-gun that he used to launch the anchor, hoping that his efforts could be a great advantage to the West Coast Misfit.

"Hurry!!" grunted Robin as he pulled harder, winching in the line and having the wire squeeze and tighten excruciatingly against Lexaeus' flesh, the line actually digging into the man's flesh and cutting through the fabric of his robe. Lexaeus strained against the cords and hissed, swearing foully, as each movement made the wire cut deeper into his body. Robin hoped that it would hold; despite being coiled steel fibers with a diamond-bead center, anything could happen. Ace however didn't waste any time; with a snarl and a yowl, all the pent-up blue energy he had been building up in his hands had reached full capacity and with two swipes, ten ultraviolet curved slash marks of energy appeared in the air from his mutant claws. In a split-second later, the ten spikes flew across the air, growing longer and thicker like boomerangs, before they all hit Lexaeus' face, chest, and legs directly, not one missing its mark. Now there were scorch marks amid the noxious aroma of burnt flesh and skin, ten gashes and ghastly slits across the skin and black cloak, singed, smoking, and already bleeding heavily. Lexaeus swore angrily before he began to glow again, brighter than before, and the forces of pressurized winds threatened to push both the Titan and the Misfit aside like dry leaves. Admirably, Robin still held on his ground while Ace wisely backed away, the masked Teen Titan bracing his feet against the ground for balance as he continued to hold on to the cable, but then to his dread, Robin felt the line tighten briefly and then go slack, limply falling to the floor.

It wasn't hard to see why. Now radiating with even higher levels of the forces of Earth, Lexaeus managed to increase his defenses dramatically enough to be numb to the pain as he strained and pushed at the cord binding him. Unable to handle the tension, the cord snapped, leaving the injured Organization member free. Robin fell backwards, cursing with pain as the recoil of the wire snapping caused the end of the frayed line to whip backwards and painfully hit Robin on the forehead and left side of his face, immediately drawing blood from the deep gash. Ace however charged forward, his feet lightly touching the floor, as he bounded forward. Lexaeus frowned before he slammed his hand on the ground and invoked a spiked and thick wall of Earth to divert the mutant, the entire ground quaking and Robin was forced to run to avoid getting impaled on by the towering fence. But the Silent Hero of the Thirteenth Order had a rude surprise as a crisscrossing lattice of five jagged slash-marks started to glow their way through the brown mud in a faded blue haze.

Kashack!

Lexaeus was startled as a big and gaping hole suddenly exploded from the force of Wildstar's energy claws ripping through the dense stone barricade managed to shatter and send jagged fragments of rubble to pelt his face and upper-body, reaching unstable proportions due to the energy cutting into them. And this was perfect as Wildstar yowled like a rock-musician as he leapt into the self-made hole and freely readied his claws while lunging directly at the stupefied Organization member.

"Nice try, but these claws can cut through steel, jackass!" shouted Ace as he then let loose his right hard across Lexaeus' face, his energy protrusions digging deep into the skin, cartilage and bone like it was nothing, effectively shredding his face to ribbons with one, clean, sweep punch. Lexaeus didn't scream, didn't even make a sound from the claws gouging his face as he merely took the hit and rolled smoothly, swiveling a complete full turn around before delivering a backhanded swipe with the tomahawk directly at the mutant's head. Ducking backwards quickly, Ace bent his back and leaned as far as his could, his spinal cord pinching hard from the result as the blade of the axe whizzed by the West Coast Misfit's face by several inches. And before Lexaeus could swivel around from the momentum of the first strike to smoothly thrust out with the tip of his weapon at the teen, Ace then took the advantage of flipping backwards before adroitly somersaulted over Lexaeus' head and landing like a cat onto the man's back, Ace digging in his claws and latching on, stabbing and gouging Lexaeus' horrifically.

The brawny strongman in black roared as he vainly tried to claw and strike at the impudent figure that was digging the energy spikes into his back, but it was near impossible. Trying to hit an agile teenager off your back was awkward and cumbersome, and Wildstar was easily able to evade the attacks. And with Wildstar trying to scuff and claw at his back, Lexaeus was distracted enough for Beast Boy to make his move as he whispered as loudly as he could over his communicator before transforming.

"Wildstar, get clear!"

With that, Whitelighter reappeared and narrowly avoided a clunky slash from the tomahawk, yelping as the razor's edge came within several inches of his head, before he placed his hands on Ace's shoulders and the two Misfits orbed off Lexaeus and safely in the sidelines along with Rapunzel. Now free, Lexaeus whirled around to face the feral mutant in the expanse, ready to invoke another rockslide.

"Die, whelps - !!" was all Lexaeus could say before a green sparrow above suddenly shifted within two seconds into another large, green elephant. This time, it connected as the pachyderm landed solidly on his target with all four feet…

_**WHAM!!!**_

Now incredibly distracted by the massive green elephant crushing him against the floor, hooting angrily and with vengeance through his trunk, Lexaeus was more concerned with having nearly every bone in his body being mashed to pulp as opposed to continuing his magical attacks on the group, howling with a mixture of rage and disbelief. Before this was going on, Magma actually did a brief yet inspirational pow-wow with Robin, thinking that he could use some additional leverage with his hand-on-hand combat.

"Robin, I have an idea!!" Amara said hurriedly, "But question: can your gloves and staff handle being surrounded by molten rock and fire?"

Robin's quick mind did a mental inventory before he replied, "To a point, Magma. My gloves and staff can't stand prolonged exposure to something that hot without damage. You've got twenty, maybe thirty seconds at most."

"Go for twenty then, but will that be long enough to go hand-to-hand with this big jerk and get close?"

Robin then got the idea as he grinned, asking, "I don't recall this being one of the contingency teamwork dual plans we've studied with our groups. But what the hell, some of the most brilliant plans are the ones that are thought up on the spur-of-the-moment."

At that exact moment, there was a sudden roar as Lexaeus began to charge up his entire body with the power of Earth, his flesh and form exuding a blinding glare of yellow and brown that sent the elephant crushing him flying with a squeal, unable to keep his weight on the Silent Hero. Apparently, these strange sessions generated enough of a magical force to even send something that heavy off him, and remembering last time, Garfield quickly transformed into a sparrow once again to avoid colliding into the wall before he flew past the brawling Bumblebee and Jetstream, reconvening back to his assigned battle. Lexaeus shakily got up to his feet before, to everyone's surprise, he started ambling towards another direction, slowly picking up speed and away from the battle as soon as he heard the scream of surprise from Starfire the Titan.

Robin looked up alarmed at his girlfriend's shriek. What exactly was it of her that Lexaeus - ?

And then he saw it. In her haste and due to some danger, Starfire made an attempt to grab the shining and pure white Grail from Xemnas' reach, and in response, the Chalice pushed her away, clattering from the air and to the floor, amid the battles with the Hellfire members, Selene and Bevatron, both of them too preoccupied to notice the object from them as they all fought tooth and nail against the assigned teams of heroes sent to subdue them. Unfortunately, the strapping and muscular Earth-manipulator of the Organization also noticed it, and he started to sprint towards the figurine, clear and free from any obstacle, galloping fast and the metal floor shaking softly with each stride he took. Robin cursed and readied his communicator, whereas Amara paled before she summoned whatever lava she could all around her and had it snake into plentiful ribbons all around them, defying gravity as they ascended in the air.

"Our target is trying to get to the Chalice! It's too much of a risk!! _**Stop him!!**_" Robin commanded before Magma then skillfully influenced the hovering strips to bond and form a protective covering of molten rock from tip to tip of Robin's metal staff. And to make it even more impressive, the layer of fire was now positively alight with flames dancing throughout the slim rod, glowing ardently. With barely a moment's pause, Whitelighter orbed himself, Rapunzel, and Wildstar in front of Lexaeus, putting themselves in front of the path of the black-robed member of the Thirteenth Order. Unconcerned and impervious, Lexaeus struck first by taking his weapon with both hands and swung the end of his mace on the ground like a golfer, and like clockwork, a roaring and powerful upwelling of rock and dirt flew upwards, a geyser of brown and heavy rubble arcing like a stream of water from a fountain nozzle before it bore downwards on the three teenagers. They scattered quickly to avoid the sudden deluge, nearly coming close to being buried alive in the rubble before Wildstar rushed forward with Whitelighter and Rapunzel staying behind as support.

"Now!" the red-haired girl commanded as she took out five potion bottles in her hands. The chubby mutant complied quickly.

"Potion bottles! To the Earth Organization member!" and with a faint shimmer and whisper, the five glass containers telekinetically orbed and chucked themselves directly at the unstoppable soldier in a hasty, horizontal movement. Nevertheless, Lexaeus was no fool (and thinking that Whitelighter was particularly idiotic if he verbally voiced his commands like that) as he slammed his free hand on the ground and invoked another wall of brown limestone, the series of Wiccan potions shattering uselessly against the shield, one providing an explosive and combustive effect as it detonated. Wildstar then jumped as high as he could into the air before he let loose another flurry of ten energy swipes of his claws, both of his hands raking across the magical barricade. With a shatter, the rock divider fell to pieces and Ace leapt forward, snarling and brought his claws down hard onto Lexaeus' blade as the brown-haired Organization lackey held it out horizontally in front of himself in order to block Wildstar's claws hitting his body. Apparently, he learned his lesson from the last incident, and he wasn't going to let the West Coast Misfit…

A green-furred cheetah then bounded out of the blue, running from the sidelines at top speed and waiting for Ace's distraction, took full advantage by dashing quickly and lacerating the man's lower-back with one swift swipe across as Beast Boy dashed by. It was a good move, and overcome with the ordeal of Beast Boy's attack, it allowed Wildstar to hurriedly see Robin flying downwards from the sky, incoming, and to further gain Lexaeus' attention, Ace acrobatically delivered a stomp kick into Lexaeus' face before flipping backwards and doing a series of back-flips and leaps away from his foe. Focused on his now broken nose, Lexaeus didn't even sense the two kerosene pellets Robin let loose with a mighty throw until he felt the two capsules discharge upon striking his shoulder and legs, effectively drenching his cloak with the pungent liquid. Enraged, Lexaeus leaned backward a bit for maximum power and to shift his weight and grip completely into his weapon, the black, red, and yellow tomahawk now glowing with the sudden and deadly surge of magic into it before he turned around and swung high at an angle at the incoming Boy Wonder, nearly coming close to hacking off Tim's legs right below the hip bone. Robin was a bit surprised; Lexaeus took less than a second to perform that attack, and it would have been deadly had it connected.

Still, Robin used Lexaeus' attempted strike to his advantage as he narrowly eluded the lunge, effectively counting down the precious seconds in his head as the Titan then summarily prodded one end of his staff into four different pressure points on the soldier's black cloak and robe, poking at the left shoulder, collarbone, arm, and right thigh with remarkable control. And since Robin's staff was still covered with searing heat and lava, once it came in contact with the kerosene…

Fwoosh!

Lexaeus bellowed with surprise and distress as the four prods set his cloak to a sudden and intensely blinding, scorching inferno, now nothing more than a blazing mass of heat as his cloak was engulfed in a blink of an eye. It was surprisingly quick, and unable to teleport, by terrorized instinct, Lexaeus abandoned his plans to kill the six teenagers and hurriedly beat back the flames with his free hand. His entire outline was practically alight, which was perfect as Robin realized his staff was now getting too hot to endure the molten liquid much longer.

"Magma!" Robin signaled loudly, and without further ado, the X-Girl acted hastily, using her powers to causes every single remnant of hardening, red, fire from the Titan's staff and directly caused it to fly forward like a geyser, splattering directly against the Organization member's face, covering it with searing lava. Now Lexaeus couldn't even breathe, muffled grunts and furious incoherent oaths weakly coming from the thick shell of blistering molten stone that refused to easily tug off his skin as it bubbled and popped his flesh and performed excruciating torment on his eyes. Magma did her best to kinetically maintain her hold on the lava and force it down on the man's visage while making the fires eating away at his cloak burn brighter and brighter, intent on incinerating him into ashes. Now starting to panic and forgetting the secondary ordeal of being in flames, Lexaeus frenziedly clawed and tore at the coating of volcanic emission helplessly, making himself a now sitting duck against the heroes (which was exactly what Robin wanted).

"_He's blind!_ Hit him now!!" roared Robin before he let loose with a flurry of jabs and swipes with his staff, aiming at the face, groin, sternum, and knees, hitting hard enough to break bone, and he actually fractured Lexaeus' right tibia cleanly given the stifled groan of pain from the man and the way his body slightly jerked from his leg unable to support its full weight. Encouraged, Rapunzel used her curls as a thick flail and smartly cracked her hair across Lexaeus' arms, tearing and ripping through the black fabric and drawing deep blood before she then superbly wrapped her hair around Lexaeus' wrists in front of his body and manacled them together tightly, not caring if the fire slowly but surely ate away at her tresses. Now Lexaeus was blind and restrained, uselessly unable to strike with his weapon now that his hands were tightly bound while Robin kept pounding him. Beast Boy wisely kept back, readying himself as support since any physical contact in any beast form would hurt him if he converged with the flames still surrounding his foe's body, whereas Wildstar hurriedly sent energy projectiles over and over again in a frenzy with his claws, his arms moving quickly as the repeated swipes tore across the air in the distance and thoroughly struck his target in the back and head. Now being pummeled from all sides and thoroughly restrained, the teenagers felt more than optimistic that they could control the black-robed strongman and prevent any further damage.

"UURRRRRAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" bellowed Lexaeus, arching his head back and finally freeing himself from the lava, fires, and the crowding teenagers as his body began to glow again, radiating and glimmering even more fervently as the auras around his enormous body encased him in an orb of yellow, brown, and red, energy wafting all around him like ribbons of steam. And like before, the sudden outpouring of magical energy was too much for the heroes to maintain their ground as they were violently hurled and propelled into various directions and heights. Grateful that he stayed on the sidelines, Garfield transformed once again into a gigantic pterodactyl dinosaur and took to the air with a flap of his wings while Amara on the ground concentrated on melting whatever fragments of stone and dirt she could collect and gather. Beast Boy grabbed Rapunzel who was soaring high above the ground, deftly catching the Ghostbuster in his claws as gently as he could, saving her from colliding against God knows what in her path. Robin of the Titans was also airborne from the pressurized heave of energy, but admirably, before he could collide against the metal wall, the masked teenager expertly flipped and landed against the steel and titanium surface with her feet, bending his knees to lessen the impact. And then without a moment of hesitation, Robin pushed himself off the wall downwards in a diagonal line, throwing several Birdarangs directly at the Organization member and causing several explosions and cuts to divert the Organization member. Ace luckily was blasted across and close to the floor, and acrobatically, he landed on his feet, the soles of his boots digging and skidding across the marble as he slowed to a stop before charging with his claws again. Whitelighter then tried his mutant powers on Lexaeus' tomahawk again.

"Tomahawk! Tomahawk! Tomahawk, tomahawk, tomahawk!" yelled Whitelighter, nearly frantic, trying over and over to orb the warrior's weapon away from his grasp while Robin and Wildstar were both trying to physically pummel him with Amara shooting out fire blasts skillfully and only hitting her intended adversary. To his agitation, the mutant couldn't do anything with his power; Lexaeus' tomahawk was completely immune and there was no usual shimmer of light from any sort of orbing, no matter how hard Justin concentrated or yelled his command. As Beast Boy tried to carry Rapunzel and himself towards battle, Robin decided to change tactics and used his Grapple-Line to swing himself towards the shining angel of white, the coveted treasure from the Priests of Twilight. Lexaeus, still intent on getting the Chalice himself, was not in any mood for any further interruptions, and sensing the heroes making another attempt to swarm him then suddenly did a new assault move as he then unexpectedly hefted the handle of his bludgeon with both hands before he jumped with amazing strength and agility, completely unexpected for someone of his size and berth. And to everyone's horror, he was aiming for Robin, actually catching up and speedily bearing down upon the Teen Titan regardless of how fast he was running as he tore towards the Grail before he looked over his shoulder, upon a second sense, to see the fleeting image of Lexaeus, stony-faced and frowning, stabbing downwards with the tip of his axe. Robin abandoned his attempt to grab the figurine as he took a dive to the right and somersaulted away.

KASHOOM!

It was very fortunate. Lexaeus stabbed the blade of his axe directly through the floor completely, gouging through cleanly the steel, titanium, lead, and adamantium and emerging through the ceiling in the underground chamber below. Alas, though the Titan leader avoided the down-stroke, he wasn't far enough to escape the secondary effect as the brawny strongman in black channeled the Gaia forces to spread and erupt tidal waves of thorny and jagged waves of brown stone to break out and navigate all around him in a ring, like a sonic boom of dirt. Robin was suddenly slammed off his feet as he was caught in the chest by a crest of serrated barbs and carried off against his will before slammed into the wall hard with a loud clang, invoking stars as he cracked his head against the dense surface. And to make matters worse, no matter how much he struggled, Tim couldn't move and extract himself from the subdued predicament. An outcrop of earth was actually pressing and pinioning him against the side, restraining him by his abdomen and jamming the Titan painfully. He was trapped. Thankfully, with Etrigan's enhancements, he suffered only massive bruises and a slight head wound on the back of his skull; it could have been much worse. Unwilling to just stand still, Robin managed to weakly take out an explosive Birdarang from his utility belt before he flung it far enough from his position while aiming directly at the weakest part of the rock arm that was imprisoning him.

Boom!

It worked, and the instant the projectile struck and detonated against the formation of stone, the entire structure crumbled, cracked, and broke apart at once as a response, and Robin dropped to the floor, coughing and trying to get some air back into his burning and aching ribcage. Beforehand this occasion, Beast Boy and Rapunzel were both swooping downwards trying to catch Lexaeus unaware when the Organization solider effectively took out Robin, but alas, Lexaeus had easily anticipated the other allies of the Keybladers as well when he slammed his tomahawk into the floor. While the tidal wave of earth struck Robin, it additionally generated several powerful bursts of dirt out of nowhere, like pressurized geysers of water, littered with sharp pebbles and fragments. And from a multitude of directions from numerous origins from the floor below. They were so hasty and abrupt, unable to be detected by magic or mutant powers, that even Green Lantern and Falco Lombardi were caught unawares by two jets of clay and loam in midair while battling Xaldin and Roxas, respectively. Beast Boy cawed out with astonished realization as he flapped and swerved hard to the right and left, nearly causing the Ghostbuster riding on his back to lose her hold. But then unluckily enough, a third fountain of dirt discharged directly in front of the pterodactyl before he could even make the attempt to dodge, and helpless, the two heroes crashed into it before both the Titan and the Ghostbuster were sent flying, propelled forcefully by the violent stream of earth shoving them off-kilter. As they were sent plummeting downwards towards the ground, despite her dread and fears threatening to paralyze her, Rapunzel used a training tactic Quentin Blud and Peter Venkman taught her and hurriedly summoned her hair to lengthen and enlarge, multiplying in size and thickness exponentially with each valuable second as they approached closer and closer to the foundation below. Upon response, magically, her hair and curls grew and grew, actually starting to grow as large as the stunned pterodactyl itself. And with only three seconds left to spare, Rapunzel summoned whatever she could control to hurriedly wrap and encompass all around both of them, making sure to specifically cushion the neck, back, and head areas of the dinosaur, all of the vital parts and needing the most safeguards. In another two seconds, both she and Garfield were cocooned into a soft mesh of red hair, right before they collided with the ground hard and at full speed and acceleration.

_Whoomp!_

There was a second or two of silence and stillness before the red pillow of soft hair shrank and retreated backwards, exposing and unwrapping the two occupants inside the makeshift airbag. Though not one-hundred percent effective, it was still soft and pliable enough to take the brute force of the impact and landing. Breath now encouraged out in deep gasps, the female paranormal managed to hesitantly get up into a sitting position to find that her training didn't fail her.

"Wow…" blinked Rapunzel as she slowly got up from her sprawled out position, expecting to have a broken bone or two, but to her surprise, aside from a few bruises, she was completely all right, "That…didn't hurt at all!"

"Owwwwwww…" groaned Beast Boy in response, his voice warbled and dazed, as he reverted back to his human form with a trickle of saliva drooling out of his mouth. Though the landing was significantly softened by Rapunzel's hair, it didn't help that he landed with Rapunzel _on top of_ his body (no jokes, please).

At the same time, Lexaeus was busy making his way towards the shining angel, miraculously still lying on its side on the floor, amid the pandemonium of madness throughout the entire foyer, unclaimed and still waiting for one worthy to wield it. With each step, he closed the distance, slowly and yet appallingly quickly before their horrified eyes. Needing to do something and acting quickly, Justin then orbed himself towards the Chalice of Kingdom Hearts, his body reappearing in telltale and evident auras of heavenly white and light blue, ready to snatch the consecrated artifact. But with a quick blow on the floor, the Organization strongman used his tomahawk to violently cause an uproar of dirt and earth underneath Whitelighter's feet and quickly sent him flying before he could even stoop down to get the artifact. The Misfit yelped as he was sent flying, head over heels, before he quickly orbed himself safely to the ground, dazed and certainly stunned but safe nonetheless. Amara then tried her hand as Justin was sent flying from the outburst.

"No!" yelled Magma as she then used every bit of the molten rock she could assemble and gather round and immediately forced it to slide quickly across the floor and form into a fiery wall of red, impassable matter, still burning in temperatures of thousands and promising a painful obstacle to break through. And at that same moment, grateful for Magma's distraction, Robin swiftly flew down and tried to encumber his target by tossing two pellets with the rubbery web entrapments once again, but the solider in the black robe simply snarled as a wall of dirt and limestone erupted from the floor and instantly screened his body in a blink of an eye. With a loud crack, the capsules discharged prematurely and the rubber bands were uselessly splattered and entwined amongst the outcroppings of rock.

"You think I'd fall for that tactic a second time?!" Lexaeus spat angrily in his deep voice as he then literally rushed forward and dove right through the wall of lava. Magma and Robin both looked with appalled and dismayed disbelief as the man actually briskly stepped into the glowing crimson barricade of melted rock and simply emerged from the other side, marching into the fiery wall like it was nothing. And even though he was covered with bits of red-hot matter and his cloak and flesh were actually smoking and popping with oozing blisters and charred holes, Lexaeus actually didn't show the least bit of discomfort.

In fact, he didn't register any pain at all.

And then he saw the two Misfits, Whitelighter and Wildstar, orb into the approximate vicinity of the Chalice, hoping to snatch and steal away the figurine of the female angel before it was too late.

"Ruined Earth!!" the Silent Hero yelled, and with a terrific and thunderous roar, both Ace and Justin were sent flying, screaming as a tumult of rock spewed from the floor and shoved them into the air before causing the two of them to crash upon their descent, skidding to a stop and moderately injured and bruised. But before the brown-haired man could try his trek again, he was rudely intercepted by Magma and Robin, Birdarangs, glovatrix acid pellets, and fire blasts all scoring damaging hits as Lexaeus fought hard to shove through the pandemonium regardless, stampeding like an unstoppable rhino. The radiating man in sepia and red light could not be deterred no matter how badly they projectiles struck him. Which was why Robin decided the direct approach was better…

The Teen Titan grunted as he jabbed forward with his staff, still under Jason Blood's potion enhancements, and as Lexaeus automatically revolved swiftly around to swing at the offender with his tomahawk, Magma, surprisingly riding a small but express surf of molten rock, like a surfboarder, promptly glided in and swung hard with the Telsa barrier projecting from her glovatrix. Amara had to admit it was satisfactory to feel the slight numbness of her arm from the tingling of the impact as the makeshift shield solidly clouted the back of Lexaeus' skull, catching him off-guard and throwing him enough for Robin to slap the end of his bo staff across his enemy's face in no time flat.

"Owww…not cool…" hissed Wildstar as he gingerly tried to test his arms and legs and ankles, making sure that nothing was broken and that his respiratory system was still functional. The fact that there was no blood was a good sign. At the same time, Whitelighter was foolishly trying to orb the Chalice and tomahawk, afraid that a third attempt to teleport himself back to the statue would lead to another blast of Gaia magic from the Organization adversary. And he was already terrified enough.

"Tomahawk! Tomahawk! Uh…black axe! Axe of the Organization! Er…Earth tomahawk being used by the big guy! Grail! Chalice! White statue of the angel!! Oh by Reptilion, orb something!"

But it was of no avail. Not only was Lexaeus still fully armed and giving a rather worrisome offense against Robin and Magma, but it was apparent that Justin couldn't use his telekinetic orbing on the Grail at all. No matter how hard the effort, the shining relic of the Talismans was immune as well as Lexaeus' arsenal.

"Ace, it's not working!" Whitelighter practically wailed.

"What's wrong?!" Wildstar asked, his eyes crinkled as he did his best to ignore and brace himself against his protesting body.

"I can't get his weapon away from him!! I can't orb it out! And my powers don't work on the Grail either! So we can't even weaken his powers or get that statue away!"

"Then go to Plan B: beat the holy shit out of him and stop him directly from getting the Chalice! Robin and Magma need help!" the West Coast Misfit yelled, remembering the contingency plans he studied before Justin touched his shoulder and orbed the two of them above and on top of Lexeaus's head, using a sneak tactic. With Lexaeus using a massive wave of rock to send Robin and Magma flying back from the sudden burst of Gaia magic, he didn't even see the two mutants bearing down until it was too late. Justin brought down his Healing Mercy hard on Lexaeus' back with all of his strength, focusing on the backbone. The brown-haired, brawny soldier felt the head of the weapon cut through his cloak and into his flesh, and biting back the pain and the urge to scream, Lexaeus swiveled around and swung his weapon hard at the incoming bodies. Ace quickly twisted his body while airborne to narrowly dodge the razor sharp blade and managed to evade the head of the bludgeon that would have taken off his leg while Justin, as an instinctive reflex, orbed and teleported out of the way only to reappear behind the Organization member before he then silently tried to bring down the Healing Mercy on the man's back again.

Clang!

Justin's eyes widened in dread and terror as the black, red, and yellow head of the tomahawk blocking the sharp and spiked head of his Keyblade, quivering from the collision of metal meeting metal. Lexaeus was quick enough to block the second strike from behind, so rapid that Whitelighter didn't even see him turn. And the man's face was pure malice and cold stone as he didn't budge from his position, no matter how hard Justin tried to push on his Keyblade.

And then without a word, Lexaeus' foot lashed out forward suddenly and caught Whitelighter hard in the stomach.

Boof!

Justin was sent into the air by a height four feet, screaming as he flew backwards from the sudden brunt, his stomach throbbing a thousand fires and feeling as if it collapsed, before he skidded to a stop a good ten meters away, curling into a fetal position and holding his stomach gingerly. He just hoped there wasn't any internal bleeding. The Misfit didn't realize that Lexaeus was very strong in order to kick a teenager in the stomach to that extent. Lexaeus didn't waste any time looking up the results of his kick with smugness as he sensed several purple colored energy slashes flying through the air, making deadly whispers as they tore through the space around him. Without any worry, Lexaeus merely stepped aside, strafing to the right, and shirked the discharges by a whisker. And unfortunately, Wildstar's energy attack flew by and accidentally barreled towards Rapunzel and Beast Boy, the two teenagers making their way towards Lexaeus before they accidentally realized that they were running directly into the path of Ace's attack. Dodge-rolling and transforming into a mouse, both the Ghostbuster and the Titan darted to safety, unharmed but now sidetracked.

Undaunted, Ace then moved next as he lunged forward with a sweep kick, and upon seeing that his foe strafed it easily enough, the West Coast Misfit jumped with a right cross at the man's chin. Since Lexaeus towered over Ace by a good foot, the teenager had to aim upwards, but Lexaeus was hardly even bothered. With a flash, the Organization member's free hand intervened and caught Ace's fist in mid-punch, not even caring that Ace's energy claws were digging into Lexaeus' own hands. He gave a deft twist to the left.

Crack!

Ace cried out at the snapping of his bones in his arm, spikes of pain running through his entire appendage, and before he could even blink, he felt Lexaeus release his hand before he cruelly twirled for momentum before bringing down his tomahawk directly on the adolescent's head. It was only by quick reflexes that Wildstar was able to strafe to the right and have the blade only nick his left ear and hair in the process, but he didn't anticipate that the glowing Nobody's energy to channel from the tomahawk directly to the ground as he struck it.

There was an enormous flare-up and rash of rock that flared up from the floor, catching the West Coast Misfit hard by surprise as it tossed him ungracefully into the air, being suddenly jerked off his feet and slammed upwards. But Lexaeus wasn't done as he performed his Ruined Earth spell again, five times and each occurrence in quick succession.

_Whoom! Whom! Whoom! Whoom! __**Kawhoom!**_

That last pillar of rock was actually the largest, symbolically the finishing hit, almost reaching the ceiling as it peaked and rose from the ground out of nowhere, sending sharp shrapnel and pebbles to pelt everyone nearby. Ace yowled a keen scream of pain as the apex of the tower actually dug into his back, adding further pain along with his limbs and body being battered from being thumped and smashed against solid walls of rock repeatedly before he was subjected to free-fall, promising to be a rather gory and neck-breaking descent as he rocketed downwards to the ground. And after being jostled upwards by a massive avalanche five times in a row, Ace didn't have the strength to deftly brace himself for landing on his feet. That is until a mass of blue Whitelighter-orbs engulfed the West Coast Misfit in mid-air and safely transported him to wellbeing on the floor.

"I'm OK! Just stop that butthead…" hissed Ace, lying through his teeth valiantly and with blood dribbling down his jaw, but Justin clearly chose to ignore that request as he moved to what was arguably more important.

"I got it…" whispered Whitelighter as he laid his glowing hands on Ace's broken appendages and sprained back. The Silent Hero in black scoffed at these attempts; they were mere children against the zenith. Pathetic really…

"The Grail is mine, pests," growled Lexaeus as he then attempted to hurry towards the white and glowing miniature, but to his annoyance, he was met with a roadblock as a lone figure jumped in his path solemnly.

It was Kurama of the Spirit Detectives, one of the recruits of the Ghostbusters. He thankfully managed to find his way past the battle with the White Queen and Axel successfully in the nick of time…

"You shall not pass," the red-haired boy said simply, his voice calm like a breeze wafting on a smooth body of water, unruffled and completely relaxed. And in his hands, he held a small pile of red-colored rose petals.

"Great timing, Kurama!" cheered Rapunzel from the sidelines at her friend. _Now_ the tables were starting to turn, and the sight of him was so relieving that she forgot to be angry for the paranormal for being so tardy.

Lexaeus immediately rushed without at word at Kurama, intent to decapitating the boy's head, but the Spirit Detective simply relaxed his fingers, and the pile of petals exploded with a whirlwind of red. And with a soft whistling noise, the torrent of rose blossoms blew towards the Organization's strongman as Lexaeus, hardly scared, simply used his tomahawk to shield him from the attack.

Then the Organization member got the rudest surprise ever as the cyclone of plants burned him, his weapon unable to completely shield his body, as the petals swirled around and cut his cloak, his face, his hands, his body, with the same intensity as red-hot metal razors. But the paranormal wasn't finished yet as he then took out a single, thorny rose from his hair and within an instant, transformed it into a long and particularly wickedly-spiked green whip. With several flicks of his hand, the whip lashed out, growing hotly green with demonic magic and spirit energy, snapping and cracking against the air so loudly that anyone close by would have instinctively winced. The broad muscle-bound warrior snarled as he brought his tomahawk out as a mean to deflect the attack, but he found out that hard way that Kurama's whip was faster than he could process. Even though the broad weapon held out in front was harder than any metal on Earth and Lexaeus did his best to deflect and block each incoming attack, the Spirit Detective's whip was incredibly strong and resilient. No matter which position the strongman tried to block, the leaf vine cracked and whipped at another area completely from a different trajectory. And a result, Lexaeus felt inconceivable amounts of agony as the whip struck against his arms and thighs, raising bleeding welts and actually embedding wicked thorns, each several inches long, into his flesh. It was like having nails being jammed into you with a nail gun pressed right against your body up close, and each slight movement with his body caused the thorns to dig deeper and deeper into his bulk. Beside himself and incensed, Lexaeus endured a painful slap across his face, resulting in more gashes, before slamming his hand on the ground and invoking several instances of Ruined Earth, exactly like he did with Wildstar beforehand.

_Whoom! Whoom! Whoom! Whoom! Whoom!_

With the towering pillars and walls of rock and sharp stone spewing forth and all around, cutting off the sight of the red-haired Asian paranormal, burying him alive, Lexaeus was more than assured that the Ghostbuster was dead, ripped to pieces.

"Rose Whiplash!" cried Kurama's voice, and as the cruelest and most unexpected blow to his ego, Lexaeus saw all his perfected spells of earth and rock suddenly become defiled by a series of glowing, fluorescent lines of demonic energy, crisscrossing the lattice of fences as if someone scribbled on the pillars with a green incandescent marker.

_**Rumble, krakow!!**_

With a mild burst of energy, the pillars and towering hills of jagged dirt and rock shattered, sending shrapnel flying everywhere and actually causing a few of the heroes to falter who were unluckily nearby in the vicinity of the outbreak. Martian Manhunter, who was trying to clobber and pummel Luxord, instinctively phased himself and his body density into an intangible state for safety, allowing Luxord some breathing room and to draw back strategically while J'onn was trying to avoid injury. Dragonfly the Misfit was less fortunate as her position in the air and her attention to trying to avoid Axel's fire attacks caused her to get a barrage of sharp pebbles and stone shards directly in her face and arms, causing her to shriek as she was temporarily blinded. Kurama felt a twinge of worried remorse, but he concentrated on the task at hand as he then shot out of the conflagration and struck the surprised Organization with his whip once again, causing Lexaeus to go on the defensive as he furiously slashed, parried, and tried invoking earthquakes to ward off the spiked flail as it bit into his body faster than the eye could blink.

It was much more difficult than it sounded; Kurama was a hardy and dangerous opponent.

And to make matters worse (for Lexaeus), before Robin could contemplate using the intervention to make another attempt for the figurine, Captain America, riding on the back of the Disney lion, Simba, like a knight on a white horse, sprang and galloped out of nowhere, and quickly, leaning down smoothly from his steed's back, the Avenger scooped up the white statue off the floor in the crook of one arm before they both dashed away. Lexaeus was fuming inwardly (with as much emotion as a Nobody could). And the galling outrage was easily allowing Kurama to wipe the floor with his foe as he Rose Whip then cracked repeatedly back and forth across the man's body with barely a pause, with none of the rock barricades or Ruined Earth spells hindering the agile Spirit Detective in the slightest.

Lexaeus cursed inwardly; his observations on the battles with the Keyblade allies in India were woefully inadequate. These Ghostbusters have never shown _this_ much resilience.

And if there was one thing the paranormal picked up from his fights with Marluxia in Mumbai, wood magic was particularly strong against earth magic. Earth basically provided nutrients for plants.

"You got him, Kurama!! Keep it up!!" Rapunzel yelled as she charged along with Robin before she turned to the Teen Titan, yelling, "Ready?"

"Ready!" Robin nodded as he braced himself.

"One Fastball Special, coming up!" the Ghostbuster declared proudly as her red hair lengthened and gently grasped the Teen Titan leader by the waist before she spun him a bit over her head like a top, gaining momentum before she flung him, with Robin flying straight in a line, staff ready, at Lexaeus' blind spot. Now at a loss for obtaining the Chalice and being besieged by a new and powerful opponent as well as being ganged up on, Lexaeus was hardly in the mood to tolerate this stupidity any longer as he waited for the exact moment when Robin would be close enough in his proximity while managing to slice and hack through the offending Rose Whip at last with a mighty swing, breaking it in half. Still resolute, both the Ghostbuster and the Titan leader rushed forward, with Robin about to spear his staff directly into Lexaeus' head and soaring at full speed from the momentum of the Fastball Special.

Until Lexaeus charged up again, this time shining to even greater proportions. And unfortunately, both Robin and Kurama were placed in the full brunt of the sudden power-up. With a flash of Gaia magic, Lexaeus' strength was multiplied ten-fold and Robin was sent flying before he crashed unceremoniously to the ground, tumbling and rolling as he landed on his shoulder and hips hard. He was already bruised heavily from colliding with the sudden gush of energy, and Tim didn't like the fact that his left arm was slightly numb and starting to swell a bit. Kurama, despite his reflexes and backing away as fast as he could, was sent flying off his feet as he too was pushed high into the air, but Beast Boy once again offered his support as he swooped down and caught the Ghostbuster in his pterodactyl shape. Intrepid, Lexaeus then slammed his tomahawk directly on the floor in front of him in the general direction of the stunned Robin and Rapunzel who was behind him a good several meters or so away. On response, a gigantic tidal wave of brown, much bigger than the one that Amara dodged and that buried Yusuke, Pete Wisdom, and Piper Halliwell alive, now spiked with tall formations of wicked, sharp spines and thick stalagmites, bigger than anything any avalanche could ever generate. In fact, it surged high above, ready to swallow both of the two heroes, much too fast to outrun or leap out of the way. But this was only the primary attack as Lexaeus then leapt high above the actual gigantic, rippling flood of his element, taking everyone by surprise at seeing his agility, before he then overcame the groundswell and stabbed downwards directly at Robin with the head of his axe.

As Wildstar and Magma blitzed forward to clobber the Organization earth manipulator, Whitelighter then panicked as he realized he wouldn't have enough time to grab both Robin and Rapunzel before the insurgence of rock would bury all of them alive (or if Lexaeus stabbed Tim), so out of desperation, he did the only logical thing he could think of…

"**Robin, Rapunzel, move to the left!!**" yelled Whitelighter, and to his complete amazement, both Robin and Rapunzel were engulfed with the mystical lights and essences before they completely disappeared right as Lexaeus struck…

BABOOOM!

Had the Teen Titan and the Ghostbuster remained there for a split second, they would have most likely been torn apart by the sudden eruption of rock and stone if not outright flattened by the surf. And to their relief, Justin had teleported them a good several meters away from the area which had been completely demolished by the brown-haired Silent Hero. Lexaeus' tomahawk and tidal wave of rock tore apart the floor like it was paper, a deep gash through the metal structure while a gigantic crop of rock all around him had sprung up like the spear points of a sea urchin, thick, petrified, and would have unquestionably broken their bodies horribly had they not dodged. It was amazing how much damage and energy the glowing Lexaeus achieved simply by stabbing the floor where Robin was only moments ago. Amazingly, all around him, the avalanche circumvented his vicinity, almost obeying his will to sway and break the area all around him without even scuffing his own body. Justin blinked at the new phenomenon since he never could do this before back at the Pit (only Paige was that strong).

"Whoa…" he could only murmur. His powers were unquestionably growing.

"Keep your head in the moment!" Magma yelled Whitelighter to attention as she and Wildstar moved fluidly, her body covered with flames and in full molten mode as she and the feral mutant launched with a flurry of kicks, gymnastic moves, and punches at Lexaeus, with Amara melting the rock quickly so that the brawny soldier couldn't utilize it again on his attackers. Now getting on the defensive, Lexaeus swung hard with his tomahawk, but now a bit familiar with the routine, both the X-Man and the West Coast Misfit joined in their attacks in harmony. Magma let loose two molten balls of fiery lava at Lexaeus' left, while Wildstar let loose a swipe of the five claws with his left hand on the man's right. Sensing the danger on both sides on his person, the strongman remained in the center but backed away slightly from the blue ultraviolet slashes and the fire attacks, brandishing his weapon. Which was exactly what the two mutant wanted as they combined Amara's fiery kick and Ace's fist directly into the immediate fleshy area right below Lexaeus's sternum in his chest, a very damaging weak point that could be painful if done right.

One corner of the brawny man's mouth twitched upwards, smug.

Pow! Pow!

The look of dawning comprehension followed by the split-second realization of pain was absolutely priceless to the Silent Hero.

"**Owww…**" whined Magma, hoping her toe wasn't broken (it certainly felt like it). Ace wasn't much better himself as his knuckles were split and bleeding, both of his feet sore, and even his fingers that drew energy to form his claws were throbbing and weary, signaling that he expended a lot more vigor and force from using his powers on Lexaeus and with little to show for it. Lexaeus more or less had no scars or everlasting injuries.

"What the hell is going on?! It feels like I've been punching a solid brick wall for hours! Except that brick walls are actually _softer_!!" the West Coast Misfit moaned as he shook his bruised and bloodied hands gingerly, hissing from the throbbing pain up and down his carpal bones. Even with his strength, this wasn't working. Now that he made the two whelps realize that they couldn't possibly hurt him, Lexaeus arched back his tomahawk…

Six thin and sharp objects then flew across the air, making faint whispers in the battle-torn foyer…

_Whipsh! Whipsh! Whipsh!_

"AAAA!!!" roared Lexaeus as his back was now sporting six, thick rose-stems, each thorn-encrusted briar decorated with a red rose in full-bloom at the top, the shafts as sharp as arrows and inserted deep into the Silent Hero's flesh and backbone, biting into his spinal column. This gave ample time for Amara and Ace to hurriedly back away for safety as Lexaeus busily tried to brace himself from the pain from Kurama's roses, but then another Rose Whip, long and supple, instantly tore through the air before it cracked and wrapped all around Lexaeus' body over and over, snaking around his torso multiple times until it crushed and bound him like a steel vise. And the thorns digging into his flesh wasn't helping either.

"Now, my friends!!" yelled Kurama as he tightened his grip on the Rose Whip, and Lexaeus briefly saw the fleeting image of both Amara and Ace using their powers as a combined dual attack of ultraviolet energy and fiery lava to hit him directly in the face, the entire discharge eating his head and engulfing it completely. But when the fire and energy claws subsided and lapsed by, they got another rude surprise.

"Was that supposed to hurt me?" Lexaeus rumbled, his face charred, the flesh bubbling and oozing fluid along with the deep lacerations. Yet Magma and Wildstar could see that the man's narrowed eyes did not falter from the attack at all, his chin and mouth in a grim line and the pupils actually glittering with hate. The combined attack may have caused him pain the first time they tried it, but now, it had no effect, as if they merely and lightly sprayed him with a hose. And he was still glowing in the Gaia energy he channeled…

"Oh by the Gods…" gasped Amara, her face blanching. Ace did so likewise because it was definitely not a good sign.

"_What the hell?!!_ He didn't even flinch!!"

"He will soon," grunted Kurama as he used all of his demonic super-strength to pull hard against the Rose Whip snaring his opponent, and with a jerk and astonished grunt, Kurama managed to accurately tow and hurl the heavy Thirteenth Order member towards a relatively deserted portion of the foyer, close to the skirmish with Bevatron as the Hellion did his best to blast the cat-girl, Felicia of the Darkstalkers infamy. There was an appalling clanging noise as Lexaeus' head met the wall. Kurama winced noticeably as he wrenched his shoulder upon that little act, and he instinctively hugged his scapula as he massaged the torn ligaments and tendons. Upon seeing this, Whitelighter, who was running with Rapunzel and Robin (now healed), went up to his friend and laid a glowing hand on the afflicted region, slowly bathing it with sunlight.

"You OK, Kurama?" Robin asked.

"No, the wretch is much heavier than he looks. He literally weighs at the very least a ton for even his weight was no easy feat for my demonic abilities. I'm not sure I could try to attempt that again, but at the very least, we gained some tactical distance. Beast Boy, you may proceed for '_Take-Down Alpha_'. I am ready…"

He spoke these last two sentences on his communicator to the aforementioned Teen Titan shapeshifter as Lexaeus, managing to recover efficiently from the injuries he sustained, was now murderous as he extracted himself from the huge dent in the metal side of the chamber, the size of it indicating that by all rights, Lexaeus should be dead of a broken neck. Still, now free from Kurama's whip, he was about ready to send another surge of Ruined Earth on the Ghostbuster and his two mutant friends.

"MY TURN!!" yelled Beast Boy angrily in the background, and Lexaeus, being no fool, immediately was about to turn towards the source of the voice with his axe ready when the Rose Whip painfully slapped against his hands, breaking the bones with one painful swat. The man grunted in pain as he was forced to drop his weapon, leaving the briar to wiggle and firmly wrap itself around the handle before yanking it away, the bludgeon clattering and clanking loudly as it was dragged across the floor.

"I'll take that, thank you," Kurama intoned with cold formality, his Rose Whip flinging aside Lexaeus' axe to the far wall on his left, the heavy weapon of the Nobody's pride and joy carelessly clattering and cast aside like garbage. And before the Silent Hero could even settle on a way to make the Spirit Detective suffer for his audacity, a green and black-striped triceratops rammed his head and horns right into Lexaeus' body, the nose bone actually stabbing through Lexaeus' stomach and sternum.

This time, Beast Boy chose a good form; a triceratops dinosaur was arguably more powerful and heavier than any elephant or hippopotamus, not to mention sturdily armored and scaled. And considering that Beast Boy was about as long as two cross-town buses and many times as thick, this was not going to be like the last time he tried to subdue Lexaeus. Unfortunately, Beast Boy and the other heroes made the grave assumption that Lexaeus would be weaker now without his weapon in his hands.

No such luck.

Everyone was completely and utterly taken by full astonishment (Beast Boy most of all) as the glowing man, with a grunt and despite being gouged to death, leaned forward and firmly grabbed hold of the underside region where the triceratops' chin met its thick neck. Garfield suddenly felt like he was being strangled as Lexaeus' brawny and powerful arms wrapped themselves around his throat and locked, holding on tightly. And the shapeshifter was too much in pain and torment from the lack of oxygen to think of changing into another form as he struggled and sunfished. And with a mighty heave, Lexaeus actually lifted the colossal dinosaur off its feet by the neck, stunning the entire audience into a horrified silence, elevating a giant reptile that outweighed him by several tons and actually raising his arms and its payload above his own head.

"Holy shit!" breathed Ace as he saw this with wide eyes of dismay.

With that, Lexaeus gave another rumble of exertion as he used his position as leverage, bending both of his knees, before the glowing and radiating Nobody in the black cloak threw the green dinosaur off of him. Beast Boy was floored; one moment he was trying to run over Lexaeus, the next moment he was experiencing free-fall. Roaring, the green dinosaur was subjected to incredible force as the unbelievable vigor of the Organization member sent him flying like a shot put, defying gravity as he ascended upwards in a diagonal direction, and before the Teen Titan could try to change his form…

CRASH!!!

He met the nearest titanium and steel wall with brutal and sadistic, extensive impact, shaking the entire foundation of the room moderately, leaving a deep impression in the smooth surface and bleeding heavily from his broken spine as he remained wedged in the partition, stuck. Beast Boy remained limp, barely moving, as he was still in his triceratops appearance.

Kurama was absolutely horrified. Robin however saw that Justin was finished with Ace as the West Coast Misfit quickly got back on his feet.

"Whitelighter!" Robin commanded.

"I got him!" Justin responded, taking the hint, as he left in a blaze of orbs, teleporting towards the Triceratops dinosaur above in order to heal him.

"Oh my God!" gasped Rapunzel, hands to her mouth, as she stared at the Thirteenth Order strong-man, "**He's strong!!** He's nearly as strong as Superman!!"

That wouldn't have been an inaccurate statement (how many people were able to lift a gigantic Triceratops dinosaur _that_ easily?). Now radiating with the earthly colors of red, yellow, and black, the aura making an egg-shaped bubble encapsulating himself and his aura, the Organization member snarled as took a flying leap over to his discarded mace, crushing the floor inwards as he landed with a mighty bang before claiming back his beloved weapon. Then he then rushed towards Rapunzel, Magma, Ace, and Robin. Kurama, bless him, intervened and tried to slow him down to buy some time for his friends as a distraction, feeling confident that his paranormal abilities were more than adequate to bring this to a stalemate alone. And amazingly, growing out of his right hand, actually rooting from the teenager's flesh and skin, was a series of spiky, thorny vines, clustered and entwined together as a singular component, like a sword or a pointed spear. Without even a word or a grunt, Kurama practically rushed at Lexaeus and sliced at him with his Binding Fist of the Demonic Vine, the makeshift sword thrust directly at the Thirteenth Order member's neck and heart.

"Kurama, what the hell?! Don't take him by yourself!!" Wildstar roared as he and the others charged, firing and blasting projectiles along the way. Kurama ignored the mutant as he then combined his hand-on-hand combat skills in addition to his sword swipes, moving so quickly that he was practically a blur, much too fast for Lexaeus to meet and counter each and every successful time. But Lexaeus was adequately causing a bit of difficulty of his own as he still effectively deflected and eluded each swipe of the Binding Fist, either having the spiked blade of briars being barred by the tomahawk or Kurama doing his best to prevent the blade of the man's weapon from cleaving off his own skull. Each endeavor to deter every thrust and swipe with the axe caused Kurama's bones to sting and throb, despite his unnatural powers and dexterity. And not to mention that Amara and Ace weren't the only ones who had trouble trying to physically batter the man in the black robe. Even with his strength, Kurama's hands and feet were sore, feeling as if they were chaffed and rubbed raw against hot iron. No matter what weak points and pressure spots Kurama aimed at, Lexaeus showed no indication of pain, being jabbed in the chest, abdomen, the wrist, the forearms, back of the neck, the knee, and the hips.

Lexaeus scoffed.

With all the possible little tricks this plant-loving paranormal could have used, he was actually trying to fight Lexaeus hand-on-hand with pitiful punches and kicks and jabs? Granted, he was quick and strong, but in his charged-up state, there was little that could physically stun him as Magma and Wildstar learned the difficult way. Even with that pitiful plant weapon.

Lexaeus was beginning to doubt these teenagers' ability to fight intelligently.

But he wasn't complaining; in fact, it couldn't have been more perfect for the soldier from Organization Thirteen as he saw that Robin, Wildstar, Rapunzel, and Magma were coming closer and closer.

And he soon found the ideal chance to do so when, as he swung his axe twice across and diagonally at the paranormal, the Ghostbuster managed to duck and smoothly swivel avoid to circumvent the slashes before he calmly and wordlessly stabbed upwards directly in the middle of the Silent Hero's chest, directly into the heart and boring the Binding Fist through Lexaeus' body and out of his back.

Spuck!

A sure kill.

Kurama then realized that Lexaeus' face did not change or go lax, twitching in death throes, nor was the luminosity of Lexaeus' body diminishing to symbolize that the Organization member's life was extinguishing. Even with his arm buried to the elbow in the man's bone, flesh, and blood and driving the vine sword completely through Lexaeus' ribs and chest cavity, Lexaeus was still very much alive.

Lexaeus' deep voice them rumbled as he leaned his face closer to Kurama's, ignoring that the teenager's arm was burrowed into him, growling, "Was that supposed to hurt me, silly kitsune?"

Kurama's eyes widened, so full of surprise that the whites showed all around his green pupils. So much for his powers being enough to finish it…

"Oh dear…" Kurama could only say with the closest tone of being meek before Lexaeus, with a snarl, grabbed Kurama by the throat with his free hand and effortlessly lifted him off his feet, dangling the Japanese adolescent off the floor by at least a foot or two. As the Ghostbuster immediately writhed and kicked, trying to free the chokehold on his neck, he then observed that the chest wound, the puncture hole that he caused when he stabbed his foe, immediately sealed itself up and mended itself as if nothing had happened. Not a good sign…

"Let go of him!!" cried Rapunzel as she, Robin, Magma, and Wildstar all combined a volley of projectile attacks directly at Lexaeus, but then Lexaeus merely slammed the head of his bludgeon to the ground, invoking a wall of brown gravel to appear and intercept the potion bottles, Birdarangs, fire streams, and the energy claws from hitting him. Then the Silent Hero simply used his free hand holding his tomahawk to painfully smack and launch the restrained Ghostbuster in his hand into the air, invoking a cry as Kurama was boosted high towards the ceiling at an alarming rate. And without further ado, before Rapunzel could snare him with her hair or before Whitelighter and Beast Boy, orbing in, could tackle the adversary, Lexaeus pounced upwards and jumped after Kurama's flying body.

"Crap!" Garfield cried, now healed and recovered. They were too late.

"Rapunzel, grab me with your hair and use a Fastball Special to launch me to get Kurama outta there!" Wildstar enjoined the red-haired girl, but before Rapunzel could even act, the Organization's strong-man performed the second part of his artistic assault on the group of heroes congregated below, stupidly like sheep to the slaughterhouse.

And then to everyone's horror, Lexaeus let loose a mighty grunt as he sadistically used the blunt side of his tomahawk to hit the poor demon kitsune towards the ground, plummeting fast before slamming Kurama hard on the ground in a blink of an eye. Much too fast for anyone to try to save him (not that they weren't already trying to avoid the various earth attacks). But the instant Kurama hit the ground, there was another side effect.

Instantly, the ground and area all around them erupted with six gigantic and spiked pillars of stone and brown rock, magically appearing from nowhere, and forming a gigantic ring all around Kurama's body, with the Spirit Detective being in the epicenter. He was generally unaffected by the eruption, but unfortunately, not to several of the others.

"AAAAA!!" yelled Whitelighter, Beast Boy, Magma and Wildstar as they were caught in the shattering quake, being pushed and slammed into the air painfully, their legs and chest instantly taking much damage from the unforeseen attack. They all landed and crashed hard on their backs, and Wildstar's leg was now badly broken, bleeding through the pants leg of his uniform, in addition to his throbbing head that made migraines seem blissful in comparison. Beast Boy had trouble breathing, blood coming out of his mouth in choking gasps on the account that his rib-cage was badly crushed, as if someone took a sledgehammer to his chest. At the same time, Whitelighter was dizzy and unable to see clearly from the blood running down his head, broken nose, and out of his mouth. He could have sworn he lost a few teeth in the process. And Amara was trying her best to not cry from the pain of having her arm broken, bent at an odd angle, while oddly enough, she couldn't feel her legs, the lower portion of her body and spine alarmingly numb.

"Dude…how…many…times…are…we…gonna…have…to go…through…this?" moaned Garfield as lucidly as he could with his mouth all cottony as he weakly inhaled small gasps of precious air into his lungs. Even critically injured, the Titan couldn't help but open his big mouth. Thankfully, Robin, holding on to Rapunzel as he carried her, were the only ones who avoided the massive blitz of the quake. Rapunzel and Robin then looked upwards to see the Silent Hero of the Organization coming down like a rock at free-fall acceleration, his tomahawk pointed downwards at the stunned body of Kurama.

"Kurama, above you!" cried out Rapunzel, and upon hearing his teammate's words, the Spirit Detective looked up to see Lexaeus about to impale him from above, and with quick reflexes, the Japanese teenager jumped out of the way in time.

**CRASH!**

In that split-second later, Lexaeus struck the floor where the red-haired Ghostbuster was only an instant before, and there was another upwelling of jagged earth that engulfed the immediate locality, nearly winging Kurama as he adroitly flipped and leapt to safety like any acrobat. Had Kurama remained, he would have surely been killed. But as Robin, Rapunzel, and Kurama moved, Lexaeus then tried a new utilization of his Gaia magic as he slammed his free hand on the ground. This time, as the Ruined Earth shot up precariously close to all three of them, causing them to leap forward and flip or roll away for evasion, the rock formations began to unnaturally move fluidly, as if made of elastic rubber and sand. Unlike previous attacks, this magical assault wasn't stationary and stiff, but fluidly snaked forward as if alive, consisting of loose gravel, earth, and pebbles (making it much more unpredictable). And with yaps of astonished alarm, both Kurama and Robin were violently ensnared with nooses of thick, heavy sand and dirt, fingers and tentacles of earth grabbing and holding their legs, ankles, hands, and wrists. Rapunzel the Ghostbuster was luckily able to use her hair against the floor to pole-vault and speedily move across the floor faster than the Gaia spell could grab her, skidding to an uncomfortable stop on her thighs and butt.

Now it was starting to become very disturbing. Kurama was on his hands and knees, a good portion of his limbs and lower body completely buried with rock and stone, and no matter how hard he tried to pull and excavate himself free, he was tightly trapped. The debris all around him was literally compressing and squeezing hard against his body, adding pressure and threatening to press him into a bloody pulp. Robin was no better as the Gaia spells manipulated the rock and sand and dirt to hang him above the floor, spread-eagled and with limbs yanked in four different directions so painfully that Robin felt that he was going to by ripped apart. And being strung up like a turkey, arms and legs out like that, there was no way Robin could even move or fight back. Lexaeus then saw that his Ruined Earth unfortunately missed the girl, and at first, he contemplated going after the female, ready to charge when he saw Kurama cry out in pain from dislocating his wrist as he ultimately accomplished in prying one arm free from the quicksand. Robin however used a much more ingenious method.

"Veneration! Veneration! Veneration!" the masked adolescent yelled, and upon hearing one of the special code words spoken in sequence three times, his utility belt's software automatically began to activate the hidden sonic-energy generators hidden inside, emitting a very high-pitched series of powerful sound waves that literally caused Robin's teeth to chatter as it let loose the pulsating sound vibrations all around him. The paranormal next to him was wincing, his ears already starting to unbearably sting, but it was working to Robin's credit. The stone all around Robin was slowly but surely cracking, falling apart as the sonic attacks ate away at the rock, causing it to degrade to instability as flecks of dirt fell and broke off. And it was the same likewise for dirt half-burying Kurama as it too was disintegrating.

"That is very painful to listen to…" winced the Japanese teenager.

"It's working! Just bear it for another minute or two!" the Titan yelled back.

Lexaeus frowned. Better to eliminate them while they were still trapped, otherwise he'd never have this chance again. And arguably, the Teen Titan and the Spirit Detective were far more of a threat than Rapunzel, and with that, he braced himself for a mighty leap in order to kill the two with one blow…

And a thick and living mass of red hair instantly set itself upon Lexaeus at his blind spot and coiled tightly around his head and face in less than a second, carrying two remaining potion bottles that Rapunzel had and effectively cracking them against the man's face as the noose of hair tightened and squeezed, cutting off his sight and air supply. And Lexaeus let loose furious muffled grunts as the acid that the Charmed Ones gave to Rapunzel started to burn his face as the Ghostbuster willed every bit of her mind to keep up the choke-hold as hard as she could on her enemy.

"**Leave them alone!!**" staunchly yelled Rapunzel, straining with all of her might as her hair squeezed tighter and tighter against the warrior's face and neck, slowly smothering and strangling the Nobody as it cut off his circulation and his supply of oxygen. And of course, the dripping, caustic potion mixtures eating away at his head and the glass shards digging into his face weren't making matters any better. Her head and scalp were now burning and aching from the exertion, but Rapunzel didn't really care as she did everything she could to force Lexaeus to hold still. Now enraged and certainly furious, Lexaeus then used his tomahawk and irately brought the edge of the axe portion upwards against Rapunzel's hair. With a horrifying ripping noise, Lexaeus' bludgeon tore completely through the Monster Fighter's tresses, severing the link and lifeline, and upon the cut, Rapunzel unceremoniously landed backwards onto the floor from the sudden imbalance while Lexaeus crossly yanked the dead hair off his head and shoulders. And before Rapunzel could attempt to get back on her feet, Lexaeus wrathfully stormed over towards her and cruelly grabbed her roughly by the back of her neck with one hand, his grip like a vise of steel.

"NO!" screamed Rapunzel as she struggled, but unmerciful and ready for retribution, Lexaeus promptly grabbed her from behind, wrapping an arm across her torso, pinning the Ghostbuster close to his body.

"Off with her head," rumbled Lexaeus lowly, ignoring the feeble attempts of Rapunzel's hair trying to strangle and rip him apart as he brought the sharp edge of his axe underneath the writhing girl's chin. He was so infuriated from the acid attack hitting his face that he was determined that nothing would hinder him from cleaving the bitch's skull clean off with one swift motion.

Thankfully, three specific mutants managed to recover nicely thanks to Whitelighter's healing powers enough to make a quick intervention before he could make the kill.

"Let go of her!!" roared Ace as he, Justin, and Magma emerged from a cloud of Whitelighter auras and pale-blue sparks only to tackle the Organization earth-shaker at once and taking him by surprise. Wildstar's energy claws were already drawn out as he roughly used a fierce clinch hold around Lexaeus' right arm and over Lexaeus' left shoulder, effectively keeping the appendage still while sinking his claws deep into the man's body without mercy. He instantly heard the grotesque noise of sizzling skin from the puncture marks, glad it was hurting the Organization member. Amara was already into full-flame mode, looking like a fiery goddess as the red and black molten teenager grabbed around the man's waist with a bear hug, gritting her teeth as she resolved to not let go. Lexaeus actually arched back and screamed as he felt direct contact with his skin and flesh and Magma's mutant powers; it was absolutely horrendous. And Whitelighter, using his Healing Mercy, quickly managed to loop the rod portion of his weapon across the windpipe of Lexaeus' throat and pulled back with all of his weight. The brown-haired Organization soldier could not help but gag and choke as the rod of the Keyblade was crushing with increasing pressure across his neck.

Because he was being stabbed, burned, and strangled all at once, Lexaeus had no choice but to relinquish his hold on Rapunzel, causing to the girl the cough and sputter with gratitude for a second before she rolled evasively out of immediate danger, as her past battles with monsters taught her many times. Beast Boy in the meanwhile, now recovered, automatically transformed into a gigantic and powerful Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur and set himself upon the tall spikes and formations of Gaia elements trapping Kurama and Robin, kicking and hitting madly with his tail and clawed feet at the petrified stone. With his strength, the Titan and the Spirit Detective were free in a matter of seconds. But Lexaeus wasn't done yet as he turned his attention to the three teenagers latched on him.

With an angry roar, Lexaeus then smoothly glided on the floor, actually riding on the crest of a wave of earth and dirt, the carpet of rock easily lifting and carrying him effortlessly, almost like he was skating on ice. Except much, much faster. He actually passed by the brawling Hawkgirl, Simba, and Spirit against Saïx in his wake as a mere blur, but such a sight momentarily took them aback and distracted them enough for Saïx to make a safe enough retreat before moving into his Bezerker mode. And before the three heroes could react, Lexaeus glided across the floor at blinding speeds before ramming hard into the wall. Or rather, pushing Wildstar, Magma, and Whitelighter into the wall since he conveniently positioned his body so that the mutants would take the hit for him.

WHAM!

"Aah!!" cried Magma and Whitelighter while Wildstar gritted his teeth, feeling spikes of pain shoot up his back. Still, the trio didn't release their holds, though it significantly slackened off a bit, so deciding to get a bit more malicious, with barely leaving a second respite, Lexaeus simply rolled across the floor to the opposite wall and effectively pounded Whitelighter specifically against the metal surface.

WHAM!

Whimpering, now Justin had stars flash before his eyes as the back of his skull cracked hard against the steel girder. Damn if he wasn't going to be sporting ugly bruises later as tears of pain stung his eyes. He couldn't help but wail; that hurt a lot. Lexaeus then zoomed while standing towards the opposite wall, this time twisting his body so that Amara would catch it hard.

WHAM!

"OW!" yelped Amara in a high-pitched squeal as her left side as well as her arm went numb, and she prayed what she heard was simply the clanging metal and not the sound of her arm and thigh cracking from the impact (though they were so deadened). Lexaeus then felt the third time would be the final charm as he then surprisingly did an impressive leap on his feet and body slammed himself towards the floor. Ace's eyes widened as he realized that was about to be body-slammed to the ground with the Organization member on top of him.

"Crud!" was all Ace could utter right before the collision left him, Justin, and Amara reeling and stunned.

_WHAM!_

Ace couldn't help it. The absolute force of being flattened and smashed against the ground was enough to cause him to leave him dazed, close to passing out, and he had no choice to lessen his hold, his arms twitching in response to the agony of the aching and throbbing in his spine. He could have sworn that he felt blood seeping out of the back of his head. And from the sounds of Whitelighter and Magma's cries, they must have been injured as well. Lexaeus harrumphed as he left their grips go slack around his waist before he flipped forward and landed on his feet, looking at the sight of the smarting mutants lying on the floor over his shoulder.

He just stared at them sternly with a frown, no indication of a smile or sneer whatsoever.

"Bastard…" moaned Wildstar with malice as he gingerly tried to extract himself from the floor, leaving a small but noticeable red stain of blood on the metal ground. The Organization warrior just silently raised his tomahawk over his head…until a large and living tress of red hair (now grown back) suddenly wrapped around his arms and chest and squeezed excruciatingly and quickly, so fast, he didn't even react in time as the vise of hair lassoed the cloaked man. Lexaeus managed to turn, his tomahawk once again pinned uselessly against his torso, only to see an enraged and furious Rapunzel, and without even a moment of uncertainty, the Ghostbuster effortlessly lifted him with her hair before she body-slammed him against the floor. And the nearby wall. And the floor again. Back and forth. Repeatedly.

And with enough force to actually leave dents in the reinforced steel.

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!!

"Let's see how **you** like being slammed against the floor, asshole!" snapped Rapunzel, and upon seeing that there was no blood, she did the next best thing as she ingeniously hurled her stupor-induced enemy like a football. And directly towards Beast Boy who took his cue marvelously (staying on the sidelines in case they needed a final intervention after freeing Robin and Kurama, as planned).

With a vindictive look, Garfield transformed into a gigantic and heavy-set gorilla with green fur, and howling, the wild animal joined his fists together and raised them over his head before it brought them down together as a wince-worthy hammer punch downwards on Lexaeus right as he got close…

Lexaeus finally screamed as Beast Boy used both of his fists and all of his strength to slam-dunk him directly on the back, in the lumbar region of his spine, before crushing him against the ground with a mighty thud, deep enough to leave an admirable crater in the cracked marble. Not being satisfied at one punch, the ape howled as he continued to punch, press, and flatten his victim against the floor, ramming him over and over again with his fists. And encouraged upon the first blow, Robin and Kurama moved in as well, hitting with their staff and whip, giving their best efforts and repeatedly stabbing and cutting Lexaeus' back repeatedly. Bruised and sore, they were still eager to finish this as quickly as possible, but in the fury of battle, Robin didn't notice that the glowing radiance of energy all around his body from Jason Blood's potions was starting to wane by the minute…

"Oh by the Gods, how many times are we gonna have to go through this?!" Amara gasped, coughing and hacking severely as Tinkerbell, feeling Justin's fatigue, merely encompassed her, Ace, and Justin with a generous cloud of twinkling yellow pixie dust and healed their wounds in an instant before flying away towards the battle with Tarot where Menos was heavily injured while fighting against the Sentinel.

"Urrraaaahhh!!" yelled Lexaeus as he channeled more energy through his connection to the Earth again, sending Beast Boy, Robin and Kurama flying off their feet. And this time, Garfield managed to weakly transform himself back into human form in an effort to not injure anyone in the inevitable landing, and Kurama merely grabbed both of the Teen Titans by the waists, one arm looped around each of his friends, before bouncing off the walls with his feet and lugging the teens to safety as if they weighed nothing at all, with Kurama showing no hindrance.

Magma tried with her glovatrix as she readied it and aimed before firing a volley of glue and cement missiles wordlessly, six streams of smoke spiraling in wavy patterns as the rocket-powered projectiles zoomed across the air and distance before shooting directly towards the Organization member. But Lexaeus was now surprisingly quicker than normal as the emission all around him practically illuminated the entire battlefield and underground chamber, and before the battalion of explosives could reach him, the muscular soldier jumped high into the air with a powerful bound, steering clear of the attack as they flew by his previous position.

It wasn't a complete loss; The glue and cement missiles from Magma's glovatrix all struck a major portion of the army of clones of Emma Frost, each one transformed into diamond mode, and causing them to instantly become deluged with the gunk and remain stuck and motionless to the floor, allowing Vi and Rona to attack with much more confidence and less anxiety.

Unfortunately, Lexaeus was now hurtling downwards toward Wildstar, Magma, Rapunzel, and Whitelighter posthaste.

"Back off, man!!" snarled Wildstar as he let loose a swipe with both of his hands, but as he discovered, they had no effect to the incoming and radiating hulk descending down onto them, not even being affected by the energy slashes striking and ripping into his body for a mere moment. The four teenagers paled before Whitelighter, realizing that they wouldn't be able to avoid the resulting seismic wave of Earth as a result, held out both of his hands.

"Grab hold!!!" he shrieked, nearly falsetto with fright, and the other three did so as Lexaeus dropped precariously each second. With a flash, the mutant orbed himself and his three friends out of danger a split second before Lexaeus landed hard onto the metal and marble floor with a bone-rattling thud, invoking a backlash of misshapen stone and rock that encompassed one eighth of the entire battlefield, actually catching Garrett the Extreme Ghostbuster hard from behind and sending the red-haired youth sprawling, his wheelchair ruined and the wheels bent. And he was actually a bit far from the Silent Hero's position. Reappearing behind Lexaeus once the rocks subsided with Whitelighter orbing him after dropping off Rapunzel and Magma discreetly, Wildstar let loose a secondary batch of energy swipes once again, this time aiming at the floors and the ceiling above, causing a gigantic crackle of backlash power and an explosion above that send pieces of the ceiling to fall and hurtle down upon Lexaeus like deadly meteorites.

Realizing that he needed to back away (invulnerable or not, you don't let enemies just throw anything at you on the whim thinking you can handle with anything that collides), the strongman veered to the left, narrowly avoiding the detonation of rock that could have blown up his feet and the heavy pieces of charred steel from above that would have smartly fractured his skull. But that was only part of Wildstar's plan as Lexaeus being unfocused was perfect for Rapunzel to summon her hair, having the curls tear and rip across the air like snakes before securely lassoing the heavy-set warrior by his right ankle. Too late to do anything about it, the female paranormal jerked as hard as she could, and the sudden momentum backwards easily caused the psychopath to stumble, pitching forward and being jerked off balance which resulted in him slamming face-first onto the floor (and breaking his nose hard). But that wasn't the end of it as the young Ghostbuster then used her hair to literally fling and toss the heavy, muscle-bound axe-wielder high into the air roughly like a volleyball. Head over heels, Lexaeus no longer had any leverage to rush out and attack with his tomahawk which was perfect for Magma as she aimed with her glovatrix all the meanwhile, calming her nerves, estimating the position of trajectory, and steering her concentration on her aim exactly as Jake had instructed her, and fired a single payload missile aimed at Lexaeus' back. And this small missile was loaded with a small cache of Semtex explosive.

With a flash and discharge of smoke, the rocket-propelled bomb launched and soared upwards in a slightly curvy line directly at the man's back, exactly where he was about to reach the apex of his ascension. The man in the black robe saw the projectile approaching at the last minute, and angrily, his hefted his tomahawk and swung hard at the annoying pebble.

Big mistake upon later reflection.

KABOOOM!

"Wow, **that** one hurt him!!" Rapunzel cheered. Robin and Kurama, who were running up to the scene, actually stopped upon seeing the deep bellow of agony from the Thirteenth Order member as the flames and smoke of the explosion consumed him before he was unceremoniously flung out of the cloud of black, red, and orange and was sent hurtling downwards where he met the ground with a jarring thud. Beast Boy winced; he was pretty sure he heard bone snapping.

"It hurt him??" blinked Robin. But there was no question about it; unlike the previous times before, Lexaeus' robe was charred, smoking, and streams of blood and dark fluid was running down his splotchy face and forehead. And Kurama had seen more than enough battles and demonic attacks to know that just from the foe's body language was a clear indication that unlike past attacks, Amara's glovatrix missile actually caused a lot of harm. Harm that Lexaeus was slowly recovering, belated than before.

"That's odd…I can sense it, his aura. It's actually strained, hoarse and under impairment, not like before with our previous attacks," the Ghostbuster told the Teen Titan. But why?

"Maybe because Magma's glovatrix was stronger than all our attacks," suggested Beast Boy, thinking it was obvious, only to earn a dry look from both Robin and Kurama. Considering that a good portion of their attacks of energy, bombs, a Keyblade, and demonic plants were just as powerful if not more so than any bomb, that was highly unlikely.

"Insolent worms!! _You're just children!!_" snarled Lexaeus as he then charged towards the whole group of seven, both of his hands gripping the handle of his deadly tomahawk and ready to mow down all the teenagers. And with each step his took, a deep footprint was left in the steel floor, amid the cracked tile, and the Organization strongman shook the area around them as if a stampede of wild elephants were actually charging straight to them. Magma, Kurama, and Wildstar let loose a combined attack of several lava fireballs, energy claws, and three or four demon roses infused with spirit energy, but to their shock, Lexaeus just battered it away to the side, not slowing down in the slightest and glowing just as fiercely. And Kurama remembered previously that being hit by that tomahawk (and the strength of the one brandishing it) was not a good thing; even a glancing blow would cripple them.

"Hit him hard!!" yelled Robin, still glowing with his own energy boost as the group of young teenagers struck first, setting themselves upon Lexaeus while he swung and lashed out lethally with his weapon, trying to execute all of the annoying opponents at once and as quickly as possible. There were several close calls. Rapunzel couldn't help but feel her heart pound as Lexaeus nearly grabbed her hair like before as her mane slapped across his cheek, raising a deep and bloody gash, and she didn't want a repeat of the past mistake. Ace yelped as he ducked a swing that missed the top of his head and his hair by less than an inch, almost cleaving and scalping his skull, before he took a flying leap and aimed a high push kick at the man's chin, wincing as his heel made contact and sent a shiver up his tibia bone. The West Coast Misfit was sure he was going to feel that later; the man's flesh was still hard, almost like petrified rock. Robin kept trying to bash his staff into the robed aggressor's body, his rod swift and ripping through the air with soft whooshing noises, but Lexaeus was intercepting and blocking the jabs coldly with the mace, each block making Tim's fingers burn with exertion and tingling, as well as giving back several cuffs and whacks with his own. And Robin, not willing to pit his own strength to block, sidestepped, strafed, and veered his body gymnastically as best as he could before he tried to trip Lexaeus with a sweep kick. It was no use. The move was like trying to trip and knock over a brick wall with your foot, and all Robin got for it was an attempted lash with the tomahawk.

There was no question. As hard as the seven were trying to gang up on their Organization adversary, he wasn't going down at all. Their respective strengths, even Kurama's were nowhere level with the Silent Hero's. And as a living golem, none of their weapons had much of an effect. That's when Beast Boy revealed one of his hidden trump cards as he then hurriedly concentrated, backing off a bit for safety, before transforming into a massive, enormous swarm of buzzing, persistent…

"_**AAAAAA!!!**_" swore Lexaeus as the swarm of green African honeybees set themselves upon him, each one taking a bit of his life and vitality away as they climbed and stung in his face, under his cloak, his ears, his eyes, even flying into his mouth and resulting in Lexaeus to choke and gag as his airways were clogged and burning with stingers. Rash and frantic, Lexaeus swung his axe across and into any portion of the cloud of killer insects as hard and fast as he could, his body revolving and jerking with each strike and veer over and over, always hitting numerous bees in the process. But to the Thirteenth Order member's disappointment, the multitude of bees did not fall apart no matter how many of them he killed with each hit. There were twenty maybe thirty more of the green insects that were willing to take place of each bee that perished, and as an advantage to the heroes, the death of each bee didn't revert to reveal back into their beloved Titan, which meant that Lexaeus wouldn't kill Garfield unless he could kill the whole cloud down to the very last bee. And it was like trying to swing a wooden club amid a thick fogbank; each attempted blow was completely useless.

And since the gigantic and thick gathering of bees had to measure in at least the thousands, Lexaeus was in for a difficult position. And the venom levels in his bloodstream was starting to build up with each sting he received, slowing him down and making his movements and attacks slightly sluggish. Now incensed, Lexaeus roared as he channeled more energy into his body, and like before, the pressurized wave of light and heat surrounded the man in the black hood and cloak with an orb of the harshest colors of red, yellow, and brown with wispy black shadows mixed in. Incapable of flying out of the man's range, the collection of honeybees were shoved back forcefully, automatically converging into the humanoid shape of a stunned and nearly unconscious Beast Boy before he was launched back and landed hard on the floor, rolling several times before skidding to a complete stop. Miraculously, despite all that, Beast Boy groaned as his eyes fluttered open, still fighting to remain awake, only showing a few bruises and scuff marks on his face from the trodden floor.

And Lexaeus was actually the worse off from that skirmish. His entire face was visibly swollen, red and puffy, bumps and violet welts the size of quarters riddling his entire skin and flesh on his face, neck, throat, and whatever exposed parts of his body were poking out from the sleeves of his black robe. All those thousands upon thousands of killer bees relentlessly jabbing their stingers and poison into him over and over again were taking its toll as they could see the slight spasms of uncontrollable twitching in Lexaeus' hands and gait, his face turning more and more purplish due to the anger and lack of blood flow. Lexaeus let loose an inhuman and callous roar of fury as he charged again, only to have Magma, Robin, and Rapunzel intercepting him and blocking his charge as best as they could for a distraction. Wildstar, Kurama, and Whitelighter ran over to their stunned comrade, thankful that there was no blood or broken bones.

"You OK, Beast Boy?" asked Whitelighter as he laid a hand on the shape-shifter's head.

"Yeah, think so…" warbled Garfield a bit before he grinned ruefully, "Just hit my head, I think, but nothing I really use got damaged, so it's all good."

"Hey, only the other Titans make the jokes about you being a pea-brain," chortled Ace despite the severity of the situation, but God only knew how much that little bit of humor cheered him up a bit.

"Astounding. Since when could you transform into something like **that**?" Kurama marveled, his serene face showing an impressed smile. If anything, he expected Beast Boy to transform into a singular bee, not a whole throng that left a sore Organization member riddled with lumps and sores. And it was a _very_ effective attack. Garfield grinned cockily, showing all of his teeth and he scratched the uninjured part of his head, blushing.

"I've been practicing…" he bragged. Hey, since it was inevitable that they would tangle with the Thirteenth Order sooner or later, Robin and the other Titans literally pushed themselves to the fullest extent in their training, battling far past any exertion that they have done before. And speaking of which…

Robin was furiously fighting with all of his strength when the glowing radiance of magical yellow and green from the potion he digested earlier waned with a final flicker before they vanished entirely, and to his horror, Robin felt his head swimming, so drained and weak. In fact, all the bruises and cuts he gained throughout the entire hostile wrangle was now painfully aching and throbbing ten-fold, feeling as if he was subjected to a year's worth of physical torture and beatings in less than three minutes. Exhausted and enervated, Robin sank to one knee feebly, ceasing his attack and panting hard, his lungs constricted and making it difficult to get sufficient oxygen, back to normal human strengths and speed.

Etrigan was right; energy consumed is energy lost, and getting a boost meant you would have much more to lose in the end. And the sorcerer's potions were nothing like Bambi's support abilities…

Which made the Titan leader extremely vulnerable as Lexaeus then charged frontward, ignoring and ripping past the assault attempts by Magma and Rapunzel, dashing a beeline straight to the destabilized Teen Titan. Magma gasped as Rapunzel cried out.

"Robin, run!!" the Ghostbuster recruit shrieked, and Robin did his best to leap and back-flip to the side, but due to his fatigue and exhaustion, he was too sluggish in his movements to evade, which allowed the powerful and muscular Lexaeus to swing hard as he could.

Robin screamed as the force of the blow glanced across his right hip, and yet though it was a weak grazing shot relatively, the brute strength of the stroke sent the masked protégé of Batman careening across the distance before he landed a good thirty meters away from Lexaeus, rolling and thumping hard against the floor before he slewed to a stop. And to everyone's horror, they could see Robin's upper-right leg now bleeding heavily through the tights due to the fact that a very gruesome and horrific fracture of bone was poking its way through Robin's skin and muscle. The raven haired Teen Titan hissed, shutting his eyes briefly in unadulterated agony and malaise as he forced the urge to pass out or vomit right then and there, before he looked down while attempting to move his foot out of both curiosity and dire urgency to get away. The pain shooting up his muscles and indeed his leg bone and pelvis indicated that his hip bone, specifically the proximal end of his femur, was shattered, a compound break. Lexaeus' tomahawk didn't just break Robin's leg. It shattered it.

As Lexaeus charged, Rapunzel then endeavored to grab Lexaeus' foot from behind in order to trip him, exactly like last time, but Lexaeus merely dodged it by a simple leap before he swiveled around and slammed his hand on the ground, invoking another eruption of Ruined Earth to rip apart at Rapunzel who narrowly managed to pole vault with her hair and avoid it by mere inches. Thankful for the distraction, Magma managed to run towards to Robin, hoping she could help him when the distinct and faint rumbling and shuddering of the floor made her turn around to see Lexaeus making his way directly to her. And she had no molten rock on reserves or any good-sized rocks close by on hand. Aiming her glovatrix, she shot three of her last Semtex missiles in her glovatrix, but unlike before, the explosives had no effect as they discharged and detonated with powerful explosions against the man's axe, not even hindering him as he blitzed forward. Approaching and rushing upon her too fast, Magma did the next best thing as she brought up her Tesla barrier force-field from her glovatrix and held out the oval-shaped shield out in front as Lexaeus struck out.

_Clang!_

Amara cried in pain from the force of the wallop, going down on one knee from the extremity of the unholy strength that pushed down cruelly on the shield. Her shoulder actually dislocated from the cogency and power of Lexaeus' swing. Still, she was still alive and very much the only thing standing between Lexaeus and Robin. Relentless, the man continued to then hammer and slash at with his tomahawk, even getting a stomp kick with the heel of his boot upon the relatively smaller X-Girl. The mutant cried and yelped with each blow that struck and drove against the energy barrier, her shoulder now feeling as if someone drove a red-hot railroad spike into the bone, but remarkably, Amara held her ground, using her training to position her shield at the right time to intercept the Organization soldier's tomahawk. And by covering her body entirely with the shield as well as bracing herself on her heels while curling up in a ball, it made it much more difficult for Lexaeus to seriously injure her or push her aside. And those precious few seconds of distraction was just what Robin needed as he took out several Birdarangs from his utility belt and hurled them all at Lexaeus' head with a deft flick of his wrist, all of them exploding on contact as Lexaeus couldn't effectively lift his tomahawk swiftly enough to block them efficiently.

Lexaeus roared with surprise, forgetting his vendetta, as the acid and liquid oxygen ate at his face and head, covering his entire upper body from the neck up with thick sheets of white foam droplets that seared to the touch and caustic perchloric acid, burning his skin. Robin panted as he yelled, "Magma, just run! Wait for the others to help you!!"

"No way! I'm not leaving you exposed like this! Starfire wouldn't forgive me!!" Amara snapped stoutly as Rapunzel then managed to catch up by sprinting towards them before using her hair to grab her adversary by the ankles, saving her friend. The instant she felt the man's face and neck crack backwards from hitting the floor violently when he pitched forward, the paranormal's hair arched back powerfully and deftly hurled him over her head and into the nearest wall, buying all three of them some time and distance. But Rapunzel wasn't sure she could keep this up forever, especially since Lexaeus merely rose back again on his feet without any need for respite before he galloped towards the trio, smoldering dazzlingly.

And speaking of the others, earlier, Beast Boy was fully recovered a minute or two ago when they saw Robin being horrifically wounded by being struck by Lexaeus' tomahawk and were about to carry out a full-on offensive.

"Big mistake, buster!!" snarled Beast Boy as he led the blitz with his friends, murder in his eyes, "You're gonna - !"

But what the Titan was about to say was lost as unexpectedly and within a blink of an eye, out of nowhere came a perfectly straight line of gigantic rectangular slabs of metal, each one decorated with the face of a clock with Roman numerals as the numbers and the silver symbol of the Nobody and the Organization emblazoned on the back. Caught off guard and by complete surprise, Garfield couldn't help it as he ran straight into the sliding frames of metal, face-first, and with a thud and an unceremonious collision, Beast Boy flattened himself into the card and then fell backwards, his nose sore and bleeding slightly from the impact before he made an honest and heartfelt response.

"Ooowwwww…" groaned Garfield.

"Yeow! What the heck?! We're surrounded!" Wildstar yelped as he skidded to a stop in front of the line of gigantic, metallic rectangles.

Kurama then realized it as he exclaimed, "Cards! The wretch's gambler friend is trying to delay us! And now we are surrounded!"

Or worse as a few of them recalled what Luxord did to a good portion of the Justice League when the Heartless invaded the Watchtower headquarters. And the dangerous weapons were starting to spin faster and faster as they enclosed the four teen heroes inside a makeshift, circular cage, gaining speed, which was certainly not a good sign. And there was even a set of six cards, joined at the corners at the epicenter, to form a large circular layer on top of the prison, thereby making any attempt to simply jump over the barricade impossible like the Leaguers did right before the disaster at Washington.

Luxord was apparently learning from his past setbacks.

They tried to batter away at the battalion in order to get them to scatter or break from their path, only to find that his energy claws and his rose whip did little to move them. They were practically like gliding columns of steel, held in place thanks to Luxord's magic. Kurama's thorny whip made a few deep scratches and Ace's fists and fingers were numb from the effort, but nothing budged. Kurama then turned to Beast Boy and asked, "Think you can fly all of us over and break your way through?"

"Orbing us there would be faster, though," interjected Ace.

However, Justin saw an opening that could be more useful.

"No, wait, there's another way!! You guys, **move!!**" yelled Whitelighter, and upon response, the three male teenagers did so as Justin then telekinetically willed the cards in his mind, remembering Paige's trainings and a similar incident when Luxord first attacked the Pit and Trinity gained their Keyblades for the first time…

"Organization cards! Slice and dice the earth bad guy!!" the Misfit yelled, and with a shimmer of bluish and white sparkling lights, the line of gigantic, metal cards disappeared before their very eyes before they materialized in a circular and furious brigade of blades in the air, the rectangular slabs whizzing forwards as swiftly as silently as arrows. As Lexaeus (returning back from Rapunzel's pitch) was trying to trample them once again, Robin sensed it coming from behind (he additionally heard Justin's verbal command as a timely warning), and without a word, he pointed his grapple-line towards the nearest wall and embedded the hook into the metal surface with a loud _pak_. And activating the winch, he commanded sternly to Rapunzel and Magma, holding out his staff with his free hand. Even though his hip was broken, he still had enough strength to use his arms (and pain was an excellent motivator to do strenuous feats).

"Grab hold!" he yelled, and realizing that they needed to act now, both Amara and Rapunzel leapt away and grabbed the rod at the last possible second, firmly wrapping their fingers and hands so tightly that their knuckles turned white, narrowly avoiding a sudden swipe from the sharp axe at their feet. And though the girls braced themselves for a rough pull, it still came as a painful surprise as Robin dragged all three of them roughly with his lifeline, nearly wrenching the girls' arms off in the process as they made a safe retreat, leaving Lexaeus by himself and isolated.

And it couldn't have happened any sooner.

_Whipsh! Whipsh! Whipsh! Whipsh! Whipsh!_

The gigantic sheets made silent and deadly whispers on the air, as rapid and expeditious as carefully-aimed arrows, as they flew.

Lexaeus made a series of sharp and tortured grunts as the cards rammed and sliced into him, blades of harsh metal precisely incising into his body and continually flagellating him with strong blows that sent him off his feet, despite his weight and inhuman resistance. With a curse, the heavyset, glowing man of Earth landed hard on his back, his tomahawk chipped slightly from the fruitless tries to block the orbed attacks and a good number of bone-deep lacerations throughout his body, showing fully through the clean nicks showing through the soldier's black garments. That actually _hurt_; Luxord's cards were not only hardy, but powerful magic as well. Now incensed, Lexaeus hurriedly got up on his feet, smoothly performing a simple leap from his back that caved in the metal all around him once he landed, and raised his weapon over his head as he was about to charge. The radiance from his body made him appear absolutely demonic, the shadows creating a mask of pure evil on his face that could give the Joker a second thought. The allies of the Keyblades braced themselves by forming an impassible line, readying their attacks and whatever contingency plans they had left as Lexaeus calmly surveyed them with a cold look in his eyes.

One second passed as they two sides stared down at each other with icy fear and determination, the air and noise in between them fading to a deadly silence of tension, save the blood all roaring in their ears.

Then two seconds.

Then five. Justin, Amara, Rapunzel, and Beast Boy weren't sure they couldn't keep up without fainting or passing out from nerve-wracking anxiety.

However, the Organization member still didn't stir or budge, didn't even make any sort of charge or act of spell-casting with his Earth magic.

Before the mutants, Titans, and paranormals could settle on attacking first, they then were completely floored to see Lexaeus' look of aloof, stoic formality melt away to horrified astonishment as Lexaeus' eyes widened with outrage and confused fear, his body twitching ever so slightly. His mouth, still bared, was making strangled gurgling noises as the Silent Hero appeared to be toiling and straining against something invisible, being held in place as if he was completely frozen or gripped by an invisible hand.

In spite of this, despite the evident discomfort, the brown-haired strongman still wouldn't even shift. He couldn't move the slightest inch.

At first, a good majority of the heroes had no idea what was going on, weary and rather uneasily waiting for a sneak attack, but Kurama's next statement than came as a puzzling surprise to almost everyone in the group.

"Finally…" sighed the Spirit Detective with exhausted reprieve. It took longer than he expected.

"Where did you put it?" Rapunzel asked, much to everyone else's confusion.

"On his wrist," replied Kurama calmly, his face betraying no emotion as Whitelighter then finished healing everyone with his powers, finishing on Robin's broken hip-bone. The Titan leader then smirked knowingly as his sharp eyes spotted the almost miniscule budding sprout breaking out of Lexaeus' exposed wrist, close to the thumb.

"Your Death Plant move, I take it?"

Kurama didn't bother asking how the Teen Titan knew that one as he nodded. Still frozen and now horrified at the situation, Lexaeus then remembered, the brief and seemingly pitiful attempt of the Ghostbuster as he did a short stint of fighting hand to hand with Lexaeus earlier in the fight, foregoing his Rose Whip. And upon the answer to Rapunzel's question, he inadvertently glanced at his left wrist above his head as best as his stiff neck would allow, the bare skin exposed out of his black coat, to reveal a tiny, almost miniscule seedling, a sprout with a baby's curl of a white root topped with two tiny leaves of the lightest green.

The Silent Hero then realized the truth. The Spirit Detective didn't fight hand-on-hand beforehand because he was stupid or careless. He did it so that he could discreetly place the Seed of the Death Plant on Lexaeus' body. Kurama needed all that time to scrupulously and systematically develop the seed with his demon abilities, having it grow discreetly until ready to unleash its devastation. And though small, the warrior then could sense it, a network of alien and unwelcome strands of tender and thin roots, stems, and plant fibers encompassing and ransacking his entire body, burrowing in his flesh and organs and skeleton. Lexaeus, wide-eyed and now appalled and outraged, was left making incomprehensible and soft noises of helpless fury while twitching ever so slightly in attempts to overcome the Spirit Detective's magic.

"Should we hit him now?" Amara asked, cocking her glovatrix, but Kurama held out a hand to stop the X-Girl from wasting the effort.

"No need. He is finished."

The red-haired paranormal then turned and looked over his shoulder, giving Lexaeus a final and pitying glance.

"Die…" whispered Kurama icily. There was a soft, sickening, spurting noise as the roots and plants ate their way inside-out of Lexaeus and sprung and erupted out of his flesh through little holes, almost like needles and pin-pricks.

_Splack!_

Bits of flesh and specks of blood flew everywhere in a wide spray all around as Lexaeus, his eyes glazed with demise and his limbs twitching ever so slightly with the death spasms as he limply fell backwards with a soft thump. The Seed of the Death Plant literally came into flower and grew in less than a second, breaking out of the Organization member's body like a flimsy shell. And there, lying on his back, the other heroes could see the bloodstained plants now covering the warrior's body, in full bloom with fragrant light-blue and purple blossoms. With a soft jerk, the body became still, motionless, and dead, the brawny man's eyes glazed.

"Wow…" Wildstar said, his eyes wide at the gruesome scene, "That's…sick. And this coming from a guy who's watched ever horror flick, B-movie, and slasher-fest known to mankind."

Heck, this could be enough to give Wes Craven and Stephen King nausea.

"Kurama wins…FATALITY!" cheered Beast Boy, making his voice deeper and more seductive on that last word that paid true homage to any "Mortal Kombat" franchise. Kurama bit back a groan, though he could admit that he was starting to warm up to the Teen Titan's boundless enthusiasm.

"OK, now that that's done, we gotta help the others," Robin surmised, remembering the contingency preparations, "Beast Boy, go assist - "

But the Teen Titan didn't even have time to finish his directive when there was a telltale radiance and burst of red, yellow, and auburn illumination before the winds actually started to pick up with flecks of black shadows, an inhuman roaring filling the whole area and sending a chill down their spines. A loud and clapping peal of thunder, no, more like the distinct roar of a mudslide or an avalanche, overwhelmed the entire room. They all turned.

There, standing up slowly, deliberately as he was gaining more and more strength and stamina from the powers of the Earth he was channeling into his body, all the traces of the Death Plant withering into ashes upon the brightness of the light engulfing him, was Lexaeus, holding out his tomahawk tightly in both hands and charging up like a sun, a nova of light and magic.

Lexaeus **wasn't** dead.

"Oh…crap…" gasped Wildstar, taking a few hesitant steps backward and motioning everyone else to do the same while Robin calmly tried to take out several additional Birdarangs and readied them in his hand. Rapunzel said a few words under her breath that were quite unladylike, especially for someone of her age.

"Pathetic clowns!!" roared Lexaeus, "_**I am invincible!!!**_"

"Impossible," gasped Kurama, his eyes wide as he felt the blood drain from his face. That rarely, if ever, happened before. By all rights, the strongman should have perished! No one could survive the Seed of the Death Plant that quickly! Justin, who was next to him, couldn't help but whimper in fear as Magma just softly shuddered, her breath ragged with terror.

"We are _**so**_ screwed…" moaned Garfield with extreme loathing and reluctance as they all charged towards the muscular and powerful warrior in black. Justin then felt his mana reserves inside him were adequately filled enough.

"Lumiga…Mark of the Sun!" chanted Whitelighter shakily, summoning the sparkling bunch of yellow auras in his hand before flinging them out in front and causing a circle of yellow emblems of light in the shape of a sun to engulf the glowing Lexaeus. Roaring again, Lexaeus then utilized his tomahawk like a baseball bat before to Robin's sharp eyes, he channeled a great deal of Earth essence into his weapon, causing it to shimmer brightly in a copper-color. Just as the Mark of the Sun was about to reach Lexaeus, he easily batted the sunbeam away with a mighty swing and a grunt, directly back at the group of teenage fighters.

"Yeow! Not cool!!" yelled Ace as he and the others madly scurried as fast as they could, only a second or two to move, and it was only by the skin of their teeth that they were all able to avoid the deflected array of sunlight. It shot so close that it actually singled a portion of Rapunzel's hair and Kurama's uniform before it actually struck the wall of ice that Trey and Corey of the Ghostbusters were going to use to surround Axel, nullifying the attack and rendering it useless instantly. Now no longer in any danger, Trey on his wave of ice collapsed ungracefully to the floor, landing on a heap and allowing Axel to move in, cackling wickedly with the promise of retaliation.

"Sorry, it was an accident!!" yelled Whitelighter. Trey, understandably, wasn't very charitable.

"**BE CAREFUL, NEXT TIME!!!**" the blue-haired Shaman snapped back bitingly as he hurriedly dodged rolled to the left, avoiding the flaming chakram by mere inches as it slices and scorched the floor he was squatting on previously. His spirit Corey made heated noises of annoyed agreement.

"So much for that Elementa attack!! Next to Kurama's, that's the strongest magical weapon we have on hand!! And it's_** still**_ not stopping this deadbeat!" wailed Beast Boy as he transformed into a wolf and adroitly leapt over several sharp peaks and spines that threatened to spear him through his belly had he remained still. Indeed, now Lexaeus was not only trying to leap and run over to any target close by in an attempt to murder them, but he was over-saturating the entire war-zone with multiple Ruined Earths and rock formations, now mountains of dirt and earth ripping across as far as the eye could see. None of the seven teenagers could even get close to Lexaeus, and the earthquakes tearing across the whole area were making it incredibly challenging to maintain distance or dash effectively without being thrown off balance. The warrior kept blocking and battering away any energy attacks that came his way, almost having a newly heightened sense that alerted him on any dangers and airborne attacks that were coming his way, now countering and thwarting any roses, Birdarangs, and missiles. And considering that they were all very wary of getting close to the man's tomahawk, none of the seven could think of any physical move-set or tactic that could effectively knock down Lexaeus without losing a limb (or worse).

"Yeow! Run, run, run!! _Ow!_ Oh God!! AAAAA!! **Geez!** Leave us alone, you bastard!!!"

If the past attempts were difficult before, they were near impossible now.

Lexaeus was unstoppable and tireless. Metaphorically, he was exactly like a rampaging Hulk or Juggernaut and perhaps just as deadly. And the seven teenagers couldn't dodge this forever.

"Yeow! Why didn't that work?!" wailed Whitelighter as he orbed himself and Rapunzel out of danger as Lexaeus came mere feet of running them down.

The red-haired Ghostbuster was just as weary and frantic as she exclaimed, nearly squealing, "He just doesn't stop!! Every time we hit him, it doesn't seem to take any effect on him!! And any injuries we give him just heal themselves up like nothing happened!"

"That's because he's too powerful!! He must have charged himself over and over until he reached to infinite proportions! That must be why he kept repeatedly doing so throughout the entire fight! I cannot even get a reading or sense of how high his limit is!" Kurama warned over his communicator.

"His power level! It's over _nine thouuusssssaaaaaaannnnnndd!!_" Beast Boy wailed dramatically, half playing it for humor. Understandably, no one was very amused since this was hardly a time for a joke (except Rapunzel, who giggled a bit at the reference). Robin gave his teammate a **very** bothered and annoyed glance out of the corner of his eye as he hurriedly dodged and used a grappling line to pull himself out of Lexaeus' charging form.

"No more 'Dragonball Z' late-night Cartoon Network marathons for you ever again!"

"Fascist," shot back Beast Boy grumpily. He forgot that the Boy Wonder hardly had a sense of humor.

"Wait…I think I know why!" Amara gasped over her communicator, the adrenaline doing wonders for her brain and making the connection, "His power is Earth, right?!!"

"Yeah, what's your point?! YEOW!" yelped Beast Boy as he and Wildstar dodged a particularly painful outcropping of rock that Lexaeus summoned in addition to his run, close to mowing them down.

"Have you guys ever heard of Antaeus?!" the X-Girl pointed out. This brought a clueless blink from Whitelighter, Beast Boy, and Kurama at the name of the Greek myth.

"Huh?" Garfield could utter, but then it hit Rapunzel, Wildstar, and Robin at the same time.

"Magma, you're a genius!! Of course!!" Ace exclaimed as he sent a ferocious swipe with his claws at one pillar of stone and dirt before it could threaten to crush them, causing the jagged and spiked spike to fall apart and shatter to the floor.

"Then we need to launch him in the air. If he gets his powers from the earth, then the most logical assault would be to sever his connection to the ground. Cut his connection from the ground, he can't charge himself. It's a long shot, but it's the best guess I've heard so far," Robin surmised calmly, his hands quickly and surreptitiously detaching his metal staff into two halves (like Eskrima sticks), each short weapon now ready to be used for martial _doble baston_. Amara's hypothesis did make sense, and it did fit the facts of what he had witnessed so far.

"Question: how do we do that when he's in 'Super-Saiyan' mode?!" pointed out Rapunzel, earning a speculating look of kindred appreciation from Garfield.

"Goku your favorite?" the Titan asked.

"Piccolo. Gotta love the green guys," returned the red-haired Monster Fighter with a straight face and smile, and Beast Boy swore he could have fallen in love with the Ghostbuster recruit at that point. Robin bit his tongue from making a command to shut up as he then remembered what Etrigan told him. **Energy used is energy lost.** Then following that logic…

Robin then took out several capsules from his utility belt before he flung them in a wide array on the floor, emitting a thick and blinding smokescreen all around them, preventing Lexaeus from targeting each one of them specifically, now lost in the haze of choking grey clouds. The Titan leader then spoke on his communicator, relaying his message.

"Everyone, I got a plan. But it needs _**all**_ of us, so pay attention…"

Lexaeus, blind and wallowing thick through the cloud of smoke and choking fog, was becoming frustrated that his prey had momentarily escaped, using the cover provided by Robin to scatter and retreat to safety, cheating him out of the pleasure of killing each and every one of them. His sharp ears could hear to soft yet hasty pattering of boots and feet scurrying about. And a minute of confusion was a minute lost. The Thirteenth Order soldier of Earth then wisely channeled more energy into his body from the ground, invoking another bubble of light and pressurized air all in the vicinity of his position. And like clockwork, the winds and harried air currents propelled and blew away all the hazardous smoke away from him, clearing the room as the mist dissolved.

And sure enough, right in his sights, was the green Teen Titan, Beast Boy, hopping up and down and wiggling like a maniac (or a complete idiot), sticking out his tongue and making faces.

"_Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!!_ Betcha can't catch me!! _**Neener neener neener!!**_" Beast Boy razzed, making his voice and antics as annoying as possible.

"You chose him to do this, why?" Kurama asked with a note of deadpanned disbelief at Robin. The Titan's answer was just as curt.

"I needed someone irritating."

Lexaeus was no fool that this was a diversion, and frankly, he wasn't going to waste the vigor to stampede and bludgeon the annoying youth down, so he merely slammed his free hand on the metal floor, invoking a tidal wave of mud and soil in conjunction to spiked pillars erupting from the ground below the boy in order to bury him with a dissemination onslaught. Transforming at once into a small hummingbird, difficult and too tiny to hit, Beast Boy darted off, leaving nothing but empty space as the mudslide rushed past and crashed solidly against the wall.

And good timing too.

"Semtex missiles…AWAY!" yelled Magma from the distance as she aimed and fired with her glovatrix. Lexaeus didn't even flinch as he hefted the tomahawk from his shoulder and bided his time as the rocket-propeller boosters streamlined closer and closer to his position. Didn't these dumb children know better than to announce their attacks like that?

He swung his obsidian blade at the offending objects.

Krack! _Whooopssshhh!_

So imagine Lexaeus' surprise when the three missiles exploded and broke under the simple swipe, releasing not powerful explosives and fire, but instead, sending several loops of strong steel cords with diamond beadings inside. And as Razor had designed them, the bola payloads looped and lassoed around the astonished warrior's chest and binding his arms and tomahawk awkwardly to his body, tying and binding hard with a final jerk. Even with his strength, the Silent Hero had no choice but to allow the metal ropes to cut into his flesh and robe.

"Classic misdirection, muscle-head!" cheered Magma as she then tossed her glovatrix to Rapunzel before turning into flame mode, her body outlined with red and black stripes, and started melting all the rock and stone leftover and strewn throughout the locale with her mutant powers. The entire section started to grow warmer and warmer, rippling heat waves rising everywhere, as the brown dirt turned to a glowing crimson.

As Lexaeus now irately began to strain and struggle against his fastenings, Wildstar took the opportunity to engross his opponent's attention even more as he unsheathed all ten energy claws from his fingers and swiped the air above, aiming the discharges of violet energy at the ceiling above. Thankfully, it struck none of the airborne heroes nearby (though it did draw Danny Phantom's worry as he tried to blast Larxene with his attacks). And as planned, the energy slashes struck the metal roof overhead, melting it a bit before jagged and cleanly cut portions of the reinforced steel fell away and plunged downwards towards the figure below. Sensing the danger, the Organization member labored hard against the bola missiles trapping him, using a bit of exertion before they snapped and fell to the floor. Now free, Lexaeus quickly strafed to the left, managing to escape the brunt of the falling meteors slamming down and clanging hard against his position, but being diverted was exactly what Robin needed Ace to do as he flew out towards the brawny man with his two short staffs, dashing with gymnastic leaps.

Lexaeus whirled around at once, slashing directly with his tomahawk at Robin's head, and knowing better than to attempt to block it, the masked adolescent concentrated more on dodging and sidestepping as he managed to get a few jabs and swipes in with his two rods in between darts. Lexaeus didn't even bother trying to block the prods as he continued to swing, channeling some energy to spare to make the blow from his weapon all the more lethal to the Teen Titan.

In spite of that, it then hit Lexaeus and backing off a bit, the Organization soldier slammed his free hand down on the ground hard, invoking another towering outpouring of rock and jagged peaks of stone pillars all around him, causing Robin to retreat…and leaving a thick shield to block Wildstar flying in at Lexaeus' back. Rapunzel used her hair to deliver Ace as a Fastball Special at their foe, and Wildstar frowned as he was forced to plant himself against the sudden rock barricade with his feet and adroitly somersault off to the floor, diverted. Lexaeus wasn't stupid; he certainly wasn't going to leave himself vulnerable like that…

_**Kashaaaaacck!!**_

The West Coast Misfit's claws immediately rent and shattered all the rock walls as the teenager took several hard swipes, raking his fingers across the stone in multiple directions. With a burst of neon-blue energy, the fortifications shattered as if someone took a hammer to a pane of glass. This was no problem for Magma as from her safe position, she melted as much of the fragments as fast as she could. As the rock fragments flew everywhere, Lexaeus was now no longer protected, enabling both Robin and Wildstar to move in with their fists. Lexaeus swung and dodged, now being cornered by two of the heroes, but before he could summon another spell, the commotion allowed Kurama to move as he flicked several roses directly at Lexaeus' back, the four flowers all scoring direct hits around the man's back and shoulder blades.

Lexaeus arched his head back and screamed, feeling the thorny stems dig and burrow into his body, pressing against the backbone and scapulas. And unbeknownst to the Organization member, a tiny green flea was emerging from within the red petals of one flower and surreptitiously hopping to the man's neck. And immediately, Kurama moved in with a flying side kick at the back of Lexaeus' skull before jumping off and flipping forward, avoiding the overhead wallop the evil opponent tried to bat him with. And yet before Lexaeus could recover from the kick and summon another Ruined Earth, Kurama's Rose Whip cracked the air before looping itself around Lexaeus' wrist and pulled hard. Lexaeus was almost thrown off balance, but being heavy and like rock himself, he was able to right his center of gravity as the line went taut, jerking his arm hard and nearly yanking the man's limb out of its socket. With his hand restrained like this, Lexaeus couldn't use his magic.

Was this pitiful attempt really supposed to stop him?

With a snarl, Lexaeus merely sliced at the vine binding his wrist with the edge of his axe, severing the connection and freeing himself. Conversely, the free moment enabled Tim and Ace to do a little teamwork as the two gripped each other's hands firmly.

Wordlessly and being the more muscular and heavier of the pair, Wildstar gripped Robin's hands and pivoted on the heels of his feet before he used all his strength to swivel and swing the Titan hard, aiming Robin's legs at Lexaeus' knee pits. Likewise, upon sensing the right moment, Robin aimed with his steel-soled boots and kicked powerfully. As a domino effect, Lexaeus actually stumbled and fell on one knee a bit, landing hard with both of his hands slammed on the floor. But on the bright side…

_Whoom! Whoom! Whoom! Whoom! Whoom!!_

The Ruined Earth frenzy literally thundered from below and sprung up in a blink of an eye, invoking towering columns of petrified rocks to stab and snare at the two miscreants who thankfully managed to scatter away, leaping and jumping. As Robin and Wildstar cleared out, Kurama simply took his severed Rose Whip and slashed repeatedly with his own demonic magic.

_**Whipsh! Whipsh! Whipsh! KRAKAOW!!!**_

The rock pillars shattered once again, being cut cleanly by the glowing green briar as the crumbled rocks collapsed upon themselves and cascaded down to the ground, and Lexaeus then found it difficult to remain there with Magma the New Mutant heating the entire rock beds and gardens around him with her flames, making them more and more unbearable. Fuming, he then managed to skip out of the slowly melting stone before he charged forward at Amara, galloping like a crazy horse.

Until Rapunzel got in his path and flung her hair out at the incoming enemy, not the least bit fearful, and thinking that the paranormal was going to simply try to entwine him with her hair, Lexaeus brought the tomahawk down with a grunt. Only, to Lexaeus' amazement, to have it coldly and firmly be deflected as it struck not hair but something hard enough to rebound the attack.

Clang!

Not hesitating, Rapunzel snarled as red tresses used the Tesla barrier force-field on the glovatrix, firmly attached to the tip of the living flail, and swung it again and again, causing the Organization member to defensively protect himself while withdrawing away. Each hit made full contact as the energy shield slapped against Lexaeus' body rapidly, actually breaking a carpal bone in one of the soldier's hands due to the blunt force. Amara and Rapunzel's teamwork was working very well. Because Magma gave Rapunzel her glovatrix in order to use in conjunction with her hair, the Ghostbuster's mane was protected enough where the Silent Hero couldn't hack it off like previous times. And this was where the paranormal had the advantage over Lexaeus. Like how a mace is much more useful on a chain as opposed to on a club, Rapunzel had the benefit of distance, flexibility, being lighter in weight compared to the tomahawk, and speed, all of which made a rather effective tactic as she kept hitting Lexaeus over and over with the Tesla shield.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Lexaeus cursed; he couldn't even get close, and before he could try to step back a bit in order to summon a mountain of rubble to rip the girl apart, Robin and Wildstar then upped the stakes as they struck together from behind. With that, the Thirteenth Order soldier was now surrounded, cornered. No longer foolish or reckless enough to actually use their fists or feet, Robin lashed out with his metal Eskrima staves, Wildstar with his claws, and Rapunzel with the Tesla glovatrix on her hair, all three of them giving it as good and quick as they got. And because of the close quarters, the man was unable to buy enough time to manipulate his Gaia magic on the field like before. Granted, none of the kids could truly hurt him, but they were damned persistent enough to interfere with every attempt he made. And yet it never occurred to him that this was merely another distraction to allow enough time for Beast Boy to act as the shapeshifter, in flea mode, managed to easily and quickly hop amid the man's muscular body, undetected and imperceptible. Beast Boy kept darting and hopping as fast and safely as he could, before he discovered the man's right elbow, particularly the brachial artery, pulsing and ever so faintly sticking a bit through the skin like a gigantic (relative to the flea's size, of course) green river, the perfect target.

The Titan then struck as he transformed into something a bit more dangerous and bit hard with his fangs.

"Agh!" yelped Lexaeus as he felt the bite puncturing his skin and delivering a full payload of poison into his flesh and bloodstream, like two needles being jabbed into his arm. Before he could painfully swat at the offending area underneath his cloak, Robin and Wildstar both flew in with staff and claws flying, and Lexaeus was forced to abandon his primary act as he went on the defensive against the painful attacks jabbing and slashing at his torso. This allowed the green and deadly Australian funnel-web spider to quickly crawl as fast as it could out of the folds of the opening of the soldier's cloak sleeve for safety. And because Robin, Rapunzel, and Wildstar, were all busy trying to attack him, Lexaeus was too sidetracked to even stomp on the spider and end the Titan's life right then and there. And this gave Garfield an excellent opportunity to change into something else right in front as his three friends backed away meaningfully to give Garfield room (careful to not get stepped on)…

"Gotcha!" crowed Beast Boy before he transformed into a powerfully large and arduous stegosaurus dinosaur, formidable and powerfully muscled, in a blink of an eye. The Teen Titan expertly balanced himself on his feet and lashed upwards with his spiked tail, aiming and swinging as hard as he could. Upon contact, two bone spikes shattered and his entire appendage was actually numb as it swept across the space between them; Lexaeus was still quite heavy and charged, almost outweighing any boulder.

But thankfully, it was enough.

The strongman was caught in the brunt of the attack and send soaring by ten or so feet, his jaw now numb and throbbing from being painfully clouted in the face and front-side. Backwards he flew, away from the four teenage heroes…and thanks to Beast Boy's direction, directly into Kurama, Magma, and Whitelighter. Magma was concentrating her fire and flame to the highest level of heat she could, sending it upon the piles and piles of rocks and stone accumulated over the past several minutes, causing the pebbles and debris to glow red-hot before it slowly turned into a satisfactory lump of viscous, molten earth. So far, Robin's plan to make the Organization member send as much Earth attacks to provide a salvo of lava for the X-Girl was working. With the precious time she had, it was enough to give her opportunity to make her craft for Robin's next step of the plan. She summoned out of the mass an immense, popping, hissing glob of extremely scorching volcanic ammunition large enough to fill a small swimming pool, perfectly ready as intended when Amara saw the fast-approaching enemy.

"Now, Whitelighter!" she yelled, and the Misfit acted at once with his telekinetic orbing.

"Ball of lava! Hit the Earth Organization soldier!!" he commanded specifically, as Paige always cautioned him. Like a charm, there was a whispering of holy shimmers before the red substance disappeared only to hit and discharge fully at Lexaeus' back and head like a gigantic water balloon, bursting and popping in a mass of flame and liquid earth. The Thirteenth Order combatant hollered wordlessly, long and hard, as the lava scalded his skin and flesh at first touch, nearly covering him. Upon the collision with the molten liquid of pure heat, Lexaeus toppled to the floor and splattered messily upon the marble tile, steam and the acrid smell of burning flesh, skin, and charred matter already wafting around him. Twitching, Lexaeus angrily managed to use his position to slam his hand on the floor and summon a powerful wave of rock to pelt the three and bury them alive, despite his skin and flesh already starting to bubble and blister off as edges of the lava splotches on his robe and body edged with black. Still, they were hardly in any danger as Justin quickly orbed all three of them away to another vantage point, safely avoiding the landslide from crushing them.

Yet despite the intensity of his attacks, it was clear that Lexaeus was now starting to get a bit weaker, looking fatigued and weary as his vision blurred, his stoic demeanor vanishing. He looked like he was struggling to get up. His vision was starting to blur just a bit, his brow beading with sweat, while the poison from the spider bite was starting to take its toll. That was another reason why Magma doused the man with lava; an increase in body temperature results in a faster spread of toxins and poisons in the bloodstream, and the funnel web spider was one of the deadliest spiders on the planet. Garfield's indirect attack was not only clever, but instrumental as Lexaeus' movements became less coordinated and sloppy, almost sluggish by a good second or two.

And a second was exactly what they all needed as the allies of the Keyblade still were perfectly in sync with each others' attacks. But Robin was starting to feel a bit frustrated, bothered even. Whatever earth spells their adversary had summoned had barely utilized any energy he had stored up, if the fact that he was still radiant and blindingly luminescent in various colors was any indication. Kurama then struck next as he revealed one of his trump cards, crushing the three red roses in full bloom in between his fingers with a simple squeeze of his palm.

"Petals and thorns!" cried out Kurama, releasing his hold on the three crushed roses in his hand, his blood mixing with the plants before actively moving under the kitsune's orders. At once, there was a whirlwind of petals as they rushed forth and swirled all over the debilitated and destabilized Silent Hero, flying on gusts of wind. Lexaeus was now in further agony as the red blossom pieces ravaged his skin like a sandstorm, each fragrant leaf deceptively fragrant as they carved and sliced into his flesh like razor blades, ripping his flesh apart bit by bit.

"What's the matter, Rockhead?! Too slow and dumb to catch us?!! I've seen snails move faster than you, and_** I**_ should know!!" razzed Beast Boy, now trying to taunt the Silent Hero by wiggling his butt insultingly back and forth at Lexaeus' general direction as the accumulation of cotyledons faded and withered away, dropping to the floor.

"_**HEY!!!**_" protested Lance from the background angrily, making his voice audible amid the fracas and general pandemonium.

"Not you, Avalanche!! This butthead from the Organization!!" the furry Titan specified.

"Oh. Sorry, force of habit!" called back Avalanche as he then continued to attack Saïx with his Keyblade and Gaia magic, barely avoiding a pulsing backlash of moonlight. To be fair, whenever the term "rockhead" was used in the past, Lance was generally the recipient, more or less…

As a comeback, the brawny, strapping man in the black robe grunted with rage as he slammed his free hand onto the floor, invoking several pillars of Ruined Earth to rip all the heroes apart. Regardless of dodging the brunt of the incursion, it barely did any good at all for the fighters. Lexaeus was still glowing, and he wasn't taking the bait to confront them personally and up close, specifically wit his weapon.

"He's not buying it!" Magma yelled. Robin cursed. Damn, Lexaeus wasn't stupid; he clearly wasn't going to waste his built-up magic for a mere distraction or at the first object that moved.

He knew when to bide for his time.

"Dude, we can't keep this up forever! He's no idiot!!" Beast Boy warbled as he skidded to a stop from his sprint as a wolf, transforming back into human form when he was a safe distance away.

"Hit him with everything!! Go full out and force him into the offensive! Magma, Whitelighter, be backup! Everyone else, _**full-frontal assault and dodging!**_" yelled Robin on his communicator. All they needed was for Lexaeus to waste his energy on an ultimate hit, and if Lexaeus wasn't going to oblige, then they would simply force him to waste his energy.

With that, Magma continued to melt as much free rock and discarded debris hastily and without delay, remaining in the background with Whitelighter who was ready to orb her and any teammate away from danger as well as provide healing. Rapunzel, Robin, Kurama, Wildstar and Beast Boy all charged, avoiding the various epidemics and invasions of Gaia Elementa magic that the evil strongman sent their way.

"Rapunzel!" Ace commanded, and knowing the signal, the Ghostbuster tossed Ace her last arsenal of potions she had on hand, having the West Coast Misfit catching them deftly yet cautiously with both hands. Maintaining her balance and bracing her feet, Rapunzel's red hair firmly wrapped itself around Wildstar's waist before she swung him into a fierce circle several times to gain momentum.

"Fastball Special!" the paranormal warned as she launched her mutant friend high into the air, like a pop-fly ball and soaring gracefully into an arc on top of Lexaeus' position as Kurama was suddenly letting Lexaeus have it with a series of energy lashes from his Rose Whip, the air cracking hotly with neon-green yoki energy. As the illuminating Lexaeus was busy trying to avoid the swipes with the briar, having the thorny vine actually nick his face, Wildstar dropped the five potion bottles as he approached the very focal point where his position was aligned with Lexaeus' down below, all of the glass vials hurtling down without a sound until they cracked and shattered against the floor, creating a burst of magical Wiccan spells and energy. Lexaeus howled as his body was instantly besieged by the herbal remedies and concoctions that actually started to interfere a bit with the Gaia forces flowing in his body. Unfortunately, Rapunzel could see that it made only small dent at best; Lexaeus was still pretty much unstoppable.

Garfield then tried his hand as he rushed at Lexaeus' blind spot, immediately hulking a bit before transforming into something larger, burlier, and running almost as fast as the wind…

Lexaeus heard the soft pattering of padded footsteps at a gallop, and he swung hard from behind, enraged, only to have the large and well-built wolf narrowly dodge underneath the trajectory of his arm before jumping upwards and sinking his fangs and teeth into Lexaeus' limb. The Thirteenth Order solider screamed as there was a fiery tug for a brief instant before a very gruesome and sickening, wet, ripping noise.

Lexaeus now had to shift his tomahawk to the other hand as a result of his right forearm missing a good chunk of cloth from the sleeve and his _flesh_, the gaping hole dripping with blood and with a few dangling threads of muscle still uselessly flopping outside like limp spaghetti. The green wolf snarled, growling fiercely and showing his teeth, while slowly trying to encircle and entice his opponent into making the first move, his tail puffed up and twitching with nervous anticipation.

Beast Boy thought to himself, _C'mon, you jerk, c'mon…_

Lexaeus just complied by sending another Ruined Earth directly at the Teen Titan who managed to dodge out of the way. So much for trying to get that tomahawk to waste a big chunk of his joie de vivre…

Kurama then tried to disarm his opponent by aiming his Rose Whip and smartly cracking it against the wrist, but to his surprise, unlike before, the vine and thorns left deep gashes of blood as they broke the man's arm, but Lexaeus firmly held on to his beloved weapon, not willing to relinquish it that readily. With a snarl, he used his free hand to grab the Rose Whip, ignoring the biting and stabbing agony of the sting of the thorns puncturing his hand before he jerked hard on the vine and yanked the paranormal towards him. Kurama hurriedly let go, but the force of the pull not only caused his arm sockets to throb, but he pitched forward and skidded tenderly across the floor, his clothes and the skin of his face chaffing. But this was perfect for Robin and Wildstar to work in conjunction as Ace let loose a massive swipe of energy at the floor underneath Lexaeus' feet, and upon blocking it with a parry from his tomahawk, the Silent Hero was suddenly tackled from behind by the Teen Titan. Latching skillfully onto the man's broad back, Robin took his twin staff portions and crisscrossed them together in an X-shape like a pair of scissors before he jammed the apex of his crossed staves at the base of Lexaeus' neck and pressed the ends together as hard as he could. Lexaeus gurgled, his eyes bulging out and his face flushing crimson, as the pressure threatened to snap the cervical portion of his spinal cord as his shoulders instinctively hunched upon the initial pressure. In addition, he now found it incredibly difficult to breathe. Enraged, Lexaeus immediately let himself fall backwards, trying to use his heavy and immense weight to crush the Titan leader garrote him and hopefully power-slam Robin to the ground. The masked teenager instantly jumped away, leaving Lexaeus to fall on his back hard before rolling to his hands and knees on the floor and summoning another Ruined Earth.

_Shhippp! Shhippp! Shhippp!_ **Krakaow!**

Right before the roses Kurama sent along with the energy claws and the streams of fire from Wildstar and Magma struck his body. Though it didn't have any effect on his still shining body, it was still incredibly annoying.

This was now troubling beyond mere frustration. Any attempt to strike at the offending adolescents would result in more energy he would waste due to his injuries (which were still slowly healing) slowing his movements and the fact that the meddlesome allies of the Keybladers were fast and elusive enough to dodge his swipes.

What he needed was a way to get the children to stop running and to hold still…

Lexaeus then has an awful and truly bone-chilling idea of how to make his one hit count the most.

With that and startling the band of Keyblade allies, Lexaeus merely gripped the handle of his tomahawk firmly before plunging it straight downwards onto the floor, not caring if he lost a little of his stored vitality into the effort. It hardly mattered considering he'd have plenty to spare in the end.

The immediate cause and effect happened quickly as the instant the tip sank into the ground, there was a violent and aggressive flare-up of spiked rock and jagged hills, all of them soaring past ten feet high. Despite anticipating this customary assault, Robin and Wildstar nearly got winged as they hurriedly back-flipped and jumped away to avoid the Gaia attack, and Kurama had to nimbly grab Rapunzel around the waist and carried her out of jeopardy. Still, because the four teenagers were constrained and compelled to back off, this gave the Organization member an ample and ideal chance as he then used his muscle to jump high into the air, further than any normal human being. Shining like a brilliant jewel, the Thirteenth Order warrior climbed higher and higher in the air, devoid of anything to protect him.

Robin's eyes widened behind his black mask with excited realization as he yelled, "He's vulnerable! _**Hit him now!!**_"

As an instinctive rejoinder, they all acted instantly like sheep to the slaughterhouse, foolishly looking upwards at their soaring enemy while readying their attacks, with Wildstar, Kurama, and Robin being the quickest, the three young males already right about to launch their long-ranged projectiles. Not a single one of them was paying attention to anything else.

Picture perfect.

Lexaeus chuckled very slightly to himself as he then snapped his fingers.

There was a precise crackle of flashing light, a spark of power traveling from the base of the tomahawk directly down the sharp edge and towards the ground. Kurama spotted the flicker too late as he saw it disappear into the floor, and then his strategic mind grasped a _very_ appalling and sickening possibility.

"It's a - !" Kurama yelled with a warning, but he didn't even have time to voice the word "trap" as the ground underneath their feet literally exploded in a plethora of seismic earthquakes and Ruined Earths, taking all of the throng of fighters by complete surprise.

_Whoom! Whoom! Whoom! Whoom! Whoom!_

Robin apparently made the grave assumption that if Lexaeus was separated from his weapon and airborne, he wouldn't be able to summon any Ruined Earths and Gaia assaults.

And from how suddenly and devastatingly they got caught unaware in the unforeseen earthquakes that made the floor move and ripple like rubber before dangerously rupturing into lethal stakes and the towering mountains that sent a good number of them flying in various directions. Rapunzel was sent flying against the serrated edge of a piece of metal sticking out from the floor, and as a result, her back was severely cut deep, almost to the bone. Kurama and Robin were both thankfully quick enough to avoid any injury, via impressive gymnastic leaps while Robin used a Grapple Line and swung from the ceiling to safety. Wildstar, however wasn't as prompt and prepared, and as a result, he was actually shoved and hurtled high into the air by a particularly forceful upsurge of dirt underneath his feet. Beast Boy quickly transformed into a mountain ram once again and leaping from peak to peak, running as fast as he could while using his hoofs to skillfully get any footholds. With a mighty leap, the green mammal positioned himself right underneath the incoming descent of Ace's trajectory and leapt at the last second.

Whump!

Ace landed squarely on the goat's back as flawlessly, allowing the teenager to grip the furry and shaggy pelt as the goat safely traversed down a semi-steep pillar before safely reaching the floor. Magma was busy using her training to acrobatically flip from side to side that she didn't get pounded when she heard Justin cry out in alarm.

"_**Amara, move to the left!!**_"

The X-Girl looked up to see Lexaeus dropping like a stone right over her head, closing the distance by the second as he plummeted at free-fall acceleration and his feet position to stomp the Nova Roma mutant to the ground as a messy splotch. She was about to scurry for her life when she felt the familiar warmth of Whitelighter auras and sparkling essences enveloping her, and the X-Man realized what was happening as she was teleported out of the incoming meteor right before it struck.

Boom!

Undaunted, Lexaeus then simply straightened out his knees from the deep and smoking crater of spiked limestone he formed before gliding once again on the floor, guided by a thin yet powerful surf of shifting dirt and rock plates like a moving platform. And to Whitelighter's very late insight, the Organization member was moving directly into his position very, _very_ fast.

POW!

The Misfit was roughly and severely lifted off his feet and carried off by the brunt of Lexaeus' fists slamming into his chest and gripping the front of his uniform, nearly strangling him. Winded and confounded, Whitelighter managed to be conscious enough to teleport himself out of the man's hands trying to throttle his neck. He couldn't have done it any sooner as Lexaeus couldn't stop himself from shove his empty hands into the nearest metal wall a split-second later, actually slamming his arms through the metal with a loud rumbling smash. Had the Misfit actually remained there any later, and he would have been severely crippled if not having every bone broken in his body.

"Whitelighter, are you OK?!" gasped Magma as the Misfit orbed next to her in a plethora of lights. A second later, Justin keeled over and vomited a bit due to the pain in his injuries to his ribcage, providing an unspoken answer to the X-Man.

"I see…" Amara admitted, wincing.

Undaunted, Lexaeus started moving effortlessly thanks to the rippling crests on the floor, paving a beeline directly to the tomahawk that was still embedded into the floor at its tip.

"Like hell…" Rapunzel mumbled to herself as she sent her hair to grab the offending bludgeon and have it in her reach, her tresses already elongating and stretching for the black handle. Lexaeus snapped his fingers, and a Ruined Earth sprang right from underneath the Monster Fighter's feet, sending Rapunzel flying high into the air from the forceful propulsion.

"I gotcha!!" yelled Beast Boy, managing to recovering his position from the floor before transforming into a pterodactyl and speedily soaring into the air as fast as he could before diving and catching the shaken girl with his talons. It was close, too close; Garfield nearly missed Rapunzel by mere inches. But at the same time, as Lexaeus was progressing closer and closer to his weapon, he was suddenly tackled once again by three of the heroes that managed to escape the Ruined Earths and edge close for a surprise attack.

"Hold him down!!" Robin ordered, looping his staff over the man's windpipe from behind and pulling hard, trying to choke and break Lexaeus' neck. Wildstar actually grabbed Lexaeus around the waist, sinking his energy claws into the abdominals of the Nobody while dragging his feet and pulling back with all of his strength, grunting. Kurama was actually just as ardent as he used the Binding Fist of the Demonic Vine and stabbed the thorny mess into the man's chest, dead center. The plant sword actually stopped short after burrowing through an inch or two of flesh, unable to proceed and gouge fully through the Organization member's chest. Grunting, Kurama tried harder while using each and every bit of his demonic strength to push and press against Lexaeus' traveling form, pushing his heels in and actually feeling his feet feeling like they were on fire as the friction of his body in traction was in conflict with Lexaeus' momentum. With teamwork and all of their combined efforts, the three allies of the Keyblades struggled to keep Lexaeus from getting his weapon, but unfortunately, unlike Beast Boy, none of them had sufficient enough strength to even budge the man.

And as a result of this impulsive move, they were actually in the ideal position of vulnerability, close, distracted, and tiring out.

Lexaeus felt a very slight but definite emotion of triumph, of victory.

Fools. Exactly like he anticipated.

It was hard to explain what happened next. One moment, Robin, Wildstar, and Kurama were all trying to physically restrain, pound, and stab Lexaeus from retrieving his weapon. The next, a massive flood of dirt, debris, and dark mud coagulated with pieces of rock and stone of various sizes engulfed all around the man and the three young males trying to take him down. It was a geyser, a fountain that immediately and solely set after only the Titan, the Ghostbuster, and the mutant.

"Aaaaahhhh!!" yelled Ace as he was suddenly engulfed while trying to leap out of the way, the sand and mud actually fluidly flowing upwards and defying gravity. Angrily and feverishly, the mutant feral did his best to wriggle and extract himself out of the gunk and grime, but to his panic, he was now completely bound in the mud. Shackles of stone formed around his arms, wrists, waist, knees, and legs, pinning him back-first against the surface of the fluid upwelling. Robin likewise was found in this predicament as well, and only Kurama was swift enough to jump out of the way and hurriedly jump over the sudden landslide as it floored past him. Jumping over, he unsheathed his Binding Fist, causing it to glow in green shimmers and ready to slice at the dirt holding Robin and Wildstar prisoner. Unfortunately, Kurama was suddenly struck behind by not one current of dirt, but three different snakes of rock and stone, all of the brown channels coming fast from different directions and magically defying gravity as they climbed upwards to snare and swallow at the Ghostbuster. Now Kurama was pinned and grappled by the outcroppings of Gaia like his two friends, his arms uselessly pinned and held behind his back along with his feet.

"I can't get loose!" Kurama cried out, alarmed as the landslides and upwellings conjoined as one, massive, unstoppable force, gaining speed under the Nobody's control, and undesirably shoving Robin, Ace, and Kurama to the very front of the surge.

Now all three of them, the Teen Titan, the West Coast Misfit, and the Spirit Detective were all trapped, pinned and fastened against a surging wave of rock and fluid dirt and sand, unable to break free no matter how hard they strained and pulled against the stone chains. Robin used the "veneration" code three times to activate his utility belt's sonic function, but they were already approaching the demonic strongman in the black cloak, his narrowed eyes sparkling as he roughly jerked the tomahawk from the floor. Wrenching his weapon free, Lexaeus roared like an unstoppable beast, his baritone voice echoing in the foyer as he lifted the axe with both hands over his shoulder, infusing as much of the earth aura from his body into the weapon as he could allow, causing the black mace to shimmer like a star. Two more seconds, and Lexaeus' prized delivery would be closed enough for the ideal position without even requiring the psychopath to take even a single step.

It would be the final finish. Three heroes with one blow.

"Oh shit…" cursed Ace, white in the face. He was going to die…

"**NO!!!**" screamed Beast Boy and Rapunzel while Amara tried using her powers to melt the wave that was trapping her three friends, but to no avail. Not only was it immensely thick and arduous, but it was moving too fast for her to blast, edging closer and closer to Lexaeus' cold face of merciless slaughter as he raised his tomahawk, ready to hack through all three of the bodies at once.

Whitelighter then suddenly had a brilliant idea spring to his mind, fueled by his fear and adrenaline as he then combined his mutant powers with his Healing Mercy.

"Keyblade!" he yelled before pointing to the black robed warrior's hand that was grasping the handle of his weapon and said, "Deflect the attack!!!"

With a flourish, the Healing Mercy vanished and teleported before it materialized right in front of Lexaeus' path right at the very critical moment as he swung with full force and all of his strength at the group of teenage heroes in front of him. And the man was too far in motion and movement to stop himself as the yellow and silver Keyblade reappeared and clashed with full impact at the red, yellow and black tomahawk with a mighty and deafening clang of metal. And as a result upon the contact, the pent-up energy of Earth and Gaia magic within has no choice but to be released prematurely, and the Nobody roared a deep and guttural bellow of cheated rage as the yellow and brown essence went completely full out in an enormous backlash.

_**KAWHOOOM!!!**_

Robin, Kurama, and Wildstar yelped as the energy rushed past their bodies, hot air and a pressurized wave of force uncomfortably blew into their faces, but miraculously, they weren't harmed. Only the rock formations and their binding fell apart and cracked into useless dust upon the gigantic expulsion, freeing them instantly. Kurama then could sense the reason why, the aura of the unique yet protective magic of the Keyblade still hovering in front of them, shining softly with Whitelighter's mutant energy. And Justin himself was stunned; he didn't completely expect it to work. A spur of the moment thing. And yet, the Healing Mercy actually listened to his command as if…

As if it were alive.

And yet the Keyblade obviously didn't protect Lexaeus from the backlash. The sudden chain reaction of the counter-offensive move completely recoiled straight to him with complete concentration. The shimmering quintessence of the earth force completely seared into him as if Lexaeus was dropped smack dab in the middle of a nuclear reactor in a power plant. And he alone was forced to feel the effects of his own magic being reflected right back at him, and because he was unable to teleport and was too close to avoid it, all the Silent Hero could do was scream to the heaven like a wounded demon, grating, baritone, and yet shrill all at the same time. And as the magical rebound finished and faded from sight, going to places unknown, Lexaeus was left in the middle of the area, a scorched oval forming behind him and echoing in the far wall where an outline of his body was humorously left pristine and cut out from the blackened singe marks on the metal and marble. No longer radiant and completely wasted his attack power, the soldier was left severely weakened and burned. But his ire and indignation was only intensified as he saw what the Healing Mercy did to his tomahawk. Though it was slimmer and weaker-looking, the Keyblade showed no evident damage. Unlike Lexaeus' axe which now had a gigantic and noticeable white crack running through the entire bladed head, the exact spot where the Keyblade struck and clashed with the tomahawk.

As powerful as Lexaeus' axe was, the Keyblade was apparently much stronger.

And being left destabilized was perfect for Rapunzel to act accordingly as her red hair stretched out and encircled around Lexaeus' torso, pinioning his arms against his sides tightly and making sure he wouldn't be able to effectively use his weapon to cut his way out. It was so fast that Lexaeus' didn't even sense it approaching before he was jerked off his feet and slammed repeatedly into the floor for good measure. Hard. And with bone-breaking force.

_Wham, wham, wham, wham, wham!!_

"Hey batter-batter-batter! Hey batter-batter-batter! Hey batter-batter-batter, **SWING!!**" cheered Beast Boy as the Teen Titan managed to sprint exactly to the ideal position on the battlefield, clear and relatively devoid of anything that could interfere before he shouted his last code word, indicating to the Ghostbuster that he was ready to go. Smiling upon hearing that, Rapunzel twirled her prey in her hair over her head several times in a circular manner to gain speed, like a whirling dervish, before she aimed and hurled the bloody and battered Lexaeus directly at Beast Boy. On cue at the approaching and beaten shape coming in fast, the green adolescent transformed into a gigantic bison, thick furred and powerfully built with a large frame, a sturdy head with solid horns, and powerful neck muscles that could have knocked down an SUV as easily as a child could knock down a tower of wooden blocks. With a solid thump, Lexaeus collided with the bison's skull before the bison grunted and threw back his head with all of his might, and hollering, the Organization member was launched upwards into the sky high above, soaring.

This was exactly what three particular heroes were waiting for as the perfect time to strike.

"_**Now!!!**_" roared Robin as he, Wildstar, and Kurama all blitzed Lexaeus with a three-pronged attack, charging and not giving their opponent much time to recover and block their attacks as the Titan, the West Coast Misfit, and the Ghostbuster struck with their respective staff, claws, and whip while he was in midair and weaponless. With flying leaps, all three of the male teenagers were airborne and flew straight at the adversary.

And as powerful as Lexaeus was, he couldn't withstand a three-way pummeling from a mutant, a Teen Titan, and a Spirit Detective without a scratch.

Kurama was first as his thorny Rose Whip slashed quickly, glowing green and leaving searing gashes and lacerations into Lexaeus' body, effectively shredding his flesh and skin bit by bit. And of course, the huge thorns from the plants that gouged and imbedded themselves into Lexaeus' face added insult to the injury. Roaring, the brawny man in the black cloak tried to slice at the paranormal with his tomahawk, but to his fury, not only did the boy evade it, but he took the opportunity of the close quarters to effectively punch Lexeaus in the face with quick rabbit jabs followed by a sweeping roundhouse kick to the head. And all in the matter of two seconds.

Lexaeus was about to try to impale Kurama with his blade again when the red-haired demon-boy, to his surprise, simply grabbed the arm that was holding the tomahawk before he tossed his adversary up into the sky with a simple kung-fu throw, hurling him even higher into the air from his position.

"Now, my friend," Kurama said calmly, transforming into his kitsune-mode, magically altering himself into a silver-haired demon with white fox-ears as he knelt on one knee and concentrated his power. This was exactly what Tim Drake needed to hear.

Robin struck next as his twin sticks hammered against the Organization soldier's body, each swipe so quick that Lexaeus could barely see it coming, a multitude of swift blows that were as quick as a jab and yet a painful as if the Teen Titan was using a pair of iron clubs. As much as Lexaeus tried to awkwardly parry and deflect the blows, Robin was too quick. And unlike his twin short-staffs, the large and heavy tomahawk, though a heavy and brutal bludgeon, was awkward for prompt defense. And despite the fact that Lexaeus had strength on his side, Robin had speed (and Batman's perfectionist training) on his.

_Whak! Whok! Whacka! Whacka! Whack! Whock! __**CRACK!!**_

Lexaeus really saw stars flying through his eyes on that last blow, primarily because Robin, after furiously jabbing and hammering the blunt ends of his sticks on each and every weak and exposed point on Lexaeus' body, simply brought both of the weapons together as he gripped them like a baseball bat before Robin twirled his body to gain momentum, swinging hard and bashing Lexaeus across the face. Had he not been a Nobody, the Organization warrior would have surely died of a broken neck.

Regardless, he was still stunned and this enabled Robin to amazingly hook the ends of the two staff-halves underneath Lexaeus' arms at the armpits before Robin positioned the heavier man above him while still airborne. Using both feet, the masked Titan kicked the man even higher into the air with all of his strength, sending the strapping enemy flying from the additional push to the stomach. All in several seconds…

"Wildstar, finish it!" Robin yelled as Beast Boy, now transformed into a green-skinned, flying pterodactyl, deftly caught his friend in midair with his claws. Wildstar was actually riding on top of Beast Boy's scaly head for additional leverage and as a boost.

"You got it, man!" Ace yelled as he jumped as high as he could, his leg muscles screaming from the effort, as he soared up to Lexaeus, his fingers now drawn out of crackling, blue energy claws, each one sharp enough to immediately puncture through reinforced steel.

"Acupuncture time, dipstick!!" snarled Ace as he managed to land on his opponent's back before he ruthlessly and feverishly jabbed all then of his extended claws into Lexaeus' back, repeatedly prodding, poking, and digging as hastily as he could while gravity began to take effect and the two of them began to fall. Lexaeus roared in pain when the West Coast Misfit drilled the first set of holes into his back, and he uselessly tried to grab the teenager that was behind him. Unfortunately, his arms couldn't reach the mutant, and it certainly didn't help that Wildstar was still rapidly trying to perforate him alive. And when his arms started throbbing from the effort of repeating the arm movements over and over, Ace let loose fully, snarling like a wildcat as he exerted all his frustration and anger, swiping and raking his claws across Lexaeus' back with horrific gashes and lashes. The teenage mutant felt the sensation of his energy claws tearing and forcing through flesh, bone, and gristle, but he didn't let up as he continued to scratch his opponent's body to pieces. All in less than five seconds.

And Lexaeus was severely weakened, no longer able to gain his strength from the earth and dirt as before, not to mention the rapid succession of attacks came so hastily without delay that he barely had time to acknowledge what was happening to him before the pain registered. Wildstar then finished it as he yowled like a feral wildcat and delivered the hardest stomp kick with both of his feet directly in the lumbar region of his enemy's back with all of his strength. The momentum of the mutant's pile-driver sent the poor warrior plunging back towards the floor, reaching free-fall speeds. Ace grabbed on to the passing green pterodactyl's neck securely to prevent falling down with the foe. Ace cried out, "Kurama, man! It's all yours!"

"Ojigi Plant…" whispered Kurama, now in his demon form, a silver-furred kitsune complete with ears and a long silver mane and tail. To Rapunzel and Whitelighter's awe, on one knee and with one hand laid flat out on the surface of marble and tile, an enormous and gigantic plant of demonic energy erupted out of the ground like a vicious volcano, violently splitting the area the Spirit Detective was sitting on asunder. It was big, bigger than the one he summoned in Mumbai, a gigantic flowering plant of purple with large, elongated, leg-like leaves spread out like a spider with an actual epicenter of a circular, snarling mouth ringed with teeth, like a buzzsaw. With an inhuman shriek and lunge, the plant caught Lexaeus in its mouth, and the leaves closed all around him, cocooning him into an orb, before it began to gnaw on its prey. Lexaeus' muffled roars of surprise and pain as the plant began to chew and rip his flesh apart while digesting him was a sure indication that he was under immense torture and pain, in the throes of certain death.

"My plants have him. He's trapped," Kurama said coldly with aloof calmness. Even in the midst of battle, the red-haired paranormal has surprisingly nerves of steel to not be rankled from all this.

"And this should seal it!!" Magma commanded as she finished melting and reforming each and every single fragment of rock, stone, and pebble to melt under her command, the teenager in flame mode willing the red rivers al around her to her will. Add up each and every attack Lexaeus summoned and used on them in the past, and Amara literally had enough to flood and cover an entire high school soccer field. With both of her hands, Amara summoned the lava to defy gravity and snake all around the trapped Lexaeus and Kurama's plant, covering both the venomous herb and the Organization strong-man with layers and layers of hot molten rock. Lexaeus' roars of pain from being burned were slowly cut off as he was smothered by the thick layers of liquid magma. And Amara didn't let up as she continued to pile and twist the red material under her will until every single bit of her reserves had been used up, and now, instead of the Ojigi Plant, Lexaeus was entombed and being burned alive by a flaming pillar of lava, concentrated with a massive spherical shape at the top of the column where Lexaeus was specifically residing in. And with wisps of heat and fire still flaring from various points on the glowing tower of red, it was apparent that the massive form of rock was much too hot for anything to survive from. Beast Boy flew back down to the floor in his pterodactyl shape, depositing Robin and Ace back safely before reverting back to his loveable adolescent demeanor. The Teen Titan leader then quickly took out five Birdarangs from his utility belt, each one with a compressed amount of liquid helium inside enough to freeze the surface of a small lake.

"Shield your eyes!" and as everyone did avert their gaze, the Titans' leader hurled his last cache of freezing Birdarangs on his person, and upon contact with the molten rock pillar, there were a series of several explosions before the multitude of liquid helium hit the key points of the target where Robin aimed. And with a sudden hiss of steam as hot met cold, the clouds of cryogenic material completely covered and engulfed the vertical structure, blanketing it with a thick layer of white. And with a series of crackling noises, the others saw that before their very eyes, sheets of thick ice were forming all around the lava, hardening it and turning it to an impenetrable black as it rapidly expanded from the sudden contrast of temperatures. And the frozen layers of crystallized water, originating from the base, steadily crawled upwards until the entire monument was now cold rock, glistening with a shell of winter and matter surrounding it.

Now Lexaeus' prison with completely encased in hoarfrost.

"Why'd you do that?" Amara asked.

"Better safe than sorry. With an extra layer of ice, it'll make it doubly hard to escape from there as well as sever his connection to the ground. Jason Blood once told me that ice is an element that negates some magical properties as well as can be used to nullify or imprison some magical beings if weak enough."

Rapunzel took out an EKG meter from her belt of her uniform and pointed it at the mass before she was satisfied upon seeing no detection of life or any magical essence from the makeshift tomb. The mechanism was dead, no signs of anything at all, quiet and silent. She announced with blissful relief, "That's got to do it this time! I can't get a reading! **He's gone!**"

"Kurama, Magma, Robin! That was amazing! You did it! You three did it!!" Justin marveled, wide eyed.

"We **all** did it. It would not have worked without Robin's plan needing everyone's part," Kurama smiled as he transformed back into his human form, the red-haired buy humbly nodding the acknowledgement.

"A three-in-one attack with a beautiful finish!!" crowed Wildstar, "Stellar execution!"

"Dude, we rock!! _We are the Champions, We are the Champions, We…!!_" cheered Beast Boy, singing in excitement, but his joy and euphoria was well too immature and came to a grinding halt as the group then sensed a slight rumbling from the hardened, black pillar of rock and ice…

_**Kaboom!**_

"Damn…" Rapunzel cursed under her breath as she used her red hair as a single, thick flail, growing in length and size, before swatting away any incoming shrapnel and rubble before it could strike her and her allies, protecting all of them. But she couldn't stop them from seeing the obvious as the smoke and dust cleared from the conflagration. There, lying amid the center of the tattered remains of rock and ice was a very bruised, battered, and injured Lexaeus, his tomahawk slung over his right shoulder awkwardly and his face full of malice and aggravation. It was clear he was pretty bad. There were welts, soot, and oozing blisters all over his face where the lava burned him, and a major portion of his hair was singed off, leaving nothing but bald, charred, blackened scalp. The entire black hooded robe he was wearing was completely in tatters, with a good chunk from the torso area missing from where Kurama's Ojigi tried to bite him in half, and through the missing gap, they could see the deep puncture holes and gashes bleeding on the sculpted muscles. But they could also see that his leg, previously bruised from his confrontation with the Dinosaucers, was now severely broken and the compound fracture forced the parts of the bone to protrude gruesomely out of the skin.

Yet despite his wounds, despite being eaten alive and encased in burning lava and overpowering liquid oxygen, despite taking one of the most vicious beat-downs the group could ever give him, the Organization strong-man was still very much alive.

Lexaeus just was not going down.

And yet despite the logic that this sight should have made them wary, if not downright terrify them, they all wordlessly shared a resolute look before they charged with fists and weapons ready, barreling as fast as they could towards the cruel strongman.

But this time, the Thirteenth Order warrior was attempting something different as he got into his stance and powered up, his tomahawk held out in front in his hands, not making any more to defend himself as he channeled the forces of the earth and Gaia magic through his entire bulk. But to the heroes wonder, it was a different move and attack tactic as there was no fierce opposing force to push the heroes back as they advanced. And though he was glowing the usual colors of his power up, as the seven heroes slashed and punched and kicked, their assaults and attempted incursions were complete failures. They passed through the form of the Organization warrior like an intangible ghost, and even Justin's Keyblade couldn't magically hurt him.

Lexaeus' body then went tense.

"Fools…" growled Lexaeus as he flew into the air, taking all of the seven heroes by surprise.

"Wait, **he's leaving**?" blinked Ace, "I thought he got his powers from the ground and stuff…"

"But he just did, powered up right before he left. Is he running away?" Whitelighter asked, blinking and confused. And since Beast Boy was the only one in the group who could fly, trying to chase after their enemy was not going to be a viable option without wasting a lot of time. Especially since the others could use their help too. But then they all saw Whitelighter's hypothesis being dead wrong as Lexaeus stopped and remained stationary in mid-air, not too far off from Xaldin as he swept up his opponents with Leomon and Green Lantern too busy trying to save their friends and comrades.

Even in the far off distance, Robin's sharp eyes could see the sneer of anticipation and eager zeal breaking the brawny man's face, and considering that this was the first time the Teen Titan could ever recollect the man smiling so far, that could **not** have meant anything beneficial.

The Organization's strong-man roared without words, a single bellow of deep, animalistic, rage, violent and untamable, heard audibly enough by the seven teenage heroes below in the basement level. Instantly, he was surrounded by a plethora of colors ranging from yellow, red, and white, an orb of his earth magic as it amplified his powers and strength by more than a hundred-fold. If any of his previous power-ups had shown to be worrisome, it was nothing compared to this. The black-robed brawny killer was now shining as brightly as the sun, so glaring and unbelievably powerful.

The teenage heroes below were watching this was growing dread and unease.

"Uh-oh…" gulped Beast Boy.

"This is probably not good," Rapunzel said, shaking. Robin had a different idea as he barked an order at all of them.

"RUN!!!" the masked Titan roared, thinking that some distance might be beneficial for whatever desperation attack the Organization member was about to do, but it was too late even as they all made a collective dash, sprinting harder than any of them ever had before. The glowing sphere of aura all around the black-robed antagonist then flared like a supernova, invoking a howl of triumph from the Nobody. Lexaeus then dove downwards, the aura of yellow and red leaving a magical trail of energy behind him in his wake, looking like a fiery comet. And aiming himself deliberately close to the group of teenage heroes, he slammed his tomahawk down as hard as he could to perform his magical attack, sending back every iota of his strength into the life-giving ground.

His ultimate, desperation attack.

KAWHOOOM!!!

"_**AAAAAAAA!!!**_" they all screamed as they were sent hurling high in the air from the ground erupting into spiked and solid columns of packed earth, tearing the floor beneath them as they were power slammed high into the air before coming to a crash landing. It was as if an entire range of mountains and pillars of the hardest rock sprang up from nowhere in a blink of en eye. And all of them were caught into it, even taking out the nearby Hiei, Spirit, and Simba who were unfortunately close by and within the very edge of the onslaught. Well, except Robin, Magma (holding on to Robin tightly around the shoulders in a bear hug), and Wildstar who thankfully managed to land on their feet despite taken a painful blow via impressive feats of gymnastics. Justin, Garfield, Rapunzel, and Kurama were left the ill-fated as the rocks magically subsided and faded away, leaving no trace of the upheaval.

"Ow…hurts…ow…" half-whined and half-sobbed Justin in pain as he realized that because he was so taken by surprise by the attack, he allowed one column of earth to ram itself had against his right upper arm, dislocating his shoulder.

"Dude…so didn't see that coming…" warbled a rather dazed and dizzy Beast Boy, lying on his back and with blood starting to run down his head. The sour taste of spinal fluid in the back of his mouth could not have been an encouraging sign. Rapunzel was next to Beast Boy, unconscious and lying still from the attack, and in addition to the blood pooling all around her in a small puddle, one of her arms was grotesquely bent.

Kurama managed to pant while gingerly picking himself off, bruised and incredibly sore but thankfully, only his arm was broken with a compound fracture, as he stated, "I daresay we need a new tactic after this…"

As Robin landed, he then noticed that Lexaeus, though triumphant and sneering at the heroes, was red-faced and looking quite done in, falling on one knee and bracing his balance with his free hand, his tomahawk slung over his shoulder. It was clear that though his desperation and ultimate attack was mostly successful, he expended a lot of vitality and energy to do it.

This may have been the only other time he was left vulnerable.

Robin snapped orders as he took out several more red Birdarangs from his utility belt after expertly piecing his staff back as one, "Whitelighter, heal everyone as fast as you can!! Ignore your shoulder, help the others quickly! Magma, give us cover fire and keep the enemy busy!! Wildstar, charge and we'll give him a beat-down together, got it?! Don't let up!"

"You got it, man!" Wildstar growled, his voice now more feral like an untamed monster as he sprinted towards Lexaeus as one with Robin while Magma thankfully managed to melt several large piles of rock to form snakes of lava to blitz alongside the West Coast Misfit and the Teen Titan. Still weak, Lexaeus roared like an untamed animal as he went toe-to-toe with an array of flying projectiles and Ace's claws…

Roulette was actually attempting to take a leaf out of Empath's book as she kept giving many of the other Hellions as well as Selene and Emma Frost special power-ups from her white hex-energy discs, throwing them with exact precision and making sure that the good luck would only help her comrades for this fight. And she wasn't holding back on her bad luck hexes either as she cast one upon the group fighting Luxord. She was pleased to hear the surprised yelps of rude astonishment and dread from the heroes as Willow Rosenberg's protective spells to shield them from Luxord's card-manipulations withered and broke upon contact with Jennifer's bad-luck energy. Without fail, Luxord triumphed as he managed to turn Shannon and Trinity into playing cards and dice now that they were now longer protected. And Jennifer wasn't finished as she used another black hex-disc to specifically strike an unsuspecting Storm in the back, temporarily causing her powers to go haywire as she lost control and flew erratically, unable to channel any lightning through her body. This was perfect for Jetstream as he rocketed from nowhere and caught Storm agonizingly in his trajectory, ramming himself into her with fists outstretched and into the nearest wall and power-slamming the X-Woman as neat and clean as you please. And with another black hex, the Hellion managed to cause one part of the ceiling of the foyer to collapse, managing to catch Green Lantern by surprise as heavy metal and steel rained down upon him while additionally causing Colossus' glovatrix to malfunction and explode by itself.

"Roulette! Tarot!" Jennifer heard Emma call out strongly, and taking her cue, with barely any conscious thought, the Hellion sent a black bad-luck hex at the missile the Slayer Rona fired at the diamond White Queen, saving her from a sticky (pardon the pun) situation. She then additionally sent a bad luck hex at Spirit's crossbow arrow before it could strike his opponent, Saïx, having it veer at the last second and tragically strike Leomon and Miroku instead. And not being an Organization member also had the side benefit of not gaining as much attention from the heroes, since it seemed that the Superior and his lackeys were drawing the awareness of the powerhouses like Superman, Wavedancer, and the Charmed Ones, leaving her relatively ignored which suited Jennifer just fine for her mission.

Even though she was a teenager, Roulette was _very_ dangerous with her probability manipulations, especially since she was more in control than Wanda Maximoff, and Emma Frost, Slade, and Selene's training sessions only further enhanced her effectiveness as a support member.

Just as the mutant soldier was about to hurl another bad-luck hex at Batgirl who was furiously duking it out with her fellow Hellion, Empath, Jennifer was then completely taken by complete surprise as two potion bottles of herbal knock-out gas shattered mere inches at her feet. Roulette barely had time to widen her eyes before she was enveloped by two thick plumes of lavender and yellow smoke, the puddles of Charmed potions on the floor instantly fizzling like soda-pop and billowing thick fog and noxious gases. After some series of choking and sputtering, Robin Wood of the Watchers Council heard it go silent from his position, and he sighed after several seconds of inactivity, lessening the tension on his sword. Phoebe Halliwell was right; not only were the herbal mixtures non-lethal, but the sleeping potions would be quite effective, strong enough to knock out a rampaging elephant. Which meant that thanks to damage control, Roulette would no longer…

Two energy discs immediately came zooming out of the miasma, instantly taking Wood by surprise and with his reflexes kicking in, the African American Watcher hurled himself to the right, crashing onto the floor unceremoniously. Thankfully, it was enough as the two hexes missed him by two or three feet as they flew past him…and unhappily hit Flash's hands as he was about to hit Xigbar with two rare and prized potions bequeathed to him by Piper Halliwell. And from the look of outrage and frustrated vexation on the Charmed One's face, it was probably not a good thing as Flash now longer had anything magical to attack with.

Forcing himself to focus, Wood whirled back to see the blond-haired teenager emerge out of the plumes of herbal gases and smoke, still fully awake, cognizant, and (quite frankly), mad as hell. And of course, Jennifer was unaffected thanks to the miniature air-filters clandestinely hidden under her nostrils. Emma taught her students the value of preparation well.

"Cute trick," Roulette drawled, one fist raised and crackling with hex energy. Since she was just as powerful as Scarlet Witch of the Misfits, this was certainly going to be a quick victory for the Hellion. Wood admirably just remained silent as he hefted his sword with both hands, remembering the plan along with Jinx and Aqualad (if they could make their way through the ruckus without injury).

Roulette sneered with contempt at the pitiful attempt.

"A sword?" the blond-haired mutant soldier of the Hellfire Club remarked before she laughed with disdain, "Oh please, like I'd be scared of that, you Watcher flat-scan!!"

With that, Jennifer let loose several bad-luck hexes directly at Wood, the flat black energy discs whizzing dangerously and in various positions to making it difficult, if not impossible to dodge. Exactly as trained by Emma and Selene. But Wood has his own surprise as he nimbly strafed from left to right at the directly incoming energy blasts before he hefted his blade and expertly blocked the incoming aura globule with the flat surface. And to Roulette's astonishment and shock, the sword glowed before deflecting back straight towards the mutant soldier. Quick reflexes springing aside, the Hellfire mutant adroitly flipped to the side before rolling away as a safety maneuver, the energy just streaking by her as it collided and fizzled dangerously against the nearest wall.

Wood didn't say anything, but the stern and calm glare of control he was giving the Hellfire trainee spoke volumes as he easily used his sword to reflect and return back two more additional bad-luck hexes back at his adversary, swinging his weapon like a tennis player. The girl dodged them all, but one flew upwards and struck the Organization member Roxas as he was stampeding towards Wolverine and Black Widow, effectively distracting him from his intended homicide. The Watcher wasn't the least bit intimidated, and the enchantments Willow placed on his sword, similar to how she did it to Blind Master's katana during the battle of San Francisco, was coming in handy. And unlike the spells on his body, the reflective magic on his sword didn't break down when Roulette's hexes struck it (thank heaven for small favors).

Now if he could only keep this up.

Roulette then smirked at the unanticipated moves from her adversary before she then followed one of the numerous battle tactics Emma trained her as Wood suddenly released a barrage of steel throwing darts, feathered with red ribbon and coated with thiopental. With a flourish, the mutant dodged the shrapnel before she slammed one of her hands on the ground, hexing the marble floor and tiles instead right underneath Wood's feet. And consecutively at the precise moment, Roulette aimed and fired another black energy disc directly at the ceiling above, timing the dual incursions to explode at the same time.

In tandem, the floor exploded with a furious backlash of bad-luck, being so incredibly unstable that it sent the brawny elder flying off his feet, unaware due to the fact that her hex did not even give the brightest flicker as the marble tiles obscured it from view until it was too late. And the ceiling above, already weakened from the numerous energy blasts caused by Xigbar's bullets, Roxas' Keyblades, and Xaldin's tornado, crumbled like paper and collapsed upon itself, sending huge chunks of slab metal, titanium, and several heavy objects from the research and development lab above.

This included a heavy jet engine, several gigantic airplane turbines and propellers, the edges of the blades razor sharp and weighing in the thousands, and charred fragments of a steel I-Beam. Wood was almost too busy to clear the cobwebs and ringing tones out of his head before he looked up and saw the approaching objects coming closer and closer under free-fall.

Wood didn't even bother uttering a curse as he hurriedly rolled over onto his stomach, made a fantastic sprint for a running start, and then leapt as far as he could forward.

_Whooom!!_ Boom, boom, booom, _pak!!_ _**PAK!**_ _Shoom!_

Even then, he barely avoided the falling rubble of heavy machinery, shrapnel, and rock that could have easily crushed him to death in seconds. The deafening and thunderous downpour of wreckage echoed throughout the entire foyer, making itself audible over the numerous sounds of the fighting all around him. As the dust cleared, Jennifer felt a twinge or irritation as she saw that Robin Wood was still alive, though shaken and a bit disoriented due to the close-call.

Unyielding, the fair-haired girl was about to send another powerful hex when out of the corner of her eye, she sensed something coming in fast, and with a quick about-face, Jennifer abandoned her fight with Wood. Quickly, she strafed backwards and ducked before dodge rolling, and instantly, a foot followed by two globules of pink magical energy whizzed past the position where the Hellion's head used to be. Aqualad landed heavily on the ground into a crouch, the floor quivering slightly from his weight, not the least bit discouraged that Roulette dodged his kick while Jinx didn't let up on her ambush as she sent additional hexbolts directly at the Hellfire student, each blast small and quick.

The air was literally peppered with shining wisps of magic as the West Coast Misfit aimed and rapidly fired skillfully towards her target while the aquatic Teen Titan quickly dashed forward in a sprint alongside her. With the two heroes rushing in unison, it was going to be difficult to hex or physically brawl her way out. And with the abundant spells Jinx was shooting all throughout the battlefield, Roulette couldn't dodge them forever and fight Aqualad.

Which is why she went for her own offense, hoping one of her fellow Hellions would get the hint, as Roulette then brought her hands together as hard as she could, generating a risky and dangerous explosion of chaos energy, a sonic boom practically.

Reacting quickly, Jinx grunted with a yell as she brought her hands together to form her own bad-luck energy explosion to counteract the sudden deluge of hex energy from Roulette. And with a flourish, pink and black waves of power hit each other and collided with a turbulent reaction.

_**KAAASHHHHAAAAAACCCCKKKK!!!**_

Thankfully, Jinx shield held as it was enough to counter the bad luck from hitting both her and Aqualad, and before it could fully clear completely, Aqualad began to tear off towards Roulette before she could get on the defensive with his fists. Panting and staying behind, Jinx kept her hands up and aimed tensely at Roulette while Wood finally managed to make his way towards the skirmish, taking a barrage of ninja stars out of his coat pockets when he stopped and his eyes widened in horror. Roulette's incredible and blinding backlash didn't just shield her from Aqualad and Jinx's blitz, but it also signaled for help from a particularly dangerous teammate…

"_**Behind you!!!**_" yelled the African American Watcher, but due to the fact that Jinx was still a bit leery on taking her eyes off of Roulette and that all around them, Hell of Earth was figuratively occurring via numerous fights and screaming, it was little wonder why Jinx didn't pay attention or hear Wood.

But Aqualad did, and unfortunately, he was too far away to grab his friend, so he did the next best thing.

"Jinx, move it!!" yelled Garth as he did a rather noble sacrifice and shoved her aside, hard and right at the last second before Jetstream actually collided into his shoulder and torso with the same force of a speeding car. And it was far too late for Garth to dodge considering he was putting himself directly into the Hellion's path and went flying with the winds and air knocked out of him. And into the nearest wall…

WHAM!!

Aqualad gurgled, his vision blurring to the brink of blacking out and with blood dribbling steadily from his lips as he slid back down from the deep impression he made in the steel fortification. It was a sickening sight as the Titan East left a trail of red smeared on the surface before he toppled back down with a crash. Jetstream gave a brief glance to admire his handiwork before he tore off searching for the next victim.

"No!!" cried Jinx as she saw that Aqualad was seriously hurt, but then she gasped as one bad-luck disc came whizzing by so close that it missed her head by mere inches, and the pink-haired witch has to perform several cartwheels and gymnastic evasive maneuvers to avoid the additional ones that came her way. Yet to her horror, the hexbolts additionally had a homing ability for like magic, they violently veered and curved effectively to only come shooting back directly towards the West Coast Misfit. But then the hexbolts wildly lost control and missed Jinx by a wide berth before fading from view as Jennifer lost her concentration when a low-powered starbolt of green struck her between the shoulder, burning through her costume and sending her down towards the floor. Thankfully, the metallic armor underneath held firm, though Roulette was hissing with pain at the burns on her back as she threw a death look at the Teen Titan, Starfire, who was protectively hovering above the warzone in the air. It was she who broke the Hellion's concentration and interrupted the act of violence.

"Friend Jinx, let me help!!" cried Starfire, but the pink-haired witch stopped her with one hand raised.

"No, stay back, Star!!" snapped Jinx at the Thanagarian girl while she dodged a black hex, "Back off!! _**She's mine!!**_"

Upon hearing the urgent fury in the pink-haired witch's voice, Starfire nodded in understanding before she took after Jetstream who finally managed to be brought by a standstill thanks to Bumblebee. Leaving Wood and Jinx to handle Roulette, the two of them throwing and hurling at every opportunity they could, with the Watcher slowing edging forward at each clear chance he got and the West Coast Misfit providing cover fire with her spells.

Jennifer then decided to get a little nasty as she hurriedly caused the floor all around her to erupt and send several pieces of rack and stone to fly out and effectively distract her two adversaries.

"How's Selinda?" she drawled with a giggle as she expertly dodge-rolled out of the way of Wood's ninja-stars before she sent two crippling hex-blasts, black as night and the size of manhole covers, at the Watcher and the West Coast Misfit. Jinx's eyes flashed with anger only once, and to Wood's amazement, an actual energy wall of pink hex-energy arose and blocked both of the incoming attacks perfectly, neutralizing the hexes with barely a fizzle.

Roulette had to get a _little_ apprehensive; that was one of her strongest hex-bolts.

"Funny, I'd normally retort you can find out for yourself, but I **know** that you're not heading to the same place she is right now," the witch growled as she touched a single hand against the smooth marble surface, and instantly, a seismic wave erupted from between the teenager's fingertips before the ground cracked and ripped asunder with a furious discharge of pink explosions, and like magic, a straight line tore towards Roulette. The Hellion hurriedly dodged it with a flying strafe to the left, but to her surprise, the seismic backlash of pink-colored magic followed her before exploding into a gigantic surge of burning force. Roulette cast a good-luck hex around herself, and thankfully, it was enough to shield her body as the intense power passed through and subsided.

There was no question about it; Jinx had gotten much more adept and skilled since the last time they fought. Still, Jinx and Roulette knew that they would be at a stalemate between the two of them; their powers were equally matched and would likely cancel the other out should they get into a shoot-out. Meaning that this could take a long time, too long for their liking…

Jinx and Roulette couldn't keep countering and hexing each other forever. Which was why Wood acted as he flung out another set of five gleaming shuriken, the steel edges razor sharp with four long and wicked looking barbs. Irritated, Jennifer snapped her fingers, the good luck on her body forcing the

"No wonder you Watchers were wiped out! You **never** learn!!" Roulette mocked.

But Wood had his own surprised as he voiced a single command in Latin.

"_**Reverto.**_"

Like magic, the batch of steel ninja stars veered wildly and suddenly in a complete 180-degree, a U-turn, before targeting directly for the mutant teenager. And in a blink of an eye, the Hellion screamed as each and every one of the five metal projectiles embedded themselves firmly into her shoulders and back, drawing blood as they punctured through her battle uniform and armor.

Damn, that took her by surprise. Roulette didn't anticipate that Watchers knew some basic spells and magic, even though Selene did warn her of such tactics.

"You dumb flat-scan! _**That actually hurt!!**_" shrieked Jennifer as she then snapped her fingers at the floor, and once again, the ground reacted under the probability-manipulation, this time instead of causing an explosion but actually deteriorated and collapsed under the weight of Wood's foot. And as a result, Wood's leg was trapped as it plunged through the gap, sinking all the way past his knee. Wood hissed as the jagged edges ripped his leg pants and gouged into his flesh and muscle as he was rendered immobile. Wood cursed; for a teenager, her mutant powers were absolutely limitless in their potential. And Roulette was making herself as deadly of a threat as any powerful magic user the Watchers ever encountered. Roulette then aimed a glowing hand directly at Wood, but then Jinx charged forward with an unexpected tactic.

Jinx then rushed into Roulette with a basic butterfly kick, her instincts and the payoffs of the rigorous training from the soldiers of G.I. Joe finally coming to light. Taken aback at the sudden unexpectedness of the witch not using her typical hexbolts and magic, the Hellion hurriedly strafed backwards, avoiding Jinx's feet by a foot or so. As Jinx landed, Roulette then tried to blast her, but Jinx then simply ducked, swiveled cleanly, and delivered a palm strike directly at Jennifer's face followed by several jabs and an elbow aimed at Jennifer's throat. Roulette snarled and grunted with anger as she did her best to block and avoid the Misfit's assaults.

One rule Flint and Raven from G.I. Joe taught her: hand-to-hand combat always preoccupies an opponent on the defensive, especially if the opponent is normally used to fighting with long-range attacks like energy powers.

It was effective. Jinx bought Wood some time to free his foot from the jagged hole in the ground.

But unfortunately, Jinx's punches were easily avoidable, and Roulette was just as familiar with self-defense as she had been trained by Emma and Slade of the Inner Circle. And upon seeing a window of opportunity when Jinx's leg missed her with the front kick, Roulette firmly grabbed the West Coast Misfit's leg with her arms, locking it in place. Now with one foot trapped, Roulette savored the horrified look on Jinx's face before she used an effective judo toss, pivoting her body, to send Jinx off her other foot and to go flying into a jangled heap ten feet away, bruised and disoriented from the fall. Not to mention that the pressure Jennifer applied on her leg made Jinx's appendage throb excruciatingly; if it wasn't broken, the leg was certainly sprained. Roulette was physically stronger than she looked.

"Ow…" Jinx moaned to herself, her eyes shut tight as Roulette ambled up to her, her hands glowing.

"What? You honestly think because you're a goody-goody, your training can overcompensate my training in some clichéd '_good versus evil_' battle? Get real, drop-out! Like the Hellfire Club says, '_might makes right_'."

It was then that a stray book, a thick, leather-bound tome with a black cover and the symbol of the Organization emblazoned upon its surface, actually rushed out of nowhere before it struck the girl hard at the back of her head and between her shoulder blades, the force so intense that blood actually spewed from the front of Jennifer's nose upon contact. Right before she pitched forward and fell flat on her face, inches away from Jinx who managed to use the distraction to her full advantage as she then sent an energy blast right into the marble floor and tile itself. This resulted in a massive explosion all around the mutant teenager as the ground flashed pink for a split-second…

_**Kaboom!**_

Shrieking, Jennifer was sent flying, burning, blistered, and with actual bits of marble embedded into her face and neck and upper torso, causing a few deep rivers of blood to trickle down her skin and mat her hair. Despite her heart beating hard against her ribcage, she offered a silent prayer.

"Wow, someone up there _really_ likes me…" she sighed in relief before she gingerly picked herself off the floor.

If God had a warped sense of humor in _this_ universe, He unquestionably also had a good sense of timing.

Simultaneously, Wood was running towards Jennifer with his sword drawn out, a look of determined stone and hard courage on his face. He had waited long enough, this was getting nowhere, and if the Hellion needed to be killed in order to finish it…

"Back off!!" snarled the bloodied mutant of the Hellfire Club as she then took advantage of the humongous flamestorm generated from the fires that Axel of the Organization summoned to entrap Caridad, Shipwreck, Trey, Dragonfly, and Jean Grey. With a flick of her fingers, a large portion of the fires emerged like a living snake of blistering red heat before it dove forward and engulfed the entire section ablaze as a mini-inferno. Though it didn't affect the Hellion, it certainly caused much pain towards Jinx and Wood.

"Ow! _**Ow, ow, ow!!**_ Get it off! **Get it off!!**" yelped the West Coast Misfit as she tried to cast several hexes on the combustive mess to extinguish it, but if anything, it just made the conflagration worse. Bad luck hexes couldn't effectively nullify this, and Axel's magic was far too powerful to snuff out. Being burned severely and holding back his screams, the Watcher tried throwing several potions on the flames, but the magical solutions evaporated and did little to quench the magical attacks. As a result, slowly but surely, despite their best efforts, Jinx and Wood were both slowly starting to be covered with scorching fire.

Roulette just slowly walked back out of the bonfire, enjoying the scene of her two enemies being barbequed to death.

While this skirmish was taking place, Garth was steadily trying to fight and bear with his wounds and broken bones when he slowly grew aware of feeling comforting warmth spread all around his body, the bleeding and lesions fading away. The raven-haired youth looked up to see the Disney fairy Tinkerbell giving him a generous amount of pixie dust, healing him.

"Thanks…" croaked the Titan East warrior as he managed to rise, good as new and feeling loads better. Though appearing haggard, Tinkerbell nodded before she took off towards the battle with Selene where Eduardo was on the brink of death (and being screamed at to remain conscious by his wife, Kylie).

Aqualad then turned to see Jinx doing her best to negate the powerful surge of fire that Roulette hexed and enchanted in order to incinerate her and Robin Wood to ashes, and unfortunately, the fires were too intense. Wood's potions and Jinx's magic could barely hold the flares at bay. Aqualad then grasped his communicator before he sent out a distress call.

"This is Aqualad! I need a gigantic water source! This is Aqualad!! Requesting help for Plan Epsilon-Water-Contain!! _**Repeat: Epsilon-Water-Contain!!**_ I need help! _**I need water!!**_"

"Someone called?" Shipwreck was heard yelling out from the sidelines as, to Roulette's complete and utter shock, a gigantic wave of salt-water erupted from nowhere, and, guided by Jean's telekinesis, it swirled and surged around Aqualad, Jinx, and Wood the Watcher. It was a massive amount, enough to fill a swimming pool. And giving the three heroes an extra edge as it finally eliminated the fires Roulette manipulated to burn all of her enemies. Jinx was especially thankful as she panted, the ends of her hair charred and a few portions of her faces already blistering from being subjected to the heat. Wood, on the other had, now no longer being incinerated, swiped at his Hellion foe with his sword, actually taking her by surprise as the tip of the blade nicked her face and causing her to wail. Garth turned to Shipwreck who was grinning impishly, holding in his hands one of Trinity's prized and banned inventions (the Portable Ocean) as he hovered up in the air alongside Jean Grey above the walls of fire Axel penned them in.

"Thanks," Garth shot back sincerely.

"Ah, you're a good kid! Wouldn't be a Joe if I didn't watch your back!" Shipwreck called out as he and Jean rushed back down towards Axel. Wavedancer couldn't help but call out as she flew by on Dumbo's head, circling back to ram the Superior hard. Wavedancer, who was watching this in the distance, shot _the look_ at Garth.

"He may have forgiven you, but** I** still hate your guts, you know," Althea said in a hard voice on her communicator. Aqualad gave his own snark right back.

"Understood…_Puddles_."

Hey, no one said Aqualad was a complete saint. And that look of restrained anger and flushed crimson on Wavedancer's face was actually pretty enjoyable.

"I'll get you later for** that** one, Sponge-Face!" she snapped as she and Dumbo then charged towards the Superior as Cyclops managed to successfully nail Xemnas hard in the chest with a concentrated optic blast. Garth didn't answer, feeling loads better and completely revitalized as he felt the caressing and soothing coolness of the water, the ocean, willed into his control via his powers as it became a wave, a powerful, churning waterspout, with the Atlantean riding on the top of it like a surfer.

Here, Garth was completely in his element; not only was his hydrokinesis just as powerful and controlled as Althea's, but he was much more adept at fighting and brawling in aquatic mediums as opposed to dry lands. And without further ado or warning, the Titan East let the cascade of water swoop down on the Hellion while Jinx and Wood were keeping the mutant busy with their attacks. Too busy to recover from the pain of the steel needles in her shoulder, Roulette didn't hear the subtle yet growing sounds of churning, frothing waves until it was too late.

Roulette actually managed to let out a sharp yelp before she was immediately overwhelmed by the cascading wave, submerged and incapacitated. Before she knew it, Roulette was completely trapped inside the waterspout, held in place by Aqualad's will. With a furious discharge of hex energy, Roulette tried to force the wave to fall apart and disintegrate. Yet it was impossible; though it quivered and violently veered and wobbled a bit, the wave held firm. Not only was Garth's hydrokinesis much more refined and dominating, but water as a substance was too fluid and viscous to affect with probability hexbolts, unlike solid matter like steel or wood. Aqualad smirked as he forced the water to bring Jennifer's head to the surface. He couldn't drown the Hellion (no matter how much she deserved it), so he did the next best thing.

"You don't know anything about Atlanteans, do you?" Aqualad remarked in a rather flat and bored tone of voice before he then returned the payback with his own backhand, catching Jennifer completely on the right side of her face and sending her reeling, flying out of the wave and tumbling on the floor in a jumbled heap. In fact, Aqualad hit Roulette so hard, she soared out of the water. If the Titan East member didn't break her jaw, he certainly knocked out a few of her teeth as she spat out something hard and small from her bleeding mouth. And falling to the ground wasn't a pleasant landing either. But the look in her eyes simply could have disemboweled Garth as Roulette flung a bad-luck hexbolt directly into the Teen Titan's position, but thanks to the fluid structure of the wave he was riding on, Aqualad managed to easily swerve and duck from the strike.

"_Pfft!_ Missed me by a mile, topsider," scoffed Aqualad rather prematurely, and his smile and grin faltered when he saw the demented look on the blonde girl's face as she managed to spit out a reply.

"Good luck for me…bad luck for you, Aqua-Twerp…" hissed Roulette gleefully as the black energy disc made contact with Bevatron's electrical strikes as he was busy trying to electrocute the Darkstalker, Felicia. With a deft twist of the unlikelihood, three worrisome and brilliant surges of electrical shafts, each amounting in thousands of voltage, veered suddenly, defying physics, before they headed quickly towards the crest of salt-water Garth was riding on. Garth's eyes widened, but the energy came much too fast for the member of Titans East to leap clear.

BBBRRRRSSSSHHHAAACCCKKKK!

"_**Aaaaauuugggghhh!!!**_" howled Garth as he arched his body backwards and screamed, feeling his body subject to the powerful energy as the electrical surges struck the salt-water, affecting everything in the tidal current and amplifying its effects by more than two-fold. Water was an excellent conductor, and thanks to Roulette's powers, Bevatron's little display all hit Aqualad's ammunition directly, scoring terrific hits. Now smoking and parts of his uniform cracked and charred, exposing singed holes, the teenager collapsed on the water, and as a response to the lose of his control, the deluge of sea-water was released and left to trickle and flood throughout a good area of the chamber all around, the floodwaters now reduced to ponds all over the arena. Breathing shallowly and barely conscious, Garth barely could remain awake or lift his head as Jennifer ambled towards him, another bad-luck hex growing in her hands, getting bigger and more worrisome with each passing moment. Since she blessed herself with good luck, though dripping wet, miraculously, Roulette was not even grazed by the smallest crackle of energy, leaving her unharmed.

"Get away from him!!" yelled Wood with protective anger as he and Jinx charged from the distance with the prone form of Aqualad in between them and the Hellion, both of them still singed with charred holes in their uniforms along with several serious burns, but the pair of heroes ready to fight as ever. But then Supergirl inadvertently made things worse for the heroes of the room as the Sentinel's arm she used to attack Xigbar caused a partial collapse of the building's infrastructure, making it extremely unstable thanks to the numerous cracks and damages the underground chamber already sustained from the battle with the Organization members.

"Whoa!" Jinx cried out before the sudden lurch of the floor sent her toppling over, tripping on the ground as Wood managed to barely maintain an upright position during the violent tremor and sudden quake. It was then as Roulette got the idea as the mutant solider saw the floor partially caving in underneath Toad and Black Widow's feet, forcing Todd to grab the Avenger around the waist before using his legs to powerfully leap high into the air to avoid falling with the collapsed ground. Both Jinx and Wood were struggling to continue with their offensive, so she only had a few seconds at most.

Before, the foundation of the current foyer was reinforced with steel, titanium, and adamantium, making the odds and chances of forming a complete cave-in or collapse were negligible, no matter how much she tried to manipulate. Mathematically, exponentially increasing tiny odds still generates unlikely odds, and even Jennifer had her limitations (she couldn't achieve the impossible).

But thanks to Supergirl's attack severely destabilizing and impairing the entire structure of the Shaw Industries complex all around them?

It was like having the door of opportunity being flung wide open. Because now that the metal floor was severely weakened, it made Roulette's probability manipulations much more profitable as the Hellion then released a massive hex into the floor, the shimmer of black fading instantly upon the smooth yet wobbly tiles.

And to Jinx and Wood's collected horror, the entire section of the ground underneath their feet completely broke apart and fell, taking them with it. And the cave-in was too sudden and abrupt to even move, to even scream as Wood and Jinx plummeted.

To a neck-breaking death.

Looking back on it, Aqualad still to this day couldn't believe he managed to move so fast on that one critical moment.

Despite his injuries from the electrocution, Garth managed to use all his mental will and strength to leap forward towards his two friends. Praying to whatever Gods of Atlantis would listen, Aqualad lunged forwards and prayed that his hands wouldn't miss as he reached out and seized both Jinx and Wood's wrists as they descended deeper and deeper.

_Don'tmissdon'tmissdon'tmiss…_

Slick with water, Garth felt his heart start beating again as both the West Coast Misfit and the Watcher managed to seize and take hold of Aqualad's hands, cinching tightly.

"I got – _**whoa!!**_" yelled Aqualad as he nearly slipped into the gaping chasm as well, sliding on the slick, water-covered floor on his stomach, and it was only by pure luck and by hunching and clenching his body hard in a slightly fetal position to lower the friction and gain control was he able to stop ever so precariously on the edge. And it was a good drop, about two or three stories down to the darkness of the level below, enough to seriously cause injury to Jinx and Wood (both of whom had no superhuman durability) as the heavy slab of metal that used to be the ground clanged thunderously.

"Oh God!!" wailed Jinx, almost panicking, as she tightened her grip on Garth's wrist, and Wood did the same likewise, although cursing because by doing so, the Atlantean teenager was endangering himself as well. Either by risking in falling in with them or by Roulette's mutant powers. Which the Hellion was willing to do as she gleefully readied a rather devastating black energy globule in her right hand, ready to have it cut through the Teen Titan's back, and have him topple with his friends to a rather painful and sickening splat on the trip downwards.

Yet before she could even aim, Jennifer was disrupted unexpectedly when a furry yet durable object rammed itself into her back and shoved her sprawling to the floor, right out of the blue. And to add insult to injury, the unknown and mysterious assailant actually remained on top on her body, pressing and pinning the blond girl down to the floor as best as it could, four poles of metal actually pressing hard against her back and right arm. One cloven hoof was bearing down on the mutant's head and squashing her face against the floor. And it absolutely infuriated the Hellion to no ends as she felt even more desperate to finish off and kill three heroes in one tantalizing blow, a surefire way to gain attention and bragging rights in the Inner Circle.

"**Get your fat butt off me!!!**" screeched Roulette as she then used a trick from Emma Frost to place one palm of her hand on the metal floor, and let the bad-luck hex she cast discreetly traverse throughout the entire foyer, the probability manipulation energy looking for anything to exploit. And it did so with the network of electrical cables running underneath the metal centers of the tiled ground. With a faint haze, the actually walls and floors all around them quaked ever so faintly before the probability of the secure and insulated electrical wires, each one covered with thick layers of protective polyethelene and securely fastened with steel clips, breaking apart and overloading with enough heat and energy reached one-hundred percent likelihood.

_BRRRZZZZZTTTTTTTT!!_

Kracka, kracka! _**Kaboom!**_

That was the sound of a considerable amount of dangerous and rent power cables breaking and melting their way out of the floor, set free by the inexplicable and unlucky power surge that was too much for the internal casings to contain and hold, even with the safety mechanisms in place. As a result, the walls and ceiling and floors leaked out several of the thick wires all over the battlefield, sputtering and twitching madly like dying snakes and sparking madly. It made it a lot more dangerous throughout the warzone. To even step on the wrong end of the wires or to blunder into the ones dangling from the ceiling meant instant electrocution, as Colossus and Starfire learned the hard way by complete accident, their screams of pain echoing throughout the foyer. However, it was also a bit of a bonus for the heroes too because it allowed several of the heroes cleverly used them as ingenious ways to attack their enemies indirectly, and Axel and Saïx learned this difficult message as Jean Grey and Spirit from G.I. Joe used them to respectively tie and shock them painfully. However, Jennifer was able to achieve what she wanted. One wire above her position dropped suddenly from the ceiling, nearly flailing as it descended towards the floor and right directly into the figure that was pinning her down, the exposed end striking the opponent directly on its thigh.

Brrrzzzztttttt!

There was a shrill cry of pain before Roulette felt her anonymous adversary jump off her, and she hurriedly rolled on the floor away from the dangerous wire above her back, as Emma trained her many times before as recovery moves, before she easily dispatched the wire with a bad-luck blast, causing it to drop to the ground, severed from its power source. Since she was standing in puddles of water, the mutant didn't want to chance any accidental electrocution on that oversight. Roulette then looked to see a panting and injured Bambi, the Disney fawn and Summon of Xi, limping slightly and sporting a black and painful burn on his left haunch, the fur black and crisp, leaving seared flesh and blood. It was a wonder Bambi wasn't dead from the electrical current.

Roulette however wasn't going to be dissuaded as she twirled around with both of her hands now crackling with energy back at her three rivals. She was too close, and Aqualad was still precariously on the knife's edge at the gaping sinkhole. It would have taken only a single second as she readied, aimed…

And then screamed as Jennifer's head was violently jerked backwards, wrenching her neck and its muscles as Bambi furiously and angrily took the split second to close the distance between them to leap forward and grab the mutant's blond hair with his mouth before pulling with his weight. With the long tresses in the Disney Summon's teeth, it was enough leverage to abruptly ruin Roulette's attack as the sudden interference by Bambi caused her arms to jerk upwards slightly before the hex-bolts fired.

**Kashack!**

It was close. The black discs of luck zoomed over Aqualad's head by a foot, nearly brushing him as they missed their initial target. Unfortunately, the fawn's effort only made things worse for Speedy the Teen Titan and Sango from Inuyasha's clan as the energy hex struck _**them**_ instead in the distance. And as a result, the two of them were forced to miss their attacks on Larxene by miles, cursed beyond all odds as the bad-luck exploitation completely ruined their commencement of hostilities.

Roulette was now furious, and it only got worse as Bambi, unwilling to stand by and let the Hellion hurt his allies, reared up on his hind feet and solidly rammed his front hoofs between Jennifer's shoulder blades, causing the mutant adolescent to pitch forward and land hard as she flew several feet from the force of the blow. The Hellion cursed several choice four-lettered words before she wrathfully got up, her entire face now smeared even more with blood and salt-water.

"That's it!!" she snarled like a bloodthirsty demon, "You're going to see your mother real soon, you little furry bastard!!"

Bambi just impudently stuck his tongue out at the mutant girl, which was more than enough to prompt her to hurt a multitude of hex-bolts at the deer followed by a generated explosion caused by clapping her hands and having the good-luck energy combust all the electrified air around her with a spark of static electricity (similar to the move Bezerker did on Trigon back at the Armageddon when the Demon Lord caught Starfire). Annoyingly and with great skill, despite being injured, Bambi managed to avoid all of them with great speed and accuracy before he tried to ram Roulette down with a head-butt.

At the same time, Aqualad was trying his best to pull both Jinx and Wood back to safety, but unfortunately, gravity and the fact that he was leaning too far outwards into the gaping hole was acting against his favor. As strong as he was, he was gravely hurt from his encounter with Bevatron's blasts and did not even have the strength to fully lift both Wood and Jinx from the chasm. Wood then came to a conclusion.

"Aqualad, let me go and save Jinx!!"

Now afraid that Wood would actually try to force him to relinquish his grip on the African-American Watcher, and insanely determined, Aqualad tightened his grip around Wood's wrist. Hissing, the black-haired teenager managed to bite back a curse as he realized that a particularly serious set of burns on his left abdominal popped excruciating from the effort of trying to hold on to Jinx and Wood. As a result, the light-blue fabric of his uniform was starting to stain red with blood, seeping into his clothes.

Jinx noticed this, turning pale at the sight; Garth was more seriously injured than she thought. And unfortunately, she couldn't use her hexes in any manner that could actually help them since she could only cast bad luck. Wood was still fiercely adamant.

"Garth, didn't you hear me?! Let go and help Jinx!!"

"_**NO!**_" It was surprisingly how loudly the Titan East member could yell that as he bit back the urge to scream as the tension and clenching of his stomach opened up the wounds in his side abdominals wider and wider, stinging more and more as the blood stain grew larger on his suit.

"Damn it, quit being stubborn!!"

"Don't you have a grappling line or something?!"

"I'm not Batman! Sword and potions, yes! Magical scrolls and other projectile weapons, yes!! A grappling hook or rope, no!! It's not something a Watcher really expects in battle! So just let go! You can't pull both of us like this!!"

"Any chance you have a 'Feather-Fall' magical spell?!!" Jinx asked hurriedly, her feet dangling heavily at the empty chasm below, looking more and more daunting as her vision blurred from the intimidating height. The Watcher give Jinx a bewildered look that said something along the lines of _that-is-the-most-ridiculous-idea-I've-heard-yet_.

"Oh by the seas…" Aqualad groaned as he felt his body edge closer and closer to the precipice, unable to maintain his position much longer. He tried to pull, but it caused the wounds to bleed even harder, sending bouts of pain throughout his swollen nerves. Wood now was apoplectic.

"_**Aqualad, let me go!**_"

"No…" was all Garth could hiss out as he was slipping more and more.

"**Do it!!** That's an order!"

Garth tightened his grip on the two hands in his grips in insubordination. Robin brought up his sword, the blade now in the teenagers' line of sight.

"If you won't let me go, I'm cutting off my own - !" but that threat was left unsaid as Garth then slid across the floor, the pressure and weight in front being too much for his body to counterweight any longer.

They all fell down with a collective and agonized yell of terror to the drop below.

This was it.

"_**AAAAAAAAAAAAAA…!!!**_" the three heroes yelled before they all shockingly trailed off, their voices freezing in their throats as they realized that they only plunged sharply for a mere instant before they literally stopped.

"Wha…?!" was all Aqualad could blurt out, despite the pain of his injuries.

"We're…we're **floating?!**" Jinx exclaimed in shock.

What the West Coast Misfit said was true. All three of them were hanging in air, suspended and defying gravity. The air was rippling all around them, but strangely enough, there was no wind, no violent air current, not even the hint of a breeze. And it was starting to shake, as if inexperienced and weakening, but the invisible force all around them was slowly and surely pushing all three of them upwards to safety. Wood's heart was a bit apprehensive as he realized that the force was struggling to maintain its hold, as if the burden of their combined weight was pushing its limit, and it could very well stop and leave them to fall to their deaths again. But thankfully, the miracle delivered as Jinx, Aqualad, and Wood were erratically brought to the solid ground and dropped back onto their feet.

They were saved from their drop.

Both Wood and Garth, not having anything remotely close to the skills to do such an act, turned to their fellow spellcaster by default, which earned a flabbergasted rebuff from Jinx.

"**It wasn't me!**" protested the West Coast Misfit, stunned and her heart still beating rapidly.

"Uh…what just happened?" blinked Aqualad, stunned at their sudden good fortune, but Wood wasn't going to waste any time as he let loose several more potion bottles underneath his coat and flung them at the Hellion before she could even attempt to blast Bambi. It was an instant effect as Jennifer was so distracted from the Disney Summon that she didn't even notice until it was too late when she heard the glass shattering on the marble. Bambi managed to sprint and bound away at the last second, leaving the sidetracked and unfocused blond mutant adolescent to feel the effects of the potion liquids exposed to open air…

Kapaff! **Boom!** Kapaff! _Crackle!_ Kapaff!

Roulette shrieked as she was temporarily blinded by the intense conflagrations of multicolored light, each almost as bright as the sun in midday, and burned from the heat from the explosions, making holes in her uniform.

"Now, you two!!" yelled the Watcher as he rushed forward with his sword ready, Jinx sprinting alongside him and tossing pink energy curses as fast as she could in rage. And beside them, riding upon a flooding mass of water, was Garth with the soles of his feet gliding smoothly on the foaming surface as the wave roared towards the incapacitated mutant. Roulette still wasn't having it as she then clapped her hands together hard, sending the strongest and most debilitating bad-luck hex she could ever produce, causing a miniature sonic boom in the process as a radial attack all around her position to ward them off. Even still temporarily blinded, Jennifer planned to use everything she learned to fight this to the bitter end.

**Author's Note: I am so, so sorry for the delay of this chapter by more than a week, but unfortunately, it took me longer than I thought to write (as well as real life such as attending two weddings, a bachelor party, etc…). Fortunately for you readers, you have an extra-long chapter to read!**

**Fictives: "Fortunately", our bruised and battered butts! You've put us through enough torture to make serial killers want to cry!! YOU'RE the reason why the Geneva Convention was invented, you sicko!**

**Robin: I nearly got cut in half!**

**Kurama: I got slammed into the ground and nearly got crushed by an avalanche. I assure you it was hardly pleasant.**

**Aqualad: Pfft! It's nothing compared to being electrocuted!**

**Roulette: What the hell are you heroes complaining?! He LIKES you heroes! This lunatic author had me be beaten up by Bambi! BAMBI from the Disney movies!! I'm going to be the laughingstock of Marvel forever! My career is ruined!**

**Ignore the fictives, readers. Should you be so kind – **

**Fictives: HA!**

…**enjoy and review! Constructive criticism welcome! And tune in on December 5****th**** for the next chapter (hopefully since I still need to write a good portion of it). In this chapter, we'll see another side of the Battle Royale as Luxord of the Organization finds he may be against the odds of Trinity (Misfits), Gambit (X-Men), Beach Head (G.I. Joe), Martian Manhunter (Justice League), and Shannon the vampire slayer (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) while you will start hating Jetstream of the Hellions as he tries every dirty trick against Starfire and Bumblee (Teen Titans). Until then, enjoy and wait for the next chapter!**

**Fictives: Crap, we're screwed! He'll be putting us in this fight forever!**

**Gambit (slyly as he takes out a computer hard drive): No, we won't. It'll be hard for him to write without THIS…**

**Me: HEY! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY COMPUTER?!**

**Fictives: Remember, readers! You love us! You don't want us to go through this fight! You think we'll be happier without bruises, burns, contusions, and broken bones! So be extra kind to US and tell this author to stop writing this story! PLEASE!!**


	41. ATTWNATGY Luxord

**Author's Notes: First off, I apologize for the readers who have been waiting for this next chapter. Things have been a little hectic in my life (for personal reasons and little more of that below at the end), and I am infinitely grateful for the people who have reviewed and sent me PMs to check on how I was doing and writing. Thank you, all of you. And I'm sincerely and profoundly sorry for the delay. But I hope that this chapter with the battle with Luxord and Jetstream more than makes up for it. First off, to recap: this chapter focuses on the battle between Luxord against Martian Manhunter, Gambit, Beach Head, Trinity, and Shannon, whereas the Hellion, Jetstream, is fighting against the Teen Titans, Bumblebee and Starfire for the Chalice of the three Talismans of Twilight within the underground chambers of Shaw Industries. Luxord is owned by Squaresoft and Disney. Gambit and Jetstream are characters from Marvel Comics. Beach Head is a character from "G.I. Joe" Hasbro cartoon. Martian "J'onn" Manhunter, Bumblebee, and Starfire are characters respectively from the animated "Justice League" / "Justice League Unlimited" and "Teen Titans" TV series and of DC comics. Shannon is one of the Potentials turned vampire Slayer from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" TV show.**

**Trinity: It's about time! Do you have any idea of how long we had to wait to get an epic battle starring us?**

**Daria: Us OCs get little enough time as is!**

**Quinn: Yeah, we had to wait and do other things to entertain ourselves like sabotaging your PC, your car, your author's profile…**

**Me: When I find out which one of you three changed my profile picture…!**

**Brittany: You needed to update it! We thought what we uploaded was a more accurate depiction!**

**Me: YOU PUT A PICTURE OF A **_**HORSE'S REAR END **_**AS MY PROFILE AVATAR!**

**Trinity: Again, we **_**repeat**_**…**

**Red Witch, I'm beginning to see why you try to avoid using Trinity whenever you can. Readers, I hope this chapter is a suitable apology for the wait.**

**CHAPTER 41****: And To Think We're Not At The Gathering Yet (Luxord)**

"**You're dead meat, asshole! I'm gonna rip you a new one for infecting me!**" shouted Beach Head as he let loose, his crazed voice being heard literally by everyone in the gigantic battlefield.

Luxord was attempting to surround the aforementioned army ranger and Shannon with a line of cards, madly dodging various shafts from the Slayer's crossbow as the girl repeatedly fired her deadly wood and metal bolts with impressive accuracy. He was lucky to have a few additional cards to block the incoming shafts as well as a missile launched from Beach Head's bazooka (which had some rather interesting enhancements thanks to Trinity and the allied witches). Both the Joe and the Slayer were crack-shots. And for some annoying reason, the instant he revealed his face when they teleported into Shaw Industries, they automatically set themselves on him as their immediate target.

The white-haired, goateed man narrowly dodged the shafts easily enough, each crossbow projectile coming inches to hitting him, but the bazooka payloads were another story as they actually exploded and took out a good area around the battlefield, the resulting heat and flame and concussive detonations actually burning him cloak and skin, despite using his cards as shields. Not to mention that despite the blockades, the force from missiles' detonations actually shoved the gambler Nobody back a bit, being unable to hold his ground against the payloads. It was like trying to not budge an inch while attempting to block a charging football player; physics didn't work that way.

"You need to change your disposition," Luxord commented icily as he then snapped his fingers with his free hand while using another card as a shield in front to ward of another incoming bazooka missile.

And in an instant…nothing happened. No telltale puffs of smoke, no flash of light or even the slightest shimmer of magic occurred. The masked G.I. Joe soldier was unaltered, remaining in human form as opposed to turning into a harmless card or a dice.

Luxord frowned, befuddled, which was exactly how the brown-haired Shannon was able to hurriedly shoot three crossbow shafts in quick succession into her foe's direction above, unhindered. Caught unawares, the Gambler of Fate reacted a mite too late in using his card to block the projectiles, allowing one arrow to graze past his face, drawing blood.

"What the devil?" snarled Luxord with disappointment as he felt the stinging of the wound where the crossbow shaft nicked his cheek. He was sure he preformed his magic correctly, so his spell should have worked. So why weren't the Joe and the Slayer rendered inoperative as he did with foes in the past?

Thankfully, a certain Cajun X-Man was able to take full advantage of this little surprise and from Beach Head and Shannon's altercations as a disturbance. Running along the far wall thanks to a lifeline he shot with his glovatrix at the ceiling to pull himself upwards, Gambit managed to position himself just right and still out of Luxord's blind spot…

With a powerful leap, Gambit used the grapple line to swing himself away from the metal surface and deliver both of his feet hard in a powerful push kick into the neck and shoulders of Luxord, pressing downwards as hard as he could.

Luxord was taken aback at the swift attack as he suddenly was propelled down to the floor, letting out a grunt of extreme agony as he was solidly thumped hard from behind. Losing his concentration and Newton's Laws withstanding, the black-cloaked sociopath had no choice but to fall due to the unexpected force.

"Damn, Remy beginning to see why the Batman likes doing this so much," marveled Gambit (still hanging on the grapple line), immensely pleased upon seeing as how his kick managed to neatly send Luxord hurtling lower to the ground before he landed with a rather wince-worthy thud. Now at a lower elevation and still reeling from the pain in his back, the antagonist was completely helpless to dodge to sudden bazooka missile coming right at him…

KABOOOM!

"Nice shot," quipped Shannon with a smile as the charred and smoking form of their foe was sent hurtling backwards from the sudden cloud of fire and smoke of the detonation as the missile exploded upon contact, leaving a gigantic crater in the floor. Flopping helplessly backwards, Luxord then disappeared amongst the ruckus of the crowd, hidden amid the disarray as Xaldin sent a chain of his spears to lash and slice at Miroku and Blob while Roxas was beginning to invoke another series of energy orbs to obliterate Xi, Bambi, and Blind Master (with the Misfit, Disney character, and the Joe hurriedly running and leaping in different directions to avoid being incinerated). Amid the numerous battles and death duels occurring all around them, the Slayer and the Joe easily lost sight of their assigned opponent. Gambit swung down before acrobatically landing on his feet to the floor like a cat, his black and red glovatrix releasing the grapple line.

"Remy say we go after him," Gambit suggested with urgency, but before Beach Head and Shannon could agree to that, they got a rather nasty surprise as a ring of gigantic cards of silver and white suddenly burst forth and erupted out of the ground. With a sharp, sheathing noise like honed steel being drawn out of a sword scabbard, the loop of Nobody tags formed an unbreakable prison all around the fighters, with an indestructible, circular roof of shingles capping off the top.

Remy cursed in French as he let loose a kinetic card into the wall, but the barred fence remained firm and steady as the line of towering slabs of metal began to revolve and spin around and around the warriors like a blender. The ring of cards moved so swiftly that it was a mere blur, making sharp noises in the wind. Beach Head paled as it hit him. He recognized this from the Watchtower siege, and unlike Gambit, he wasn't willing to try to blast out with his bazooka because such a powerful explosion in an enclosed space such as this would inevitably injure himself and his allies in the process via the backlash and shrapnel. Shannon looked around wildly before she declared the obvious.

"There's no way out!" the Slayer cried.

Seeing this from above as he reappeared in a vortex of obsidian-colored smoke, Luxord had to grin at last, the girl's wail being music to his ears.

The card-dealer from the Thirteenth Order was fortunate he startled the trio so easily. From the observation of Gambit, Shannon, and Beach Head's teamwork and determination, Luxord doubted that this was going to be as simple as he first thought. These adversaries weren't going to just stand still like stupefied animals. Which was why the best way he could even the odds against him was that if he made the three annoyances disappear, exactly like how he incapacitated a good majority of the Justice League and their human assistants. And should any additional heroes be nearby…

"_**Privates, hold on to me!**_" barked Beach Head, and as the Slayer and X-Man hurriedly latched on to his Kevlar vest and shoulder, Wayne swiftly activated the teleportation watch on his wrist that was connected to the Mass Device. With a flash of light, the Mass Device engulfed all three forms of the fighters before teleporting them outside the ring of cards, sending them a good ten feet beyond their prison.

"Free and clear!" crowed Gambit as he then let loose a volley of ten kinetic cards directly at Luxord, who was so astonished at seeing the X-Men, Slayer, and G.I. Joe soldier free that he nearly failed to dodge the energy attack in time, veering swiftly away from the charged objects and letting them explode harmlessly on the far wall.

"Damn…" the white-haired warrior cursed as he descended down to the floor, falling to the marble surface as light as a feather.

"Get him!" snapped Beach Head as he and the two youths flanking both of his sides hurtled themselves at the Thirteenth Order lackey at full speed.

So much for trying to make the other heroes unavailable. If he used that predictable tactic again, the ranger from G.I. Joe would simply teleport them out of their prisons with the modified Mass Device. Luxord considered running and avoiding the fracas altogether, but two things prevented him from doing just that: his pride and the fear of the Superior's wrath should he discover that Luxord sidestepped in his commitments to engage the heroes of Earth with all of his might and ability. It was then that the black-robed warrior then tried a new moveset, one that could cause a great deal of trouble.

"A challenge, is it? Cards!" commanded the white-haired warrior, making a line of five cards hover in front of him in a perfect flush, each small but deadly object displaying the face of a clock with Roman numerals as the numbers. With a flutter, the objects temporarily fluttered away and vanished before reappearing behind the Thirteenth Order member, enlarged and towering well above the goateed man by several feet. Now, there was a gigantic fence of cards actually barricading the path between Gambit, Shannon, and Beach Head, temporarily blocking their trajectory. And on each card, the faces of the clock began to count down, starting at the 13th Roman numeral, which immediately phased to red, and working counter-clockwise as the circle began to tick off its numbers slowly and tantalizingly.

"The first one to run out of time is the loser of the game," Luxord intoned, and he couldn't have been more satisfied as he three enemies acted exactly as he anticipated, choosing to immediately strafe or(in Gambit's case) acrobatically leap over the wall of gigantic slabs. Not only was it far easier, but they would waste less time than actually blasting their way through and giving their foe a chance to counterattack or retreat.

"We're not in the mood, jackass!" snarled Beach Head as he fired another missile. Luxord smiled as he adroitly flipped high into the air, using a card magically enlarged and attached to his body to brilliantly shield himself as he somersaulted above and past their heads. Shannon let out an impatient noise of anger as she saw that her crossbow arrows were sticking out of the card barrier, but they failed to hit her enemy as he was flying in the air.

Two seconds passed as the eleventh symbol turned red…

Beach Head then tried firing another bazooka missile at the white-haired man, but to his frustration, Luxord teleported away in a portal of darkness, the ballistic payload hitting nothing but smoke and shadows. Though it wasn't a waste; it actually managed to explode in Saïx's left side as he was about to kill Simba, who was valiantly defending a distracted (and enchanted) Captain America, Hawkgirl, and Avalanche.

The "VII" symbol transformed into an eerie red as seven seconds passed…

Shannon exclaimed out load a warning too late as Luxord teleported right behind the G.I. Joe soldier, ready to slice Wayne's head off with a lone card in his hand like a scimitar. But with his gut instincts and fast reflexes, the Ranger hurriedly grasped the bazooka with both of his hands like a _bo_ staff before turning around swiftly and ramming one end of the missile launcher hard into Luxord's stomach. The black cloaked antagonist hunched over in pain and surprise, not expecting such an unorthodox move with a firearm. This gave Gambit the perfect opportunity to pole vault into the air with his metal staff, and the Cajun mutant delivered a fantastic flying kick into Luxord's head, sending the man back.

Five seconds left…

Shannon didn't waste any time as she readied, aimed, and fired a single shaft with her crossbow as the Slayer sprinted towards the fallen figure, but with a wave of his hand, the woozy Organization killer easily deflected the shaft with magic. Ditto towards a set of five kinetic cards via Gambit, having the energy projectiles veer off suddenly, only for them to explode precariously close to Cover Girl who was shooting at Xaldin. But apparently, his magic wasn't sufficient enough to change the direction of the bazooka missile that Beach Head launched once again in the distance, the rocket glowing with a silver and amber glimmer from the spells Dr. Strange and Allo cast upon all of Wayne's payloads.

**KABOOM!**

Direct hit, as indicated by the wafts of burning flesh, the blisters shining on the sputtering wretch's face, and the way that Luxord's cloak was now in tatters and bits of the fabric were smoldering.

Two seconds as the "III" symbol was doused with an unholy glimmer…

While the goateed soldier form the Thirteenth Order was shakily trying to stand up, Gambit let loose another pair of charged cards with bio-kinetic energy, and with an irritated grunt, Luxord raised a gloved hand and magically prevented the mutant's power from striking him. With a flash and a crackling discharge, the pink and rose-colored energy fizzled harmlessly around the weakened Gambler of Fate. But apparently, using a magical force-field to stop energy was not the same as stopping a physical attack like a blade or a punch. As the evil soldier learned the hard was as Shannon then rushed forward and delivered a terrific haymaker into Luxord's side with all of her Slayer strength, actually thumping through the mystical shield and making direct contact with the man's person. The extent of the punch was so great that Luxord was once again sent flying, this time away from the wall and more towards the center of the room where all three of them would have an easier time besieging their opponent on all sides.

But at that precise moment, instead of teleporting to safety, Luxord then merely stood back on his own two feet, grinning like a maniac as the phantasm countdown was on its last legs and his three attackers were almost upon him, mere feet from beating the holy snot out of the hooded man.

And then the instant the "I" character converted into crimson, the countdown was completely finished as the heroes then learned the horrific consequences of refusing to participate in the game.

In that precise moment, it was as if someone had pressed the "pause" button on Beach Head, Shannon, and Gambit as their bodies literally defied physics and motion as they jerked to a complete stop of temporal stasis. Like as if Piper Halliwell herself froze them by magic. And though immobile, the Joe, the X-Men, and the Slayer were agonizingly aware of what was happening to them as each one of their bodies were suddenly engulfed with a phantasm shape of a face clock, a mirror image to the ones displayed on Luxord's cards and with a eerie green shimmering outline. With several deep rings, as if made by gigantic cast-iron bells, the clock face apparitions flashed once before disappearing and creating vortexes of playing cards to swarm, engulf, and eat away at the heroes' flesh and bodies. It came so fast and sudden that none of them even had time to comprehend it until they felt their skin being nicked by the razor-sharp edges, of the blood pouring heavily as their bulks burned under the time magic, of their clothes and protective armor offering little protection from being stabbed and hacked, and of the sharp corners and peripheries actually slicing through their bones and joints as easily as scissors to a piece of paper.

All three of them were being ripped and severed apart by the maelstrom of magical cards. All in the span of five seconds, silently and with deadly chaos.

"_**AAAAAAAA!**_" screamed Wayne, Shannon, and Remy in unison, feeling the pain hit them full force and shattering them to their very core before the storms of magic finally faded and ceased. Luxord had to feel a little disappointed at their completed handiwork as the three opponents collapsed into bloody heaps on the floor, their energy and vigor spent and drained away. There was no question about it now: despite the assault of time and his deadly cards, the trio was still very much alive. Shannon the Slayer was actually sobbing and whimpering as she laid on her side, her clothes drenched in blood and her hair matted with red. With her arms badly cut, she was in far too much agony to even reach for her crossbow which was right next to her. Gambit was actually unconscious, lying on his back and in a pool of blood, a few cards all around him uselessly strewn about along with his staff. And what made it even more disgusting was that his face and his left arm were eaten away, as if the flesh and skin dissolved from acid. As a result of the time backlash, the Cajun X-Man had a good portion of his body grotesquely ripped to shreds. Beach Head was probably the least injured as he managed to remain fully conscious, but the Joe's breathing was labored, weak, and he too didn't have the strength to stand up or reach for his bazooka that was a few feet away from his quivering hand. Not to mention that the sharp spikes of pain from his left leg and backbone meant that a bone or two had to be at least crushed.

Luxord couldn't help but have the smallest tinge of triumph through his normally emotionless being. This was a beautiful payoff. But still, by all rights, they should have perished…

It was then that Luxord could sense it: auras of a multitude of spells, each different in origin and methodology, a hodgepodge of runes and enchantments that were surrounding each of their bodies. Shannon, Remy, and Wayne were all magically shielded to a great extent, no doubt as a precaution thanks to their magical friends from the Ghostbusters, the Justice League, Allo, and Dr. Strange…

No matter. Luxord felt that he was very likely going to achieve the greatest jackpot of all as he teasingly ambled up to them like a regal, sophisticated card-shark.

"And now you know the rules of the game. Forfeiting is the same as losing, in which the stakes were your bodies. Hmph, and quite painful if I do say so myself. Pity it didn't kill you all fully, but at the very least, the spells of protection from your damned witch friends weren't one-hundred percent foolproof."

"Go…to…hell…" panted Beach Head with some difficulty as his mouth and tongue were doused with blood from his lungs, rasping vainly for air. Luxord playfully juggled the cards back and forth between his hands as he prepared for the final blow with his magic…

And then he heard two very familiar words that made his widen his eyes in horror. Spoken in unison by three very annoying and distinctive voices…

"_**Dog pile!**_" cheered Daria, Quinn, and Brittany as they suddenly appeared out of nowhere, taking the black-robed man by complete surprise as he didn't even sense them approaching, and landed on him roughly, eagerly kicking, hitting, pulling, and biting.

And groping (not surprisingly).

To any outsider, hearing an Organization member scream in falsetto yelps while trying to fight off three eleven-year old girls latching on to him would find some amusement in the hilarity of the event.

Luxord, however, wasn't the least bit entertained as he continued cursing and yelling amid the tangle of bodies threatening to suffocate and crush him.

"AAAA! Get off! **Ack!** You little - ! Oof! Yeow! That hurt! _**AAAA!**_ You perverted - ! Hands off my - ! _Urk!_ Damn you! _Aaah_, don't touch me _**there**_, you sick - ! _Aha-ho-hoo-hoo-hoo!_"

"Cootchie-cootchie-coo!" the three youngsters cooed in unison, running their hands and fingers up and down all the sensitive parts of the man's body, "Cootchie-cootchie-coo! Cootchie-cootchie-coo! Cootchie-cootchie-coo! TICKLE ATTACK!"

"_**GET OFF, YOU DEPRAVED MONSTERS!**_" bellowed Luxord at the top of his lungs as there was a sudden flash of light, and the next thing Daria, Quinn, and Brittany knew, they were all sent flying off their opponent with a powerful push of invisible magic. Still, the Delgado Triplets managed to fall gracefully on the floor, expertly tumbling and rolling back onto their feet as they skidded to a stop on the floor in a congregated group. Like cats landing on their feet. Now liberated, Luxord was now irately focused on the trio of mutant adolescents, forgetting Gambit, Beach Head, and Shannon immediately.

"You - !" snarled the Gambler of Fate, but that was all the card-playing Nobody was able to verse out before Daria, Quinn, and Brittany each pressed a clandestine button on their pink and purple glovatrixes, activating the signals to detonate the tiny yet powerful bombs they secretly attached to the solider when they tackled him.

The Nobody didn't even see it coming. He didn't even have time to scream.

Though the intense electrical currents and numerous explosions eating away at his flesh and person certainly made a lasting impression.

Kaboom! **BRRZZZTT!** Kaboom! _Boom, boom, boom!_ _**Kashack!**_

_**KABOOM!**_

"Wow, he actually _lived_ through that…" remarked Quinn in a bored tone, as if she was easily observing something in a test tube of a trite chemistry experiment. And indeed, it was true. Luxord was twitching as he lay face-down on the floor, wafts of vile smoke clearing slowly away to show that the man's robe was now ruined, his white hair and goatee charred and blackened from the heat, and along with the blood starting to drip down his arms and legs, there were several wince-worthy burn marks on the solder's face, shining like rubies and raw to the touch. Amazingly, the warrior from the Thirteenth Order still subsisted enough to shakily get back on his feet, a set of cards drawn out in one gloved hand.

"Did you miss us, Luxie-poo?" Brittany smiled, making her voice as annoying and honey-coated as possible. Luxord felt his ire perk up significantly as he fought against the agony of the explosions and electrocutions, the odor of burnt flesh wafting around him.

"With every attack so far, you lucky, little bilge-rats…" the bearded, white-haired man swore, red-faced, before he let loose a stream of giant cards, the line of razor-sharp planks flying in a graceful and artistic swirling loop before setting themselves directly at Daria, Quinn, and Brittany Delgado. Quickly, the three Misfits scattered as the oversized blades whizzed by mere inches, but not without using a little trick from their pink and purple glovatrixes…

"Smoke bombs…away!" cried the Delgado Triplets, and with a series of small pops and cracks, the capsules shattered upon the marble floor, instantly clouding and fogging their immediate area with voluptuous and dense swirls of grayish-black smoke. Luxord had no choice but to sputter, his eyes watering, as the bank of cover shrouded the entire vicinity around them. Within a few seconds, the smoke bombs completely engulfed a good ten or so yards all around the four in the war-zone. And to the Organization member's ire, he lost sight of the devil spawn instantly, having no bearings and the slightest clue as to their whereabouts.

Luxord grumbled under his breath as he wrathfully (yet cautiously) wandered a bit amid the blinding cloud blank, suppressing the urge to cough from the fumes of water vapor, dry ice particles, and glycol. The Thirteenth Order member was no fool to wait and quietly tread the proverbial waters, his nerves and sense alert. Knowing how Trinity were just mere children, it wouldn't be long before they lost patience and…

"Hiya!" yelled Daria of the Delgado Triplets, jumping in from Luxord's blind spot with a powerful, flying side kick aimed at Luxord's head. She flew in out of the smog so quickly that the white-haired card-charlatan barely had time to react. Nimbly stepping backwards, the man managed to evade the adolescent's foot as she zoomed right past his previous position. However, upon landing to the ground, the raven-haired mutant acted like a complete wildcat as Daria then began furiously kicking and punching with her fists, using her ninja training to aim at any vulnerable weak point she could reach. To the youth's credit, a few of her attacks actually made contact, causing several bruises on her enemy's flesh, but she was still hardly doing much good in hand-to-hand. Still, Luxord couldn't help but snort as he easily sidestepped and blocked the incoming attempts from Daria, inwardly laughing that the Misfit wasn't even using her Keyblade. The army brat was certainly stupider than he thought, despite the Hellfire Club's warnings about Trinity ("cunning and dangerous", indeed). Clearly, if she was alone (a stupid move right there), then that meant that her fellow twin sisters were already on their way to help Gambit, Beach Head, and Shannon. With that, the Nobody quickly reached over and despite getting a well-aimed clout in the stomach, managed to firmly snatch Daria by the throat with his left hand and squeezed hard.

Daria let out a choked and high-pitched wail as she fought, struggled, and writhed, but Luxord's grip was like iron as his fingers dug even deeper, tightening around her voice box and neck until the bones threatened to crack. And as fierce as Daria was, her arms and legs were too short to reach her attacker as Luxord then savagely lifted the child by her neck up in the air, dangling her thrashing feet well above the floor. Before she could do anything else, Luxord summoned a card into his free hand and swiped horizontally across the child's neck, right above her collarbone.

_Splork!_

Luxord felt the slightest sensations of triumphant victory, of happy satisfaction, as he saw the head cleanly tumble and drop off gruesomely from the severed neck, of watching the body go into the spasms of death before twitching a bit and going limp. With a cry, the Gambler of Fate tossed aside the corpse of the dead Misfit adolescent next to the bloody skull.

One down, five more to go. But no question about it. The Superior would be immensely pleased.

Sneering and with parts of his black robes splattered with dark blood, Luxord managed to hover and levitate off the ground as he glided through the smoke clouds to see Gambit, Shannon, and Beach Head warily propping themselves up on their feet, still sparkling with flicking amounts of dust. A retreating orb of yellow marked Tinkerbell's departure as she flew towards the battle with Roxas where Black Widow was slowly dying from being stabbed in the heart.

So the little pixie managed to heal the trio of injured heroes. Well, no matter. He actually managed to kill one of them, and one of the "acclaimed" Keyblade wielders to boot! Clearly, that mutt named Pluto made a grave misjudgment in choosing the Delgado Triplets as capable warriors.

"Looks like I won this hand," Luxord sneered as he was about to let loose another barrage of cards, but then he stopped short at the smiles on Shannon and Gambit's faces, and then to his further puzzlement, before his very eyes, he saw the three, unmistakable forms of Daria (especially unbelievable), Quinn, and Brittany Delgado. All three girls were up and accounted for, alive and well, congregating with their other allies.

The Trinity was still whole.

Luxord was stunned, momentarily taken aback with confusion as his mouth dropped slightly agape.

"Gotcha, Luxie…" crowed Daria sweetly with a voice that had malicious glee underneath the childish tone.

But then who did he just kill…?

It was then that the corpse of "Daria" within the clouds of smoke opened its eyes, revealing a red glow as it began to pull its head back to its body, healing itself as it shape-shifted into something much, much bigger and meaner amid the fading clouds of smoke and fog. Though getting one's head chopped off certainly hurt like Hell, it was probably worth what was going to happen next…

"No you haven't…" Martian Manhunter said in a stern and icy voice, fully recovered, changing his form from his initial disguise as Daria Delgado into a now hulking, bipedal alien with wrinkled green skin of iron, one single black-and-yellow eye like a Cyclops giant. Broad shoulders, and powerfully muscled hands and arms with sharp, lethal-looking claws, standing a full twenty-five feet tall as J'onn ascended quickly and emerged out of the miasma like a terrifying jack-in-the-box, almost as menacing and ominous as the Hulk. And actually hovering above the poor Organization member who turned around to late to see that it wasn't Daria that he thought he killed. The last sight Luxord saw was the transformed J'onn bringing his powerful and clawed fist to Luxord's sternum with a picture-perfect uppercut.

_**Pow!**_

Luxord let out a pained grunt, the air expelling forcefully out of his lungs from the punch that was strong enough to send him flying upwards in the air and defying gravity. In fact, the Justice League Founder hit the Gambler of Fate with enough force to send a Sentinel flying of its feet. And J'onn struck so hard that Luxord went flying directly into the ceiling above their heads.

_**CRASH!**_

And through it into the next floor's ceiling above.

_**Crash!**_

And through **that** second ceiling _as well_ before coming to a bloody and crippling halt at the third ceiling he collided with, the impact echoing faintly to their ears.

_Wham!_

"Hmph. Knocked him outta the park…" Beach Head commented in a deadpanned voice (giving praise wasn't his thing).

"And into the next room from the sound of it," quipped Quinn with an afterthought, "And will you look at the size of that hole…"

"Martian Manhunter, **SMASH!**" cheered Brittany enthusiastically, earning a look of exasperation from the extraterrestrial.

"I am not the Hulk, Ms. Delgado," J'onn pointed out as he promptly reverted back to his regular Martian form, though one could tell one corner of his mouth was edging upwards ever so slightly, almost a slight tic.

"Don't deny it, J'onn! We saw you smile!" leered Daria.

"That was a twitch."

"Think we killed that _connarde_?" Gambit asked hesitantly and with great unease, readying five playing cards between his fingers again in preparation and caution. Even though the sneak attack was successful, he didn't know what to expect from Luxord. Shannon also readied a shaft in her crossbow as well, although she was slightly more hopeful.

"If we're lucky," the brown-haired girl added with some budding promise, but then Luxord's maniacal and suave laughter echoed all around their position as their part of the battlefield grew dim, murky with rising shadows, as if someone was decreasing the lights. It was enough to even make Trinity shiver a bit from the screeching. And alas, within a shimmer of darkness, Luxord reappeared through a portal a mere twenty or so feet away from the group, his eyes narrowed but his goateed smile wide and calculating as he expertly juggled a set of cards in between his hands.

"One thing you need to learn, Private!" snapped Beach Head with annoyance, "In our battles with the Heartless, we're _**rarely**_ lucky!"

"Ah yes, stupid me…" Shannon responded back with a tinge of sarcasm before she and her two male allies charged, firing the bolt in her weapon before effortlessly taking out another wooden shaft from her quiver and reloading her crossbow as she sprinted with amazing speed. And Martian Manhunter and Trinity joined alongside her, with the Justice Leaguer flying across the floor like a rocket and the girls bringing forth their magical Keyblades with a flurry of pink flashes of light. But Luxord just proved to be a rather troublesome opponent as he then tossed out all the cards in his hands with a simple, upwards flick of his wrist.

"I think not," Luxord smoothly drawled, his voice barely hiding the slime on his smile, as the cards grew and grew to mammoth proportions, as large as dining tables, before they hovered horizontally on air and began twirling horizontally like tops and propeller blades at slanted angles. As homing missiles, the cards began to speedily gyrate towards the heroes from all sides, twirling in circular yet irregular patterns and threatening to slice them to pieces. And to the sextet's worry, they were instantly closed in from all sides as the razor-sharp planks surrounded them from all directions. Martian Manhunter, remembering how he couldn't phase through Marluxia's scythe in the siege of Nova Roma, knew better than to think this would be any different. Grabbing a tense Shannon and Beach Head around the waists (which caused said Joe to squawk in protest), the Justice League founder phased all three of them through the floor at the drop of a hat, the metal slabs overlooking them as they slashed empty air. Gambit yelped before he gymnastically leapt and surprisingly positioned his body to weave in between two cards in midair, the perimeters nearly coming inches close to nicking him. And with several more acrobatic leaps and bounds, the Cajun skillfully managed to work his way through the Nobody weapons to safety. Without even a scratch (much to Luxord's outraged disbelief).

"Us Cajuns are slippery ones, eh?" bragged Gambit before he let loose several hammer missiles from his glovatrix, firing in quick succession and without warning. Luxord snarled with surprise and a few curses as he created a card to block the incoming ballistics, regrettably allowing one or two of the rockets to struck his thigh and shoulder. With a wave of his the gambler's hands, the nearest cards instantly veered and began spinning towards Gambit who had to pole-vault with his staff hard in order to get a head start from being decapitated. But this was exactly what Shannon, Beach Head, and J'onn needed as a distraction as the Martian phased himself and his friends out of the floor behind the Gambler of Fate, allowing Wayne to act as he took aim and fired another rocket from his bazooka at the diverted Luxord's back. The white-haired opponent roared in pain as the explosion knocked him forward, the heat eating bits of flesh from his back, before Luxord sent a group of the propeller blades to rush directly for the trio. Immediately, J'onn phased himself and Shannon and Beach Head through the floor again before the deadly objects could cut them.

Trinity then surprisingly managed to find a way past this assault as their friends were distracting the Thirteenth Order hoodlum.

"Hover mode, girls!" Quinn called out, and instantly, she and her sisters joined hands before levitating and flying high above the air, soaring above and out of reach of the revolving and orbiting cards that were trying to mow them and their allies down. And Luxord then realized too late what the Terror Trio were plotting to do as their eyes began to glow an eerie white.

"_Bad, Luxord, bad!_" Daria, Quinn, and Brittany chanted jarringly in unison, their joined psyche generating a blitz of untapped telepathic energy, crackling like hot electricity as it was released as a single white bolt of psychic lightning then struck the Organization soldier. Luxord hissed and grunted in pain as the electric energy snaked through his psyche and being, cutting deep into his core. Remarkably however, the Thirteenth Order member showed a hardy resilience to the mutant attack as he still managed to bellow out a command. Arching his head backwards and summoning the cards all around him to go spiraling everywhere in a complete spherical trajectory, Luxord aimed his weapons at both the heroes on the ground and at Trinity who were floating high in the air. Now there wasn't anyplace above or below that could provide a safe distance from the razor-sharp blades threatening to lacerate and section them from all angles, spinning, gyrating, and slicing anyone and anything in their trajectories.

"Yeow! OK, psychic lightning doesn't work that well on these creeps!" cried out Brittany as the three girls with joined hands managed to veer hard to the left to avoid one card that came close to slicing their lower torsos. As Martian Manhunter then ingeniously managed to lift Beach Head and carry him into the air so that the Joe Ranger could fire several missiles from above directly at their antagonist, Remy then had a perfect idea as his hands transferred a tremendous amount of kinetic energy into the core of his telescopic staff, the metal rod glimmering and slowly but surely loading up in pressure (thanks to a little modification from Forge, Robin of the Teen Titans, and Dr. Strange).

"Shannon, need a boost towards that card-rat!" Gambit yelled, and wonderfully, as trained in the Danger Room, the brown-haired girl managed to find a relatively clear position before she cupped her hands together and stopped down, bending her knees. Without needing a prompt, the Cajun stepped into the Slayer's hands, and with all of her super-human strength, she gave him a tremendous push into the air towards their adversary.

"Alley-oop!" crowed the Ghostbuster as the X-Man flipped acrobatically into the air directly at the Nobody who was doing his best to avoid both the psychic lightning from Trinity and the enhanced missiles from Beach Head's rocket-launcher. Luxord didn't even sense Gambit until he heard the teenager's body approaching the ground a few feet behind him.

And with a swift movement, Gambit brought down the butt of his _bo_ staff hard upon the ground, releasing all the kinetic energy from it and transferring it directly to Luxord and his surroundings…

KAWHOOOM!

Luxord was instantly sent flying off his feet, the ground literally shoving the black-cloaked solider rocketing into the air as the kinetic energy forced the man and any surrounding cards to geyser up violently towards the ceiling. It was like being subjected to a sonic boom. And the massive rush and propulsion of the strike causing the man to go airborne was exactly why the Delgado Triplets needed as Luxord was perfectly set up in their line of fire.

"You're finished, Card-Man!" cried Daria as she held her Trichrona Keyblade up, shouting, "All for one…!"

"And one for all!" finished Quinn and Brittany as they joined the tips of their respective Keyblades along with their sisters before the triplets all yelled their attack in unison, slowly hovering back down towards the tiled floor.

"TRINITY LIMIT!"

And as the three tips of the Keyblades flashed with a bright twinkle of pink time magic, poor Luxord was about to experience it first-hand and up close and as was sent flying into the very epicenter of the Keyblade attack.

FLASH!

Luxord howled in agony as he caught the brunt of the time magic detonation in the back, engulfed by a haze of pink light. The discharge ate away easily at his body, burning it while at the same time, tearing away at his life and actually making him feel sluggish, old, and heavy as lead. And thanks to the magical attack, the gyrating blades of metal stopped and wobbled out of control, disappearing into whispers of black smoke and essence, leaving Gambit, Beach Head, Shannon, and Martian Manhunter free and out of danger as the attacks honing in on them were nullified. And thanks to Trinity's Keyblade attack, a mid-air and disoriented Luxord was in prime for a beat-down.

The Justice League founder struck first as he zoomed towards the Organization XIII soldier in a manner like Superman, fists outstretched and flying a few feet above the ground as he targeted his sights on Luxord.

BAM!

Luxord learned the hard way that on terms of strength, J'onn was almost nearly even with Superman as he felt the alien's fist thump him hard in the rib-cage directly in his sternum, causing him to hunch over as his spine cracked and bent out of shape. He was in so much pain that he barely noticed the small glass vial that the Charmed Ones gave to J'onn before the battle.

But the Martian wasn't finished as he furiously and gravely rammed his left elbow into the space in between Luxord's shoulder blades, shattering the backbone even more with the simple move, before ramming his knee into Luxord's stomach, delivering a haymaker into the man's face, and then making a joined fist with both hand before sweep punching his opponent high into the air like a volleyball.

All in the span of one second. You had to not blink in order to catch each and every move. And as the bloodied and broken form of the Thirteenth Order soldier was hurled into the air, Martian Manhunter transformed and enlarged automatically into what appeared to be a gigantic, flying alien snake. With a thick, ribbed hide of green scales and yellow markings, four feet with tough, sharp talons like an eagle, a snake-like jaw full of serrated teeth, and red eyes, J'onn shape-shifted into a perfect likeness of the reptilian extraterrestrial, Antares, from the Clanetary System.

Or as Trinity would later describe as: a near-replica of the Pokémon, Rayquaza.

Bellowing a deafening and guttural roar, the dragon fluidly swooped down after Luxord. Weaving seamlessly in the air before it viciously snatched the battered Organization enemy in its teeth, the serpent flew upwards, narrowly colliding with Raven of the Teen Titans as she was busy trying to telekinetically flatten Saïx. And the wicked Luxord had no choice but to howl in agony as he felt the dragon's teeth gnawing hard into his body, crunching, chewing, and ripping his bones and flesh easily. J'onn mouth was now dripping with fluid and gore, but the flying monster stubbornly kept biting as hard as it could while coiling in the air high above the warzone, with the Leaguer intent on finishing this as quickly as…

_**Rumble, krakow!**_

J'onn then automatically sensed the incoming projectiles of the shrapnel caused from when Kurama the Spirit Detective clashed against the Organization member, Lexaeus. Some of the arriving rubble were stones as large as bowling balls as certainly painful looking considering that they were serrated, pointy and uneven. With less than a second of time, the Martian immediately phased his molecular structure into nothing, a moment right before a torrential rainfall of brown hail pelted his body, almost as painful as any sandstorm. Thankfully, it was just in time, and all the rubble and sharp debris passed through him in his ghost-form, leaving his safe and unharmed.

Unfortunately, this additionally gave Luxord the chance he need to escape to safety while formulating another way to counterstrike his foes. As a result, J'onn completely lost his target out of his grip. And though ripped and gnawed to pieces, the soldier from the Thirteenth Order was still spry and healthy enough to send a barrage of twenty or so gigantic cards upwards the ceiling with a wave of his hand. Still preoccupied and agitated from the dirt covering its face, the Antares alien was unable to dodge the flying onslaught of swords. And as a result, the Justice Leaguer bellowed like a wounded, dying animal as he now has the cards embedded into the bone of his skull, jutting out like shards of glass, as well as one limb and the end of his tail sliced off in addition to the numerous gashes and lacerations that bled through his scaly hide.

With the Justice Leaguer distracted with his serious injuries, Luxord managed to recover enough as he floated downwards towards the floor, the messy gore and blood on his robes vanishing as the torn flesh and skin magically knitted and mended together. As time-consuming as the process was, Luxord was undoing the damage that Martian Manhunter did on him, taking the time to summon a card to block the incoming bazooka missile that Beach Head sent his way. As the missile struck the card and exploded in a furious discharge of metal and fire, Luxord frowned and snapped his fingers with his free hand, instantly summoning a bombardment of four dice above the Joe's head, rumbling down like gigantic boulders.

"Shit!" cursed the Joe Ranger as he sprinted and dove out of the way, bazooka in arms awkwardly, tumbling and rolling in an evasive maneuver. Thankfully, it worked as the sudden avalanche of heavy dice missed crushing him into a pulp by a second or two, crashing hard against the metal ground. However, as Luxord was attacking the G.I. Joe soldier, Trinity and Gambit struck forward with a combination of glovatrix missiles and energy cards, the dual attack streamlining directly at the evil Nobody. Snarling, Luxord surprisingly sent a few cards of his own to rush out and directly intercept and counter the heroes' assault. There was a furious upsurge of power as the magical cards struck the miniature rockets and kinetic streams, and much to the Triplets and Remy's collective surprise, the barrage of Nobody cards tore through the smoke and fire and headed precisely towards their position. And to make it worse, a few additional dice were tossed into the mix of the gambler's battalion, rumbling and rolling at amazing speeds.

"Yeow!" wailed the Triplets at intervals as they broke apart and scurried out of the way.

"Remy'll never going to look at a 'Dungeons-and-Dragons' board the same way ever again!" the X-Man gasped as he used his staff to narrowly block two cards and a mammoth dice from hitting his body, and although he succeeded, the momentum of such large object pushed him hard onto his back, flying several feet and leaving him winded. As Luxord was about to guide the airborne weapons to hone in and surround both the Misfit and X-Men adolescents, he heard a soft but audible whistling noise behind him. Swiveling around, he backed away just in time to narrowly (by a few centimeters) dodge Shannon's left cross that was aimed at his head. Fluidly and moving like the wind, Luxord managed to also succeeded to dodge the girl's consecutive left elbow and crescent kick to the face. But she was too close for comfort in order to effectively ward her off with his own weapons, so the Gambler of Fate strategically retreated as he was then airborne.

"I cannot begin to fathom your ineptitude!" chortled Luxord as he hurriedly jumped away, making a high leap into the air and shielding himself from two arrows coming his way with a card shield, "After everything you've seen and after how many of your precious friends perished at the invasion of Slayer Academy, you're _still _resorting to childish punches and arrows? You Slayers are clearly daft! You could never - !"

But what Luxord was about to brag was lost as Shannon, taking the precious two or three seconds while her opponent was airborne, hurriedly took out two crossbow shafts she specially reserved in her quiver, nested in a separate compartment. That was because these wooden shafts were modified so that instead of a metal, sharpened tip, they contained small, fragile glass orbs ingeniously fastened and glued at the heads, both filled with an indigo and green potion specially brewed by the Charmed Ones and Dr. Fate of the Justice League. And in the middle of the white-haired charlatan's tirade, she loaded her crossbow and fired both of the special arrows, one after the other in hasty succession. And Luxord foolishly didn't see it coming as he still held the card in front of his body to obstruct the arriving projectiles.

_Kapoof! Kapoof!_

The explosion of magical energy made a fabulous explosion of smoke, emerald-colored fire, and vapor of poisonous mandrake that instantly not only broke the card Luxord was holding into pieces, but the fumes and gases raised huge welts across his skin and made his body feel like as if he was breathing in shards of glass as the cloud-bank covered his body. Additionally, his cloak was now blazing brightly as he was literally set on fire thanks to the potions being exposed to open air the minute they broke against the shield. Roaring and cursing, the red faced and sputtering Luxord was now wobbling uneasily on his feet as though drunk out of his senses. This was exactly how Beach Head managed to fire a new payload from his bazooka, the circular and metal orb flying like a bullet before it unfolded itself into a glowing and thick net and directly covered over his target.

"AAAAAAAAAAAA!" howled Luxord as the net instantly began to crackle and flare up upon contact.

"Like it, you rat?" snarled Beach Head as he lowed his bazooka, "Hope it stings extra well asshole, since that net can even hold Leomon when we first used it!"

Luxord wouldn't doubt it. Judging by how badly the net stuck to his skin and instantly seared it like red-hot iron as ultraviolet radiation and magical energy tore through his being, it was safe to assume that Luxord wouldn't be able to escape out of the trap. And to the black-robed man's further disappointment, the Nobody couldn't warp and vanish out of the net, the mystical web actually anchoring him in place. Leaving Luxord a sitting duck as he then, despite the third-degree burns, managed to summon two gigantic cards in his hands.

A certain vampire slayer was however more than ready on the sidelines…

"Gambit, need a charge!" Shannon called out, holding out her crossbow with a loaded round, and smirking, the X-Man tapped the head of the arrow with one finger, instantly loading it with kinetic energy and causing the entire metal head to glow in a pink glimmer. Exactly like they have done once before at the war for the Nexus in San Francisco.

Shannon simply aimed and fired, the crossbow bolt leaving a trail of pink light in its wake as Luxord finally managed to hack away the magical net that was trapping him with a swift slash of his two cards…

_Shhhiiipp!_

**Kapaff!**

There was a messy and bloody discharge of red matter and Luxord screamed in a combination of agonized rage and fury. Shannon couldn't help but smirk in satisfaction as she lowered her crossbow and calmly took out another shaft from the quiver lashed behind her.

She said with quite a bit of smug snark, "Word of advice, butt-head: don't underestimate a vampire slayer."

Luxord hissed a foul oath under his breath as he gingerly touched the arrow that was now sticking out of his messy and gruesomely torn eye socket. And thanks to Gambit's addition with his mutant powers, the arrow's explosion also caused a large and gigantic exit wound out of the back of Luxord's skull, blood and matter spattering as if a metal bullet went right through Luxord's head. Shannon had directly fired her shaft so it would strike through his eyeball and sink directly inside his skull through the eyehole cavity. A most lethal, if not indeed gruesome, injury. And of course, Gambit had to add in his two cents as well as he then knelt down next to the brown-haired Slayer and touched the marble floor with his fingers. Instantly, the potential energy of the stone and tile was rapidly increasing into kinetic energy. And with great care, Gambit forced the stream of charged particles to travel and traverse the buildup from his position all across the floor, moving like a snake, directly underneath the spot of the Organization card-wielder himself.

There was a sudden flash of pink light as the kinetic energy reached critical mass…

_**KAWHHOOOMMMM!**_

Luxord was once again sent flying, far, far away from the duo's position as he skidded to a stop painfully on his back and feeling his cloak bunch painfully underneath. And thanks to the massive eruption from Gambit, one of Luxord's feet was now completely obliterated, the leg now having nothing more than a bloody stump. But the pain of the dismemberment was easily forgotten as Luxord raised his good eye upwards and focused to see the terrifying image of a now healed Martian Manhunter flying directly towards him. With a stern expression of determined anger on his face, J'onn swooped down like a hawk for the kill and with one powerful fist cocked back.

WHUMP! _CRUNCH!_

J'onn was stunned. His fist was perfectly aimed at the foe's head, and yet all he struck was the marble floor, his arm sinking up to his muscled elbow as he literally punched through the titanium and steel ground layer. But the Gambler of Fate was nowhere to be seen, and all that was left was instead of a corpse was a few lingering wafts of darkness from the portal that enveloped the warrior from the Thirteenth Order.

J'onn's enemy disappeared into thin air.

Martian Manhunter blinked, jolted by the rude surprise. This foe could still teleport? Beach Head apparently thought the same thing as he angrily whirled on the Justice Leaguer Founder (Shannon, Gambit, and Trinity ran up towards them), thinking that J'onn screwed up or forgot.

"_**What the hell?**_ I thought you hit him with that anti-teleportation potion the Charmed Ones gave you, you dumb, green moron!"

J'onn frowned at last, starting to feel a bit of anger bubbling underneath his calm exterior. By the Red Planet, Beach Head was unquestionably the one G.I. Joe soldier many disliked (and with good reason) as he returned coldly with affront, "I **did**."

"Oh, you mean _that_ was what you pitiful little concoction was supposed to do with me? I was wondering why your Martian friend_ tried_ to break it against my skin when he first assaulted me," Luxord's voice interrupted the potential argument. As the six heroes looked up, they realized with a spine-chilling realization of why the man in the black cloak seemed so smug as he pointed to the area of his chest, revealing why Luxord was still just as powerful as before.

There, frozen in time and space as if someone pressed the "pause" button was the small glass vial Martian Manhunter smashed against Luxord's body, the shining and complicated potion scattered in droplets and bits of glass. It was the same bottle that J'onn used when he first attacked Luxord after Trinity used their Keyblade attack (it was one of the protocols they planned as part of their battle tactics).

The bottle _did_ break when it struck against Luxord's skin, but because of its stationary position, not a single drop of the magical potion even touched Luxord's body and cloak.

"He stopped it! It's in temporal stasis, like Piper's freezing powers!" Quinn exclaimed as her scanner showed her a close-up of the damning image.

"Wait…he can manipulate time _too_?" gasped Shannon, her eyes wide. That was a new one; all they knew beforehand was that this particular Thirteenth Order soldier knew how to use his cards and gigantic playing dice as weapons or for defensively hiding. But he never showed anything like _this_ before. And Luxord wasn't done yet as he then invoked another magical spell, creating a specter of a enormous clock face above his head before the numbers on the clock turned as red as blood, creating several loud, booming bass rings of a bell.

"A good player always saves his best moves for last," the white-haired Nobody scorned as he waved aside the disgusting potion away from his body, the precious implement tossed and wasted against the wall. And it was the _**only **_anti-teleportation potion J'onn had. The heroes' reflexes were very good. Shannon and Beach Head were aiming already with their loaded weapons while J'onn was just about to fly back towards his enemy while Gambit and Trinity were loading their glovatrixes. But then the phantom clock above him finished striking its death tolls, and with a flash of light, all six of the allies of the Keybladers were stuck, held in temporal stasis and unable to move.

Using the same magic, Luxord froze time on his six opponents.

Now Gambit, Beach Head, J'onn, Shannon, and Trinity were all perfectly lined up like little ducks in a row, perfect for shooting.

"I've been waiting long enough for this chance. I win," sneered the white-haired man in the black cloak as with a wave of his gloved hand, a stream of fifty-two cards materialized from thin air, each of them growing in size and lethality exponentially by the moment before they flew forward in a circular line pattern, enclosing over and over like a spinning top, a spiral of blades. Each and every one prepared to quarter and messily rent all of the frozen heroes to pieces, each one of the Keyblade allies stuck and sitting…

"_**SURPRISE!**_" yelled Trinity as they and the rest of their group suddenly sprinted out of their frozen positions, dropping their charade immediately before they all sidestepped, flew over, or dodge-rolled out of the line of cards barreling towards them at the last possible second.

It couldn't have been any sooner. The salvo of rectangular knives whizzed by them by several inches, the razor-sharp metal edges of the Organization cards like flying guillotine blades, no doubt leaving a messy pile of dismembered and decapitated body parts had they stayed frozen. But the seven allies of the Keyblades didn't even stop to ponder that close brush with death as they all struck immediately. In one smooth a precise movement, a unified stream of crossbow shafts, kinetic cards, and a discharge from Beach Head's bazooka joined forces, multiplying their intensity and power by several times before the single surge roared towards their target. And yet before Luxord could try to teleport out of the way…

Daria, Quinn, and Brittany acted much quicker as they hurriedly pointed their forefingers at the suave enemy as shouted in unison, "Stopra Time Freeze!"

Ka-sshhhiiiinnnnggg!

And to Luxord's horror, now **he** was the one frozen in temporal stasis, shimmering in a pink light. Right before the energy projectiles hit him with full strength…

_**Kabooom!**_

Remaining helpless, Luxord had no choice as the heat and shrapnel painfully ate away at his flesh and perforated his skin before shoving him backwards in the air, but that was nowhere as agonizing as what was about to happen as J'onn was flying a bit above his position on high. With three terror triplets gathered in his arms.

"Banzai!" yelled Daria, Brittany, and Quinn in unison as Martian Manhunter dropped them, allowing Trinity to fall towards the Organization foe, Trichrona Keyblades raised and ready. And thanks to their momentum of free-fall, Luxord's poor form had no choice but to be subjected to the weapons as the three female adolescents literally beat him down.

Biff! Slash! Pow, pow! Whack! Whacka, whacka, whacka! Pow!

"And…" called out Daria meaningfully.

"_**SPIKE!**_" yelled Quinn and Brittany in unison as all three of the mutant girls slammed their Keyblades hard onto Luxord's bleeding and battered body with all of their strength with a downwards, overhead strike. And like a volleyball, the points of Trinity's weapons sent Luxord dropping like a stone towards the floor, solidly crashing back first. With bone-breaking impact. Trinity remained levitating in the air, joining hands and admiring their handiwork along with the rest of their friends.

J'onn actually had a small smirk on his green face as he leered uncharacteristically at the Gambler of Fate, "As the Flash would say…'you got served'."

"Mr. Manhunter, no offense, but street really doesn't go well out of your mouth," smirked Shannon, inwardly embarrassed for the extraterrestrial. That was akin to actually having the Dark Knight of Gotham laughing like a loon.

"Looks like our protection wards still hold, you little prick," Beach Head said bluntly as he aimed with his bazooka again.

"Sucks to be you, eh, _homme_?" sneered Gambit smugly as he readied several kinetic cards in one hand.

Luxord snarled several dark oaths to himself. Blast the magical allies of the Misfits! They were far more competent at preparations and supernatural safeguards than the Superior and the Inner Circle anticipated! But as the G.I. Joe and the X-Man fired, he disappeared yet again into a portal of darkness, avoiding the attacks as they missed him completely and exploded harmlessly. And yet before the others could react, to add further insult to injury, another pack of flying cards and dice rushed out of nowhere, multitudes of them in a full-out saturation attack. Not only was it overwhelming, but with so many of the mammoth blades and boulders dropping and zooming from all directions, it made escape all the more impossible.

"Damn it!" cursed Beach Head as he couldn't find a clear path away from the rolling dice and cards trying to surround and attack him, but in spite of this, Trinity then managed to discreetly swoop down like small, joined hawks from the air, and in a desperate effort, lift Beach Head out of danger before the lethal objects could crush them.

"_Oof!_ You seriously need to cut down on the French Fries, Beach Head!" Quinn objected, her arm feeling like she was lugging a pack of bowling balls as she flew.

Wayne ignored the jab before he then barked out angrily, outraged and certainly violated, "_**Don't touch me there!**_"

"Trust me, I didn't want to!" snapped back Brittany as she tried to grip a better hold, "But we can't drop you, and it's hard trying to carry you one-handed! Ugh, I need disinfectant after this!"

As J'onn was busy trying to outmaneuver himself after from a trajectory of cards tailing him and as the Slayer Shannon was acrobatically flipping away from three dice trying to hit her, Remy then managed to miraculously extract himself from the blitz. Only to find the now healing and recovered Luxord in his sight. It was only the attacks by Trinity's Keyblades made the most last impression as the gashes and bleeding lacerations took longer to heal. Despite that, the white-haired man was practically ready for another round as he then spotted the X-Man.

Remy then decided to confidently try his luck.

"Hey, Luxord," Gambit smiled, his red eyes flashing with kinetic energy and passion, "How about another card game? You and Gambit, one on one."

Ah, now the X-Man was talking…

"A challenge, is it?" Luxord said rather arrogantly with amusement, his silky voice showing some glee in the prospect. With such an invitation, how could the Gambler of Fate even refuse? He loved playing chances.

"Gambit, _**stop!**_" yelled J'onn from above as he flew down from the skies above, upon seeing the Cajun mutant about to subject himself into a deadly gamble. J'onn didn't know exactly what Remy was doing, and this was in no way part of the approved battle plans they made in the past, but the alien was not going to just stand by and allow the teenager to make a foolish act of bravado. However, with a snap of his fingers, another batch of razor-sharp cards rushed forwards at J'onn in a widespread trajectory, and Luxord was free to play, unhindered.

"Pick a card, any card…" Luxord chuckled, with one gloved hand rubbing his chin before his cloaked form vanished in a plume of gray and white smoke, forming a gigantic time card to appear with Luxord's image superimposed on one side of its surface. Before Gambit's eyes, the single metal plank multiplied into seven separate cards, all of them displaying the symbol of the silver Nobody sigil in the background along with the face of a clock, all the numbers in Roman numerals. With a flourish, the cards swiveled and rotated around each other, interchanging and switching positions so rapidly that you would miss the movements if you even blinked once.

Like a game, the shuffling of the seven cards spun and spun. Gambit just remained standing, looking with such intensity in his red-and-black gleaming eyes, concentrating, and his face a perfect blank expression.

"Gambit, stop! Get away!" yelled J'onn in warning as he continued trying to fly past the cards Luxord sent after him, but from being surrounded in all sides, the Martian had no choice but to phase himself into the wall to avoid the incoming razor-sharp slabs of metal. The mutant youth ignored the Justice Leaguer's command as he then saw all the cards spring up and float around in the air lazily, their arrangement finished and all the slabs levitating as if strung up on a clothesline on a windy day. All the cards were slowly hovering above the ground, each one an exact replica with no way to tell them apart.

Gambit knew that Luxord was waiting for him to screw up. But then his eyes were still honed in on one particular Nobody time card that was at the far right, second to the back.

Bingo.

"Cajun Strike!" yelled Gambit as he then did a fantastic forward-slash with his staff at the card directly in front of him followed by a combination moveset of an upwards slash, a cross-sweep, a downwards slash and jab, finished with a powerful stab right into the dead center, the metal pole a mere blur as it flew. Robin and Ororo's lessons on b_o_ techniques were really coming in handy.

Whack! _Packa, packa, packa!_ **WHOK!**

And upon the instant Gambit struck the card, the card (and the duplicates) instantly vanished into smoke…to reveal Luxord taking a rather painful beat-down as the telescopic pole hit his body in several vital points.

Miraculously, Remy managed to choose the right card that was hiding Luxord.

Luxord was unable to do anything but grunt and endure the numerous staff attacks that the X-Man littered upon his slowly bleeding and broken body, being poked, herded, and shoved aside at lightning speeds. And with a simple pole-vault and flying kick to the torso, Gambit easily shoved the poor man hard, easily causing the collarbones to shatter upon impact.

Remarkably, despite the blood pooling down his face and forehead, staining his white hair and beard, Luxord was still standing on his own two feet. Slouched down and with one hand gripping his bruised thigh, the soldier's grey eyes bored wrathfully at Remy.

"You're far cleverer than I thought, X-Man…" the Thirteenth Order member couldn't help but admire with much icy resentment as he cracked his dislocated shoulder back into place with a wince-worthy pop.

"Please, _mon ami_," Gambit couldn't help but sneer as he delivered an impressive and wince-worthy blow across Luxord's face with his staff, causing the gambler's head to crack violently to the side, "Gambit is a bettin' man and a thief. No thief worth his salt wouldn't know his way through a game of cards."

"You play the game well, vermin," snarled Luxord with the blood pouring out of his broken nose and his mouth (now missing a few teeth from the stave), madly teleporting out of the path of Remy's repeated attempts to gouge and bash his head in with his _bo_ before reappearing at a safe distance high above and attempting to quarter the X-Man into a mess of bloody pieces. Luxord readied five cards in his hands…

BAM!

…and was helplessly punched to the far wall, crashing mightily into it with bone-breaking impact, face-first. The riposte from Martian Manhunter actually snapped Luxord's spine in half at once, and not to mention that he left a deep impression in the metal wall due to the superhuman strength behind J'onn's punch. The founder of the League managed to finally intervene in the nick of time as he then shot Gambit below the evil eye.

Had anyone been watching, he or she would readily admit that being on the end of a death glare by the Martian was an unnerving experience. When J'onn got thoroughly annoyed (and he was normally the most patient of the Justice League), you'd better watch out.

J'onn was clearly not pleased.

"Help the others. Destroy as many of the cards as you can, and lessen the throng so that they can hurry here, and we can all provide a combined attack. I'll hold him off," the green-skinned alien ordered, sidetracking.

"Remy **had** him!" the X-Man protested, only to quell against the stoic yet angry look from the Justice Leaguer (but there would _certainly_ be a talk much later). Leaving the reprimand for now, J'onn flew towards the Thirteenth Order member, fists outstretched. Frustrated and certainly more than reluctant at being told what to do, Gambit then took out an entire deck of fifty two playing cards from one pocket before charging all of the objects at once. With a flick of his hand, the X-Man sent all of the kinetic cards towards the dices and cards in a brilliant, widespread blitz, the air raining down with energy projectiles. And with impressive accuracy, each one of the fifty-two cards actually struck and detonated against a card or a dice, easily destroying it with a furious discharge of pink flashes of light and bio-kinetic energy. And due to Gambit's assistance, it lessened the throng of Luxord's battalion significantly, allowing Shannon, Beach Head, and Trinity to gain some respite and back away safely.

"Good shot, Gambit!" Shannon gasped, her heart pounding. Beach Head was (not surprisingly) less than thankful as he berated the X-Man while Trinity set him down safely to the floor.

"And you couldn't have done that _**sooner**_?"

Gambit glared at the Joe, fighting the urge to flip him off as he wordlessly sent several more kinetic cards towards a throng of blades that were spinning towards the Delgado Triplets. Shannon and Beach Head joined in on clearing a path through the oversized monstrosities, potion bottles and missiles flying.

Meanwhile, Luxord decided to try his card-shuffling trick again as an effort to gain some time as he teleported back down to the ground, narrowly missing being pummeled by J'onn a second time as the Martian punched through the metal where the Organization warrior was only moments ago. J'onn narrowed his eyes before instantly spotting the telltale, black portal of shadows appearing, allowing a rapidly healing Luxord to walk safely before to the ground before flinging out another pack of magical cards with one hand.

"Look closely…" Luxord cautioned with mock concern as the man's body was engulfed completely by a single, gigantic card, revolving around Luxord's presence, before the single metallic card multiplied into eighteen different Nobody playing cards. With a whisper, the set of silver and white slabs scattered and shuffled flat upon the ground before levitating once again above the floor in thin air. A thick curtain of the imposing objects blanketed the floor in a wide span, a circle of lazily-revolving slabs, showing their silver insignias of the Nobody.

But Luxord was nowhere to be spotted, and aggravatingly enough, he was probably hiding in one of the objects nearby as J'onn landed gracefully to the floor amid the center of the cloud. Unlike Gambit, J'onn didn't have the same mindset (or patience) to dealing with card games.

Annoyed, J'onn then made the fatal mistake of punching through the nearest, floating cards he could reach, thinking that he could merely smash his way through and find Luxord by the process of elimination.

This was a grave mistake, especially since it didn't occur to J'onn that Luxord would have rigged the other cards that he wasn't hiding under…

KABOOOM!

The next thing Martian Manhunter could comprehend, the card he punched through disintegrated and burst into a furious and unexpected discharge of flames, searing red-hot fire. In a blink of an eye, the Justice League Founder was now engulfed in heat, his body now set steadily ablaze.

The extraterrestrial's screams of agony were literally loud enough to be heard throughout the entire foyer, despite the ruckus and chaos and riots going through the entire Shaw Industries complex. The other cards suddenly vanished under the baritone cries as Luxord appeared, vindictively smirking. And then Luxord had to add insult to injury as he called out loudly to his fellow member, Axel, who had just finished zipping past Shipwreck of G.I. Joe and Dragonfly of the Misfits, leaving a dangerous and painful trail of damaging fire in his wake on the floor and burning the two heroes severely.

"A helping hand would be most fortuitous, Axel, my boy!" Luxord called out to his ally, and certainly being charitable, with a flick of his wrist, the spiky, red-haired fire-wielder sent one of his fiery chakram directly at the Leaguer. J'onn didn't even have time to react as he was too busy in searing pain from the blast of the booby-trapped card.

The chakram sped across the floor, a ring of fire and red-hot metal, before it embedded itself into the alien's body from behind, gruesomely cutting into J'onn's muscles and spinal column like a chainsaw and invoking a deluge of blood and tissue and hacked muscle instantly as it splattered in a wide arc.

The Martian's screams were literally music to Axel and Luxord's ears. Lex Luthor was astute when he told the Thirteenth Order that Martian Manhunter's greatest fear of fire was his most vulnerable weakness.

And with a final, sickening, ripping noise, the chakram tore free from the Justice Leaguer's bulk as Martian Manhunter limply collapsed onto the marble tiles, twitching in a pool of blood and shock.

"Burn, baby!" snickered Axel sadistically, taking a fleeting glimpse at the fallen extra-terrestrial who was curdled upon the floor, J'onn's green skin charred and smoking while his limbs and nerves were in absolute agony. And anyone would wince at the way that Martian Manhunter's upper back was now in ribbons, blood and blackened gore in shriveled up shreds and showing the faint, neon-green backbone of J'onn spine through the jagged hole in his shoulders. The fact that the Martian was unable to stand on his own accord probably was a good indication that Axel crippled J'onn.

"And you're gonna get burned right back, jerkface!" snarled Trey the Shaman as he flew upwards on his snowboard and a rising tide of frost and water, directly as a beeline straight for the fire-starter. And with him were Jean Grey and Caridad the Slayer (who was riding alongside Trey on his snowboard, with one arm latched around the teenager's waist).

"Leave J'onn alone, you dumbass!" yelled Caridad as the three teenagers instantly began to attack Axel, forcing him to go on the defense against a volley of sword swipes, telekinesis, and an arctic blizzard of ghostly energy. At the same time, the white-haired Luxord was deciding he needed something different and particularly nasty to deal with the Justice Leaguer, considering he was arguably the most trouble. But those magical protection wards cast by the Charmed Ones and Willow Rosenberg were preventing him from permanently alter the alien's body into an undisruptive and harmless card…

Well then, if he couldn't transform J'onn directly, then perhaps an indirect method would be just as suitable.

With a click of his fingers, the goateed Gambler of Fate just had a particularly wicked notion as he summoned a sudden avalanche of playing dice, each cube as large as a kitchen table, with surfaces has hard as adamantium, and heavy as boulders. Martian Manhunter didn't even have the strength to move his twitching body and throbbing head to see the sudden landslide bearing down on his injured form…

_Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble!_ _**WHAM, WHAM, WHAM, WHAM!**_

Now the Justice League Founder was completely covered by a small pile of the colossal die weapons, burying the green extraterrestrial underneath a mound of rubble that conveniently could have marked the site as a grave. Luxord couldn't help but feel a twinge of satisfaction; the blood splattered all over the floor was now much messier, and he was certain he heard several sickening sounds like wet meat being pounded with a hammer due to his victim being pressed to death by the debris.

"We chaps from the Organization Thirteen like to watch each other's back, my dear Mr. J'onnz," simpered Luxord with an annoying snarkiness as he surveyed his handiwork…

KABOOM!

Luxord has to admit, this time, being slammed head-first into the nearest wall wasn't as painful as before. Heck, the gaping, gigantic flesh wound in his spine got most of his attention in the agony-department while his skull was relatively numb, almost blissful.

"Good, _**because so do we**_, you gambling maggot!" snarled Beach Head as he lowered his bazooka from his sight, the mouth of the cannon still smoking from the explosive discharge he fired directly into the Nobody's back as he was arrogantly and foolishly focused on the now incapacitated Justice Leaguer. Immediately, Luxord was besieged by several kinetic cards via Gambit as they precariously rained down from his position in the air while Shannon rushed forward with her fists and loaded crossbow. At the same time, Quinn and Brittany were furiously hacking, stabbing, and hitting away at any mammoth boulder they could reaching the heaping pile of dice while Daria was furiously observing Luxord and his magic with her handheld computer. Exactly as they planned. With Trinity doing their best to use their scanners to probe and analyze Luxord's attacks with their scanners, the Delgado Triplets would have a better chance of discovering any weaknesses and patterns that could help their friends find a way to stop the Thirteenth Order member for good as well as getting to J'onn in time.

Thus, while Daria, Quinn, and Brittany were able to help Martian Manhunter extract himself from the crushing rockslide of magical objects, Shannon, Gambit, and Beach Head, being the more seasoned and stronger combatants, offered a great opposition and united front to keep Luxord busy.

It was a perfect set-up.

"Oh, Mr. Manhunter, are you OK?" Quinn warbled worriedly as she managed to heave aside a blood-soaked dice off her friend's body, grimacing at the sight of the unconscious and charred body of the Martian, one side of his head badly cracked to the skull-bone and bleeding. In fact, the alien's body was unnaturally red due to the blood smeared all over his skin and the dice crushing him.

Apparently not.

"I don't think the healing potion Dr. Strange gave me is gonna cover this…" Brittany practically wailed softly as she realized that Martian Manhunter's abrasions were far too severe. Quinn then turned to the next best thing as she hollered at the top of her lungs.

"Tinkerbell! _**Tinkerbell, we need you!**_ Need a healer here, unless you wanna wait a bit so we can call an undertaker instead!"

Despite the bad-taste in her humor, to the girl's growing worry and disappointment, the yellow pixie did not answer Quinn's cry for help, lost amid the sea of the various brawls and tussles from the neighboring heroes and enemies surrounding them. The Disney healer was nowhere to be seen…

Concurrently, Luxord was now starting to really get annoyed as he had to avoid another bazooka blast by Beach Head from the sidelines while simultaneously blocking and countering Gambit's many kicks and staff jabs at his chest and head. Nearly tripping from the force of the rocket explosion and feeling the metal_ bo_ crack the left side of his jaw as it whipped past, Luxrod then snarled as he leapt high into the air before summoning a steady stream of giant cards and dice in a saturation attack. Both the Joe and the X-Man hurriedly scattered, the rectangular and cubic slabs of white and silver metal whizzing by. Gambit actually yelped as one card grazed against his arm, drawing a serious amount of blood. And Quinn and Brittany, seeing the tumbling dice coming straight towards them and Beach, valiantly began to use their Keyblades and Telsa force-fields from their glovatrixes to divert and block the sudden avalanche of cubes.

Luxord then summoned more cards in the palm of his hands, only to instantly howl in pain as a crossbow arrow embedded deep into the back of his neck and through the bone. The white-haired gambler snarled as he whirled around, deflecting two additional arrows as they embedded in the giant card his summoned as a shield. Upon detecting Shannon the Slayer down on the ground, with a deft flick of his hands, he sent a battalion of six cards at her position. Instinctively, the teenager strafed madly to the right, only to refocus her attention back to Luxord who was taking full advantage of his distraction to swoop towards the ground like a hawk at amazing speeds before he swiped at the girl with a card, intent on lopping off her head. With a gasp, Shannon managed to block and deflect the card's razor-edge by gripping her crossbow in both hands and raising it in front of her body to parry the incoming blade. There was a sharp crack, but she managed to safely avoid and thwart the card without budging.

Luxord frowned; despite his card being as honed and sharp as any iron sword, by all rights, the girl's crossbow should have instantly been reduced to splinters. He swiped several more times with his card, taking extra care to ensure that his trajectories would aim directly at her weapon. Though he did succeed in hacking directly at the wooden beam and the metal drawstring several times, invoking a trail of hot sparks as steel met steel, Shannon's crossbow was still fully function as she back-flipped backwards several times before taking aim and firing a shaft at Luxord's face (which he blocked easily with his card).

Damn, he couldn't break her weapon. The heroes were a hell of a lot smarter than he anticipated, changing the odds. Still…

Shannon then was blitzed on all sides as six cards surrounded her position, encasing and bordering in a deadly ring of gyrating cutting edges while directly in front of her was an incoming Luxord, wielding a card in each hand like twin swords. The paranormal then realized that if she tried to block the incoming adversary, she'd risk decapitation from the circle of cards homing in on her like a shark. Timing it correctly at the last second, Shannon jumped high and flipped forward like an acrobat over Luxord's head, narrowly avoid the lunge and escaping the tight circle. However, with his other hand, Luxord merely swung his second card upwards with an ascending arc…

"Yeow!" cried out Shannon as she felt the sharp edge slice through her jacket and into her skin, making a light flesh wound from her lower left-side to her right shoulder. Despite the stinging and the blood droplets pattering the floor, the Slayer managed to land on her feet after the somersault before tumbling safely a good distance away before reaching for another arrow from her quiver lashed to her back.

Only to grasp nothing.

The brown-haired girl felt her blood freeze as she could no longer detect and feel the strap lashed to her back containing her arrows. And her eyes widened as she saw why she no longer had her stash of crossbow ammunition as she saw Luxord, with a very haughty smirk on his face, holding the leather back-quiver he swiped from her in one hand. The Organization soldier may not have been able to chop up his opponent, but the card swipe did manage to cut away at the compartment that held Shannon's metal bolts.

"Uh-oh…" Shannon could only meekly whine before the Gambler of Fate blitzed forward, no longer fearing any incoming projectiles as he repeatedly hacked and swung his weapon wildly, adding a couple of flying cards to rush forward like bullets. Barely, the Ghostbuster dodged all of the blows.

"Oh dear, you lost you little quiver…" sneered Luxord as he drawled poisonously with each swing of his weapon, "Now you're completely helpless, little girl. No arrows, no worthwhile attac - "

It was at that split-second that Shannon managed to dash close, ducking underneath the card before she growled and rammed the blunt front end of her crossbow directly into the Nobody's face. Hard. And scoring a direct hit in the cleft area right underneath the man's nose, causing both of his nostrils to release a waterfall of crimson fluid upon contact. Luxord sputtered in surprise as he woozily took two steps back. He definitely wasn't expecting **that**…

The brown-haired girl then let loose a push kick at Luxord's stomach, so fast that she was practically throwing it at superhuman speeds, and Luxord barely had time to sidestep and dodge the foot, but the paranormal was clearly not finished yet. In less than a second, Shannon swiveled around and delivered her elbow at the man's sternum before bringing the blunt end of her crossbow hard in a downwards arc, so fast it was a blur. The black-robed villain avoided the first blow, but didn't see the second one coming.

WHACK!

Now Luxord has a matching bruise on his temple, dripping with blood, to match with his broken nose.

Apparently, a crossbow was _very_ handy as a club in a pinch (and as Faith said herself, any respectable Slayer knows how to improvise). Shannon was clearly fighting tooth and nail with every single tactic and training move she could remember from Wood, Quentin, Phoebe, and Wolverine as she continued to deliver a flurry of punches, kicks, and the occasional attempt to ram the wooden implement into the cloaked enemy's head.

And Shannon wasn't going to be alone as Gambit with his acrobatic ability managed to work his way past the barrage of dice raining down upon the field while Trinity and Beach Head were busily keeping the endless rainfall of enormous dice from hurting themselves and the injured and unconscious Martian Manhunter.

"Now, Shannon! Go to plan '_Duo Kick-1_'!" Remy yelled as he moved in flawlessly with a reverse kick directly into Luxord's stomach, timing it right between slashes from the cards, and winded, the goatee-toting white-haired adversary stumbled back, winded. Shannon immediately followed suit, hoping that she could stick to the strategy that had been hammered into her for many months.

And Luxord was about to experience first-hand how well a Slayer and an X-Man could work in tandem as the two heroes set themselves upon him fearlessly.

Shannon aimed high, jumping in the air with a hitch kick at Luxord's face, and Luxord immediately held one of his cards in front of his person to stop the girl's foot cold, the strike causing a faint vibration to run down the thick, metal slab from the force. But because he was preoccupied with that first attack from the paranormal that he barely avoided the sudden roundhouse kick sent by Gambit at his side. In fact, the mutant's foot came close by less than an inch. Swiveling to the side, Luxord sidestepped both of his foes before he slashed out with his two cards at Gambit's torso, but deftly and without fail, Remy used his bo staff as a pole vault to hoist himself skillfully above the air before delivering a hammer kick at Luxord's head, the cards missing him by a wide margin. Luxord backtracked furiously, but then he suddenly sensed Shannon running him at full speed while Gambit landed like a cat next to him and delivered an impressive crescent kick at the Organization warrior's head. Using his right card to effortlessly bat away at Gambit and counter his blow, the white-haired murderer then swung with his other card in his hand right when the Slayer was just about within killing distance, hoping to shear her in half. But to his shock, the paranormal tucked herself into a ball at the last split second and actually dodged rolled on the floor, avoiding the lash as the razor's edge zoomed over her head and spinning past the Thirteenth Order soldier. And taking advantage of the disruption of Gambit trying to perform a middle and high roundhouse kick combination, Shannon skidding to a stop on the balls of her sneakers before she perform a one handed handstand and kicked with both of her feet in quick succession, catching Luxord hard in the thigh and back. Luxord was pitched forward, right into the sudden calf-kick followed by the double swipes of Gambit's metal staff.

Now that they finally had their enemy of the ropes, Remy and Shannon didn't let up as they delivered kick after kick on their onslaught, this time having little trouble making their hits make contact. The Slayer and the Cajun X-Man worked in synchronously and cooperative tandem. If Gambit aimed high, Shannon aimed low. If Luxord tried to swipe with his cards, one would effortlessly arrest his hand with a deft block or grab, leaving the other to deliver a painful kick at a sensitive area in the gut, kneecap, or head. And when Shannon delivered a painful and powerful vertical kick on Luxord's shoulder, dislocating it, it allowed Remy to acrobatically and smoothly deliver a fantastic series of multiple kicks, consisting of a low, middle, and finished with an axe kick, cracking Luxord's head back and forth excruciatingly. In fact, Luxord's entire face was bloody.

And after a few more displays of teamwork, the Gambler of Fate managed to painfully see through the stars the fleeting and briefest image of Remy and Shannon galloping for momentum and flying high in the air before they delivered a combined flying back kick directly at Luxord's chest…

_**Pow!**_

Their combined force sent the robed man off his feet and soaring back towards the nearest wall, precariously close to the fight with Roxas as Toad and Xi set themselves on him, matching blow for blow with their respective Keyblades. Luckily, the wall was enough to stop his trajectory fully.

**Wham!**

Luxord slid down to the floor, leaving a ghastly trail of smeared, dark blood on the titanium and adamantium surface in his wake. Shannon and Remy were both panting hard from their act of violence, but incredibly satisfied upon achieving what they wanted. And Remy couldn't help but let out a mischievous and knowing smile as he raised the missing quiver of crossbow shafts in his hand in front of the girl's eyes, showing his bounty he selectively lifted out of Luxord's person.

"_Chere_ be missing something, _no_?" the young adult drawled, smiling behind his goatee and laying it heavy on the French accent. Shannon couldn't help but giggle a bit.

"Why thank you, _mon ami_," the vampire slayer returned back in full bantering jest as she deftly looped the sash over her shoulder, glad to have her ammunition back. Having a thief on your side definitely had advantages. Gambit then put on a fake pout.

"No kiss for a reward?"

"Don't make me report this to Rogue, buddy. You still got a lot of making up to her," the brunette warned with a bit of playful steel as she wagged her finger at the Cajun. Remy looked incredibly sheepish and ashamed, though he knew deep down, he would have never meant Rogue any harm if it came to it.

"Sorry, force of habit."

At that same moment, Beach Head was aiming the bazooka weapon after seeing the enemy in a potentially vulnerable position, and with years of practice honing his muscles, he took aim, noted if there were any allies in dangerous proximity, and fired a single, lethal discharge directly at the smug, white-haired, suave Nobody. But unlike past shots, this discharge _wasn't_ a payload missile.

He hoped it worked though; he hadn't used the molecular combustion cannon ever since Justin's first week at the Pit when Beach Head was trying to kill Todd, Pietro, Xi, and Lance for stealing Sergeant Snuffles at Justin's first week of Misfit training…

So quick, that one had to blink in order to miss it, a translucent surge of crimson energy rocketed out of the bazooka's mouth before it streaked across the battlefield and hit the black-cloaked man directly in the chest. Luxord only had time to widen his eyes in a horrified expression as he felt his glowing body burn up in split seconds before the atoms in his molecular structure reached unstable levels…

_SSSHHHHHIIIIIIIIPPPPPPP!_

Luxord's guttural yell of extreme and excruciating pain following through each and every cell and fiber in his body was enough to curdle the blood of anyone within hearing distance. And despite the man's flesh and blood disintegrating at the particle level, all that the blast did was cause Luxord to hunch down on his knees, his clothes and body smoking, before vomiting up a deluge of blood from the fact that his organs were painfully rearranged and reformed back together.

Wayne had to smirk. Waiting until now to use the molecular blast was certainly worth it. Pity it didn't kill the asswipe.

"Well dealt, Joe…" snarled the Nobody in between rasps, "**That** one actually hurt…"

Not being a man of witty comebacks or verbal sparring, the army ranger just aimed with the cannon and fired another energy blast again, but this time, the Organization member was ready. Despite his injuries, he teleported directly out of range, engulfed by darkness and shadows. Beach Head cursed, but before he could turn around, he was actually propelled upwards from behind, a crippling force of pressure that actually lifted him off his feet so violently and caused Wayne to lose hold of his bazooka.

Helpless and as limp as a rag doll, the Joe Ranger had no choice but to slam back-first into the metal wall, high above everyone's heads and actually getting a good view of the entire war-zone in the underground foyer. And as the stars flashed with the nails of pain driven into his skull and neck, Beach Head then suddenly found himself pinned to the wall by a series of cards, fastening his body and clothes precariously to the metal surface. Slumping heavily against the razors, the Joe's eyes widened in horror as Luxord them appeared right in front of him, a few meters away while levitating in the air with a vindictive smirk on his face.

"You're mine now, Joe…" Luxord hissed with glee, the cards in his hands gleaming under the lights like the sharpest swords and axes. Beach Head had to fight hard not to panic or imagine how painful it would be to lose his head or one of his limbs as the Organization member.

Down below, the others of the group just realized what was happening.

"Beach Head!" cried out Brittany as Martian Manhunter (now healed thanks to a sudden burst of Curaga magic) was about to fly upwards to get his ally while Shannon and Gambit readied their weapons, but with a pointed glare at the peons below, the Organization soldier summoned a massive plethora of cards and gigantic dice to thunder down from above in a complete saturation attack. It was so widespread and coming down fast that none of them could avoid the shrapnel and asteroids safely with a wide berth.

"Crap, he's distracting us again!" Quinn exclaimed as she did her best to dodge and avoid the lines of metal slabs that came close to eviscerating her in half in their wake. And with Daria, Quinn, and Brittany seceded and engrossed like this in the battlefield, they couldn't join hands to use their psychic lightning or hover above the ground to get to Beach Head pinned in the wall high above. Remy cursed as he dodged the cards while Martian Manhunter phased Shannon though the floor to avoid being run over and crushed. There was a good chance that his grappling line from his glovatrix couldn't reach that high, and the time it would take to scale up the wall would take far too long. By then the Joe Ranger would be dead and at the hooded Organization warrior's mercy. He needed to get up there and fast…

"_Monsieur_ Manhunter!" Gambit yelled as he dodged several playing cards, "Gambit need a boost up to the card-shark up there! Fastball Special! Just get Beach Head out of there when Remy say so, _d'accord_?"

"Go, J'onn! I can take care of myself!" Shannon agreed steadfastly as the Justice League founder phased her back to safety, making her substantial again at the drop of a hat.

J'onn nodded he flew over, skillfully evading and circumventing several six-sided dice from flattening him as they bounced and crashed to the metal ground, leaving worrisome craters, cracks, and dents. As Shannon and Trinity did their best to avoid the playing cards, the Martian managed to hover directly above Remy and position himself in line with Luxord. With that, J'onn offered his hand. Gambit took a flying, acrobatic leap and grabbed the Martian's palm, and using his strength, J'onn gracefully threw and pitched the X-Man directly at the white-haired gambler from the Thirteenth Order.

It was a perfect throw, a straight express.

"Here, _mon ami_," Martian Manhunter said with concern and a smile right before he pitched Gambit. The Cajun couldn't help but grin at the Justice League founder for the French words.

"_Merci, homme_," Gambit returned as he flew forwards like an arrow as he grasped his metal staff in both hands right before he latched himself from behind Luxord before Luxord could decapitate Beach Head.

"Wha- _**urk**_?" cried out an outraged Luxord as Gambit managed to loop his staff over his head and pulled back hard, threatening to crush the Organization soldier's windpipe with the cold, metal bar pressing hard against his neck. Luxord chocked and gurgled, instantly forgetting his current deed as he did his best to writhe out of Gambit's grip as the Cajun X-Man applied more pressure, pulling hard on the staff and dangling behind the white-haired gambler. Remy's weight was very nearly causing the staff to decapitate Luxord's head off as Luxord rasped weakly for air, trying to pry the Cajun off of him.

And that distraction was all Beach Head needed as Luxord forgot he was in close proximity to the Joe Ranger. But he certainly felt the result of Beach Head's army boot (which wasn't pinned against the wall) flying upwards and kicking Luxord in the face. Hard. And with enough force to result in Luxord's head being cracked back, his chin nearly broken from the brutal strike.

"Now, J'onn!" yelled Gambit as he was sent towards the ground, dragging Luxord with him with the chokehold still pressing painfully against the bearded man's windpipe. The green-skinned Justice League founder flew up and managed to grab hold of the army ranger before gently phasing him out of the cards pinning him against the wall, leaving him to gently fall into his arms.

"What the hell took you so long?" snapped the masked Joe as J'onn flew him down to the ground. The alien had to raise an eyebrow in slight irritation; diplomatic and restrained, Beach Head was not (understatement of the year, actually). Biting back a retort, J'onn merely landed next to the molecular combustion cannon still lying uselessly on the floor, and allowing Wayne to make a grab for it, glad to have something destructive back into his grip.

For the moment, Remy's gamble was very successful. The momentum and acceleration of free-fall plus the force of Beach Head's kick to the face was enough to send the choking and disoriented Luxord plummeting for a long drop towards the floor with the X-Man dragging him from behind. And at the last moment, the Cajun expertly flipped his position so that Luxord was between him and the floor, a grip still maintained on the staff crushing Luxord's windpipe…

WHAM!

Gambit felt the sudden spikes of pain in his chest and knees throb excruciatingly, and he was pretty sure that his right wrist was sprained from the landing to the floor. However, it was nowhere as painful as Luxord as the sudden impact of the ground plus with the force of Gambit's body crushing him on top made the white-haired Nobody feel as if every single bone in his body snapped into multiple fractures. But his hazy vision cleared upon alarm as Gambit them rolled over and dragged Luxord's body on top of his, holding him securely with the bo while Daria, Quinn, and Brittany were leaping in mid-air with their Keyblades held high-over their heads for a unanimous final blow.

"HIYA!" yelled the Delgado Triplets as they swung down their bronze-colored weapons with all the strength they could, but Luxord, not to be bested, then managed to teleport despite the pain racking through his body. Upon seeing the wisps of shadows and smoke, Gambit tried to tighten his grip on his adversary, but with a whisper, the enemy disappeared…leaving a stunned Gambit right in the path of Trinity's swords.

"Shit!" Gambit swore as he brought his metal staff upwards, right as Trinity realized what was happening, and they jerked back at the last second…

_Clang!_

It was close. Too close. Heck, the points on the Trichrona Keyblades were mere millimeters from Remy's head and face. He could almost feel the touch of the metal. And his heart was thudding so hard, it was a wonder it didn't cause him to seize up right then and there as Gambit then realized that all three of the Keyblades actually significantly bent the metal upon contact (despite having a layer of adamantium).

Had the three mutant girls not pulled back, they would have easily shorn through the _bo_ and killed Gambit via massive head trauma.

"Oh god!" gasped Daria, her eyes so wide you could see the whites all around, "That was close!"

Gambit, understandably, was still insanely pissed at Trinity.

"_**WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU TRYING TO DO? KILL REMY?**_" he practically roared at the Delgado Triplets, his black and red eyes actually glowing in response to the anger coursing through his veins. Daria, Quinn, and Brittany actually gave it some thought and looked at each other in a nonchalant and speculating way that if anything made Gambit even more inflamed.

"Well, if Rogue paid us enough…" mused Brittany, rubbing her chin with one hand as she thought out loud. Even though it was a joke (hopefully), Gambit in no way found it the least bit humorous. Remy then was wondering how much he would enjoy the look of devastation on their respective faces if they ever lost their Keyblades and went to more deserving people…

And then abruptly, without warning, the entire room and their surroundings changed for all seven of them.

"What the hell - ?" was all Gambit could utter before he was instantly found himself choking and unable to breathe as he was completely submerged in water, deep, icy cold, and with faint streams of sunlight shining above his head. His lungs were still in the cough reflex due to the accidental inhalation of several mouthfuls of water, and forcing himself to stop before he could expel all the air he had, Gambit furiously kicked upwards, staff and all, towards the sun and hopefully where he could break to the surface. The pressure in his lungs were getting more and more excruciating, burning even, but the youth still furiously tried to get to air as he swam with all he could. But after a few seconds, something was wrong. No matter how hard he tried, the waters all around him were still threatening to crush his body, the sun still seeming far away, and he did little to gain any progress to getting up to the surface.

Gambit was still trapped in the water, still sinking, still coming closer and closer to drowning.

_Can't…hold…on…_

That was all Gambit could think off before his vision was starting to blur, the effort to keep his breath becoming more and more futile as the stream of bubbles leaked out of his numb nose and mouth. His lungs were threatening to burst, and yet he couldn't reach for any fresh air.

He knew it should have been impossible. He knew this was probably a trick of some sort by the Organization. He knew that this was probably not real. But it was hard for Gambit to remember that fact when air was escaping uncontrollably out of his nose and mouth, when his entire uniform was water-clogged and getting heavier and heavier…

"Hello? _Hello?_"

Quinn Delgado of the Triplets was now starting to get worried. The first second, she was with her sisters and her friends, and then the next thing she knew, she was surrounded by darkness. The black shadows were all around her, not even with the faintest gleam of light to guide the mutant girl. It was cold, frigidly arctic to even make Quinn's skin crawl with goose-bumps despite a heated battle moments ago.

"Anybody?" Quinn yelled, her pigtail on the left side of her head hanging limply against her face as she fought against her fear, "_**HELLO?**_ Mr. Manhunter? Daria? Quinn? Shannon and Gambit?"

A pause.

"Beach Head, if no one else?"

No one answered; all was eerie silence. Quinn tried to stay calm, despite the blood roaring in her ears. Alone, by herself, with a passive magical spell and a Keyblade. Not very good chances against an Organization member who so far withstood everything they threw at him. And Quinn by herself meant that she couldn't invoke the Trinity Limit with her sisters, as if being separated from her siblings and family wasn't bad enough, the growing trepidation threatening to cripple her concentration…

"Come to Atlantis with me…" droned a rather familiar voice, one that made Quinn's back chill suddenly to invoke goose-pimples, as she turned to see a rather disturbing sight. Her mother, Mara, the same parent who ran away and abandoned Quinn and her family to live in Atlantis as a rich noblewoman, still dressed in her telltale purple wetsuit embracing a rather content and seemingly happy Shipwreck. The mutant adolescent was stunned. What was going on? Shipwreck still deeply resented and disliked his ex-wife…

"Always, Mara…" Shipwreck said rather lewdly, without any second thought, "God knows how sick I am of watching the kids. Let General Hawk do whatever he wants with them. I couldn't care less…"

And with that, their arms circled around each others' backs, Shipwreck and Mara both stepped away and walked further and further into the light in the distance, both of them not even taking a last look back to see Quinn witnessing all this.

Oh God, no. First her mother, now her Dad (as drunk and obnoxious and irresponsible as he may be)…

"Dad, don't leave! _**PLEASE!**_ _You're all I have!_" Quinn screamed herself hoarse, her feet pounding faster and faster as she tried to catch up with her father leaving in the arms of her estranged mother.

But no matter how hard the Misfit tried, she couldn't even get close enough to grab Shipwreck, watching helplessly as he and Mara disappeared forever into the far-away light, leaving his daughter to wallow alone in the everlasting dusk…

Fire. All around him. J'onn couldn't escape it. The floor, the ceiling, the walls, it was an impenetrable cage of flames, the heat so intense that a few seconds of exposure was already starting to eat away his cape into cinder, causing parts of his green skin to painfully sting and bubble.

Martian Manhunter fought the urge to scream in terror upon facing his worst fear at the highest extreme as he shielded his eyes against the shining ruby and crimson lights flickering all around his position. He was about to take off and fly through the conflagration, hopefully able to find his fellow friends and allies, when a mass of white tendrils erupted from the ground and lassoed him. The Justice Leaguer gasped in surprise; the strands came too fast, almost within the blink of an eye. Within seconds, the extraterrestrial was fully bound and restrained as the tendrils fastened around his wrists, legs, ankles, torso, and neck, snaring him like a spider web to its prey. Squeezing and crushing him, despite his superhuman durability and strength. J'onn looked up to see that the tendrils arresting his body belonged to none other than…

The Justice League founder's eyes widened in horror as he saw the crowd of Imperium aliens, the same faceless, emotionless life-forms that destroyed his Red Planet, his home, unaffected as they walked in the midst of the flames. He whispered in dread as the Imperium surrounded him, "No…"

"This isn't real! This is just some more of that stupid magic!"

That was what Brittany was telling herself, logic, reason, and sound rationale of how this sudden circumstance was impossible backing that fact up. But despite the facts, the Delgado Triplet couldn't deny the fact that she was now in a tiny cell no more than ten by ten square feet, the walls thick giant slabs of stone, cold and heavy and weighing at least in the hundreds of pounds.

And if the situation wasn't tense and claustrophobic enough, the girl was startled to hear a slow, but deep rumbling all around her as the blocks start to shift, grinding against each other as they moved with alarming speed. Steadily and surely, the walls began closing in on her, threatening to crush her where she stood.

If Brittany tried rationalizing that it was a magical illusion before, then that thought went right out the window when she felt the sides pushing against her body, shrinking the amount of free space she had little by little.

Brittany would surely be pressed to death in a matter of minutes.

Whimpering and feeling anxiety and her sudden panic take over, Brittany tried activating the Mass Device teleporter watch on her wrist, only to find it unresponsive. The Mass Device wasn't working, so the Misfit couldn't teleport out. And stopping time couldn't break the walls and was only a temporary solution…

Brittany immediately summoned her Trichrona Keyblade with a flash of pink and began hacking away at the stone walls with all of her strength. But to her growing dismay, the Triplet sister realized that despite the sparks and the amount of strength she put into her swings, she couldn't even make a dent or a scratch in the rock surface. And yet the Keyblade was supposed to be strong enough to cleave through reinforced steel.

The walls continued to close in, the rumbling all around her shrinking the amount of free space Brittany had, little by little…

Shannon was dizzy, teetering and swaying like she was drunk to the highest extreme, unable to maintain her balance or her bearings, and yet when the Slayer managed to open her throbbing eyes a bit to the ground.

She was standing dangerously on a narrow piece of scaffolding, so thin that it could barely cover the span of her sneakers, as the vampire viewed that below the bridge, over a thousand foot drop, was an empty chasm, engulfed in an abyss of darkness.

"AAAA!" shrieked Shannon as she clutched her temples with both hands, experiencing the painful and dizzying effects of vertigo, her entire eyesight blurring and wildly jerking up and down as he brain actually began to painfully pound the blood in her ears and her nausea intensified. It was like suddenly finding yourself precariously balanced on one foot at the edge of the rooftop of the Empire State Building or the C.N. Tower, and the abrupt change of scene as well as the fear of heights hit the vampire slayer like a ton of bricks as she feel to her knees, lightheaded, shaking, and sick to the bottom of her stomach. She couldn't tell what was up or down, and everything around her was similar to the effects of a psychedelic roller-coaster dropping from the sky, ready to plummet and crash to a painful and gruesome death to the ground below. Panicking and breathing hard, the brown-haired girl took out a potion given to her by Zatanna and hurled the purple bottle hard towards the ground, thinking that it would neutralize the illusion and free her.

No such luck.

Though the glass container exploded and flourished with a dazzling array of sparkling purple lights and miniature comets, except for a faint shimmer in the vertigo effects all around her, Shannon was still at the mercy of the environment all around her. Dazed, confounded, and her mind whirling, Shannon just dropped her crossbow and let herself go limp at a near faint, her body hurtling towards the emptiness at incredible speeds…

At the same moment, Daria was (like her other sisters) alone and separated from the group.

"_**!**_"

And screaming her lungs out as she was in free-fall, hurtling downwards through a plethora of smoke, shadows, and emptiness as the mutant child dropped like a stone and continued to plummet down the infinite abyss. But what it odd was that it was completely topsy-turvy. One second, she was falling downwards, the next second Daria's sense of direction changed as she swerved and zoomed horizontally across like a speeding car, and the next, she was shooting upwards at a 90-degree, diagonal trajectory like a rocket.

It was like a roller coaster, except this one was wild and chaotic enough to make Daria sick to her stomach (and she was normally not one to be fazed easily). And it certainly didn't help that the shadows and black aura around Daria made it so dark, she couldn't see her hand if it was three inches in front of her face.

And without her sisters Brittany and Quinn, Daria couldn't levitate and hover in order to slow down her descent into the gaping black hole. And there were no walls or any sort of ledges that she could use the grappling lines from her glovatrix to snag to.

But remembering how this scene just changed in a split second, Daria fought hard to take several deep breaths as she felt the pressures of the wind compressing heavily on her body and chest. It certainly _felt_ real, despite what her logic was trying to tell her.

She managed to pop open her scanner, keeping a firm grip on the smooth, pink instrument as she was tossed back and forth outrageously, grateful that the light from the miniature screen managed to give a relatively comforting glow around her. Furiously, Daria scanned her surroundings as quickly as she could…

Beach Head was practically naked, devoid of his clothes, mask, and uniform, save for a pair of his under-briefs, lying on his back and manacled by his wrists and ankles to a flat surgical table, like a lab rat. The Joe writhed and sunfish and jerked around as hard as he could until his muscles throbbed, but he couldn't get free. Then the army ranger managed to lift his head to see a gruesome and appalling sight, his skin turning cold and his heart feeling like a lead lump in his chest.

There, on neighboring tables, also manacled and spread out like marionettes, were the teenage Misfits, each one of them dead and gruesomely disemboweled and smeared with blood and gore carved out from their organs and innards. Althea, Todd, Xi, and the other mutants, all of them, looking up with glassy eyes and blank expressions, their skin faintly blue from the lack of blood and warmth. Each one laid out nicely like laboratory animals, sick trophies. It was enough to make Wayne sick to his stomach. A whimper of pain got his attention as he averted his gaze to see Dr. Mindbender of Cobra cackling gleefully over the trembling and bound forms of Daria, Quinn, and Brittany Delgado, all of them strapped to surgical tables and wearing mutant-inhibitor collars around their necks, preventing the adolescents from using their powers on the scumbag.

In Dr. Mindbender's hands was a scalpel and a miniature bone-saw.

"No!" Beach Head yelled, his face red with anger as he helpless could only watch, "Leave them alone, you bastard!"

But there was nothing the army Ranger could do but view Dr. Mindbender as he slowly and methodically began slicing into Daria's face, gruesomely slicing off her skin and flesh in one, long, wet strip. It was clear that the Cobra scientist was taking his time, enjoying the spectacle on the Joe's face, the screech of pain from Daria Delgado, making Wayne watch and see him torture the Misfits, one by one.

"Take me, damn you!"

The words were coming out of Beach Head's mouth even before he could comprehend what he was saying.

"Leave them alone! Take me instead, _TAKE ME INSTEAD!__** YOU GODDAMNED SON OF A BITCH, TAKE ME!**_"

Yes, Daria, Quinn, Brittany, Martian Manhunter, Beach Head, Gambit, and Shannon the Slayer were all being subjected to dire situations, helpless and unable to do anything effective to fight out.

But what was completely odd was that had anyone been observing this, they would have been stunned and confused that there was absolutely nothing wrong with them. The band of seven was still in the battlefield as normal with absolutely nothing wrong with their surroundings, with nothing strange and dangerous about it. Granted, they were in the middle of the war-zone, but whatever they were all seeing was not even real.

And the mirage was yet so powerful that even the powerful Martian Manhunter was fooled by the false images plaguing his senses, despite his telepathy and mental shields that were even more powerful than Professor Xavier's. It was so lifelike, that they couldn't even focus on the various death-matches, chaos, and enemies fighting all around their position…including their main opponent, Luxord.

Luxord didn't question Zexion's intervention with his illusory powers; he knew better than to look like a gift horse in the mouth. And with all of his opponents now disoriented, distracted, and fully unable to comprehend anything past the false images in their minds…

The white-haired Gambler of Fate readied a volley of cards in his hands, aimed…

And thankfully, one of the X-Men who was brawling with Beef the Hellion along with Garret and Phoebe Halliwell managed to intervene in the nick of time…

"Mind if I drop this? _Danke_," commented Nightcrawler without much tact and sincerity as he idly teleported in a colossal jet engine and had it collide with Luxord right as he was about to rush at Gambit and Trinity.

**WHAM!** _PSSHHAAASSSHHH!_

Luxord swore that Nightcrawler had single-handedly broken every single bone in his body as he was flattened brutally against the floor and nearest wall, the jet engine pressing down on his body so hard that he was already lying in a splattered puddle of his own blood.

At the same time, the sextet were still being subjected to the mysterious illusions being cloaked and cast over all of them…

The Delgado Triplets were all furiously typing away with their pink scanners, identifying the reason behind the sudden change of environments at once, and hopefully, their tools might be able to find the key out of their fictitious prisons.

"It's not real! Everyone, this isn't real! It's an illusion! Fight it, you guys!" Quinn wailed as urgently as she could, her voice threatening to give out.

Gambit couldn't answer, couldn't hear, as he finally lost the battle and water began to uncontrollably seep into his nostrils and mouth, causing him to convulse and sunfish, his vision dimming.

Beach Head was less polite and modest as he hollered without restraint, red and flushed in the face, "_**WILL ONE OF YOU MORONS HELP US OUT OF THIS GODDAMMED MESS BEFORE I LOSE MY TEMPER?**_"

J'onn winced at the outburst. Wayne clearly had a good set of lungs. By the gods of the Red Planet, how Beach Head ever managed to have the other G.I. Joe soldiers _**tolerate**_ him was beyond his comprehension.

And then, as quickly as it appeared, there was a blinding, yet warm outpouring of white light, illuminating their entire surroundings before they all fell unceremoniously to the hard marble floor amid the various battles and fights in Shaw Industries. It was as if they had been teleported back to where their friends and allies were fighting for their lives against Organization XIII. Shannon was hyperventilating while lying on her stomach on the floor, Martian Manhunter still had fresh, red welts where the fires burned his skin, and Beach Head, in a rare fit of confused panic, ran his hands all over his body just to make sure that he wasn't missing any body parts or sustained any injuries under the "mirage" of being an experiment for Dr. Mindbender. Gambit, unfortunately, was having problems breathing as each inhalation came out as a waterlogged gurgle as he continued coughing and sputtering, still close to secondary drowning.

"Gambit…" J'onn murmured, concerned, as he then solidly whacked the X-Man on the back several times before (without much protest) grabbing Gambit by the ankles and hoisting him upside-down off the floor, the Martian levitating in thin air and dangling the Cajun teenager by his feet.

Unconsciously and with gravity taking effect, Remy had no choice but to let the water gush out of his lungs and through his windpipe as his gag reflex caused him to vomit out all the liquid he swallowed, retching and sputtering and coughing a fit. J'onn sighed; at the very least, Remy's lungs were now nearly empty.

Whatever that magical deception was, it was incredibly powerful and lifelike. And much to the Leaguer's worry, the X-Man didn't have any time to recuperate from inhaling so much water.

"How did you three do that?" Shannon asked woozily, still feeling slightly tipsy from being subjected to that powerful and deceptive mirage, but Daria, Quinn, and Brittany all wildly shook their heads. They were as bamboozled and mystified as the paranormal was.

"It wasn't us!" Brittany exclaimed, "We were too busy trying to deal with that illusion to even do anything! And I tried using my Keyblade to somehow destroy it, but it didn't work!"

"I think I have a good idea…" Martian Manhunter then gently broke in as he set Gambit back upright, and gaining his group's collective attention, he pointed high above, past through the ceilings and levels ripped apart by Supergirl and Xaldin, and into the open night sky above the grounds of Shaw Industries. There, rising on a magical platform by Willow Rosenberg, was the Tigershark and Priest of Twilight, Octavia. And in her hands, she was holding the Enchanted Mirror and holding it high above her head, letting the powerful Talisman shine pure and holy light from its reflective surface all upon the battlefields and war-zone beneath her. The Martian wouldn't be far off the mark if his guess that it was the mirror that helped them escape from the magical artifice.

No wonder the Thirteenth Order and the Hellfire Club coveted the Talismans of Twilight.

"Keep your attention on the Organization enemy, Privates!" barked Beach Head, not in the mood for distractions and respite as he got right down to business and fired another blast with the molecular cannon, aiming directly at Luxord who was still being pressed against the floor by the heavy jet engine…

**KABOOM!**

Beach Head's attack was pretty effective. The discharge from the cannon caused not only the engine to disintegrate, but additionally, the bits of metal and red-hot debris served as perfect shrapnel to pulverize Luxord's body as he was sent flying backwards in a fury of flames, heat, and scorching bullets of steel. As Trinity, Beach Head, and Shannon all charged, Gambit weakly rose to his feet, intent on joining in the blitz, but a gentle shove against the wall and a strong hand on his shoulder prevented the X-Man from dashing off as Martian Manhunter held out an open bottle containing a healing elixir towards the mutant teenager.

Despite the offer, Remy wasn't in the mood to be treated like a child, not to mention their magical allies only brewed a limited amount of potions for the battle at Shaw Industries. Better to save it when they really needed it, although it wasn't lost on the Justice League founder that Remy still had problems breathing, barely maintaining the urge to faint from swallowing so much fluid.

"I'm all right…" rasped Gambit, trying to avoid being force-fed the concoction, but J'onn then gave Gambit a rather odd look of pity and sadness.

The Martian asked simply, "And what will I do when I'm the one chosen to tell Rogue that you died in battle? Do you want her to have _**more**_ grief?"

There was a tense pause before Remy grumbled, grabbing the potion rather rudely from the Leaguer's hand before guzzling it.

"Low blow, you green-skinned bastard…" muttered the Cajun teen before swallowing the healing potion. J'onn just smiled, not taking any offense. As Beach Head was about to fire another blast with his bazooka at the bleeding Luxord, the member from Organization XIII suddenly tried a new tactic as he swiftly draw a five card stud in one hand, cocking his arm back.

"Look who's on top of the game!" bragged Luxord triumphantly as the area all around them dimmed in shadows, eclipsing the light and various battles around them with the darkness, the air suddenly cold and frigid. With a deft flick of his hand, a multitude of cards flew out all around the battlefield, growing to enormous sizes, some even unfurling to neighboring skirmishes such as in front of Pete Wisdom (who was dodging Xigbar) and besides the Slayer Dana (trying to stab the Hellion Tarot with her knife). The six heroes then realized that all over them, the cards were multiplying until the entire floor was littered with over a hundred slabs lying facedown on the ground, like fallen dominoes. And as Martian Manhunter and a recovering Gambit joined Shannon, Beach Head, and Trinity, the cards then began moving out further and further, spanning the area like wildfire.

"Can you scan which one of the cards that dick's hiding in?" Beach Head tersely requested, but to his shock, Trinity shook their heads in various intervals, their pigtails bobbing.

"Our scanners can't detect him!" Brittany said breathlessly in despair as she clicked a few buttons on her pink handheld, only to have it to come up with a blank result, "And we've never had this problem the first time we tangled with him at the Pit and the Watchtower!"

"Primarily because you haven't tried it until now. His magic must be too powerful, even for you three, dammit to hell!" Beach Head groused. Quinn Delgado then turned to Shannon, remembering that vampire slayers had heightened senses, especially to malevolent entities and the supernatural.

"Shannon?"

The bushy-haired girl shook her head, saying apologetically, "He's too far spread out! I think I need to get closer to the card he's hiding before my Slayer-sense kicks in. I never tried looking for an Organization member before! I'm not even sure I **can **detect him!"

"Look, hate to break it to you Privates, but we're wasting time discussing our options! The cards are reaching out to our friends!" Beach Head pointed out as Roadblock and Multiple of the X-Men grunted in surprise in the distance as a line of Luxord's weapons stopped their bullets and glovatrix missiles cold, protecting Zexion from their barrage.

"OK, OK, OK…" Quinn thought aloud quickly, "Then in order to stop the cards…"

"We have to get at the source, meaning we stop Luxord cold," Gambit caught on, fingers tightening on his staff.

Still, given the wide area and how all the cards were face down, it would require them searching through each mammoth slab of metal at speeds that only Quicksilver or the Flash could utilize. That would take a lot of effort and time, something they didn't have if they wanted to stop whatever Luxord was planning as lines and lines of the Nobody slabs were.

"He could be anywhere…" growled J'onn, realizing that like the other occurrences in the past, the members of the Organization were immune and thus, could not be detected with even _his_ telepathy. And the cards were reaching out towards the other allies who were furiously brawling for their lives against the other sociopaths of the Thirteenth Order…

It would be exactly like how Luxord incapacitated a good number of the Leaguers at the Watchtower when the Heartless invaded and the nuclear gun was activated. Already, a few of the heroes like Ace, Beast Boy, Kurama, and Whitelighter yelped in surprise as the cards pervaded around them like a cage.

"Not anymore! Girls!" Daria yelled, looking at her sisters, and they all nodded before each of the Delgado Triplets raised a glowing hand high above.

"Stopra…Time Freeze!"

With a flash of pink magic and a blaze of glory, their was a sudden click of a clock before

"Remember what we said that the weird voice from nowhere told us?" Quinn reminded her attentive teammates and friends, "Luxord's only vulnerable when he's no longer hidden in the cards! We have to draw him out somehow!"

"And freezing those cards will make sure he stays in place and doesn't cause our friends to disappear like what happened at the Justice League's base!"

Remy's eyes then went wide, showing the black and red irises as he pointed with astonished dread, "Um…not really, Trinity. "

Sure enough, what Remy said was true. Though a good third of the cards were indeed radiating with a pink sheen of illumination, the rest of the throng were still moving of their own accord, magically spanning across the floor like shadows or floating upright on thin air and towards the other fights all around the vicinity.

"Crap!" Brittany wailed, "They're too spread out! We can't freeze all of the cards! There's too many!"

"New game plan: _**break every damn card you find until you find that jackass! Start with the moving ones!**_" Beach Head roared as he aimed with his combustion cannon and fired a powerful blast into a small group of cards from the distance before they could creep up on Black Widow who was hiding behind a polarized energy shield designed by Forge against the lasers that Roxas was firing at her. With a hissing surge of energy and a flash, the cards attempting to make the Avenger vanish were now neutralized and stamped out down to the molecular level.

"And be careful, some of the cards are booby-trapped! Do not strike unless you are sure or at a distance!" warned J'onn, flashing back to when he tried to draw out Luxord the hard way as he then grabbed Gambit around the waist with one hand and flew high above. With a good height and a bird's eye view of the battle-ground below, Remy let loose a volley of charged kinetic cards, taking out a good portion of the Nobody cards with his teamwork. Trinity, taking a rare risk, split up with each of the Delgado Triplets sprinting towards a different direction along with Shannon the Slayer, all of them taking care to eliminate as many cards as they could safely in their wake. With the four girls heading off in north, south, east, and west, and with Martian Manhunter, Gambit, and Beach Head desecrating the moving cards in the far off distance, it was a beautiful execution of _search-and-destroy_.

But they still needed to find their target.

As Shannon narrowly dodged two cards that actually spun around and tried to slice at her neck and hips, noticing that one of them had a booby-trapped fire-bomb painted on the underside, she then sensed it. The keen demonic sensations and awareness alerting her of a particular card floating directly behind her back…

Swiveling around, the teenager took out a single wooden shaft from her quiver and stabbed it into the card as it got within mere feet of her, yelling loudly, "**HE'S HERE!**"

"AAAAHHHHH!" yelped Luxord in a near-falsetto voice as he busied himself with the agony that came from Shannon jamming the sharp point of her arrow directly into his groin. And thanks to the Slayer's brutal hit, the man had no choice but to eject out of the giant card that was disguising him, the magic vanishing in response to the sudden lack of concentration. With a shimmer, the metal slab disappeared and the Nobody in black materialized in full view, right before Shannon sent him flying and skidding towards a more open part of the battlefield with a push kick. And thanks to the paranormal's discovery, Luxord's magic ceased entirely due to the lack of concentration, and as a result, the rest of the Nobody cards vanished completely in puffs of smoke and shadows.

"Now!" roared Beach Head as he, Trinity, Gambit, Shannon, and J'onn set themselves upon the stunned Luxord as a united beat-down. Luxord didn't have much time to draw out cards considering that upon the blitz, the six opponents were already within a few feet of his personal space…

_Crackle, crackle! __**BBRRRZZZZZAAAPPPP!**_

"_**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!**_" screamed Beach Head, Shannon, Trinity, Gambit, and Martian Manhunter all at once in unison as Larxene's yellow thunder magic suddenly engulfed them from behind. Caught unexpected, the three Keybladers and their friends could only helplessly spasm and twitch as they were electrocuted by the Organization's Savage Nymph. As they crumbled to the marble ground, heavily covered with third-degree burns, Luxord thanked Fate and luck for the good timing as he looked at the distance far off on the other end of the foyer where Larxene was attacking. The blond girl of the Thirteenth Order was busy using a widespread lightning and thunder spell to mow down her attackers and all the other fighters within the vicinity, until Danny Phantom flew down and blasted her with ecto-energy from his hands.

Still, this interruption caused by Larxene had made the odds go into Luxord's favor. With such a high electrical current that could even stun Martian Manhunter and put _him_ out of action, Luxord now had several precious seconds to finish them all permanently in one massive attack. And the six heroes were all paralyzed. With an evil chuckle, Luxord glided back from the floor before summoning another barrage of cards in his hands, ready to…

The sound of faint, yet powerful footsteps, in a sprint, made Luxord's intuition perk up as he turned to see Batman running towards him. The Dark Knight's expression was stoic and grim, but impressively, he moved as if he was flying and made a direct beeline towards Luxord, obviously intent on stopping him. But due to this distraction, Luxord didn't sense Tinkerbell the pixie flying towards Trinity, Shannon, Beach Head, Remy, and J'onn.

Luxord gave an irritated frown.

"I do not remember inviting you to intrude on our games…" growled the white-haired, goateed Nobody as he was about to summon magic to make the Justice League Founder disappear. But then to his surprise and with needing less than several seconds, before Luxord even spotted him, Batman shot out a lifeline with his Bat-Grapple to his right, the hook snagging and sinking into the ceiling above.

And because Batman timed it just correctly, he pulled himself out of the path of the surging telekinetic force that was barreling right behind him, only inches away from his cape and back. It was a vast and devastating display of power, the air was literally rippling and altering the space powerfully in its wake, vibrating like undulations through water. And because it seemingly homed in to Batman's position inexorably, each card that the Batman was gymnastically leaping onto, the surge of telekinetic energy was tossing aside and wrecking a path of destruction through Luxord's weapons. And as it was about to catch up with the Justice Leaguer, Batman was able to time it so when he was close to Luxord's position, he moved aside fast enough for the telekinetic blast that was chasing him to strike the Gambler of Fate instead.

And it was not pleasant, even for the black-robed Nobody.

Luxord's eyes widened in shock, pain, and surprise as the invisible force completely enveloped his body, ripping through his flesh to the exact molecular structure and sending painful bursts of foreign energy throughout. He screamed, long and piercingly, and as a result, the cards all around him jerked once before fluttering limply to the ground, lifeless and no longer under Luxord's full control. However, Batman was not able to get far enough away to escape the full effects of the telekinetic backlash which send a shockwave that grazed him and his grapple-line, severing the wire at once and causing the Justice Leaguer to fall a bit before crashing to the ground, stunned. However, Luxord, being in the full brunt of the attack, was sent flying backwards even further.

At the same time, Tinkerbell (who was quite done in and exhausted) managed to douse all seven of the Keyblade wielders and allies with a generous portion of fairy dust, healing them, before she flew towards the battle with Monet the Hellion where Jericho the Phantom Investigator was suffering from a broken arm, gravely injured.

"You know, for a Disney character, Tinkerbell kicks so much ass as a healer…" panted Shannon with extreme gratitude and relief as she wiped the saliva dribble from her mouth. Her burns were now fully mended, her back as good as new.

Glancing at the prone figure of Batman, J'onn instantly felt worried, but he forced himself to not intervene unless the Batman specifically requested help, as instructed many times in their numerous stratagems and proposals made to help counter the group should they face all the Thirteenth Order members at once. Trinity and the other allies took hardly any notice as they saw that this was their chance to attack the Gambler of Fate while he was still vulnerable. As one, they charged, with Gambit and Beach Head firing during their blitz.

Much to their rotten luck, Luxord still wasn't making it easy on the Keyblader and the heroes.

"Enough! Time is of the essence, you annoying idealists!" growled Luxord as he then erupted a line of cards in front of himself and the heroes, preventing them from getting closer before the gigantic cards marked with the Organization symbol actually encircled around Luxord and formed a protective cylinder, a small dwelling and sealed with no way inside. Like an igloo or a citadel, the tower of cards completely encased their adversary, housing him under an armored and resilient dodecahedron as the thickness of the cards multiplied exponentially by the second.

Instead of hiding away, this time, the Gambler of Fate was barricading himself in a self-made fortress. Shannon then snarled as she rushed forward and delivered a terrific overhead punch directly at the nearest wall. With all of her Slayer strength.

WHAM!

It was like trying to have a normal human punch through a wall of solid steel, the surface of the white and silver not even quivering from the violent hit. And the paranormal instead got injured for her troubles.

"Shit, that's hard!" whined Shannon as she shook her bleeding fist, the skin splitting directly down to the knuckles from the mighty impact. So much for pounding her way through…

"Gambit, use your mutant powers! Trinity, fire with a Semtex missile on my command! Aim at the card Shannon tried to punch!" Beach Head commanded as he readied the bazooka on his shoulder, bending down on one knee, and upon response, both the X-Man and the three Misfits readied their respective kinetic cards and glovatrixes.

"Fire!" yelled the G.I. Joe sergeant, and upon Beach Head's shout, all four of them sent their respective payloads at once directly upon the wall of silver and white metal.

KABOOOOOMM!

All of the explosive attacks made their mark, but despite the heat and the terrific pressure of force from the blasts, aside from a few blackened burn marks, the wall still remained firm. Not even a scratch on the surface of the cards.

"Damn…" cursed Beach Head while Daria immediately began to scan the shelter with her pink scanner, although she then realized she needed to work faster as the cards from the makeshift stronghold began to appear and fly out. Once again, in a single line battalion, mammoth slabs of white and silver and time magic began racing out, ready to swallow up the neighboring heroes and Keybladers like before. The Thirteenth Order card-shark apparently wasn't giving up in his agendas to make as many of the opposition vanish. And the cards were flying too swiftly and were too widespread for any of the six to effectively atop them all at once.

This wasn't working. They needed something that could destroy it from the inside. And Martian Manhunter wasn't stupid to just phase through the house of cards and risk running into whatever nasty surprises Luxord has in store. The Organization member would probably be expecting it as the most logical counter. If only he had…

"Of course…" J'onn murmured to himself as he flew towards the battle with Xemnas, particularly towards one large and ideal piece of the rubble that the Superior managed to magically shove off the floor…

At the same time, Brittany, Quinn and Shannon were busy trying to hack and kick their way through the walls of the rampart with little success. Beach Head, Daria, and Remy were trying to revaluate their options.

"Anything?" Beach Head barked out.

"No, it's too strong! I can't even make a dent in it!" Shannon snapped with impatience as her foot throbbed at bit, the Slayer unable to do anything even with all of her supernatural demon-strength.

"We can't cut our way through either! It's too strong!" Quinn gasped, her arms and hands throbbing painfully down to her carpal bones from trying to vainly hit her Trichrona Keyblade against the reinforced surface. It was no use; she didn't even make a scratch on it. This was a very powerful barrier.

"I'm scanning for any weaknesses or openings, but there's nothing! It's airtight!" wailed Daria, clicking furiously on the keyboard of her pink handheld, feeling her dismay curdle into a ball into her stomach. Shannon then decided on another strategy.

"If there's no way in…" Shannon griped as she reloaded her crossbow, "…we'll just have to attack all the cards outside again and hope we can thin them out!"

"There's too many, _chere_. There's no way any of us can get to all of them in time, and it'll be useless if we just deal with the cards while that Organization jerk continues to use his magic unharmed! Luxord'll just keep doing it!" Gambit pointed out, seeing the flaw of that resort.

"No, he will not! **Get clear!** Except you, Gambit! I need your help! The rest of you, take cover!"

This command practically rang a bit painfully in their heads, startling all of the warriors in the group to full attention as the six heroes looked up unconsciously to see a grave and determined Martian Manhunter flying towards the house of cards with a gigantic tank in his hands. The metallic warcraft was much bigger than the alien himself, but surprisingly, he hefted it as if it were as light as a feather. And with his powers, to everyone's amazement, the Justice League founder made the tank in his grip intangible as he phased it directly into the house of cards before he stopped halfway, leaving the entire metallic object embedded into the surface and wall of the structure, half of it protruding out. With a blink of en eye, J'onn made it solid again, wedging his payload in. Gambit knew exactly what J'onn wanted him to do as he used his staff to pole-vault towards the top of the tank, acrobatically flipping and landing on the top of the stuck vehicle while Beach Head flung one of Forge's magnetic polarized shields on the floor, instantly invoking a protective energy barrier large enough to house himself, Shannon, and Trinity.

"Here! This should do the trick!" yelled Gambit as he slammed one hand on the surface of the tank and charged it, channeling as much of the energy into kinetic form, his head swimming as he tried to focus. This was easily the largest amount of matter he ever had to charge at once within several seconds, and thankfully, to his relief, the entire tank began to shimmer and glow with a pink glimmer as it reached critical mass. Upon sensing the atomic instability, the Justice League founder firmly grabbed Gambit by the waist with one arm as he flew away, phasing the both of them into an intangible state as Beach Head grabbed Shannon and the Triplets close to him, making sure that they were all well within the polarized force-field.

Inside the tower of protective sheets, Luxord was rather perturbed to sense that all around him, there was a troubling and unknown sensation trembling throughout, making the air quiver. The air was noticeably getting warmed, even…vibrating?

"What the dev - ?" was all Luxord could say before the tank reached critical mass.

_**KKAAAWWWWHHHOOOOOOOOMMMMM!**_

That particular explosion was actually one of the more devastating and noticeable ones. Beach Head was counting his blessings that Forge's shield still held strong and didn't fritz out, nullifying the impact of the massive conflagration of flames, heat, and a concussive, sonic force that rushed past the five of them. The detonation was so destructive and powerful that it sent the nearby Hiei and Spirit flying off their feet while they were trying to stab Saïx, effectively causing them to stumble in their attacks on their target. And Bumblebee and Starfire certainly were in greater danger as well as Jetstream simply used the magical and cybernetic enhancements given to him by Selene and Pierce of the Reavers to absorb the heat and combustive energy from the explosion into his mechanical body, making him stronger and stronger. Still, at the very least, it also did some damage to the Organization members as Cyclops used it as a distraction to send the Superior of the Thirteenth Order flying with an optic blast directly in Xemnas' stomach. And of course, as the enormous backlash of energy subsided gradually, they could still spot a prone Luxord lying facedown, hardly moving, in the center of a giant, blackened crater, exactly where the charged tank and the house of cards once resided.

"Damn, that **had** to sting!" Shannon marveled at J'onn and Remy, with the Martian carrying the mutant teenager as he hovered and descended back to the floor with the group.

"Cool! Do it again, do it again! Make it_ bigger_ this time!" cheered the Triplets in unison. The other four heroes gave the Keybladers a rather deadpanned and flat look at this moment of exuberance. J'onn wearily couldn't help but comment as he set Gambit down to the floor.

"Every time I actually think they're nice, normal girls, they then do something like this to remind me otherwise."

"And you've known them _**how**_ long, J'onn?" Gambit couldn't help but snort wryly at the Martian's naiveté. Beach Head then said a heavy expletive as he pointed at the crater, and at once, the other five heroes turned to see a shaky Luxord barely managing to push himself on his elbows. Injured, but still alive. J'onn then realized that they needed a new tactic to take the Organization member by surprise since it was apparent that the gigantic kinetic explosion killed him. Beach Head seemed to be on the same train of thought as he gave the green-skinned extraterrestrial an askew glance with his eyes.

"'_Kinetic Wave_' or '_Psychic Takedown_'?" Beach Head queried.

"The first one. Telepathy and psychic attacks seems to have less of an effect on him," J'onn replied before he commanded to Shannon, Gambit, and Trinity boldly, like a true leader, "All of you. **Operation Kinetic Wave!** Repeat, Kinetic Wave! Gambit, Trinity, get in positions! Shannon, come with me!"

"And I'll cover!" Beach Head growled, taking his place as he hefted his bazooka with one arm while taking several more polarized shield generators from his pocket. J'onn nodded at the protocol while Shannon, white in the face, flanked alongside the alien. At Martian Manhunter's decree, Remy obediently got down on his knees and genuflected on the floor, taking off his telepathic inhibitor temporarily from his right temple, his palms laid flat against the ground. And using their abilities of psychic imprints, Trinity all gathered quietly in a semi-circle behind Gambit, reaching out gently with their minds and into his now that the X-Man had removed the block.

To say the X-Man was nervous was a bit of an understatement (and Remy hardly lost his cool).

"Gambit gotta say that you three _cheres_ better do this right…" grumbled the Cajun as the three adolescent Misfits laid their glowing hands all around the X-Man's head, their eyes now white and pupil-less as they used their telepathy to unlock and reveal new mental abilities with Remy's mutant powers. Exactly like they had done beforehand with Justin so many months ago when he needed to heal Allo in the desert…

"Hey, just like we practiced, right?" Daria couldn't help but remark, which brought a scoff from Remy.

"Need Remy remind you that you that we destroyed a good portion of the Pit and its cafeteria, shorted out the Danger Room three times, and actually blew up our clothes once that resulted in third degree burns during _**your**_ training?"

"Oh, be quiet and concentrate…" muttered Brittany as they probed deep to amplify Gambit's mutant capabilities and limits. During this, the Gambler of Fate managed to spit out the blood dripping inside his mouth before he spotted Shannon and Martian Manhunter flying directly at him. Luxord didn't seem like he was eager to go head to head with the two charging heroes as he flung out his entire deck of Nobody cards, scattering them once again throughout the floor and vicinity, snarling, "Not likely!"

Instantly, a ring of six cards formed a circle around Luxord, Shannon, and Martian Manhunter before the cards honed inwardly of the circle and flew like knives directly towards the three. And with a click of his fingers, Luxord disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the cards the stab inwards towards J'onn and the vampire. The Justice Leaguer calmly grabbed Shannon around the waist before lifting her up in the air, the two of them avoiding the cards as their wildly sheared the open space with their razor-sharp edges. As the duo dodged the shrapnel, Luxord then teleported above and instantly sent down a volley of cards spiraling upon the two heroes. Undaunted, Shannon aimed and fired a single bolt at Luxord, narrowly going past the cards raining down as Martian Manhunter flew part and avoided the attack. Luxord was forced to summon a card as a shield to block the arrow from hitting his head. But it was at that moment that Beach Head sent a magically-enhanced bazooka missile from his left.

_**Kaboom!**_

Reeling from the impact of the explosion and with two brawlers closing in on his personal space, the smoldering Organization member then tried his final desperation attack as he scattered his cards throughout the surrounding areas. Within a blink of an eye, the entire marble and granite floor was literally carpeted with the giant playing slabs of sheet metal as they were strewn around magically in disarray. A bit fearful that it was a surprise tactic, Shannon and Martian Manhunter both stopped cold amid the sea of objects, bracing themselves with fists and the crossbow ready. Even Beach Head himself realized the potential danger as he temporarily hefted the bazooka over his shoulder and speedily dashed out of the boundary of Luxord's toys, putting himself out of danger.

There was a long second of tense peace as Shannon and J'onn both blinked at the unexpected pause. Nothing was happening.

_Yet._

"Scatter!" Luxord snarled as then there was complete pandemonium. As the hooded member of the Thirteenth Order vanished, the Nobody cards that were all lying facedown on the floor instantly went into a full-attacking frenzy. Shannon and J'onn realized that from all sides, the cards quickly flew at them like arrows, swift and in straight lines, or gyrating in unpredictable, loopy circles and eager to mow them down repeatedly. The Gambler of Fate planned it so that his magical spells would completely encircle and surround them. Shannon desperately cartwheeled, backflipped, and strafed side to side madly like a true acrobat and gymnast, narrowly sidestepping the slabs of metal as they whizzed by. Martian Manhunter, likewise, was hovering in the air, fluidly moving and eluded any cards that came by as he did his best to look around and see if he could spot the Organization member from the distance. Still, it was impossible to equivocate them all completely.

"Ow!" yelled the Slayer teen as one card grazed her shoulder, but it left a terrible gash that was quite deep and needed a few stitches immediately. Already, Shannon's left shoulder was starting to smear with an intense red through her blouse. Martian Manhunter himself was now sporting several gashes and deep lacerations throughout his entire body, the magic from the projectiles making it difficult to self-heal. And what made it worse was that Luxord started popping from thin air at various intervals before twirling and hacking away at the two heroes with three of four cards in his hands, expertly twirling them like swords as they whistled through the air. Now with Luxord involving himself in the fray, it got even more dangerous.

J'onn tried to sidestep in the air out of the cards before attempting to punch his enemy, but it was practically impossible. Luxord kept the Martian at bay and out of his reach with the unconventional swordsmanship of his playing cards, and all J'onn got were hacked and severed fingers in return. And Luxord was able to teleport instantly while Martian Manhunter was busying himself in the agony of having the magical blades eviscerating his hands before he then reappeared a safe distance at the Leaguer's back. Before Shannon or J'onn could react, he aimed with his cards, leapt forward…

A red blur, faster than lightning, then passed by in mere fractions of a second.

"Awforme?Youshouldn'thave!Thanksbye!" yelled the figure as it broke the sound barrier, disappearing within a microsecond. And Luxord was now weaponless.

The Organization soldier blinked in stupefied astonishment. He literally had the two cards vanish into thin air from his hands, roughly jerked out before he could even feel the rush of the breeze billowing the folds of his cloak.

And now that the white-haired charlatan was devoid of his cards on hand, Martian Manhunter (upon spotting his foe) took his chance as he bit back the pain and his bleeding lacerations before flying a beeline directly at Luxord with his fists outstretched.

POW!

Aiming it just right, the Justice League founder sent his foe flying backwards into a relatively clear area of the foyer, devoid of anyone else and far apart from the other fracases and battles going on. Nothing but open space and the bare walls. Which was perfect as Beach Head then aimed and fired the special energy net he had in the bazooka (his last one), and with a sizzle of ultraviolet energy and magic, the tarp spread out before encompassing the Gambler of Fate. Snaring the target and burning him upon immediate contact, the trap knocked Luxord off his feet and rendered him helpless on his back, unable to teleport out. But before he could try to summon two cards to cut his way through the net, J'onn and Shannon then swooped down from directly above, each of them impressively carrying a single, giant time card in their hands and wielding them like swords. As Luxord was distracted from the powerful haymaker, both Shannon and J'onn easily snatched a card from their surroundings before taking off with great speed towards the Organization antagonist. As they fell, they both brought the Nobody cards down onto their target with their collective strength.

_**Chak! Chak!**_

Luxord screamed, long, hard, and enough to strain his voice box to a distinct numbness as he felt the two heroes firmly stab and gorge the sharp edges of the metal weapons though his right arm, his chest, and his left leg, effectively dissecting him cleanly. And of course, with the slabs of metal embedded into the ground, it was impossible for Luxord to even get up or use his appendages and magic to free himself because the cards were fastening him quite securely.

To Luxord's growing and horrified realization, he was now stuck.

"It appears you yourself must follow your own rules bound by your weapons," intoned J'onn with triumphant anger and coldness as he and Shannon finished pinning their adversary to the floor excruciatingly with the cards. Never mind that their physical contact with Beach Head's energy net caused a few painful burns; this was well worth it. The vampire slayer added some additional insult to the injury as she took out three potions from her pockets, small, cylindrical vials, each so thin and small like test tubes that Shannon could hold all three of them within her fist. With a snarl, Shannon shoved the bottles against Luxord's face, breaking the glass upon contact and making additionally effort to get the shards embedded in the skin and eyes. The soldier from the Thirteenth Order screamed in agony as the magical potions ate away at his aura and head, like acid and fire.

"We're clear, Beach Head," Martian Manhunter intoned to his communicator as he grabbed Shannon and phased themselves through the floor, avoiding what was coming next.

"Now, Privates!" roared Beach Head, alarming Luxord too late as he realized that Trinity and Gambit have been suspiciously absent during this whole debacle. J'onn, Beach Head, and Shannon were so relentless and pressing in their tri-attacks that he easily forgot and failed to anticipate anything else.

It was then that Gambit and Trinity released their secret weapon, a planned teamwork-tactic that took a full month of perfection and planning in various Danger Room sessions for it to fully become what Luxord was about to unluckily be caught with full force.

Operation: Kinetic Wave.

And with Luxord trapped underneath the mystical net pinning him to the floor, there was no way for him to teleport and avoid the attacks that they were about to subject him under. Right as Gambit's eyes, now glowing like two pink supernovas, let loose all the energy he was able to tap into his mind and body thanks to Trinity's implants.

"UURAAAAAAAHHHH!" yelled Remy, jerking his head backwards as he hollered with all of his strength as Daria, Quinn, and Brittany tapped his maximum potential. Within a blink of an eye, Gambit's hands transferred the massive amounts of potential energy in the floor before causing the entire area around them to shimmer with a brilliant pink luster. And at full capacity, the force quickly erupted into a gigantic, oppressive surge of burning light. It was like a sudden wall of energy, rippling through the air and the floor, destructively exploding and sweeping up anything in its path and wake as it tore through the battlefield.

Like a crashing wave of kinetic energy.

Luxord, despite being kindled to a crisp by the energy net trapping him, heard the incoming thundering undulation. He turned and his gray eyes widened in horror as he was suddenly engulfed within the pink illumination, and right before he could curse, he was picked up and whisked away like a piece of driftwood among a violet riptide. And thanks to Gambit and Trinity's attack, the Organization member was being seared, pummeled, and jerked in opposite and multiple directions with enough force to dislocate and break every bone in his body. Unfortunately, due to the close quarters of fighting underground in Shaw Industries, the Kinetic Wave came close to harming a few of the neighboring battles as well. Felicia the Darkstalker and/or Ghostbuster yowled in fright as she had to acrobatically climb up the wall and leap from side to side before holding on with her claws to the metal surface and flattening herself as the energy barreled past her. Green Lantern cursed a foul oath as he saw the incoming surge of pink, the air actually pushing against him forcefully like a hurricane, as it approached himself as well as Colossus and Blob below. Fred and Piotr felt the incoming attack as well, but before they could move, John Stewart, like a true parent, gracefully surrounded the Misfit and X-Man with a green energy orb before hastily transferring them to a safe distance. Dana the vampire slayer didn't know what was coming (she was too busy trying to stab a ferocious wolf the Hellion Tarot summoned with her "Wolf Card") until she saw the Hellion's smug smirk. The scarred paranormal glanced over her shoulder as Tarot nimbly glided out of the way with her Jetpack Card, only to meet the Titans, Mas y Menos, as they barraged her with gas pellets from their glovatrixes.

"Shit!" yelled Dana, cursing as she managed to narrowly dodge the kinetic energy wave as it barreled past her with poor Luxord in tow. Unfortunately, than one moment of trying to avoid danger just made it easier for Tarot to send a Missile Card onto the paranormal and the Teen Titans. And Dana found herself at the mercy of several ballistic payloads homing in towards her person as she ran madly to avoid the rockets.

Just when it didn't seem it would ever end for Luxord, he met a rather abrupt end as the entire kinetic backlash met the far wall, clear from all the other fights going on. And once upon smacking face-first into the reinforced steel with the same force as if running head-on into an incoming jet, the entire Kinetic Wave created one last terrific explosion.

KAAAWHOOOOOMMMM!

"At ease, Privates!" yelled Beach Head as the light subsided, allowing him to quit shielding his eyes and fully analyzed how badly the mutants' attacks affected the soldier from Organization Thirteen. Upon the G.I. Joe Ranger's command, the Triplets and Remy collapsed in exhaustion. Brittany was panting and heaving like a horrible asthmatic, on her hands and knees. Quinn couldn't see straight; her vision was so blurry as her migraine pounded her skull. Gambit was actually the worst of it as he was lying on his side, as weak as a kitten.

"_Merde_…Remy don't think…he can do that again," gasped and wheezed Gambit as he fought hard to not pass out from unleashing so much energy at once. All that effort to convert the potential to destructive bio-kinetic was far past anything Gambit could do without the telepathic imprints Trinity emboldened him with. But on the bright side, the Kinetic Wave worked very well.

Very, _**very**_ well.

As Shannon went immediately towards her exhausted friends, Beach Head and Martian Manhunter looked on the extent of the damage. The Kinetic Wave actually left a trail of twisted, burned metal in its path as it set itself upon Luxord, actually creating a medium-sized, charred trench in its wake. It was as if someone took a bulldozer and dug a deep line, helter-skelter, across the entire battlefield. Luxord's form was barely recognizable. Across against the far wall, where bits of metal were liquefied and burnt along the floor and ceiling in patches, the Organization lay unmoving, face-down and smoking wafts of vile smoke amid a gigantic blackened circle. His arms and legs were actually broken in multiple places, jutting out wildly in the air like crooked sticks and twitching ever so slightly. Luxord's back and torso was contorted in proportions that were not physically possible. Both the Justice Leaguer and the G.I. Joe soldier couldn't even see Luxord's face on the account that his entire body was smeared with darkened blood and his cloak were now in tatters, exposing the burns, scars, and bleeding blisters Luxord now has all over his prone form.

But before Martian Manhunter could fly over and examine the corpse, to the alien's surprise, Luxord's body was engulfed in smoke before it vanished entirely. As much as the green-skinned Leaguer would have liked to believe that this meant that Luxord was successfully eliminated, he had a sinking feeling in his stomach that this was not the case.

"He's not dead. It still didn't finish him off," J'onn said. Beach Head gave the extraterrestrial a glare from his mask.

"I see even Martians can say what's stupidly obvious," Wayne retorted sarcastically, and for the life of him, J'onn had to fight the tiniest, microscopic urge to punch Beach Head directly in the mouth. When General Hawk said that Beach Head has his good points, he was obviously lying…

Shannon was about to hand over some rejuvenating potions that Willow Rosenberg brewed when regrettably, a black energy disc of bad-luck struck Shannon, Daria, Quinn, and Brittany out of nowhere from behind.

_Kashhack!_

With a yelp, Shannon, Gambit, and the Delgado Triplets felt the bad-luck surge into their bodies, and unfortunately, it took the magical wards with it. With a flicker and a dying noise, the protection and shielding spells vanished, obliterated into the null. The six heroes then heard Roulette the Hellion voice triumphantly bragging in the distance as the mutant dodged Aqualad's fists (though barely).

"Should have watched your backs, you chumps!"

"Hey!" Daria coughed as she shakily rose to her feet, but Roulette's bad-luck hex had done its work. Willow's spells of protection to shield all four of them from any spells and nasty bodily enchantment, as several of the past battles had shown before, was now completely nullified. Now only Beach Head and Martian Manhunter were the only ones who had the necessary safeguards from Luxord's time spells and cards. Gambit's breathing was now even more alarming, wheezing and shuddering, as he used his staff to prop himself shakily from the floor. J'onn looked on with worry; apparently, the Kinetic Wave took more out of Gambit than he thought, much more so than when he had done it on a smaller scale at the X-Men's Danger Room.

"Oh damn it!" Shannon cursed. If she lived through this, she swore for at least the chance to punch that stupid Hellion in the face for this setback. No potion she had on hand could help fix this; they would actually need to have Willow or the Charmed Ones recreate the mystical screens all over again (Allo was outside trying to maintain the force-field, so he was obviously not an option). Before J'onn or Wayne could gather the kids, three cards flew out of nowhere directly towards the five teenagers, silent, swift, and aimed with lethal precision.

"Duck!" Beach Head and Martian Manhunter cried out in alarm, but thankfully, Shannon, with her Slayer sense, detected the incoming cards, and she immediately shoved and tackled Daria, Quinn, and Brittany out of the way. Thankfully, none of the girls were hurt as the cards flew past them, J'onn, and Beach Head, only to shrink and reappear in Luxord's hands as he teleported in the line of fire. And much to their ire, the Gambler of Fate was completely as good as new. There was not a single trace of his injuries or the ruthless attacks the sextet bombarded him with earlier on his body.

"Don't you ever die?" snarled Beach Head as Gambit let out a scream of frustration from behind the army Ranger. Luxord just ignored Beach Head as he addressed the Cajun X-Man, twirling a card that had red splotches running down one long edge.

"Quite dangerous to play the rush, aren't we, Gambit? **Now** we're even."

Remy was still hollering heart-wrenchingly, not even acting like he even spotted the enemy from the Thirteenth Order. The other five heroes turned around and saw why.

"Oh God…" Quinn blurted, white in the face and thoroughly repulsed as Remy fell to his knees, screaming and yelling in absolute agony as blood and fluid now poured out of his damaged and lacerated eyes and face. Sadistically, Luxord had effectively blinded Gambit by slicing his corneas and the bridge of his nose when the giant metal card passed by them. Though the weapons missed Shannon and the Delgado Triplets, Luxord had them easily graze past Gambit's body to cause him the gruesome injury, like taking a straight razor to the teenager's eyeballs. And thanks to the mystical wards cast on Gambit being broken, the damage was much more severe than anticipated.

"Tinkerbell, hurry!" cried Brittany, and like an angel, the pixie glowing in yellow dust flew down towards the bloodied face of Remy and gently, after Daria and Quinn had to forcefully pry Gambit's hands from his eyes, touched the bleeding and serrated gash across the X-Man's face. The fairy was stunned with horror at the severity of the cut and the glowing burn marks across Gambit's face. This was a severe wound, and a magical one at that; it would take a while. Meanwhile, Shannon was livid as she aimed with her crossbow directly at Luxord's head. But before she could even pull the trigger, Luxord was quicker. With a snap of his fingers and a puff of white smoke, the Slayer was transformed into a gigantic playing card with the Nobody symbol etched in the back. Since Roulette struck her and the Delgado children, they were no longer shielded. Shannon's panicked voice rang from the flat rectangle.

"Mr. Manhunter, Beach Head, **I'm stuck!** I can't get out!" yelled the image of the vampire slayer painted on the front-side of the card. Trinity then raised a respective hand towards the Organization member.

"Stopra - !" they began, but with a snap of his fingers, Luxord automatically transformed the Delgado Triplets into cards as well, each one turning into nothing more than a motionless pawn in puffs of white smoke. He was no fool; Luxord remembered perfectly well what happened the last time when he transformed Daria, Quinn, and Brittany as dice back at the siege of the Watchtower. And now the only heroes that weren't rendered immobile were Beach Head, Martian Manhunter, and the blind and severely injured Gambit, the X-Man whimpering in pain as his eyes were still gouged out excruciatingly (with Tinkerbell worriedly healing him as fast as she could).

"You know, technically, we should have tried using our magic _first_ before attending Gambit…" Quinn mused with the usual 20-20 hindsight. Her two sisters were not exactly gracious in their immediate response.

"Oh, shut up."

"And now, it comes down to the final two…" Luxord then confidently and arrogantly highlighted as he reappeared a good distance away in front of them, ambling across the floor like his was taking a jolly walk. His silver eyes were glinting eagerly as he rubbed his goatee with one hand. Yet what made it more intimidating was that five giant cards, all in a straight row, were lined from behind the Organization member, hurriedly alternating between an "X" and an "O character on their shiny white surfaces. Like the movement of a roulette wheel or a slot machine in Las Vegas. Beach Head already hefted the bazooka on his shoulder while J'onn protectively got in front of the wounded Gambit, shielding the teenager like any concerned guardian.

"_**Stop**_," commanded Luxord firmly, his voice now having a bit of steel, "Think about it, gentlemen. Can you two do anything more than what you've already tried? As I'm living proof, nothing's worked yet."

"Screw you," Beach Head growled as his aimed with the rocket launcher.

"Now, now, temper, temper…" lectured the suave man, wiggling one forefinger back and forth as if he was admonishing a pupil or a student, "I'm letting you all have one chance to save your little friends. All you have to do is play a little game, Mr. Sneeden."

"We're through with your games," growled the Martian as he was about to fly towards the Organization member, but then Luxord hit a weakness in the Justice Leaguer.

"Attack me, and I _**shall**_ kill all of the children. And unlike those three demonic pests, you were never blessed with a Keyblade, Mr. J'onzz. So regardless of what you do to me, you could never do anything permanent. I took everything you offered, and I'm still standing with little to show for it. Now tell me, are you willing to risk the lives of the girls and Mr. LeBeau? You do remember the last game they refused to play and its consequences…and it has **already** started."

J'onn stopped abruptly. He didn't want to chance it, and his telepathy was useless in this battle. But Luxord had a damn good point, and his threat was very real. His red eyes narrowed in calm anger as he slowly asked, "What are the rules?"

Luxord then flung his hand at the towering cards behind him, the countdown of death beginning as the "X" and "O" symbols continued to shift expeditiously. And up above was another ghostly image of a clock face, the ring of Roman numerals from one to thirteen ticking and ringing ominously. And the "XIII" symbol was as crimson as blood.

"A game of chance, then. One player at a time. Get all five of the cards to show 'O's all across the straight, and the spell on your X-Man and precious bitches are nullified as well as I lose a great deal of strength in the backlash. If even one 'X' character is made or if you run out of time when the cards cease their revolutions, the player loses severely, quite possibly enough for death. I doubt the magic protecting you two will manage to hold a second desperation assault."

"That's hardly fair," growled the Martian in anger. The odds were in Luxord's favor…

"Why the hell are you doing this?" Wayne growled poisonously. Any other villain would have killed the four girls outright the moment he or she would have made them helplessly nullified. The goateed man's smirk grew wider, even more suave.

"I like to give my opponents a slim, fighting chance. And now, Mr. Manhunter and Mr. Sneeden, are you in?" Luxord bragged, playing the false sympathy for as much as it was worth. The Army Ranger of G.I. Joe let loose several choice swear words under his breath before he rashly made a decision before his ally from the Justice League could say a word.

"Fine. I'm in first. Play the game," Beach Head growled. J'onn immediately tried to intervene, concerned.

"Beach Head, don't! Let me - " but the Joe Ranger irately cut him off as the cards began to appear and shuffle magically in front of Luxord.

"J'onn, for God's sake, _take the hint_! If I die, my death will be a lot _less worse_ than yours, and secondly, you can use my turn to get any clues to how the hell this bastard plays! _**Now shut it!**_"

Martian Manhunter was so torn between abiding by the Joe's request and ignoring them full-out and risking the card game himself or tackling Luxord despite the consequences. But though his mind was declaring it as asinine and ordering him to just flat out attack Luxord, the extraterrestrial just stood by on the sidelines, remaining solemnly quiet.

"Look closely…" echoed the Gambler of Fate as the five gigantic cards in front of Beach Head and Martian Manhunter began to change and rotate rapidly, exactly like how the symbols would whirl around at a slot machine. And to hammer the point home that Wayne was on a time limit, a ghostly phantom image of a clock face hovered high above for all three of them to see, starting at the 13th mark and working backwards, the numbers turning red with each passing second. Rapidly, the surfaces of each magical obelisk swapped and modified their symbols, hurriedly fluctuating between "O" and "X" symbols, each one holding the odds that would determine Wayne's fate as well as the children's as the seconds passed agonizingly.

Then out of the blue, for reasons he would never recall or explain, Wayne Sneeden of G.I. Joe, extreme hard-ass and "Jerk of the Year", felt himself closing his eyes, not even watching the cards as they began to slow down.

J'onn could honestly say he was never as flabbergasted and stunned in his entire life as he was in that one moment as he could actually feel his jaw unhinge and drop in shock and surprise at the G.I. Joe soldier. He couldn't help but blurt out, half-angry, half-frantic, "What are you - ?"

"_**Shut it**_," hissed Beach Head, and he was so forceful, holding up a hand to indicate to the Justice Leaguer that he needed to listen, that even J'onn felt his words of protest die in his throat.

Ten seconds…

Martian Manhunter's hand tightened into a tense fist. This was insane. Absolutely, completely, over-the-top, insane to the level where not even Trinity of the Misfits would be that stupid to try. By the Red Planet, this was a level of insanity reserved for the Joker.

Beach Head's heart was hammering like thunder in his ribcage, his eyes still closed and his face hidden behind the green ski mask.

The "VIII" symbol just finished turning red on the clock face…

Luxord smirked, almost disdainfully scoffing, as his gray eyes glittered with anticipation upon seeing Beach Head forfeit his life and safety. And J'onn was still struggling to wrap his mind about what to do, whether to watch out for Beach Head or to concern himself over the kids. The loss of any of his allies was not even an option, but at this point, it was pretty much lose-lose.

Beach Head still remained still, head down, eyes closed, his heart rate slowly precariously like a proverbial dead man.

J'onn was on the brink between attacking Luxord and risking his life as opposed to Beach Head risking his own as the "V" mark transformed its hue…

Screw humoring Beach Head. There was still a slim chance he could grab all of them and fly out of bounds and out of Luxord's sight before the time magic could kick in. No, perhaps attacking him directly and distracting the Thirteenth Order soldier enough for Beach Head to run was the better option…

As if Beach Head could read the Martian's mind, Beach Head loudly enough for J'onn to hear over Gambit's whimpers, "If I don't make it, get the Cajun and the girls out of danger. That's an order."

"Not under your rank," growled J'onn, now willing to disobey. Beach Head hissed one word so softly, J'onn barely was able to discern it amid the chaos and battle sounds ravaging all around them.

"_**Please…**_"

J'onn blinked.

Luxord chuckled, so anxious and elatedly craving Beach Head's imminent defeat.

Two seconds…

Beach Head then felt it.

He knew. He just knew…deep within.

"Stop," Beach Head said, bluntly and without emotion. There was a faint gleam of green light as the time magic heard Beach Head's request and immediately halted the turnings of the Nobody cards. And to Luxord's outrage and J'onn's astonishment, all five of the cards showed a line of straight "O" characters. No "X" symbols anywhere. The Justice League founder's jaw dropped wide open in amazement (though it was nowhere as close to Luxord's).

"I win," growled Beach Head, and though he had no idea why or how it was possible he knew exactly what to do, all five of the giant cards magically shuffled and shrank in size until they reappeared into the palm of Wayne's hand, almost as if the army ranger summoned them to his will. With a growl, Wayne simply tossed the cards back in a manner worthy of Gambit, and all five of them grew exponentially in size and deadly sharpness before they tore through the air and struck the white-haired, goateed man in quick succession, invoking a painful grunt of anguish as they cut him to pieces. And thankfully, it was exactly what the group needed as Gambit was now fully healed thanks to Tinkerbell and the spell turning Shannon and Trinity into cards and dice faded, reverting the four girls back to their normal forms. Beach Head beating Luxord's own game broke the enchantment.

"You're dead, _homme_!" snarled an inflamed Gambit as he let loose an entire pack of playing cards in quick succession, now fully inflamed and angry, wanting to deliver payback as fifty-two cards all swirled out in a wide spray and causing a series of inescapable explosions on the poor Organization member. This allowed Shannon and Trinity to leap into the fray with their respective crossbow and Trichrona Keyblades, doing their best to bash the evasive opponent's head in, and Remy joined in the fray, leaping high above with his staff over his head for a finishing blow.

"Die, you son of a bitch!" roared Shannon as she hurled another destabilizing potion bottle as Trinity flanked her.

J'onn meanwhile was still staring at the G.I. Joe soldier with something skin to disbelief, a rare look for the Justice League founder.

"How did you…?" trailed off Martian Manhunter. By the red planet, the odds were theoretically against Beach Head, and his mind couldn't comprehend how the Joe soldier could beat the probabilities and take such a huge risk without hesitation! No matter how intelligent he was, J'onn could see that humans could never fail to astonish him. Beach Head looked like he was going to keep quiet until he then quietly admitted to the Martian.

"I took Wavedancer's advice about listening your heart…something just told me when it was the right moment," he muttered with embarrassment. J'onn at last smiled; Beach Head had a soft, sensitive side after all. Wayne caught the look J'onn was giving him out of the corner of his eyes.

"If you tell **anyone** I said that…" the Joe threatened.

"My lips are sealed."

With that, the extraterrestrial and the human charged, joining the fray with Shannon, Gambit, and Trinity against the weakened Luxord, bazooka and fists ready.

Before this forgone conclusion, Jetstream the Hellion was doing his best to play the old game of strike-and-flee on various members of the congregated group of heroes. He may have missed a few such as the Joe Low Light and the Shaman Yoh, but he was still relentless in his pursuit. And he actually managed to wing a few of the heroes. Already, Xi didn't see the Hellion until it was too late to evade the Moroccan mutant completely, and the lizard Misfit got badly clipped from behind, sending him sprawling with a badly bleeding and singed spot on his back. Hawkgirl from the Justice League did a sudden swoop-and-circle high-dive move as he sensed the insane Hellion approaching her, barreling past as a javelin of heat and energy by several feet and much too fast for Shayera to even retaliate, which was fortunate considering that Luthor and Emma informed what Hawkgirl's mace could do to his electrical, cybertronic body. Rio of the Shamans with his spirit, Tokageroh, were less lucky as they were about to perform their spirit attack, already airborne for an aerial assault towards the ground. Even with an attempt to block with his sword, Jetstream's momentum sent him flying into the nearest wall despite the guard.

"You creep!" yelled Willow Rosenberg as she sent a magical missile directly at the mutant teenager, but to the redhead's irritation, he was practically gone in a blink of an eye, his momentum making him too fast and quick to be an easy target. It was mere child's play to evade the magical spell, and though annoyed, Willow immediately flew over to heal Rio with her magic while Kennedy, Roadblock and Casey offered cover.

Storm was Jetstream's next target, and the X-Woman was so busy summoning a hailstorm on Axel, trying a find a way to aid Shipwreck and Jean Grey in their fight against the fire-wielder, she was completely caught off-guard when Haroun struck her.

Storm could only cry out in agony as the force of the Hellion ramming into her sent her colliding directly into the nearest wall, left-shoulder and thigh first. Her body made a sickening thud upon impact, and though it was hard enough to cause her shoulder to dislocate, her back to wrench excruciatingly, and blood to run down her bruised face, miraculously, Storm was still conscious. At the very least, her spine was still pretty much whole so she could move her body and limbs (thanks the heavens for small favors). Even more fortunate was that Jetstream was clearly not bothering to continuing his assault on Storm as he dashed off, barreling like a rocket, in search of more victims to ram and batter in his crazed "hit-and-run" game.

However, despite her relief, a sharp squeal of fear from Magma the X-Girl made Storm turn towards the noise to see her fellow student hurled high into the air. Thanks to Lexaeus' Ruined Earth spells, he managed to send Amara sky-rocketing high into the air, nearly touching the ceiling…before sending her to a neck-breaking fall to her imminent death.

"No…" rasped Ororo, blood coming out of her mouth as she then weakly raised a twitching hand at the terrified student and invoked all of her strength and concentration she could in creating a controlled tornado underneath Amara's body. She had to do it just right or else it would miss Magma or unintentionally be too powerful and mortally take out any of the allies around her.

To her satisfied cheer, it worked. The invisible tornado was just robust and potent enough to encapsulate Magma's entire body and cradling her, the cyclone managed to slow and decelerate the X-Girl's fall by more than half. And now safe from breaking her neck or back from the drop, Storm managed to manipulate the winds to carefully set Amara back on her feet, leaving Amara stupefied beyond belief at her good fortune (and who could blame her?). Ororo let out a deep sigh of relief at rescuing the New Mutant…until she heard a distress call from Vi and Rona of the vampire slayers as they were fighting against (astoundingly enough) a complete army of diamond clones, all of them psychokinetic copies of Emma Frost of the Hellfire Club.

"Yeow, Storm, we need some help here! There's too many! Ugh!" Vi yelped.

Rona then intoned on the comm-link, "Storm, I got an idea that'll help mow this slut down! _**Operation: Wind Rider, Beta!**_"

Glancing back to see that Jetstream was flying too fast for her to catch up with him and that Vi and Rona were in a much more dire predicament, Storm fought the temptation to pursue the Hellion as she flew speedily towards the skirmish where the two Slayers were coming close to getting overrun. Hurriedly gulping down a healing potion provided by Phoebe and Paige Halliwell, Storm flew towards her friends' sides…

Meanwhile, Jetstream was still wilding coasting in the air above the various battles, eager to hone in on more victims. Thankfully, before the mutant could decide to ram himself into Hawkgirl of the Justice League, one of the heroes managed to follow her modus operandi as she plummeted downwards sharply and rammed both of her energy stingers right in between the mutant's shoulder blades.

"Gotcha, jerkface!" yelled Bumblebee the Titan as she successfully charged her weapons at full intensity into the Hellion's body, using her wings to propel herself as hard as she could as leverage to force Jetstream downwards from the pressure bearing down on his back. She was satisfied upon seeing the burning and hissing of the energy channeling throughout the Hellion's body at enough levels to knock out a bull-elephant, and hopefully, this would be enough to knock out the Moroccan teen for a good while…

The mutant then sneered, realizing what had just pounced on top of his person before, despite the ochre energy from Bumblebee's stingers traversing through his body. Oh, this was going to be sweet payback…

"What the hell?" gasped Karen before Haroun then twisted over so that he was facing her before increasing the momentum in his hands with enough thermal energy to deliver a rather painful and gut-churning blow to the Titan's stomach. Karen was instantly left winded as the blow to her gut made her almost black out for a moment as she plummeted from the air, holding her mid-section in pain as there was now an ugly and large smoking, charred circle in her abdomen, sporting a vicious third degree burn glistening with blood and fluid. Even though the contact with the Hellion's fist was only a second or two, it was as painful as if someone combined a blowtorch and a bowling ball before shooting it directly at the female metahuman with a cannon. Like a piece of paper lost in the wind, Bumblebee flittered weakly and erratically like a dying insect.

"Unlike you, I actually learned from our last battles with Trigon…" bragged Haroun as he then dove downwards the barely conscious Titan East leader as she fell, ready to pound her flat into nothing more than a bloody smear. Barreling at this speed, the Titan East member would have easily had a majority of her spinal cord and bones snapped like twigs upon collision. But then at the last minute, Starfire then came to her fellow Titan's rescue as a sudden green energy-ball struck Jetstream's back so hard that his trajectory veered violently to the left, away from the injured Bumblebee.

"You shall not hurt my friends any longer, you vandgap cellkarnip!" Starfire yelled with rage, her emerald eyes glowing hotly in anger, as she flew down, throwing a barrage of green-colored star-bolts, each one capable of melting reinforced steel within mere seconds. And her starbolts were far more powerful than Karen's stingers when she _**really**_ concentrated. Despite the blow to his back, Jetstream just silently bore the pain as he flew away from the Titan's relentless assault, the emerald projectiles actually mere inches away from hitting his body. And thanks to Starfire's intervention, Karen was able to force her wings to beat as hard as they could to soften her free-fall enough so that she could roll and tumble roughly to the floor upon crashing instead of being flattened like road-kill upon impact. Thankfully, the African American teenager, though bruised and wounded, was still very much alive.

"Damn it!" cursed the mutant student of the Hellfire Club before Jetstream, now livid at being cheated of killing a Teen Titan, then tore directly towards Starfire with fists and cybernetic arms outstretched in front. Like a speeding bullet, Jetstream tore across the air, almost too fast for the human eye to process, as he steered himself for a rather gruesome impact with the alien. There was no way her strength and starbolts could affect him in his powered-up state…

At the last possible second, when the gap between Starfire and Jetstream was so close that Starfire could feel the heat of the energy cocooning the Hellion protectively, Starfire huffed, cocked her fist back…

_**POW!**_

Jetstream should have been thankful that the bio-thermal energy created a force-field around his body similar to Cannonball's mutant whenever he used his powers. It was probably the only thing that prevented him from having his head gruesomely detached from his body as Starfire delivered the uppercut directly to his jaw at the last split-second before Jetstream could crash into her. Despite the massive blow, the Moroccan teenager was only flung backwards by several meters before his cybernetic body managed to gain control and enable him to hover awkwardly and shakily in the air, levitating above the chaotic battles down below. Haroun spat out blood as he wrenched his neck back into place, feeling the throbbing pain of having a good portion of his teeth now cracked into useless fragments. Thankfully, it would take more than that to knock someone with his stamina, although he was now thoroughly pissed at the female Tamaranean hovering before him.

"I am stronger than I look," Starfire said with modesty, her arms crossed over her chest as she flew in midair, her eyes narrowed but her face calm and serene, anticipating the next attack from Haroun, her instincts alert. And thankfully, at that point, Bumblebee was already recovered and fully healed thanks to a simple touch from Tinkerbell before she flew upwards towards Jetstream and Starfire, with rage and promises of vengeance in her eyes. Now the odds were two against one, and as just demonstrated, Jetstream couldn't match Starfire equally in terms of strength. So he did what Emma Frost taught him as back-up.

Jetstream wordlessly did an about face and rocketed away from the two Teen Titans, retreating and taking his battles elsewhere.

"Hey, get back here, creep!" yelled Bumblebee before she and Starfire both took off in full pursuit, the two female Titans giving chase to Jetstream in hopes of stopping the mutant before he could cause anymore problems and troubles for their side.

WHAM!

"Kilala!" Sango cried out upon seeing the Hellfire mutant teenager ram himself into her demonic cat-friend, and roaring and spitting like a mad beast, the demonic cat slashed at the mutant with her claws. Amazingly, due to the chemo-thermal energy surrounding him, the blow that should have torn Jetstream in half only gave him a few bruises and an aching shoulder as he dashed off towards Danny Phantom. Danny thankfully managed to ghost himself like Shadowcat, allow Jetstream to fly past and through his body without causing any harm or injury.

Still, Haroun apparently wasn't wasting his time. Not only was his successfully running away and evading both Starfire and Bumblebee, but he was causing a lot of destruction and mayhem in the process, barreling and striking down every hero he could spot. Agent Jay from the Men in Black and/or Ghostbusters was winged ever so slightly, but because of the force and energy in Jetstream's dispatch, his shoulder became dislocated. Agent Jay cried out in excruciating agony as he sank to his knees, his popped shoulder and arm hanging limply like spaghetti. Had Felicia not tackled Bevatron and distracted him from sending an electrical surge at the Man in Black, Jay would have died easily. Supergirl however took the full brunt of Haroun's charge directly in the back between the shoulder blades and the giant Phoenix wings of fire, causing her to have no choice but allow herself to be rudely and forcefully shoved face-first against the nearest metal wall.

Supergirl snarled with outraged as she picked her face out of the deep indentation from where she pressed against the titanium wall (thankful for her invulnerability), "You little - !"

The Hellion sadly darted away as fast as he could before she could even fly up and throttle him, and as much as she wanted to, using her fire vision from the Phoenix Force would have easily killed the mutant (though one could admit that tempting offer was hardly a problem).

"Get back here, you coward!" Bumblebee yelled.

"Stop hurting those not of our fight and face us instead, you gamdhym rektolpaf drog'quicherbard!" Starfire yelled.

"Star, one of these days, just save us the headache and tell us what that term means…"

Bumblebee and Starfire continued their pursuit of the Hellion, and though Starfire could fly at speeds faster than the speed of light, she had to slow down significantly due to being in a closed, underground compartment and to allow Karen to catch up with her. But then a sudden flash of white followed by a painful cry from Green Lantern got the Tamaranean's attention. She gasped before breaking away and flying as speedily as she dared.

"Huh? Star? Where - ?" sputtered Bumblebee as her friend just split up and away from her, flying in the opposite direction. Still bothered, Karen decided to ask questions later as she continued her chase on the Hellfire soldier.

What happened was that Green Lantern of the Justice League was attempting to use his power ring to lasso the Grail from the Talismans of Twilight and steal it from the ring of fire that Axel of Organization Thirteen had created. Lamentably, in the process, the statuette of the female angel sensed the energy surrounding it, and with a backlash of pure light, it broke free of the orb snaring it and severed the connection abruptly with Jon. The sudden radiation along with the severe break in his mental concentration caused a rather painful migraine to the Justice League founder. Unburdened, the statue clattered to the floor, miraculously undamaged without a single chip.

Starfire's green eyes widened. She wasn't the only one who noticed John Stewart's failure. With a swirl of darkness and black magic, a portal opened within a few feet of the shinning statuette of the female angel. The Tamaranean didn't even bother hesitating to see who would step out of the tesseract as she flew, her nerves frantic and pushing herself to the maximum velocity she could ever muster, time slowing down almost like a death toll. After all, if what Leomon said was true, then the Grail was far more important than Jetstream.

The Superior of the Thirteenth Order then stepped out of the doorway through time and space gleefully, his red eyes positively gleaming with anticipation as his hands lunged for the holy relic…

"You shall not have it!" yelled Starfire as she flew at the last instant and grabbed the Chalice away from its position in the air before Xemnas could even come close. Xemnas screamed with cheated outrage as the Titan snatched it out of his fingers, besting him by mere centimeters. Starfire flew away, cradling the white figurine in her arms, as gently as she could and as if she was holding a newborn baby. Surely the Grail of the Talismans would see she meant it no harm or ill-will…

_**FLASH!**_

Starfire yelped in surprise, thankfully she wasn't hurt or burned like Selene did when she tried touching the relic. Still however, to her rude awakening, she was shoved forcefully back, a magical aura forcing her to let go and release her hold on the angel statue. It plummeted before it noisily clattered and clanked against the ground, but surprisingly, it remained intact, lying on its side, with not even the slightest scuff mark or crack, despite its tumble. The Superior saw this as a perfect opportunity as he then summoned a portal of darkness faster than Cyclops could run and try to blast him. With a flash of black aura and nothingness, Xemnas teleported directly in front of the Grail.

"Mine!" roared Xemnas as he pounced…right before a familiar blur of blue and red zoomed out of nowhere, faster than a speeding bullet, and solidly rammed Xemnas away from the Chalice, fists first. And due to the excessive force and momentum powerful enough to fly through a solid mountain with ease, the white-haired Nobody had no choice but to submit to the sudden impact, his spinal cord breaking and snapping like a twig.

"I beg to differ…" growled Superman as he successfully and painfully clobbered and shoved the leader of the Thirteenth Order once again from the holy artifact, free and unclaimed. Even though he couldn't touch it, Clark was not going to let the Superior get the Grail either. Realizing that it was best to not leave the figurine in the same place where the Superior could easily return to retrieve it, Starfire did a rather foolish, impulsive move as she gently kicked the white bust with her foot, sending it far into the crowds and various firefights (where it would later be close to where Octavia and the other heroes were fighting the Organization member, Zexion). She may not be able to hold it, but Starfire made sure that Xemnas wouldn't be able to easily find it.

"I'm sorry," the alien naively apologized as the shining figurine went sailing into a graceful arc before she lost sight of it. With that, the Teen Titan immediately soared into the air to rejoin Bumblebee.

At the same time, Jetstream then spotted the Misfit, Toad, who was yelping and trying to avoid Roxas' Oathkeeper and Oblivion Keyblades as the two weapons whizzed vertically through the air and floor like gyrating blades, cutting and eviscerating anything in their path. And due to the distraction, Toad didn't even register that the Hellion was above him. Jetstream grinned maliciously.

And as Emma Frost informed her Hellions: one less Keyblader in this planet was better than _ten_ dead superheroes that had no Keyblade.

With that, he charged downwards, dropping with increasing acceleration, charging up all the energy he had for one, silent, lethal attack that would no doubt crush every bone and internal organ to mush inside Toad's body. Much, much more powerful than the one hit he used to cripple Falco earlier…

"No!" cried out Starfire, guessing what Haroun was plotting to do as she caught up with Karen, her red hair fluttering madly due to her velocity.

"_Toad, look out!_" cried Bumblebee, her brown eyes wide and one arm outstretched in horror towards the inevitable impact.

"Die, frog!" Jetstream crowed as Toad only had enough time to gasp before attempting to hop out of danger, with the Hellion barreling closer and closer. Just as Starfire was about to chance it and fly at the speed of light to shove Toad out of the way…

_**WHAM!**_

Jetstream never knew what hit him. Primarily because Genie power-slammed the gigantic, blue-colored, wooden mallet on top of his body right before the Hellion could ram himself into Toad, thereby protecting his Keyblader and charge. As a result, Jetstream had been stopped cold a few feet away from Toad, smashed against the floor like a fly with a cartoonish, oversized, hammer squishing him against the ground.

"Loser Hellion says _what_ now?" Genie ribbed teasingly, and he smiled a toothy, unashamed grim of playful innocence as he lifted the colossal mallet off the now injured and flattened Jetstream, his cybernetic body badly damaged but still functional and alive. As hard as Genie smacked Jetstream, he was merciful enough to not hit him hard enough to kill the Hellfire mutant. Starfire, Toad, and Bumblebee, despite the seriousness of their situation and the fact that they were amidst a raging war, clapped and laughed heartily.

"Friend Genie, that was most excellent timing!" Starfire giggled.

"Genie, yo, you're the coolest Genie ever!" Toad cheered, hopping up and down.

"Will you quit screwin' around and fight, wart farm?" Wolverine yelled, sparing a spare second or two as he hurriedly attempted to barrage Roxas with his claws, "We need another Keyblade here!"

"C'mon, Toad Boy, leave the roadkill for the ladies to finish off," Genie declared as he winked at Starfire and Bumblebee before protectively wrapping an arm around Toad's waist before flying into the fracas where Black Widow, Wolverine, Bambi the Disney deer, and Xi were battling their hardest against Roxas.

"Star, while he's down!" Karen yelled as she powered up her yellow stingers, and Starfire didn't need to be told twice as her hands began to glow in ultraviolet radiation. Without hesitation, both Teen Titans let loose, with the yellow energy crackling and snaking like electricity around the wide beam of green sun-radiation Starfire was generating as one, continuous pulse, both attacks merging marvelously in unison. Injured and with some parts of his robotic body badly damaged, Haroun then decided to activate the little fail safe spell Selene the Black Queen enhanced him with. And with the simple click of a button on the console built in his wrist-comm…

_**Kashhhoooommm!**_

Both Bumblebee and Starfire's attacks completely engulfed Jetstream entirely, the mutant's body hidden underneath the wide beam of yellow and emerald. For ten prolonged, apprehensive, edgy seconds, both of the Teen Titans kept up their attack, pulse after pulse of energy cascading down and hammering the Hellfire soldier to the floor. The marble turned black and cracked instantly while a ring of molten titanium and steel was slowly pooling all around Jetstream's prone form.

So imagine their complete astonishment when despite the force of their energy attacks pressing down on him, Jetstream managed to stand back on his two feet. Starfire gasped while Bumblebee was floored. And with a gleam in his eyes, all the green starbolts and electric stingers began to whirlpool before simmering straight into Jetstream's body, fading into nothing. And if anything, the chemo-thermal energy shield around the mutant's body was illuminating brighter and brighter.

Bumblebee's eyes widened. What was going on? This combined attack was enough to take out and melt a Sentinel robot! So why wasn't it hurting Jetstream? From the way he was smirking and the fact that all that energy they were throwing at him seemed to disappear into thin air the moment it came in contact with him…

It then hit Karen as she called out to her fellow Teen Titan.

"Stop Starfire!" warned Karen as she roughly grabbed the Tamaranean's arm before she could toss another volley of starbolts, "It'll just make him stronger! He'll just absorb whatever energy you throw at him! That's how come none of our attacks are having any effect, why it's just fading into thin air! Jetstream's absorbing all our energy attacks somehow! _He's in leech-mode now!_"

"But then what are we to do? Perhaps there is a way we can contain him? And **LOOK OUT!**" the red-haired extraterrestrial asked before they instantly side-dashed away in the air, avoiding the barreling Hellion as he tried to ram them with his powers at insane speeds, strafing barely just in time. And what made the situation even graver was the fact that the mutant Hellion was now brilliantly blazing like a supernova, due to all the energy he absorbed from Starfire and Bumblebee. It was a good indication to correlate that Jetstream's powers were also magnified due to the power-up, far more than they could handle. Instinctively, Bumblebee wanted to automatically chase him down, but she forced herself to think.

They needed to fight smarter, not harder.

Problem was, when dealing with an opponent who could absorb energy attacks, the options were really limited to: pumping him full of energy until he overloaded (too risky), waiting and see if he burned himself out in post-rush (also risky because waiting would enable Jetstream to hurt their friends in the process), or get someone of similar absorption or draining powers to battle with (not an option since Rogue was back at the X-Mansion, didn't have her heart sealed like the other present X-Men, and none of their other current allies had such abilities).

So if energy attacks were out of the question, they needed something to help them physically deal with him without being burned by all that energy he was storing…

"Now whatever shall we do?" Starfire asked.

Both Bumblebee and Starfire then yelled in surprise as a sudden gust of wind that was powerful enough to reach hurricane levels engulfed the area all around them before Xaldin, in his fights with Green Lantern and Cover Girl, tore open a portion of the roof with his magic. As the winds subsided (and Starfire and Bumblebee had to dodge to avoid a flying Colossus who was yanked upwards into the open night skies above), Bumblebee then spotted several chains from the broken debris of what remained of the ceiling.

"Star, I got an idea!"

Meanwhile, Leomon was the next victim to unluckily catch the full brunt of a magically and energy-enhanced Jetstream as the mutant managed to catch him from below at a forty-five degree ascending trajectory. The Priest of Twilight was narrowly blocking spears that were sent his face via Xaldin when Jetstream caught him with full intensity in the stomach. In fact, it was such an abrupt and intense force that it left Leomon winded as he dropped his Lionheart Blade, having the sword clatter to the floor below as Jetstream rammed the Digimon cruelly against the wall.

"Leomon!" yelled Adam Bomb (the Monster Fighter) helplessly from below.

"AAAHHHH!" Leomon roared, his voice bellowing and raw before choking with the sound of blood filling up his windpipe as the energy from Jetstream seared into him and the augmented force from his mutant powers was threatening to gorge through his midsection. And since Green Lantern was the only one in their group who could fly, none of the others could help the lion humanoid from being ripped apart.

But then again, they didn't need to. Grinding his teeth together, Leomon surprised Haroun completely as the lion warrior grabbed the Hellion around the waist with both paws, not caring if the thermal energy was searing his fur and skin. With a grunt, Leomon hurled Jetstream high into the air, and now with nothing to press against, Jetstream veered and barreled wildly away from the Digimon as he was shoved and deflected.

Right into the path of a waiting Starfire with two long sets of industrial-strength steel chains in her hands. With a ferocious snarl, Starfire surged forward and instantly trussed and wrapped the chains around Jetstream's neck and body, her hands mere blurs. Jetstream, already confused from having Leomon tossing him aside, choked as the rings of metal squeezed and tightened around his neck. He tried to rocket out and sunfish, but the Tamaranean had a grip of iron as she straddled the mutant with her legs, effectively tying and binding the chains around his arms, waist, and legs. Starfire was many, many times stronger than Jetstream was, even in his powered-up state. Despite the third degree burns already popping on Starfire's body due to contact with the energy field surrounding Jetstream's body, she managed to cocoon the Hellion thoroughly with the iron chains. All that were left were two long strands of linked metal dangling out of the web of tightly meshed steel and rusted iron. Releasing the captured mutant, Starfire grabbed hold of one of the chains while tossing the other loose set to a nearby Bumblebee who caught it immediately with both hands. Now Jetstream was tightly restrained and manacled, unable to fly away now that he was securely tethered by the two female Teen Titans. And thanks to using one of the magical heat-resistant potions Paige Halliwell gave her, Bumblebee was able to douse the fetters with the magical liquid so that Jetstream couldn't melt and burn his way out of them. And between Starfire's strength and Bumblebee, there was no way he could escape when the two had him secure…

Jetstream then twirled his body around and around, spinning like a top and in the counter-clockwise position, being a mere blur and slightly sucking in the air all around him like a miniature tornado. And unfortunately, the momentum from the revolutions yanked hand on the chains…and Bumblebee and Starfire who were tightly holding on to them. Taken by completely surprise (and the fact that they looped the chains securely around their hands and wrists for better leverage), Starfire and Bumblebee did their best to pull back but the pull from Jetstream's mutant power was too strong. Jerked so suddenly from the winding of the chains, hard enough to feel as if their arms were being torn off their sockets, both of the Titans were reeled inwards and collided solidly with Haroun's glowing body. And thanks to the centrifugal forces, Karen and Starfire were both winded and stuck to the Hellion.

And as if the thermal energy searing their skin wasn't bad enough, Haroun then activated the hidden addition to his body given by Pierce of the Hellfire Club…

BRRRZZZZZTTTTTTT!

Jetstream had to admit that the screams of pain from both Bumblebee and Starfire as they were both blitzed by enough electricity to make being struck by lightning a tame comparison were highly pleasurable and compelling. And he also had to scoff; these were the Titans that managed to beat and banish Trigon the Terrible?

_Pathetic_. And further proof why the Hellfire Club was so much stronger.

And feeling now that he proved his point, Jetstream began to spin like a top once again, but this time, was rotating in the _opposite, clockwise_ direction. And thanks to Newton's Third Law of Physics and Inertia, the sudden centripedal force in the reverse sent both of the female heroes flying away from the Hellion, still too numb from the painful energy to try to prevent themselves from hurling against the floor and the nearest wall. Or in Starfire's case, colliding directly into Low Light and Yoh the Shaman King with bone-breaking impact as she solidly thumped right into them before they could launch themselves at the Superior, effectively and inadvertently ruining the moment of the combat. Bumblebee was unluckily sent crashing back-first into the nearest wall.

A white good-luck hexbolt from Roulette down below instantly struck Jetstream before the iron, rusted chains around him fell away and disentangled themselves like limp spaghetti. Emma Frost trained the Hellions well in teamwork and looking out for each other as much as the Keybladers and the heroes did. Now eager for some revenge, the mutant teenager turned his evil eye toward a bruised Bumblebee who was still hovering against the wall, aching and having trouble getting her breath back.

But the Titan East's breath got back in a hurry as she noticed that Jetstream was leering at her. And not in a good way either. But before she could try to fly away, something caught the corner of her eye to the left, and Karen turned to see the red, white, and blue shield of Captain America, lightly embedded in the wall. It must have gotten stuck there amid the chaos and brawling Steve Rogers was having with his assigned battle. And since Karen's stingers would just be absorbed by the Hellion and she had no other weapons to defend herself with…

Bumblebee tore through the air, beating her insect wings as hard as she could, reaching straight for the indestructible shield. To her credit, Bumblebee was quite fast, she was only within two or three feet of the metal disc before Jetstream slammed into her. Illuminating like a supernova of heat and flames, Haroun was pushing and trying to flatten Bumblebee against the steel wall. Bumblebee winced in pain at her skin being blistered around her wrists where the Hellion was grappling her, and the rocketing forces made it feel to the Titan as if a car was slowly trying to crush her ribcage and midsection.

"You think that old relic of a jarheaded geezer's going to help you?" sneered the Hellfire soldier as he continued to press and burn Bumblebee, with the African-American girl doing her best to not scream in pain. It would be over in a few minutes…

And then Jetstream was forcefully yanked backwards off Bumbleebee, hard enough to even counter the gravitational forces that were propelling the mutant like a rocket.

Jetstream made a very painful gurgling noise as Starfire (recovering quickly from the electrical shock and crash-landing on the floor) effectively grappled his arms and legs uselessly, using all of her strength to counter against the Hellion's in order to stop him from crushing Bumblebee. Grabbing his wrists with both hands and straddling and locking her legs around his, Starfire effectively held him in place, doing her best to make sure the Hellion couldn't escape out of her grip.

This was exactly the moment Karen needed as she lunged for Captain America's shield and wrenched it free from its position in the wall with all of her strength, feeling a few muscles snap from the sudden act. And without further ado, Bumblebee grasped the vibranium disc with both hands before she smartly bashed the flat weapon directly into Haroun's face with a mighty, upwards swing.

WHAM!

It did the trick. Jetstream's head cracked back, a thin stream of blood flying in an arc upwards as his jaw was dislocated upon contact with the Avenger's shield. And thanks to the force of the shield and Starfire's heavy body, Jetstream fell backwards with Starfire still latched on to him. And with inspiration hitting her, Starfire actually used her body and powers of flight to force Jetstream to crash to the ground, dragging the Hellion so that he landed on the metal floor with a resounding smash. Face-first.

Still dazed from the hit and seeing flashes of light and blurry images dance before his eyes, Jetstream then felt himself being dragged off his face-plant on the floor and (with Starfire still piggybacking him from behind) turned around so he was facing upwards towards the ceiling. And the fast-approaching Bumblebee who has Cap's shield raised above her head, ready to deliver a swift smash on Jetstream's face upon landing.

Since he couldn't break out of Starfire's superhuman grip and defend himself, the Hellfire teenager did the next best thing. He activated his powers and began rocketing horizontally across the ground and floor, with Starfire still latched behind him. Karen missed at the last second, for when she brought down the shield, she only hit the floor and Jetstream got away in the nick of time with Starfire still in tow.

Imagine being dragged behind a speeding car and scrapping and scuffing against the gravel road at high speeds. Imagine how much skin you'd lose in the process and how badly your flesh being chiseled and rubbed raw would sting like thousands of red-hot needles.

That was exactly how Starfire felt as she was being subjected to high speeds and enough friction and heat to cause her skin to fall off, blister, and pop like wet clay. Her back was already bleeding heavily, leaving a wet, smeared trail in her path as she tried to force Jetstream to stop by bear-hugging him from behind (with Bumblebee flying after them with the vibranium shield).

Jetstream had to admit that Starfire was tenacious; the female Teen Titan still wouldn't release her death grip on his back despite being grated and skinned alive. Which was why Jetstream made sure to aim directly for the nearest steel wall, and Starfire too late realize that her head was protruding outwards farther than Haroun's…

_WHAM!_

A normal human would have died upon impact due to a broken neck and fractured skull. In Starfire's case, thankfully (and hilariously if you had an odd sense of humor), her entire head was stuck and embedded in the wall. Stuck and like how an ostrich buries its head in the sand when there was danger approaching, Starfire fought to extract her head and face out of the steel and titanium muffling her face. Jetstream, now free once again, barreled towards the approaching Bumblebee with fists outstretched.

Pow!

The sudden impact was so great that Karen had no choice but to let the shield go flying out of her numb and bruised fingers (she was hoping they weren't broken). Cap's shield of red, white, and blue clattered above Jetstream's head, soaring behind him in a high, pop-fly arc, and clattering to the floor down below. Now Bumblebee was weaponless, and she heard Robin the Teen Titan's voice ringing a distress call on her communicator.

"Code Red! Code Red! Need assistance, _stat_!" Robin yelled as he, Ace Starr, and Kurama narrowly avoided a raging tidal wave of rock from Lexaeus, clearly being overwhelmed as everything they tried wasn't knocking him down in the slightest. Karen automatically disregarded it; she couldn't help even if she wanted to, and hopefully, one of the other remaining heroes would hear the S.O.S. on their respective communicator and pitch in. But it wasn't the time to ponder that as Jetstream was now expertly delivering an array of punches, wild and swinging and completely glowing in energy. Hovering in midair with his powers, the Hellion set himself brawling and flailing madly upon Bumblebee, the momentum in each punch magnified in force by more then ten fold. Remembering how painful it was when Jetstream punched her the first time, Bumblebee did her best to dodge, parry, and circumvent each strike, utilizing all her martial arts training. But she couldn't get past the thermal energy now cloaking his entire body, hot as a furnace, and making it difficult for the African-American girl to even touch her adversary.

"You're dead, Titan!" snarled the Hellfire mutant as he continued to assault Bumblebee, with the girl narrowly trying to fly out of the way. But as he tried to tail after the retreating Titan, there was another Teen Titan he momentarily forgot in his zeal to kill Karen…

"Charging Star!" yelled Starfire, her eyes glowing hotly with righteous anger as she, the shield, and her momentum made full contact head-on with Jetstream in a effective blindside. With the shield of Captain America she snatched up from the floor as she zoomed towards her enemy.

_**FFFWWWHHHAAAMMMM!**_

Bumbleebee could actually feel the vibrations vibrating throughout the air all around her due to the T-boning. Starfire herself had her hands turn completely numb from the impact and she had to shake one of her fists to lessen the pain of the force from Cap's shield thanks to the impact. And Jetstream actually felt his cybernetic body, despite being built with unbreakable alloys and metals close to adamantium durability, bent at an odd forty-five degree angle as he was rammed so hard, he plummeted down to the ground in a spectacular collision. With a crash and several tumbles and a trail of twisted metal in his wake, Haroun was left twitching, his back contorted in several places, making him appearing like a crooked line of twisted metal. Leaving a panting and red-faced Starfire gingerly holding the vibranium shield of Captain America, a bit worried that she damaged it when she torpedoed the Hellfire soldier.

Although Starfire has to marvel on the shield's durability; not even the slightest scuff mark, dent, or…

"_**Moon shine down!**_" yelled a deep and powerful voice that did not sound quite human, and as Bumblebee flew down with stingers in hand to check over Jetstream's damaged body, Starfire looked up and gasped.

Captain America, leader of the Avengers, was busy fighting for his life against the Organization member Saïx, leaping, bouncing, and dodging with an agility Olympic gymnasts would actually kill for. Weaponless and resorting to using punches, kicks, and evasive maneuvers, Steve was actually trying to pummel the blue-haired soldier in the black cloak. But now, Saïx was hitting the ground with his sword, causing massive explosions of white moonlight and energy to thunder down and traverse through the floor like pools of water. Avalanche of the Misfits, Spirit of G.I. Joe, Hawkgirl and Simba the Disney lion were already sent flying and rendered unconscious and heavily injured from the pulsating backlashes, but Saïx was persistently singling out Captain America as he chased him and tried to cleave the Avenger in half with his blade. Steve was actually looking worried, and airborne attacks from Raven of the Teen Titans and Hiei of the Spirit Detectives were not slowing the Thirteenth Order member in the slightest.

With only his bare hands as weapons against Saïx's sword strikes and burst of searing energy, it was clear that Cap wouldn't last much longer without some sort of help.

Starfire immediately knew what to do.

"Captain!" yelled Starfire strongly before she arched her arm back behind her head and carefully tossed the red, white, and blue shield like a discus, flinging it with a snap directly at the back of Saïx's head and around Steve's general vicinity. The Organization swordsman with the silver mane heard the Titan's cry, and immediately, after sending a pulse of moonlight on the floor to send the Avenger flying, he swiveled around smoothly before hefting his shining Claymore with both hands, ready to send the shield directly back at Starfire like a baseball player at bat. But thinking quickly, Steve launched himself forward and used Saïx's back as a stepping stone, making sure to push hard against the swordman's body as he jumped high into the air. The effect was instantaneous as the scarred soldier from the Thirteenth Order had his back telescope and bend downwards unbearably, nearly breaking from the misalignment of the Avenger jumping off his body. With a gymnastic flip, Captain America managed to meet the incoming trajectory of his cherished shield and deftly caught it with one hand before somersaulting down and landing like a cat on his feet. Not waiting for any thanks, the orange-skinned alien flew forward to help Bumblebee with her efforts as Karen was hesitantly staring down at the prone and twitching form of Jetstream down below, her stingers at ready.

Starfire flew in before Jetstream weakly managed to twist his body on his hands and knees, blood dribbling out of his mouth, rasping and gasping like a bad asthmatic, "Can't…breathe…you…collapsed…lung…"

Starfire's eyes widened; she didn't want to kill Jetstream, only wound him and stop him from hurting Bumblebee. And technically, she didn't have the heart to just stand by and let him die. Without a second thought, she swooped down towards the ground, taking out a healing concoction brewed to her by Zatanna of the Justice League.

"Star, no! Stop!" Bumblebee cried out, but the female extraterrestrial paid no heed, only feeling guilt and concern, as she flew down and landed next to the Hellion, kneeling down next to Haroun.

"I am sorry! I did not mean to! I can help you - !" but that was all Starfire was able to say as the teenager's face did an abrupt turn of face before the mutant soldier jammed his arms upwards into the Titan's bosom.

_Spuck!_

Karen felt the entire world around her stop the moment she spotted the geysers of blood gushing out of Starfire's chest. Starfire's eyes went wide, her pupils dilating with shock and agony, as Jetstream used the momentum and propulsion of his cybernetic arms to ram the sharpened adamantium blades he brought out of his cybernetic wrist compartments to puncture and gorge the Tamaranean right into the heart. A sure kill.

The Moroccan mutant sneered, dropping the act immediately with great sadistic and pompous apathy, "Slade always said compassion was your weakness."

Starfire couldn't answer, her mind still reeling with how foolish she was to fall for such a simple trick and how much agony and suffering she was enduring right now as Jetstream cruelly rammed the knife blades deeper and deeper into Starfire's body. One thin river of blood and saliva trickled out of her mouth as her strength was leaving her, bit by bit, her limbs feeling numb and threatening to slide into rigor mortis as her purple uniform was beginning to stain into a dark red.

With a faint gurgle, she toppled over backwards, landing heavily on the ground, blood starting to pool out of her chest and her eyes glazed and turning glassy slowly by the second. Starfire just lay on the cold floor, dying while a triumphant Jetstream stood over her, smirking and sheathing the adamantium blades back into his wrists in a manner similar to Wolverine.

He apparently had no remorse for what he did to the Tamaranean.

Bumblebee head swam slightly with shock before she saw absolute red, screaming loudly enough to feel like she was coughing up bile. Oddly enough, her ears were ringing so loudly with the jolt that she couldn't hear herself or any of the battles going on around her. All the Teen Titan could focus on was on the Hellion and Starfire.

"You two-faced - !" Karen shrieked, livid beyond belief and comprehension, before she let loose a string of curses that probably would be better not in printed format and lunged forward with her fists ready. Still, if she could throw a smoke bomb, perhaps, and in the confusion, drag Starfire away and use one of her remaining healing potions on her before Jetstream could stop them…

Jetstream then suddenly once again rammed himself into Bumblebee before she could blink (damn, Karen forgot how fast he could be at full-throttle). Her breath was literally punched out of her gut in a rush, leaving her stunned as the Hellfire foot-solder snarled with mockery, "You think I'm just gonna stand by and _**let**_ you have a chance to help that alien bitch?"

With that, and ready to pile drive her into mush, the Hellion took his cargo and aimed with full speed towards the nearest wall…

At the same time, Starfire was slowly dying, twitching down on the floor, and without any sign of Tinkerbell anywhere nearby to rejuvenate her. Even with her extraterrestrial physiology, no living being could survive being stabbed dead-center in the heart with adamantium. Her vision was clouding ominously, the searing wound in her body now settling to a faint, cold, numbness, the pool of lost blood around her body now as wide as a manhole cover.

And to make it even more tragic, the Tamaranean's last thoughts were not on herself, but on her fellow Titans, Raven, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Robin, oh by the mother planet, strong, determined, _Robin_, her most treasured of friends…

She would most likely never see them again.

_Oh dear friends_, thought Starfire to herself as her eyes fluttered shut (despite her best efforts to stay awake), turning darker and darker, _I am so…_

But Starfire did not even have the moment to finish that reflection of regret as she then grew to realize that she felt pleasantly warm, almost instantly soothing her wounds and erasing the pain. It felt so wonderful, like being bathed in a warm springs of the planet Yralzeth, easing her limbs. A bit puzzled, Starfire opened her eyes, clearing her head and her eyesight before she realized that she was being bathed in a halo, celestial pillar of yellow light, covered with a veil of…flower petals and leaves?

This definitely wasn't Tinkerbell, but…

"Second request: _Code Red! Code Red!_ _**We need assistance!**_" yelled Robin on his communicator as Rapunzel used her hair to drag herself and Wildstar out of danger from a Ruined Earth attack, only to be thrown violently into the air by another earthquake. Bumblebee didn't even hear the S.O.S as she was too busy trying to endure the pain of being subdued to gravitational forces at deadly velocities.

Feeling the approaching wall Jetstream was steering her towards, closer and closer, Bumblebee managed to weakly take out a smoke pellet from her utility belt before slamming it hard on Haroun's skull. Upon breaking, a giant plume of noxious and thick, black smoke engulfed both the Titan and the Hellion. Coughing and sputtering, Jetstream still steered himself into the wall, but Bumblebee wisely used this little distraction to shrink herself out of Jetstream's grasp before he could realize what was happening.

WHAM!

The Moroccan teenager hit the wall with bone-breaking impact, the heat force-field melting the titanium and steel slightly from the energy pouring out of his hands. But no Bumblebee, and thanks to the smoke-screen clouding his vision and covering a good area all around his person…

"Damn it!" cursed Jetstream before he began spinning like a top once again in the clockwise direction at top-speeds, creating a miniature cyclone that instantly blew the smoke away from him, forcing it to dissipate into thin air and dissolve. Jetstream looked carefully all around him, trying to spot the Teen Titan's hiding spot, unwilling to let his pride down and let her escape.

"Where's that friggin' Titan whore?" Jetstream cursed to himself.

Had he looked closely underneath his feet, he would have noticed that a shrunken Bumblebee, no smaller than a housefly, was eagerly buzzing her way past the heat shield and into a small crack that the Hellion maintained during his earlier pummeling. Despite the magical potion she chugged down to enhance her defense and resilience, Karen still had several serious burns as she buzzed past the layers of heat surrounding her adversary. It was then the Bumblebee's luck blossomed; she spotted a deep and relatively giant crack in Jetstream's robotic leg, near the knee, and taking her chance, she half flew, half crawled into the inner mechanisms inside Jetstream's body.

Once inside, Bumblebee was subjected to a monstrous maze of caverns, pipes, and advanced circuitry that would give any technology from Stark Enterprises or Star Laboratories a run for their money. Instantly drawing out her energy stingers, Bumblebee flew as fast as she could, intent on doing damage from the inside like a gremlin or the proverbial wrench in the monkey-works.

"C'mon, something's got to be the key CPU unit in this jackass' circuitry…" the diminutive Titan muttered under her breath, her wings making deep and thrumming echoes throughout the abyss of the empty metal channels and circuitry as she flew around in straight lines, searching and straining hard.

Unfortunately…

Jetstream then realized what was happening as the sensors and internal motherboard systems inside his bionic parts began to send signals and alarms, beeping madly through the computerized monitor on his left arm, and looking down, he saw that Pierce's nanotechnology detected a foreign invader in the shape of a particular female Titan East member…

"Good tactic…" Haroun muttered before he then activated the defensive utilities of the electrodes embedded inside his systems with a satisfied chuckle.

Inside Jetstream's body, there was a faint humming noise, as if e=something was charging and building up…

Bumblebee turned pale as she realized what was happening, right before all the circuitry around her burst forth a slight electrical pulse, a barrier of energy similar to the Tesla barriers the X-Men had on their glovatrixes for protection. And unfortunately for the African-American teenager, Karen got caught in the brunt of it, full blast.

_BBRRRZZZZZTTTTT!_

"AAAAAA!" yelled Bumblebee as she was electrocuted right before the vacuum-propulsion systems in Jetstream's body created a powerful exhaust of wind, forcing the Teen Titan to come barreling out of the Hellion's body and into the open air. Jetstream grinned, feeling the pest being extracted out of his robotic form.

The mutant finished with a sneer, "…but **not** good enough."

Bumblebee, as she was forcefully blown out of Jetstream's body, then managed to grow back to normal size, fighting the urge to lose consciousness, before she took out her third to last magical potion and flung it at Jetstream. The glass bottle, breaking upon impact, released a cloud of a powerful sleeping agent, a plume of bright, violet aroma of powerful herbs brewed by Paige Halliwell.

To Bumblebee's horror, it didn't do any good. Thanks to the special filters Emma had all the Hellions wear in their nostrils to prevent succumbing to such an assault, Haroun just flew past the sleeping gas, ready to stab Bumblebee with the adamantium blades drawn out and pointed first.

There was a flash of silver out of nowhere…

Jetstream screamed, long, guttural, and like a rabid, wounded animal, his voice going near falsetto. Mainly because one of Xaldin's spears, a Dragoon Lance with a serrated and jagged tip like serpent's head and mouth, had gruesomely skewered right through him, harpooning directly through his right shoulder, his ribcage, his heart cavity, and burrowing through his left side. It was so swift and sudden and final that it literally stopped his trajectory cold, spearing him like an olive on a toothpick. And thanks to the mystical energy, the metal did not melt nor heat up in the slightest regardless of the thermal energy cocooning the Hellion. Swallowing the bile building up in his throat, Jetstream turned to see that he was facing a livid yet stone-faced Starfire, her eyes glowing and her teeth slightly bared, holding one of Xaldin's weapons in order to save her fellow Titan.

"Star!" exclaimed Karen joyously.

"You're supposed to be dead! **I killed you!**" Jetstream screeched with outrage, his voice going an octave higher (while still impaled on the spear like a fish gutted on a spit).

Starfire didn't answer and instead hurled the entire spear and Hellion attached with it towards the ceiling, impressively throwing with superhuman skill. And as a result, a speared Jetstream was now pinned against the wall, the Dragoon Lance still piercing through his torso and fastening the mutant to the metal ceiling, similar to a mounted butterfly in an insect collection. Such embarrassment was now unforgivable. Now livid, Jetstream forcefully gritted his teeth and ripped his body out of the spear, making sickening squelching noises and ripping metal. Despite the slight pain, the Hellfire teenager barely felt it as he set his ire on the two Teen Titans.

"Now I'm pissed!" roared Jetstream as he then willingly summoned all the stored up energy he had on reserve in his cybernetic components, now glowing so brightly that it was almost blinding. This was obviously his final tactic as he wasn't going to rest until he killed the two Teen Titans once and for all.

Jetstream was through playing games. And Karen realized that they used everything they had and could think of, but nothing was stopping the Hellion from staying down. Both Starfire and Bumblebee were low on potions, they couldn't use energy attacks, and they couldn't physical fight him forever, especially with him being a literal fireball in a sense and with his arms now sporting the adamantium spikes (he was actually more powerful and lethal than before). It was then that Bumblebee realized that they needed some time.

"Star, fly and let him tail us!" Bumblebee yelled, grabbing the extraterrestrial's hand as a warning, "We can't fight him head-on like this! Keep him occupied and focused on us so he doesn't go targeting anyone else!"

Starfire realized that a strategic retreat would be wise (until they could think of something better), and both of the Teen Titans tore off with Jetstream tailing the two of them, slowly closing the gap, despite how fast Bumblebee was dashing through the air. Starfire, who could undoubtedly fly faster, was about to grab Karen and take off at sub-sonic speeds when Robin's communicator broke through another emergency.

"Code Red! Code Red! _Third request!_" Robin's voice broke in, and instantly, Ace Starr's voice added his two cents.

"For cryin' out loud, _**will someone frickin' help us?**_ Before we – _**AAAAAAAAAAA!**_"

Wildstar's voice ended with a painful, guttural scream as he, Robin, and the others were subjected to another desperation attack, and this time none of the seven heroes were able to escape it. Caught within the full brunt of the enormous upheaval, Robin, Wildstar, Beast Boy, Kurama, Magma, Whitelighter, and Rapunzel were all sent flying and crashing painfully against granite, sand, and unbreakable stone, broken bones and bleeding aplenty. Glowing, Lexaeus moved in slowly for the kill.

Starfire was horrified. This was Robin's third request for assistance, and still, no one was able to come help them? Granted, everyone was still busy trying to fight their own battles with the Organization Thirteen and the Hellfire Club, but surely one of the heroes was able to spare a little assistance.

There was little time to ponder this though. If someone didn't interact soon, Robin and his team would very nearly be killed. But Starfire couldn't leave…

"Starfire, go help them! I'll take care of Jetstream!" Bumblebee then broke in. Starfire, eyes wide, despite flying and being tailed by a Hellion on the rampage, turned to Bumblebee in shock, but Karen was showing that she wasn't joking. If no one was helping Robin and his team against their Organization member at this point, then they couldn't just stand by and hope someone else would pick the slack. And since between the two Teen Titans, Starfire was the stronger and more effective foe against the earth-wielding Nobody.

Starfire was no doubt conflicted; it was either ignore robin and risk her boyfriend getting killed along with his allies or abandoning Bumblebee and risk her getting killed by a souped-up Jetstream. Bumblebee continued to push her into making her decision.

"Please, no man alive can take me down without a fight! _**Trust me, I'll be fine!**_ Us Titans dealt with worse creeps than this guy! Just go! Robin needs you more than I do!" ordered Bumblebee hastily, refusing to look directly into her friend's eyes, making sure she was flying free and clear. She just hoped that Starfire would buy it…

Starfire nodded, giving a quick squeeze of Karen's hand as support.

"Agreed! Be careful, my friend!" Starfire yelled before she swooped down, her emerald eyes glowing hotly, towards Lexaeus, her hands flying so swiftly that they were blurs as the Organization earth-mover below her suddenly found himself being painfully singed and besieged by a multitude of green energy balls above him. Lexaeus screamed as he was taken by surprise from the sudden storm of emerald energy blasts, and this one second of disruption was enough for the others to try to rush the strong-man, with injured Robin leading the way (all of them infinitely thankful for the assist).

**Author's Note: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Next chapter will be starring Axel of Organization XIII, and our little chakram wielder will be going against Jean Grey of the X-Men, Shipwreck of G.I. Joe, Trey and Corey of "Shaman King" / Ghostbusters, Dragonfly of the Misfits (OC of Red Witch), and Caridad of the Slayers / Ghostbusters. At the same time, Emma Frost, White Queen of the Hellfire Club, learns that she may be in for a rough ride when she pits her powers against Storm of the X-Men and four Ghostbusters: Kid Gloves of the Monster fighters, Inc. and Vi, Rona, and Faith Lehane of the vampire Slayers! Stay tuned for another action packed sequence (hopefully within this year).**

**And there's a bit of news on why I've been so busy…**

**I just got my first house. I'm now a home-owner with a mortgage. And I moved in a month ago.**

**Fictives: Party time!**

**Gambit: I got the beer!**

**Starfire: I got the fireworks!**

**Trinity: And we got the sledgehammers! It's not a housewarming party unless something gets broken!**

**Beach Head: Or if the police and SWAT teams need to be called in.**

**Me: IF YOU FICTIVES STEP ONE FOOT IN MY TOWNHOUSE, I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL MAKE YOU ALL SUFFER! EVEN **_**MORE**_** THAN WHAT I ALREADY DO TO YOU!**

**Fictives: It'll be worth it!**

**Readers, read and review! Constructive criticism welcome, and check back once I kill a few fictives from reaching my front door…**


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